Gove County KS Archives History - Books .....Farming In Gove County 1930
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Book Title: History Of Gove County, Kansas, Part II

CHAPTER XI

FARMING IN GOVE COUNTY

  The next historian of Gove county will probably write of some things which are
interesting enough but which have been left out of this work because I do not
feel competent to do them justice. The next writer will tell of our cities and
fraternal organizations and churches. At the present time six denominations have
organizations and church buildings in our county. The Dunkards have three
churches in Quinter and Baker township, the Methodists have churches in Gove
City, Quinter, Grainfield and Grinnell, the Presbyterians in Quinter, the
Christians in Grinnell, the Nazarenes in Gaeland township and the Catholics in
Park, Grainfield and Grinnell.

  At last report the population of our cities was Gove City 226, Grain-field
338, Grinnell 274, Quinter 485. But let some city man write the story of our
cities, with their ups and downs; their occasional losses, by fire or some
business catastrophe; their big days, when they put on some celebration that
drew a crowd to town; their public improvements, electric lights and graveled
streets. The first dwellings in our towns were sod houses or tents. There is
still one sod house remaining in Quinter, where a fine old pioneer lady is
spending her declining years, in a home well furnished within and fortified
against the rain by a metal roof, rather than move out of the "soddy" into
something more modern and less homelike. With this exception, sod is no longer
in use as a building material in our towns; all these towns have some very nice
and tasty homes; and it is probably correct to say that more brick and cement is
used in them today than lumber.

  Buffalo Park was the first town in the county and in its time had an ambition
to be the county seat, as told in a previous chapter of this history. The town
was platted as Buffalo, the railroad company calls the station Buffalo Park, but
the postoffice is known as Park. After getting a good start in the early days
the town faded away till there was little left except the depot, stock yards,
water tank and school house; then the "Russians" settled around Park and built
their big church and Park became a town again. The town was never incorporated,
and has got along very well so far without a city government, but it has a
sufficient population to incorporate as a city at any time the inhabitants desire.

  Our cities have plenty of civic pride, and nothing gives a citizen such a
thrill as to have his town beat some other town, in any competition whatsoever.
A few years since, Quinter had a baseball team which beat everything in the
country. The Gove City sports got tired of being beaten by Quinter and hired a
noted professional pitcher, giving him a hundred dollars to beat Quinter a
couple games. He delivered the goods and Quinter was beaten. Quinter had several
paid players on the team, and after these two games these players were "fired."
Quinter wouldn't have them if they couldn't beat Gove City. And the Gove City
sports were a hundred dollars poorer but did not regret it, because they had
beaten Quinter.

  On another occasion a county-wide Sunday school rally was held at Grainfield
and a banner was to be given to the town which had the largest attendance. Our
town wanted that banner. The writer's attendance had not been regular and he was
not in very good standing at Sunday school, but this was forgiven and he was
kidnapped and taken along, for something desperate had to be done to beat
Quinter. When the noses were counted our crowd had beaten Quinter,—by just one.
I shall always think they never would have won that banner without me.

  Our cities perhaps will never grow much larger under present conditions. They
are country towns, without industries of their own, and their prosperity depends
upon that of the country surrounding them. The big industry of Gove county is
farming.

  And farming in Gove county has a history—romantic, sometimes comic, sometimes
tragic. Perhaps the subject calls for a poet rather than a historian. Elihu
Bowles, former resident of our county, wrote a small volume of very readable
verse which he called "In a Sod House." The Creator never made a fairer land but
this sun which shines nearly every day in the year is sometimes destructive as
well as creative; the wind may be chillingly cold or blisteringly hot; the
temperature may range from a hundred degrees above zero to thirty below,
according to the season; the rainfall may be anywhere from seven inches to
twenty eight inches per annum, as the record shows, and the evaporation is from
two to five times as great as the rainfall. This was the natural home of the
buffalo grass, scanty of growth but rich of quality, which survives both heat
and cold and in times of drouth cures up on its stalk and goes to sleep till
rain comes again. The soil is rich, the sod easily broken, but farming in Gove
county has been a fifty years struggle of man against the climate, to make the
country a home for domestic plants and fruits and animals and civilized people.

  The first battle of the settlers with the wilderness was lost by the settlers.
Seeds the farmers brought with them from their eastern homes would not do well
in a new country and their farming ended in failure; the country could not be
carried by assault and half the settlers gave up the battle and left the county
as quickly as they came. The early settlers had little capital, and perhaps it
was just as well that they did not, for in their ignorance of the country those
who had the most money were the biggest losers. Those who built nice houses and
planted trees and made other improvements lost their money; the successful ones
were those who built a sod house and settled down to live within their means and
work out a system of agriculture fitted to the country.

  When the battle was resumed it was along different lines. The country would
grow buffalo grass if it would not grow corn and wheat, and every settler tried
to get hold of a few cows. Half the country was railroad land untouched by the
plow; of the remainder much had not been plowed or had been deserted and was
rapidly going back to grass. Grass was free and a cattleman had a snap. New
crops were being discovered; it was found out that the sorghums would thrive on
the plains and that they were good winter feed for cattle, and that some kinds
of them produced good grain. Alfalfa was introduced on the bottom lands.
Settlers from Russia brought a variety of wheat which thrived on the plains of
Kansas, and new strains of corn were being developed which were suited to our
climate. But during the time that these new crops were being tried out everybody
was cattle-minded. The country was covered with the melancholy ruins of the
settlers sod shanties, and we wished it to remain that way, for if let alone the
buffalo grass would soon reclaim the country and repair the damage which the
plow had done. If an occasional home seeker visited the country he was asked to
declare h s intentions; if he would bring cattle he was welcomed as a good
citizen; if he intended to farm, every one he met discouraged him and told him
the country is no good, you can t raise anything, you can't get water. I have no
doubt that in those days we scared away many a good farmer whom we would be glad
to welcome now.

  Now for a few years the cattlemen made money. Then, when the value of cattle
in Gove county was approaching the million mark, ruin struck the cattlemen. I
shall always think it was a put up job. The Kansas City banks, dominated by the
packing interests of that city, had been eager to make loans to cattlemen. Any
one who had a few cattle and an abundance of free range was urged and solicited
to borrow money and buy more cattle. With money to be had so easily everybody
went in debt, then—the packers sprung the trap, knocked the bottom out of the
cattle market and called in their loans. The packers got the cattle, and most of
the cattlemen were broke.

  But in the same year that the cattlemen were being put out of business Gove
county got its first big wheat crop. Those of the stockmen who were raising
wheat also had a chance to make back in wheat what they lost in cattle. The year
1903 was a perfect wheat year. A perfect wheat year is not necessarily a year of
heavy rainfall. In fact, the rainfall in 1903 was only 17.25 inches —but it came
when needed and none of it was wasted. There were heavy rains in the fall of
1902; 16.8 inches of rain fell during the months from July till October. This
spoiled the winter pasture and made a miserable season for cattle, but put the
ground into perfect condition for wheat and gave it a good early growth; gentle
rains came in the spring and till harvest time, with no hail or high winds, then
followed a dry spell during harvest—and Gove led all the counties in the state
in average yield of wheat per acre, in a year when the rainfall was two inches
less than the average of the forty years in which the record has been kept.

  The wheat crop of 1903 was 752,-518 bushels, the average per acre 25 bushels.
With our acreage in this year 1930 such an average would mean a wheat crop of
five million bushels. There were, of course, many fields which yielded far above
the average. Yields of forty bushels per acre were common. But the highest yield
of all was reported by J. C. Ort of Grinnell township who on a measured area of
three acres harvested and threshed 222 bushels, an average of seventy four
bushels to the acre. .Lest this story be doubted Mr. Ort and his neighbors made
an affidavit to the facts as stated. And Mr. Ort is still alive to testify to
that big wheat crop.

  Since 1903 mixed farming has been the type of agriculture most followed in
this county. The settlers who came in about that time and later were better
equipped for the battle than were the first comers. They grew corn and wheat of
a kind suited to the country; they grew the sorghums, which in some years yield
better than corn and wheat; they raise live stock as well as the field crops,
and much butter and eggs. The new agriculture is on a secure foundation; the sod
houses are gone; our county has many well improved farm homes and some of our
farmers are not to be excelled anywhere. Three years ago the State Agricultural
College and the farm papers of Kansas instituted the custom of selecting each
year a small number of outstanding men to be designated as Master Farmers. The
first selection contained the name of one Gove county man, A. Yale of Grinnell
township; and we expect to see the names of some other Gove county farmers when
future lists are announced.

  The climatic difficulties which confront our farmers are perhaps as great as
ever, but have been overcome to some extent by improved methods of farming,
Drouth has been rendered less deadly by conservation of moisture and the raising
of the crops best suited to the country. As more of the buffalo grass is broken
up the hot winds have lost some of their power and prairie fires have ceased to
be a menace. The wind we have always with us but we are learning to tame it. The
writer of this sketch well remembers being put on the program of the county
Farmers Institute twenty years ago for a talk on How to Keep our Soil from
Blowing. It was a big subject, and in trying to solve the problem in a few words
he laid down the following principles: "Keep a cover on the ground—stubble,
trash or a good soil mulch (not a dust mulch); throw the harrow away, or use it
with judgment; stir the ground in the spring." These recommendations seem rather
inadequate now, but I maintain that they are good, as far as they go.

  Certain animal pests have had to be eliminated. Time was when the prairie dogs
numbered millions, and when the sod was broken up they held their ground and cut
down the crops the farmer planted; the Agricultural College took up the problem
and compounded a poison which was effective, and for years the townships levied
a tax each year for the destruction of prairie dogs. It would be hard now to
find a prairie dog in the county. Thousands of dollars have been paid out in
bounties on coyotes and jack rabbits, and in some years that little animal, the
grasshopper, is still very destructive.

  In 1912 came the "horse disease", a malady which the veterinarians have never
been able to explain, which carried off 1470 horses in Gove county. All the
counties in the wheat belt were stricken, in the neighboring states as well as
in Kansas. Farming operations were paralyzed for several weeks, then the scourge
passed away as mysteriously as it came.

  The development of the southern half of the county has been retarded by the
lack of railroad facilities. The early settlers firmly believed that a railroad
would be built along the valley of the Smoky, and the towns of Jerome, Alanthus,
Teller and Pyramid were laid out in readiness for it. One or more railroad
surveys were actually projected, but nothing came of them. The railroad
excitement broke out at recurrent intervals and even so recent as six years ago
a railroad meeting was held at Gove City. It is now evident that no more
railroads will be built, and the south half has settled down to make the best of
it; the Smoky is now-bridged in eight places, our graded roads are pretty good,
most of our farmers have trucks and it is not much of a hardship now to haul
grain twenty miles to market; most of the county now has R. F. D. or star route
delivery, so the railroad is now but little missed. Lands are cheaper in the
south half, the largest ranches are there and a larger percentage of the land is
owned by nonresidents than in the northern part of the county.

  A new style of agriculture has made its appearance within, recent years. The
tractor and the combine enable the farmer to farm a larger acreage, but
sometimes he has to go a long distance from home to get the land he needs. Some
who live in the extreme north of the county are now farming south of the
Hackberry. If this tendency continues our towns along the railroads may become
farm villages like those in the Old World and much of the farmer's work will be
at a distance of twenty miles or more from his home. Some future historian may
have a word to say about this subject.

  At last report our county had 327 farm tractors, 329 trucks and 1571
automobiles. These gas-propelled vehicles are of such recent invention that it
is not hard to remember back to the time before they made their appearance here.
If we are not mistaken, J. E. Smith owned the first automobile in Gove county;
the purchase was announced in the Republican-Gazette Dec. 14, 1905, in the
following words:

  "County Treasurer Smith has purchased an Olds Mobile with which to pass to and
from his respective positions of county treasurer and cashier of the Citizens
State Bank of Grainfield. The two towns being about 14 miles apart he can now
cover the distance in about one hours time."

  Tradition says that this pioneer auto frequently failed to make the distance
within the hour, and that it sometimes had to be hauled in.

  I wonder who will get the first airplane?

  Our farmers have not been backward in forming organizations necessary to their
business. Farmers institutes were formed at different times, but the County
Institute organized at Gove City in 1907 had the longest life. For thirteen
years this body maintained a two day annual fair each fall at Gove City. It had
no buildings or grounds and offered no amusement attractions to draw a crowd,
but it got a $50 grant from the county each year and raised an equal amount on
the side and put on a free fair and a program of stock judging and other matters
that was worth while. Then the Gove County Fair Association at Gove City and the
Quinter Fair Association at Quinter were organized and took over the work which
the farmers institute had started. For the last seven years the county has had
two very creditable fairs. Too bad this is the last chapter in this history—I
would like to give a chapter to these fairs and the work they have done.

    The Farmers Union organized the county about fifteen years ago, and has an
elevator or business association at every shipping point in the county. When
Congress passed the Rural Credits Act, two local farm loan associations were
formed in the county to take advantage of the provisions of the law and get
cheap money for the farmers; these associations are the Prairie View Farm Loan
Association, whose territory is the south half of the county, and the
Baker-Collyer Farm Loan Association which does business in the Quinter territory.

  Some final statistics are in order, to show the basis upon which Gove county
agriculture rests. Eighty per cent of the county is in farms. The acreage in
wheat is reported as 153,233; corn is 30,189 acres, barley 27,422, cane 12,986.
But these figures are subject to change; if the outlook for wheat is not good in
the spring the farmers will put out a larger acreage of corn, barley and the
sorghums; and in some seasons the yield of these crops is worth more than the
wheat crop. For some reason not yet explained the acreage in alfalfa is much
smaller than it used to be. Cattle number 21,548. The product of the fields
varies greatly from year to year according to the season, but the egg crop last
year was worth $88,258 and the milk crop $108,920, and these are crops which can
always be depended on.



Additional Comments:
History of Gove County, Kansas
by W. P. Harrington

Gove City, Kan.	1930

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