The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1906-07-20
BIGGEST
WHEAT CROP
THE MILLER BOYS OF 1o1 RANCH
IN OKLAHOMA NOW HARVEST
ING $4,000 BUSHELS.
Six Foot Swaths Mile Long by the
Mower-How the Big Job is
Done.

BLISS, Okla, July 11-This years
wheat crop in Oklahoma is now being
threshed, and promises to be a record
breaker. Figures as to the yield in the
whole territory, of course, are lacking
at this time, but 1O1 ranch will do its
share to swell the total with a crop es-
timated at $4,000 bushels
Sounds big, doesn't it? Well, it's a
big ranch. There are 10000 acres Of
it. and 5000 acres devoted to wheat
This 101 ranch is where they do things
on large scale.
Now as to that wheat crop. Joe Mil
does go about in his shirt sleeves and
were an ancient hat with sweat stains
out to the brim-that beginning some
three weeks ago, they had as har-
vesters hacking off the bearded grain
(poetical name for it,. 1t took three
horses to drag each of these har-
vesters, which were of the type cutting
a six-foot swath Some of these swaths
were easily a mile long. If you want
to become statistical, figure out how
many bushels to the mile, reckoning
20 bushels to the acre.
! And again, Joe Miller will tell you,
with the other Miller boys to back him
from $4,000 to $4,000. Also it is an
undisputed and indisputable fact that
it takes 46 drivers to drive 46 har-
vesters. Then there are % water
haulers, Irvine haulers, etc, to say
nothing of a few superintendent and
a gang of men at the stables to feed
and harness the mules and horses
If you are used to some small or
garden variety of farm, it will mean
something to you when you hear from
Joe Miller-no relation to the joker of
that name-that he now has out six
threshing outfits. besides the thresh-
ing machines Each outfit needs 10
bundle wagons, 10 grain wagons, one
cook wagon and one water wagon. 1t
calls for a total of 60 drivers of bundle
wagons, six engineers, six operator
men. six water wagon drivers, six coal
haulers, six cooks, six assistant cooks,
60 grain wagon drivers and SO pitchers
GRAIN, not basebalD. Each of these ma
chimes thresh from 900 to 1000 bushels
of grain daily.
Incidentally, Joe Miller, who is the
oldest of the Miller boys, owners of
101 ranch, takes off his hat to the in
ventor of the blower and stacker. He
says it is one of the greatest labor
saving discoveries ever made. An en-
ployer of 400 men can appreciate that.
BY the way, there is never any derth
of harvest hands on 101 ranch. APP
plicants always apply there first.
On the Miller ranch the harvesters
eat and sleep in the field as they are
from one to 10 miles away from the
house cook wagon, very much like
the owl lunch wagons you see down
town in cities. stays by them out in
the field. There is little counter in
it and stools for the men, while the rear
is taken up with the cook stove and
refrigerator The men go to bed by
the simple process OF lying down on
the ground pillowing their heads upon
a shock of wheat and pulling wagon
over them for a comfort The mules
do not eat in the field They are fed
at the ranch stables, where 400 or 500
of them are allowed to fill up on corn
and oats all night long. This is their
only meal in the "a hours, but it is one
that lasts.
The 101 ranch wheat crop, although
mammoth, is not its only one. The
big tract of land, leased from the
Ponca Indians, also produces 100000
bushels of corn a year, 5000 tons of
prairie hay, 5000 tons of alfalfa hay,
and it supports 10000 cattle and 5000
hogs.