Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-05-12
LAKE REGIONS
FIRST FARMER
PASSES AWAY WA
Frank Palmer Came 10 N.
2. in 1888; Had Remark
able Career.

-.r.N NNSs44's .Ast5 nay t6s-6 rank
Palmer, one Of the Lake Regions
pioneers, died yesterday at his home
mere after q lingering illness. He was
= years Of age. He leaves one son,
~ Palmer, Jr., who was gassed
ana wounded in France after his
graduation from West Point military
academy with honors; two daughters,
Mrs. 2. L Sw~artzlAnder of Pendleton.
oreEon. and Mrs. Noel F. Thoralson
OF Btsmarck, N. D.. and a s~ister-in-
law. Miss Anna Prange Of Devils
Tbs funeral will be held from
81 Joseph's Catholic church, this
city. Friday.
Probably no other Ia is more
closely linked with the early history
o. pevfas Lake and the Lake Region
- that Of Frank Palmer. He was
pioneer OF pioneers, and boosted thar
70 him j. due the credit for turning
hrst sod in the Lake Region ever
turned BY a white man, and planting
therein the first grain seeds. This
was IN 1881, before the homesteaders
invaded the new country, then known
VINO were driven put of Minnesota
after the famous or rather infamous
uprising OF that merciiess Sioux chief.
Little Crow, who himself also escaped
TO Devils Lake and attempted to re-
habliitate his forces for 4 new upris-
ing.
CAnne In lSss.
Frank Palmer came to the Lake
ReE1sn. April Q, 1863, settling in Fort
rotten, Benson county, and following
the occupation Of mail carrier for a
contractor, and soon
made his permanent home in Fort
Totten as 4 licensed Indian trader.
AT that time the. only means Of 'ee.
curing food for the soldiers horses
was by way Of the Missouri river.
then by wagon trains to the reserva-
ton. which was not only expensive
transportation, but consumed much
and brought about many hard
ships, especially in the winter season.
Mr.. Palmer finally hit upon the idea
Of experimenting with the land on
which he was located, and finding out
u 1t were possible to grow oats there.
He had about 400 acres Of land, and
horses OF his " which needed feed.
ing. So in the summer Of 1880, he Sc
cured some seed oats from st. Louis,
brought by way Of the Missouri ana
the wagon trains. and the followins;
he planted them
Seeded Oats On Experiment.
On the seventeenth Of June there
came a killing frost. and the oats,
which then we're peepins above the
growing, bespeaking a good crop,
were chilled, and he thought the>crop
was dead. On the 18th Of June. how
he visited his first seeding ex-
again. and found to his sur
prise the oats bursting forth bigger
than ever and as healthy as could be
found anywhere. He learned that the
frost helped the plants to stool out.
and the result Of the drst seeds plant
ed on the Lake Region wa 70 hush.
els Of oats to the acre.
Speaking in later years OF his sue
experiment, Mr.. Palmer said:
1T was a bigger crop than I ever got
aftervArd. ! sold some Of it to the
used some of it myself,
and next spring when tho settlers
In there was q big demand for
It for seed and for feed for their
That crop was a surprise to
me, but I would have laughed al any
one who would have told me that
people would be raising corn success
fully around Devils Lake some day"
Was Veteran of War.
Mr.. Palmer has been living a re-
tired life for a number of years. 1iv-
ing With his nster-in.law, Miss PranS
ct 1901 Second street, Devils Lake. .IHe
was born in Eaton, Preb1e county.
Ohio, May /. 1847, and came to the
Lake Region IN 1853 from Fort Peck,
His wife died last year.
he had served in the Civil war, en-
when he was only 14h years
81 age, having been one OF the
youngest soldiers in, the Union army,
aud serving from 1852 to the end Of
war.