According to information on the back of the stereoview pictured above, the farm had 4,000 acres under cultivation in 1877. The farm contained three sets of buildings, each containing a house, stock barns, granary, etc.

The postcard to the upper right shows the original Dalrymple House, built in 1876. It is said to be the first frame house between Fargo and Bismarck, ND.

More about the Dalrymple farm can be found here.

 

Dalrymple House (1876)

Dalrymple had become known as the Minnesota wheat king with his large wheat farming operation near Cottage Grove in Washington County, Minnesota. Dalrymple had graduated from Yale Law School and had come to Minnesota in 1856 to practice law. He invested in a 3,000 acre farm which he farmed very successfully until 1874. Unfortunately, he lost his farming profits by speculating in the grain trade. General George Cass had come to know Dalrymple during his "wheat king" days as a good farmer who used the most advanced farming techniques.

Dalrymple's contract with Cass provided for gradual acquisition of the land, an option he exercised. This contract enabled Dalrymple to expand his holdings to about 100,00 acres in the late 1890's.

In 1874, James P. Power, land commissioner for the Northern Pacific Railroad, purchased 11,520 acres about 20 miles west of Fargo. The land was purchased for General George W. Cass (President of the Northern Pacific) and Benjamin P. Cheney, a director of the railroad. The Cass-Cheney farm became the first Bonanza Farm. Cass and Cheney hired Oliver Dalrymple to manage their new farmland. The photograph below is enlarged and cropped form a stereoview taken by F. J. Haynes in 1877, when he had a studio in Moorhead. As you can see, wheat farming was labor intensive.

Fargo, North Dakota

Dalrymple Farm

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