The Kadoka press and Kadoka reporter. [volume] (Kadoka, S.D.) 1910-1923, 1915-08-20
An Elegant White
River Ranch

On last Saturday afternoon the
Press editor had the pleasure of
taking an auto ride with Fred Sears
OF Belvidere, down to his ranch,
eight miles southwest of town, and
we can say to the vast army OF
Press readers-we care not whether
they reside in South Dakota, or in
any of our surrounding states
that Mr.. Sears ranch down on
White river, has produced this
year, as good a crop of Alfalfa,
Corn ard small grain as can be
grown anywhere and it has been
done without any irrigation what
ever.
The ranch comprises total acre
age of something like two thousand
acres, twelve hundred of which is
river bottom land, and of this bot
tom land Mr.. Sears has six hun
dred and eighty acres under the
ditch. He has installed an irriga-
tion outfit at cost of $4,000. 90,
and when the season so demands
can food every foot of this vast
acreage. His crop this year, be-
sides the wild hay crop, consists
OF one hundred ten acres of alfalfa,
which has been cut once, bringing
him better than ton to the acre,
OF hay, and now is in full bloom
on the way to the seed crop. While
the past season has been so wet,
and too much wet weather is not
overly good for an alfalfa seed crop;
if the present hot dry weather will
stay with us, Mr.. Sears, will re-
ceive from the returns of this one
hundred ten acres of alfalfa, an
amount of money which would go
a long ways towards paying for
the best quarter OF land down in
the eastern part of the state.
When we drove out to his forty /,
five acre field of oats, the harvest
ers had just completed the cutting
and shocking up of the field. and
while we are not an authority, we
venture the guess that this partic-
ular field of oats will thresh out
twenty-seven hundred, or better,
bushels of grain. Besides this oat
field there is forty acre field of
speltz and the shocks stand so
thick it was nearly impossible for
us to turn the auto around is the
in the field without having to move
shocks in order to keep from knock
ing them down. Competent judges
estimate the yield of this field to
go from 90 to 70 bushels to the
acre. The field of sweet clover has
been cut once for hay, and the Sec
ond crop is being left for seed. 1t
stands around four feet high and is
seeding nicely. This seed is worth
twenty-five cents per pound and
Jackson county farmers will be en-
abled to get from Mr.. Sears, seed
that is climated, for this great for
age crop. The sixty acre field of
corn will average seven feet high,
and is in the tassle, this field of
corn is without question the best
field that it has been our privilege
to see since coming to the west
river country, nine years ago, and
If frost does not get us earlier than
usual, record breaking yield can
be looked for.
Three years ago the majority OF
the land which is producing the
crop referred to in this article. were
sage brush bottoms, but with a
firm belief that with enough mois-
ture on the land it would produce
as we'll the famous Missouri river
bottoms of Iowa, Mr.. Sears went
to work and today his ranch which
at that time was worth mere pit
ance, would bring him anywhere
from $50 to SIS per acre. Men
who have the faith, and who will
hack it, with every means at their
command as Fred Sears has done,
are worth everything to commun-
ity, and the Press man is indeed
glad to be able to say that jack
son county has several more such
men who have opened up ranches
along White river, where but few