Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-04-02
FARMER" WALLACE l|l :.
DIES At JIMTOWN
ORIGINAL BOOMER FOR THE
STATE OF NORTH DAKOTA
DIES IN ASYLUM.
Funeral Arrangements Are Held Up
Pending the Arrival Of Relatives
From the South.

uneral Arrangements are 0sSo OP
Pending. the Arrival Of Relatives
From the South.
John Wallace, better known as
Farmer" Wallace, one Of the gen
timely old timers of North Dakota,
always a boomer for tn e Missouri
Slope, an earnest, patriotic, well
known Dakotan AMI North Dakotan,
is dead. He died of old age at the
state hospital at jamestown, March
20, where he had been since Febrd'
airy 9, 1907. Advice Of his death was
received by Judge M. J. Mckenzie,
of the county court Friday. .s,"
Although the latter part of his life
was clouded with illness and a men
tai alteration that made it advisable
that he be treated at the state hos
pital, in. the prime Of his years and
long afterwards, there was no bet
ter known North Dakotan than Farm.
er" Wallace. j..
He was one of the first. men to
turn over the soil in Burleigh coun-
ty and prove that this was, a .coun-
ty adapted to agriculture. He was
a typical "boomer' of the early days.
Way back in the time when Dakota
was hardly known as an agricultural
country, he gathered exhibits Of vege-
tables and grains and went down to
New Orleans with display that made
Buleigh county and Dakota famous for
agricultural produce. 1t was at the
same time that the Indian chieftain
''Gaul' was a feature of the Dakota
exhibit. The banners that were
awarded Burleigh county and Dakota
for the exhibits made at that time,
are now in the possession Of the To-
cal Commercial club.
Sunshine or Shower, rain or shine,
good times or bad, Farmer" Wallace
had a fund of che7rfulness and opti-
mism to eXpend in behalf of North
Dakota, Back in the year of the big
Worlds Fair at Chicago in 1898, he
was in the employ of the Northern
Pacific road, and with splendid ex-
hibit, he made daily addresses to the
crowds that attended that exhibit and
dwelt on the glory and possibilities
Of North Dakota. He was an ardent
Republican and in campaign times he
was in demand as political speak
er. He was a patriarcial figure In
his later days, with his long gray hair,
his flashing eyes, his carelessly kept
clothes, as he stood on the platform
to speak in defense Of the principles
of which he had always been an ad-
vocate and for which he fought dur
ing the civil war. In manner. he was
frank, honest and kind and he spoke
with a plainness of expression that
told of the open and earnest nature
of the man. He was generous to his
fellows; lover Of his state. q prophet
Of his time, and he lived to see the
beginning OF the great prosperity that
he had always predicted for North
Dakota.
Five or six years ago, when he was
employed as an attachee Of the state
capitol building, he was stricken with
partial blindness, and following
this came the mental cloud in which
he ended his days. He numbered
many friends among the pioneers of
the state. He served in various capa-
cities as public official. He was a
territory legislator in the days when
the northern part of the territory
was barely settled at all. He saw Bis
marck grow from it's early settlement
and frontier existence back in the
early seventies. He was always
willing worker for whatever promis-
ed benefit to the city or state. At
all public celebrations and displays, it
was Farmer" Wallace who was re-
lied upon to see that there was the
proper dash and color. One of his
last appearances in public was at the
time of the $780, celebration, when
the coming of the 500 road fulfilled
the promise of twenty years.
Farmer" Wallace was married and
had a wife and two sons. One of his
sons and his namesake, died in Colo
RADIO number of years ago. His son
Charles F.. Wallace, survives him, as
does his wife. They are now in Mis-
souri,, having left the city some time
ago.
Old friends in the city will regret
to learn of the death of Farmer"
Wallace, He was pioneer. He was
a dreamer. who saw the possibilities
of this great agricultural empire.
With his voice and pen he contributed
to the development that has come in
these latter years. His was not a
nature to profit from the growth or
development. The commercial in
stinct was wanting in him. But he
went many mile and gave many q
days labor that his dream of the fu-
ture might be fulfilled. And he is
entitled to place in the grateful
memory of the later generation that
has proffted from the labor of the
pioneers. He was about 70 years of