Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1920-11-12
Vincent Was Winner of
Forty Acres Given BY
National Land Col.
Company
SECOND PRIZE WON
BY JOHN BOSS, TONY
William Sheel, Bruce, Awarded
Third Place.--Nearly One
dred Are SIN The
Money"

' lnccllI w as, whose farm lies JUSJ
One-haf mile south of the COnrath
State Demonstration Farm, was award
ed the county sweepstakes prize in the
Million Dollar Land Clearing Contest
by the team Of judges consisting of
| John Swenehart, State Land Clearing
| Department Alfred Mathewson, Agri-
cultural Representative of Wisconsin
for the DUPONT Powder Co. l.. f. Liv-
ingstOn. Secretary Marinette Lam d
Clearing Association; ii. S. Funston,
Land Commissioner, 500 Line railrOad
+. S. McCabe, Industrial Commissioner,
Omaha railroad: and r. NJ Andrews
Editor Cloverland Magazine.
In rendering their decision, the
Judges took into consideration the
acreage cleared, difficulty in clearing,
thor0ughness Of the work, resources of
Che contestant system and headwOrk
displayed and the actual amount of
time during the lapse of the contest
devoted to land clearing.
Wins Fine Forty
The prize won by Mr. Was is valued
at $1,000, being a fine 4C acre tract Of
land donated by the National Land Col
OniZing Co. and Bordner & Jones, of
this city. This forty, described as
NEH Of NEH of Sec. 10, Township
3G. Range ) west, is located II miles
northeast Of Ladysmith, near Dairy
Center.
The story Of Vincent Was is a unique
one He is of Polish descent, coming
20 this country thirteen years ago. The
first two years were spent in Milwau-
kee, where both he and his wife mas
tered the English language.
Coming TO upper Wisconsin, he
worked for Is. f. Faast, then colonizing
ut Conrath, clearing land in order to
get money enough TO keep his family,
and TO purchase the farm they are now
developing. AS Mr.. Was says, 1--WE
Polish always have an attraction for
the soil and are most happy when
farming"
Nh Was now has forty acres of the
eighty cleared, forty per cent of that
)cing cleared this year. His wife is as
deserving Of credit as he. for she has
spent as much time in the field and
worked as hard as he has. She is the
mother of seven children, that alone
represents Il brood that would keep
the average woman busy looking after.
Many moonlight night has found them
working in the field until 10 :00 p. IN.
or later, with the chores still to be
taken care Of The director of the con-
test tells us that he has visited them
several times when all the dinner that
they had consisted of pail of coffee
and bite of bread eaten in the field.
Neighb0rs report seeing them at work
a 100 Il. IN. in the morning and during
the last few days of the contest they
worked all night burning brush piles.
They have set an admirable example
that might we'll be initiated by the
ueighb0rhoOd in which they live.
Second and Third Places
Second place was awarded to John
Boss, Of Tony, and third place to VIM.
Sheel, Of Bruce.
John Boss, of Tony. was awarded
second place i'll the county. His
clearing represents an acreage of l27
acres brushed. $40 acres stumped, and
15.S acres broken. The deciding fac
tors against Mr.. Boss were the help
situation, resources, difficulty of clear
ing and thoroughness of the work
done. This decision was a difficult one
to render and called for the considering
of avpTV factor known
WIN. Sheel, Of Bruce, was awarded
third place. He himself did not do
any of the work but his two sons spent
practically all summer doing nothing
but clearing.
judging a Difficult Task
The work of judging the three hun
dred odd contestants was by no means
an easy task Competition was keen
throughout the county. In District 3,
comprising the town of Dewey, Grow,
and part of Grant and Marshall, any
one of the first three district prize
winners could easily have captured
first place in any other district. Sew
eral men in the contest were not con-
sidered at all for the county sweep
stakes prize although their acreages
were above any Of those that were
awarded the first three places. Their
work was done with the aid of plenty
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