Our thanks to Harry Wright for providing this snapshot of
his grandfather, George Wright.
“Grandfather George L. Wright born in Scotland IN 1852, came with his parents in 1854, and
grew up in Wisconsin and worked around
Southern Minnesota near Taopi, MN. I can’t document this accurately but it was
understood he worked with the railroad as a depot agent as a young man or as a
farm hand. It does appear that other members of his family were making their
roots in southern MN near Austin and West Concord, MN. While working in the
area of Taopi, in southern MN, he met my Grandmother. My Grandmother, Ida
Allman, was a school teacher in the area. Later she taught in Owatonna and Le
Sueur. Her Father was a merchant in Taopi, MN and Cresco, IA His name was
Christian Allman and is buried in the New Organ Cemetery South of Cresco. Her
mother’s name was Elizabeth Ann (Lowry) Alleman
In the mid 1880’s my grandfather and two other gentlemen, Ed
Bradbury and Theo Davis continued West to South Dakota where he developed a
Horse Ranch called the “La Belle Ranch Horse Import Co”, or La Belle Ranch. The
Ranch was located 3 miles north of Winfred, SD, in Lake County, West of
Madison, SD. He acquired the first 160 acres as homestead, and then through
land grants acquired over 1600 acres that he managed. Because of friends and
associates in England and Scotland, he had contacts. Remember the West was
being settled by immigrants moving west to acquire new land. There was a need
for good registered work horses to do farm work as the immigration westward of
ranchers was growing. My grandfather imported those horses from Scotland and
sold them at their ranch. The ranch was successful from the late 1880 to the
late 1890’s. My grandfather also started a bank in Winfred, SD and donated land
for a Church.
During this time he continued his relationship with my
Grandmother. They were married later on September 30, 1886. They went back to
Scotland for their honeymoon and then continued to live on the La Belle Ranch.
During their trip back to Scotland they contacted Scottish Farmers willing to
export their work horses for sale at LaBelle Ranch in SD. They incorporated
with Bradbury as president, Davis as Vice President and my Grandfather as
Secretary. Because of their contacts in Scotland and England, they were able to
import registered work horses from Scotland & England and have them shipped
to Chicago where other associates would bring the horses by train to Winfred
for sale on their ranch. It was a big business at that time as the west was
being settled and good horses were needed to work the land. While those associates
waited for the sale date, they would hunt and fish on the acreage. Prior to that, oxen or wild horses would be
used for working the land. The imported horses were already trained for the
work that they would do and farmers paid good money for good work horses.
Building the
extensive horse importing and breeding ranch was not an easy task. Lumber for
the four large barns, a large frame house, a bunkhouse, a granary with a
windmill on top, and out buildings were hauled by wagons and teams from Luverne
and Pipestone, Minnesota, the nearest railroad centers. A second house was
built for my Grandfather and his family on top of the hill southeast of the
ranch. The main barn was put up in and
is still standing. The stone masons were paid $2.25 a day, and the carpenters
were paid $2.00 a day. The common laborers who hauled the rocks really did all
the heavy labor were paid $.25 a day.
At one time there
were four long horse barns with round windows and cupolas. It was the showplace
of Lake County, Dakota Territory. At one time 22 hired men and two cooks worked
on the ranch. A large square show ring was located near the barns where
horsemen from Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Nebraska, Iowa Minnesota and Yorkshire
England viewed the imported mares and sires.
Names like Voltaire, Blue Bell, Lady Ebony, Sir Williford, and Crausford
Duke made up the inventory. At one time $30,400 was the listed value of horses
and mares and $9000 in grade horses and colts. Business was good with the
influx of homesteaders and their need of horses.
The story goes that due to good living, hard times, poor
management, and low market for horses in the late 1890’s, they were forced to
sell. They gave the hired men horses of
their choice and thanked them for their faithfulness. Richard Westall from
Minnesota purchased the ranch and stocked it with cattle instead of horses. As
the years slipped by, most of the homesteads had been sold and the farmers
needed more and better machinery. My
father Leslie’s brother, George and Sisters Jean and Elizabeth were born in
South Dakota and my father was born on the farm in West Concord. They also lost
an infant son at birth while at the ranch.
In 1901 the family moved to West Concord, MN and purchased a
280 acre farm 2 miles east of town. West Concord as many small towns at that
time was beginning to grow as an agricultural area. Immigrants were being drawn to the mid-west
as new farm land was being developed. The early years were hard as they settled
into new areas. Merchants were starting new businesses to furnish settlers with
the necessary needs. When the railroad came through, the route they selected
was two miles west of Concord. As the area became progressive merchants realized
that they needed the railroad to access excellent draining during other growing
communities. The year was 1885 when
merchants decided to move their stores to the west and a new community was
known as West Concord was developed. Our farm was located half way between
Concord and West Concord. The original
road was an unimproved trail that ran through the farm between the house and
barn. Silver Creek ran through the
farm which made for wet seasons. Grandfather grew sugar beets at that time and
Mexican migrants worked for him in the farming program.
My Grandfather’s life is somewhat clouded with stories of
good and not so good. My Grandfather was accustomed to good living and always
had the best of the best in spite of the lack of finances. Bad times were not
mentioned during my growing up on the farm. The farm at that time was known as
the “Walnut Park Farm”, as a grove of Walnut Trees graced the homestead. My
Grandfather also planted a row of Maple trees on the east side of the house.
Those trees were nearly destroyed in the early 1920’s when the advent of
automobiles required that a road be built between Concord and West Concord. The
road construction engineer wanted to remove the trees for a right of way for
the road. My Grandfather refused and stood in the front lawn with a shot gun to
prevent any removal of the trees. The engineer told my Grandfather that they
wouldn’t take the trees, but they would need to remove the dirt next to the
trees to create a ditch, and told my Grandfather that nature would take the
trees anyway due to the lack of root development on one side. It would be
another 40 years before the road would be changed again and the dirt replaced.
My father wished his father would have been alive to see this. It was a show place that my Grandfather was
proud of wanting the best of the best and made sure that when modern
convenience came about like electricity, he wired the house, put in running
water and indoor facilities.“
Harry has written more about his family, and has family photos
to share that we will try to find a way to make it available to the clan. Once more
thank you Harry for this great snapshot. Next week is William Wright.
