Bannock-Caribou County ID Archives Biographies.....Knollin, Albert Jason 1862 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/id/idfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 19, 2008, 1:53 am Author: S. J. Clarke (Publisher, 1920) Albert Jason Knollin ALBERT JASON KNOLLIN is a man of fine physical proportions whose physique is but the index of his character. He is a big man in the fullest sense of the term—broad-minded, progressive, enterprising, who is not only a leader in local affairs but is recognized as one of the most prominent sheepmen of the entire west. There are perhaps few others who have contributed so largely to the development of the sheep industry in America as Albert Jason Knollin, who is still a prominent stockman of Idaho. He was born in Montgomery county, New York, April 21, 1862, and is a son of James and Cornelia Knollin. His father, a native of New Brunswick, born in 1831, came to the United States when twenty-one years of age and assisted in preparing the first ties for railroad use in Canada. After crossing the boundary into this country he engaged in farming and in the raising of live stock. His wife was born in New York in 1832 and after residing for some time in that state they removed to Macoupin county, Illinois, where Mr. Knollin engaged in the live stock business. Later he became a well known live stock man of St. Louis, Missouri. Albert J. Knollin, previous to the completion of his public school education at the age of seventeen years, had served an apprenticeship at farming, taking up active work along that line when a little lad of eleven. When seventeen years of age he began dealing in live stock, largely handling sheep and butchering in St. Louis. In 1883 he established a butchering business in Kansas City, Missouri, and in 1888 sold a half interest in his business to Swift & Company of Chicago. From 1885 until 1890 he bought sheep for the Swift corporation on a commission basis and in 1890 assumed charge of their entire sheep interests, having disposed of his remaining interest in the Kansas City butchering business to them. During his association with Swift & Company at Kansas City they established feed yards in both Kansas and Nebraska so as to insure a supply of sheep at all times. Mr. Knollin bought the first sheep ever brought from Texas for northern consumption. To stock the feed yards he found it necessary to ship sheep from the Lone Star state, also from Arizona and New Mexico. In many instances the sheep had to be driven many miles before reaching the nearest rail road point. On one occasion he drove his sheep from the south as far as Hutchinson, Kansas, to be fed and later shipped on by rail. This was in 1890. In 1888 and 1889 the company bought hay at from a dollar and a half to two dollars per ton to feed the sheep, also paid twelve and a half cents per bushel for corn and from twelve to fifteen cents per bushel for oats, delivered at the feed yards. Mr. Knollin remained with Swift & Company until 1891, his headquarters being in Chicago the last year. He then returned to Kansas City, where he engaged in farming and sheep raising, and in the fall of 1891 he again began sheep buying on his own account, following this throughout Utah. It was during the winter of that year that he established the present method, which later became universal, of feeding lambs and yearlings. In 1894 he entered into partnership with Edward F. Swift under the firm name of A. J. Knollin & Company and they built up a very large business, handling over eight hundred thousand head of sheep per year, buying in Montana, Washington, Idaho, California, Nevada, Arizona and New Mexico, trailing and shipping from those states to the corn belt in Kansas and Nebraska and owning at one time as many as four hundred thousand head of sheep in ten different states and territories. At the same time they engaged in farming operations in Nebraska, Kansas and Illinois and owned ranches in Utah, Idaho and New Mexico, their wool clipping running as high as two million pounds per year. In 1899 it was almost impossible to sell their wool clip at any price. Some of the wool was freighted by wagon from the Little Lost River country to Dubois, Idaho, at a cost of one cent per pound, netting them but eight cents per pound. During this period on his visit to Idaho, Mr. Knollin became convinced that the state possessed advantages over other states for the raising of sheep and lambs, so the firm centered its business in Idaho, with ranches throughout the state and with the main office at Soda Springs, while ranch headquarters were maintained at Rexburg, Dubois, Lost River, Emmett, Bruneau and Raft River. At the same time the firm owned other ranches in New Mexico and Utah. In 1902 Mr. Knollin dissolved his partnership with Mr. Swift but continued in the sheep business in New Mexico and Idaho. In 1912 he disposed of his New Mexico interests but still owns a fifteen hundied acre farm located about eight miles from the city limits of Kansas City, Kansas, which he purchased in 1885. In 1898 Mr. Knollin turned his attention to the raising of thoroughbred stock, for which he has a demand from all parts of the United States. In 1919 he shipped breeding stock, including Shropshires, Hampshires, Oxfords, Cotswolds, Lincolns, Rambouillets and Romneys, the latter being imported from New Zealand, the shipments being made to California, Oregon, Washington, Montana, North Dakota, Nebraska, Kansas, Utah, Colorado, Tennessee, Louisiana, New York, Massachusetts, Iowa, Illinois and Virginia, as well as a great number being distributed in the state of Idaho. He also had inquiries from every state in the Union but could not supply the stock, although he is the largest breeder of pure bred sheep in the entire country. He also has the pure bred Belgian horse on his farm in Kansas and shorthorn cattle and Berkshire hogs in Idaho. He has repeatedly captured the first prizes at state and national expositions and has never lost the trophy for carload lots of fat lambs bred and fed in Idaho. In exhibiting his prizes, ribbons and cups at the various expositions he has done more to advertise Idaho than perhaps any other individual. There is not a road or path in this state that he has not either ridden or driven over, and he has done more for sheep raising in the states of Idaho, New Mexico, Texas and Utah than any one individual. Many of the most successful sheepmen of the present day in Idaho were at one time his employes. In 1894 he established the first exclusive commission sheep business in Kansas City with C. J. Booth. This business prospered so well that in 1900 the firm established commission houses in South St. Joseph, Missouri, and Omaha, Nebraska. In 1903 Mr. Knollin purchased Mr. Booth's interest and opened a house in Chicago in 1904 and one in Denver in 1905 but in 1916 discontinued those houses. The business was conducted under the name of the Knollin Sheep Commission Company. They were the largest handlers of sheep on a commission basis, averaging about eight thousand double deck cars, or two million sheep, per year. Mr. Knollin estimates that he has probably handled as many sheep during his career as there are in the United States today, during which time he has had many trials to contend with but persistency of purpose has enabled him to overcome all obstacles and reach a foremost position of leadership in connection with the sheep industry in America. Mr. Knollin first came to Idaho in 1894, making his home at Soda Springs. In 1917 he returned to this state and is now a resident of Pocatello. He owns eight thousand acres of agricultural land in Bannock, Butte and Caribou counties, on which he raises all his own feed and hay, last year harvesting forty-four hundred tons of hay and two and a half million pounds of grain. He employs one hundred and twenty-five men in this state alone. During the last few years he has been locating farmers on his land on the Little Lost river, where he maintains a school with an attendance of twenty-five pupils, all living upon his ranch. The Child Welfare League reported seventeen children five years of age and under. The value of his service in the development of Idaho cannot be overestimated. On the 1st of January, 1891, Mr. Knollin was married to Miss Cora Wells, of Bradford county, Pennsylvania. She is a daughter of Charles and Almira (Mason) Wells. Her father was born in New York but lived the greater part of his life in Pennsylvania. He was a naval officer under Farragut at New Orleans and in Mobile bay during the Civil war. The mother was born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, and is a niece of Newton E. Mason, a retired admiral of the United States navy, who was officer in charge of Admiral Schley's flagship in Cuba during the Spanish-American war. Mr. and Mrs. Knollin became the parents of the following children. James Charles, the eldest, is editor of the Orchard & Farm of Los Angeles, California. Loyal C. was a member of the Gas and Flame Corps, serving as corporal of Company A of the First Gas Regiment in France. This work took the company to the front with all allied armies save that of Italy. Before going to the war Loyal C. Knollin had managed his father's farm in Kansas. His splendid military record is but the expression of the name which he bears. Albert J., Jr., attending the Wisconsin State University, was graduated from the Westport high school of Kansas City in 1918 and is now pursuing a civil engineering course. The youngest child, Mabel Mary, is attending Miss Barstow's School for Girls at Kansas City, Missouri, in which her mother taught before her marriage. This daughter owns a flock of pure bred sheep on the range in Idaho. Mr. and Mrs. Knollin also lost two sons: Edgar, who died at the age of ten months; and Robert, when but three years of age. Mr. Knollin is over six feet in height and of athletic build, appearing much younger than he really is. He is a man of polished manner and his wife is an accomplished lady, their home being one of comfort and refinement. His success is due to no unusual circumstances. He had no special educational training but throughout his life he has been alert to every opportunity for advancement and has used his opportunities wisely and well. Each forward step that he has made has brought him still broader chances—but such as any other man might have won. It has been because he has used his opportunities that Albert Jason Knollin stands today as the foremost raiser of pure bred sheep in the United States. Additional Comments: Extracted from: IDAHO DELUXE SUPPLEMENT CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1920 Photo: http://www.usgwarchives.net/id/bannock/photos/bios/knollin62nbs.jpg File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/id/bannock/bios/knollin62nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/idfiles/ File size: 11.1 Kb