MAKING HOMES J,? 



"In .March, iS()<), 1 landed witli my family in Kalisjicdl, THathead county, 

 Moniana, nuniui;- iwnn Lawrence. Xuckles county, Nebraska. l<"or the first 

 six years I rented farms, farming- during- the season, except winter months, 

 when I went into the woods and worked in hind^er camps. , Eight years ago 

 I bought my first piece of land in this county, a tract of 120 acres, sixteen 

 miiles southeast of Kalisjicll, lying along the Mathead ri\-er. This land was 

 all covered \\\{h slunijis, logs and brush. The tiniber had been \er\- heavy 

 upon it, running about two and one-half millions of feet per quarter section. 

 The land cost me $25 ])er acre. 



"I continued renting adjacent farm land, fanning it during the summer, 



and at odd times during the winter T worked on my 120 acres, clearing. 



During the eight years) since I have purchased the original 120 acres. I have 



™, „. purchased other land and have cleared up 240 acres. This 240 



, -,,. , acres is perfectlv clear, and looks like prairie land. In clearinor 



the Work • . 1 ^ 



,-. .^ I used a Hercules stmr.p puller of the largest size. T used a 



Was Done. , , , , , , . / ^ .. , , 



great deal of forty per cent blasting powder. I fmd that you 



want good powder, and that it took about 100 pounds per acre, as the 



timtoer had been heavy on my land. 1 put enough pow'der in to split up the 



stumps. I used my thresher traction engine for pulling. It is a i6-horse- 



power machine. I found I could pull the split stumps faster with it than 



with the stump puller, though on some stumps I used the Hercules. Two 



men handling the cable and one man on the engine did the work. The 



tim'ber was pine and; fir. 



'T have a herd of 152 head of Angora goats, which I let run on the 

 stump land, and I find they are great brush clearers. They will eat the 

 young willow sprouts and sm'all brush clean of leaves, as well as the small 

 twigs. They will also bark the small trees, completely killing out the 

 brush. Besides, their clip of mohair is quite profitabc. 



"This same cleared land last year produced no bushels of oats per acre 

 by actual measurement of the land and grain measuremient from the machine. 

 Last year I had one piece that went 127 bushels of oats per acre. None of 

 my land is irrigated, but well farmed. I'his land grows good corn, and last 

 year I cut and weighed one-fourth acre of' corn when in the silo stage and it 

 weigihed 5 tons, 700 pounds, or over 22 tons per acre. 



'T can grow all kinds of grasses, alfalfa, cloN'er and grains and vege- 

 tables, as well as fine fruit. I have improved my place as fast as my means 

 would permit, building a comfortable house and barn, a granary that holds 

 12,000 bushels, with wagon dump and elevator, feed mill, wagon sheds, feed 

 mill house, scales and hay barn that holds 150 tons i>f hay. I have an 

 orchard of 700 fruit trees of different varieties that are bearing and doing 

 fine. 



"When I bought my first land I had no mone\', Init had 12 head of good 

 horses and 20 head of cattle and farm machinery. Three years later I 



— Milliona of acres of free homestead land await the plow in Montana. 



