Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1913-10-31
THE NEW WHEAT KING.


the favorite expressions Of F. D.
Cdburn. secretary Of the Kansas state
board Of agriculture, kansas wheat
makes US famous, but it Is the corn
that makes US rich"
There was and is a good deal Of
truth in this but stiA there are aFot
Of Kansas men who have made for
tunes IN wheat. Many more are max
ing fortunes every year out Of pigs
and cattle.
W. ]. Trousdale, od Morton, is gv-
en- the crown as the wheat king OF
Kansas for 1912. j. N. Fike, Of Col
by, has been the wheat king Of the
state for the last five years, but he
suffered some bad luck Just before
the harvest began, and Trousdale ap-
parentIy slipped IN ahead Of the for
mer king.
Mr.. Nbe had a fine field Of wheat
until after the first OF June, when
the dust began to blow, and before
the rains came more than half the
wheat had been ruined, and FSke g
total grain output this year will not
reach the $4,000 bushel mark.
Trousdale had 5000 acres Of wheat
but he was more fortunate than MT:
Fike, for the rains came just at the
right time to make the wheat grow.
Trousdale has been growing wheat
for 30 years, from $500 to 7OOO
acres each year. His crop for the
year 1912 will amount to more than
100000 bushels. Some of his fields
threshed as high as 80 bushels per
acre. He is not selling any wheat,
for he has storage room for every
bushel and expects to hold It all for
81 a bushel. He owns all the land
he farms.
The largest actual land owner ID
Reno county is a man who made one
fortune, lost it, and has just COM
pleted amassing a second and is will
ing, Il necessary, to get out and dig
another fortune from the Kansas sell
C. M. Bay landed in Reno county m
1878 with a total capital Of a team
and wagon, all the worse for wear
GOOD health and an abundance ol
pluck. He traded the team and the
wagon for a quarter section Of land
worked ON shares for another mar
to help get his crop out, worked az
a farm hand until he had money tt
buy himself team and the needed
farm implements, and then went II
work on his own farm.
Ray grew wheat and in ten year
owned over SOC acres Of land, hat
invested $4,000 in stocks and ha'
over $4,000 in loans. He quit farm
ing and wept into the inNestmen
business and IN three years he has
lost ever cert he ever owned eS
.cept a timber claim he had takel
a year or two before and which h
could hold. With his family Bay a
once moved from his town house a
Eingman back to the little old so
house on his claim and started in al
over again. He made the new be
ginning in 1881 and today is wort
$5OONOC or more. He has five squal
miles of land, over 5000 acres, all i
one body and will have 10000 bush
els of wheat this year.
d Jacob ReiSs Jr. of Coldwater, Kan
sas., came to Kansas nearly thirt
years ago and has been ploddin
along ever since, making a little mol
ey every year and lots Of money i
some years, until he now owns 200
acres of land and has 1000 acres
wheat. 1t took just ten days to fin
ish thleshing that wheat and Nj
Reiss had 17,7O7 bushels of grain t
sell. He owns all the land he
farming, and his profits from tn
wheat field alone will exceed $1S
0G0 this year.
Charles Andreas, once a show owI
er himself, later a circus man, hs
1000 acres Of land in Centred Kal
sas, purchased with the sayings