Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1910-02-05
Mas. GEoRGE SIMON.


Situated on the main travelled road,
midway between Denair, a station on
the Santa Fe Railway, and Turlock, on
the Southern Pacific, in Stanislaus
county. California, is a handsome new
home set on the edge of farm of sixty
acres, which is pointed 10 with pride
by the farmers of the Turlock irriga-
ton district, as an example of what a
foresighted and forehanded woman
may do if she mas the will. The house
has been built within four years. and
the greater part Of the farm planted
within three. but already il is one of
the show places of the county. More
than this, altho SO recently planted.
the farm made a profit of $4,000 in the
year 1909
Show me the finest place in the Tur-
lock district" the author hereof said TO
j. Is. Mills, one of the prophets of the
town Of Turlock, one day last Novem-
Der Mr.. Mills is not an old settler. but
nobody knows the Turlock district be-
ter. In 1903, he heard of the water
which the year before had been
turned into the Turlock canal for the
first time, and knowing the value of
water in new district. he straightway
Joined the procession and pitched his
tent on the Turlock townsite. which.
until the advent of the water, had
made little Roadway
Mr.. Mills came to Turlock from
Rocks County. Kansas. where he was
a farmer for five years. He is of Quaker
a ancestry. native of the good old
Quaker town of Magnolia, Putnam
County. Illinois. where he still has rel
atives living. Il occasionally go back to
Magnolia, and some day 1 am going
back TO Rocks County to see my for
mer neighbors," he said. However. /
guess Stanislaus County is good enough
for me. There are more comforts and
profits for the money invested here
than any other place on earth. I have
a little home in town and some land
outlying, which have made since
came here, and, yearly, values are adj
vancing However, values now are not
a marker to what they are going to be.
There are reasons for higher values.
! In no other country can a family get
a living out of so little Land. Really, ten
acres are enough Tor living and mon
ey TO put away. Sixty acres, properly
planted. are TOO much for one family to
cultivate. Another reason is the cli-
mate, All, the climate!
snow fiacS OF tho OiStffct.
But show me that fine farmhouse"
the visitor insisted.
Now, that's better" he said. Il will
show you the newest, place. or one of
the newest. 1 will not attempt to show
you the finest. for there are too many
in that class We will drive out to see
George sinon's place: or rather Mrs.
Simon's place, for she is the author and
~ =,
Simon proudly says so himself. There
are other attractive places in the dis
trict, but we all are interested especial
" in Mrs. Simon, and you viii be, too,
when I tell you her story. From her
place we will drive around among her
immediate neighbors. For the neigh
borhood is only three years from the
wheat stubble, and on the group OF
farms around the Simon place are set
tied families, who came here wholly
by Mrs. Simon's influence. She made
no money by bringing these families
That was not her scheme She was so
sure of prosperity herself, that she
wanted old friends to settle around
her, and she was SO enthusiastic about
it that a number Of families followed
her. Altogether they number sixty men
women and children, and others from
her former Iowa neighborhood will be
headed this way next spring. We cal
| it the Iowa Colony There are other
Iowa families settled in the district, but
Mr. and Mrs. Sinon's friends settled in
bunch, and SO we call that neighbor-
hood the Iowa colony or the Simon
settlement"
SO we drove to the Simon home, two
miles east of Turlock and about the
same distance from Denair. It is a
lar gestwo- story frame house Of attrac-
tive architecture, and equipped with
all the modern comforts and conven-
fences. The barn, dairy house, and
poultry house, are in keeping with the
style Of the home. and the dooryard
/ is planted with roses, geranlums, OLE
anders and other towering plants
which make farmhouses SO attractive
in the San Joaquin valley However
the story Of the colony and Mrs. Sim
on's share in assembling 1T is OF greater
interest.
BY Her Chance Visit.
The Iowa colony in the Turlock dis
trict came by the chance visit OF Mrs
Simon to California five years ago. HeI
home was at Manchester. Delaware
county, Iowa, where her husband
George Simon, was in the hardware
business. Two years before. they lived
at Cedar Rapids, where Mr.. Simon fol
thirteen years had been general agent
OF an insurance company. In his boy
hood, Mr.. Simon lived on a farm Tor
few years but learned nothing OF agri-
culture more than to do chores He
was a town-bred man, wholly, wei
satisfied with his little hardware busl-
ness, when Mrs. Simon prevailed upon
him to sell out and move to California
| Each had a sister living in California
and it was while visiting them thai
Mrs. Simon saw the opportunity o.
making a better stake and otherwise
improving their fortune. The Turloct
! district was just opening. Inc Joni
litigation had come to an end, and TIT
water had been turned into the canals
/ i4sTi<.. .s..as cheap, and with . knoWiedg'
Of what water had done for hnd else
where in the San Joaquin yauey, lafs