The White Bluffs Sweet Potato Bonanza
After local reports of a massive 27-ton-per-acre sweet potato yield went viral, a farmer finds himself fielding inquiries from skeptics and hopeful growers across the country.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
The article published a few weeks ago in the Spokesman, giving the experience of E. W. Steffen in the growing of sweet potatoes in this valley, was evidently copied by a large number of papers and the story thereby given almost nationwide publicity. Approximately twenty letters from widely scattered points have already arrived. Most of the writers are interested in the enormous yield—27 tons to the acre—and the price, $100 per ton. John F. Weekley of Ulmers, South Carolina, wrote to express his skepticism: 'Did you really make 27 tons of potatoes on an acre and sell at $100 per ton? This will figure $2700 to the acre, a bonanza, a gold brick or an oil well.' Mr. Steffen says there is no mistake about the yield of 27 tons. He has carefully measured the ground and while he had in much less than an acre, the yield was on the basis of 27 tons. His records also show his crop was marketed on the basis of $100 per ton.
“This will figure $2700 to the acre, a bonanza, a gold brick or an oil well.”
This story captures the timeless rural dream of the 'get-rich-quick' crop. Today, high-value specialized agriculture continues to define the economic potential of the Columbia Basin, echoing the excitement over Steffen's record-breaking yield.
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