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Domestic News
November 10, 1900
The Cook County Herald
Grand Marais, Cook County, Minnesota
What is this article about?
Stockman recalls E. D. Webster's past skepticism about farming Nebraska's 'desert' land; contrasts with recent success harvesting 80 bushels of corn per acre from 160 acres last fall.
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THE NEBRASKA DESERT.
Big Crops Now Grow Where a Noted Writer Once Lampooned the Idea.
Thirty years ago Nebraska was part of the "great American desert" in the imagination of eastern people, and even of eastern people living as far west as Chicago, remarked a long-whiskered stockman, as he looked around the Union depot, says the Chicago Inter Ocean.
Did you ever hear of E. D. Webster, who was private secretary of Seward in Lincoln's war cabinet? Well, E. D. Webster was a great man. He belonged to the old school of politics. He came out to Omaha after the war, and we were great friends, although Webster was 10 years older than I. We only differed about one thing. I thought Nebraska and Kansas and all that western country might be made to grow crops. Webster argued that the whole scheme was nonsensical.
"Tell you what I'll do," he said one day. "You take a peck of corn and plant it out there on that claim of yours. I'll take a box of Smith's lozenges and plant 'em on a strip joining your corn, and I'll bet I raise the bigger crop."
Well, that's all; only last fall I gathered 80 bushels to the acre off of that 160 acres!
Big Crops Now Grow Where a Noted Writer Once Lampooned the Idea.
Thirty years ago Nebraska was part of the "great American desert" in the imagination of eastern people, and even of eastern people living as far west as Chicago, remarked a long-whiskered stockman, as he looked around the Union depot, says the Chicago Inter Ocean.
Did you ever hear of E. D. Webster, who was private secretary of Seward in Lincoln's war cabinet? Well, E. D. Webster was a great man. He belonged to the old school of politics. He came out to Omaha after the war, and we were great friends, although Webster was 10 years older than I. We only differed about one thing. I thought Nebraska and Kansas and all that western country might be made to grow crops. Webster argued that the whole scheme was nonsensical.
"Tell you what I'll do," he said one day. "You take a peck of corn and plant it out there on that claim of yours. I'll take a box of Smith's lozenges and plant 'em on a strip joining your corn, and I'll bet I raise the bigger crop."
Well, that's all; only last fall I gathered 80 bushels to the acre off of that 160 acres!
What sub-type of article is it?
Agriculture
Economic
What keywords are associated?
Nebraska Agriculture
Crop Yield
Great American Desert
E D Webster
Corn Harvest
What entities or persons were involved?
E. D. Webster
Where did it happen?
Nebraska
Domestic News Details
Primary Location
Nebraska
Key Persons
E. D. Webster
Outcome
gathered 80 bushels to the acre off of that 160 acres
Event Details
Thirty years ago, E. D. Webster, private secretary of Seward in Lincoln's war cabinet, doubted the fertility of Nebraska land and bet a stockman that planting Smith's lozenges would yield more than corn; last fall the stockman harvested 80 bushels of corn per acre from 160 acres.