Marshalling Manpower on the Bonanza Farms of the Red River Valley
Seasonal help flooded the Red River Valley bonanza farms during harvest
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A McCormick grain binder of the bonanza era. Thousands of these machines, plus those made by Milwaukee, Deering and others, were used on the plains.
From a circa-1900 McCormick catalog
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This month, we return to the operations of the huge bonanza farms in the Red River Valley between Minnesota and North Dakota.
After seeding and final harrowing, there was a lull until harvest began in late July. During that time, wild hay was cut and stacked, and binders and threshers were made ready for the big rush that was soon to come. Enough self-tying binders had to be available to cut the whole crop in 10 to 15 days or heavy losses could result from bad weather or over-ripe grain. One binder could harvest 10 to 12 acres per day and each machine cut 250 acres per year. On the Cass-Cheny farm, 45 binders cut 5,130 acres in 11 days in 1878. In 1879, 55 machines finished 8,170 acres in 13 days.
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Huge need for manpower
As one might imagine, lots of seasonal help had to be hired. In 1881 it was reported that farm manager Oliver Dalrymple had 800 men on the Cass-Cheny-Grandin operation at harvest time. During the crop season, those men were paid $16 to $25 a month, along with room, board and washing (winter wages dropped to $10 to $12). The separator operator got $2 to $2.50 per day and often slept under his machine for fear of losing his job. During harvest, day laborers – shockers, spike pitchers and bundle wagon drivers – commonly got $1.50 per day.
This army of itinerant workers arrived on freight trains and moved from city labor to logging camp to construction job to the harvest. Many of the best cooks and field workers came from the northern timber camps where they logged all winter. After getting the spring log drive to the sawmill and going on a glorious spree, they migrated to the harvest fields until it was time to trek back north in the late fall.
These large armies of men, many untrained in farm work, had to be strictly controlled so that horses and machines were operated properly. The larger farms were divided into divisions of 3,500 to 5,000 acres, each under a superintendent who reported to the general manager. Divisions were broken into 640-acre units, each managed by a foreman who supervised 10 to 25 men. The men were forbidden to make any adjustments or repairs to the machines, or even to carry a wrench or pliers in their pockets. The binder boss rode around the field in a buggy and made all adjustments or repairs, even down to knotting bailing twine balls together and rethreading knotter needles.
There were usually two shockers for every binder. The shocker boss used a buggy so he could make sure there was no loafing. He also used the buggy to haul a water barrel so the men could get a drink.
Threshing started as soon as the grain was cut and shocked. A threshing foreman’s normal crew was about 30 men, and six to 10 teams and bundle wagons to haul the shocks to the thresher. Five or six spike pitchers stayed in the field to help load the bundle wagons. The steam engine was tended by an engineer and a fireman who fed straw into the firebox. A separator man adjusted and greased the threshing machine, and a man with a team and bucking pole bucked the straw away from the separator. Two band cutters cut the tied bundles and fed the separator. Three men measured and sacked the threshed grain, while a couple of men with teams hauled the grain to storage. A water wagon hauled water for the engine and crew, and also hauled meals to the field.