Minnesota Money Fences 4,517 Acres of Douglas County
Outside investors buy a raw tract between Krupp and Irby, planning 1,500 acres of wheat and a blooded cattle operation.
An item from Krupp, in Douglas county, says: "A. S. Crowder, of Spokane, and W. S. Ennis, of Illinois, have sold to a party of Minnesota capitalists 4,517 acres of land lying between here and Irby. All the land is in a raw, unimproved state. About half of it can be used for grazing, there being an abundance of good bunch grass. The rest of the tract is good farming land. The purchasers intend to engage in stock raising on an extensive scale, and will raise blooded cattle and horses, but principally Red Polled cattle. The land is well watered by springs and Crab Creek. The land will be entirely fenced this coming spring and 1,500 acres plowed and put into wheat. The price paid is said to have been $15,810."
“The land will be entirely fenced this coming spring and 1,500 acres plowed and put into wheat.”
Then as now, outside capital reshaped Washington farmland. The fencing and plowing of Douglas County was part of a larger turn from open range to commodity agriculture, with consequences for who owns the land and who works it.
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