Samuel Glover once owned the largest farm in Dickey County. On this date in 1891, the Oakes Times ran an article about the operation. Glover planted 2,500 acres of wheat. It was described as “a golden sea of grain so tall that a person wading into its depths would be all but lost to view.”
In the spring of 1885, Glover purchased 11,000 acres from the Northern Pacific Railroad. When the railroad extended from LaMoure to Oakes, a station was built on Glover’s land. A few blocks were platted and the town of Glover was born. It eventually included two elevators, a store, and a blacksmith shop. Glover built his home a mile and a half west of the town overlooking the James River Valley. His sprawling farm comprised two large barns, blacksmith and repair shops, a storehouse, and a house for the farm workers. Glover built his house on the highest point of land, affording an expansive view. There were barns and eating houses at convenient locations to save time for the farm hands during seeding and harvesting.
Operating a farm on such a mammoth scale was new. The reporter described thirteen Deering binders moving through the wheat, each one pulled by four horses. Bundles of wheat were dropped onto the field. The binders were followed by twenty-six shockers who gathered the bundles into shocks. The foreman watched the operation carefully, directing workers as necessary to make sure no time was lost. The goal was to cut and shock two hundred acres per day. Glover estimated the yield would be thirty bushels per acre. Though he also raised corn and oats for feed, the wheat was his cash crop. Glover was credited for introducing durum wheat to the area, and he reportedly made as much as $90,000 for one harvest.
By the early 1900s Glover was in poor health. He turned the management of the farm over to his son Fred. Fred raised prize sheep, cattle, and horses. In 1910 the sale of his prize Percheron workhorses brought $24,000.
Samuel Glover moved to Minneapolis, where he spent his final years. He passed away on January 25th, 1910.
Dakota Datebook by Carole Butcher
Sources:
Oakes Republican. “The Glover Farm.” Oakes N. 14 August 1891. Page 3.
Oakes Times. “Samuel Glover Passes to Rest.” Oakes ND. 27 January 1910. Page 1.
