Best Diversified Farm in Country Say N. P. Officials
Brown's 2,600-Acre Ranch at Sherlock Receives High Praise From Visitors.

Washington Standard
August 29, 1913

"Our business, Mr. Brown, is to go all over the United States. I've seen farms in every part of the country, and mighty fine farms, too, and I've been traveling for years, but I can sincerely say that yours is the finest example of diversified farming I have ever seen." Alston Lennon Brown, owner of the 2,600-acre ranch in the Nisqually valley near Sherlock, stepped back a little bashfully as L. J. Bricker of St. Paul, general immigration agent of the Northern Pacific lines, made that statement at the close of a hurried tour of the ranch Monday afternoon by himself and associate agents, and then his face smiled and his eyes sparkled as he rejoined:

"Well, those salmon you had for dinner were caught this afternoon in that creek there." "Boys, what do you think of that?" came quick as a flash from Mr. Bricker. And it was true. The dinner those agents, together with members of the Olympia Chamber of Commerce, enjoyed as Mr. Brown's guests was solely a Thurston county dinner from the fish to the apple pie. Meats, fish, potatoes and vegetables galore weighted down the table in the bunk house just long enough for a picture to be taken and then disappeared like snow before a summer sun until the members of that party smacked their lips unanimously and surreptitiously let out their belts a notch or two.

Then came the trip around the farm in automobiles, led by Mr. Brown. You have Mr. Bricker's description of it, the finest diversified farm in the United States, an opinion the other agents strongly endorsed. To tell about it rightly would require a book; here are just a few brief points: 45,000 chickens are raised there every year. (Mr. Bricker's eyes popped when he heard that.) 800 of the 2,600 acres are under cultivaton. 600 are planted to oats, the 1913 yield being estimated at 12S bushels per acre.

The buildings are valued at $40,000. The dikes by which many hundreds of acres have been reclaimed from the Nisqually delta, cost $20,000. As it stands today, the farm cost little less than $60 an acre, Including  everything. The annual gross revenue is said to be $75,000. Sales offices are maintained in Seattle, through which the farm products are disposed of. From 35 to 50 men are employed the year around. There are 150 milch cows, supplying a creamery which makes 1,000 pounds of butter a week.

The farm is equipped with everything from a blacksmith shop to a meat packing plant. The buildings are lighted by electricity generated on the place. 1,200 hogs are butchered and marketed every year, each averaging about 175 pounds dressed. 1,500 eggs a day is the average. Every conceivable convenience in the implement line, from a caterpillar tractor to a gasoline engine. Shower baths for the employees. 100 of the finest breeds of horses. Cows tested once a month in the farm's own laboratory.

And then, among many other things, an ice plant and a refrigerator that will record as low as 10 degrees below zero; fine artesian wells, unequalled fishing in Puget Sound and the farm's own fish pond; a pasteurization room that will produce 225 degrees' heat; a foreman in charge of each department of the work under the general super- vision of Mr. Brown; barns and buildings built for the specific purpose for which they are used, and the largest silo in this part of the country.

The party reached Olympia about 3 o'clock Monday afternoon, took a short ride around the city, "chewed the rag" at the Chamber of Commerce with a delegation of local businessmen for a while, and then started for the farm in automobiles driven by F. M. Kenney, president of the Chamber, C. J. Lord, W. A. Weller, C. A. Harmony, Frank G. Blakeslee, and H. N. Sticklin, spending the remainder of the afternoon and the evening until 7:15 at the Brown ranch.

After wandering about the buildings for a few minutes after their arrival, the members of the party sat down to the Thurston county dinner furnished by Mr. Brown, President Kenney of the Chamber acting as chairman of the short meeting which followed, welcoming the visitors on behalf of the county and calling upon Mr. Brown to tell the assemblage some of the facts about his farm. This he did, but he had not gotten far in his story before he was interrupted by a series of questions from all sides, which he glibly answered as the railroad men grabbed pad and pencil to note them down.

Then came the trip around the big ranch, the last stop being made at the horse barns where some excellent animals were displayed amid the plaudits of the visitors. The trip throughout was a chorus of exclamations and surprises, and as they climbed into the automobiles to catch the train at Sherlock they accorded Mr. Brown three rousing cheers. In the party were L. J. Bricker, general immigration agent, St. Paul; L. S. Wood, his secretary; C. E. Arney, Western freight, and immigration agent, Spokane; the following traveling immigration agents: J. F. Fox, J. L. Dougherty, Chicago; G. A. Jobes, Cincinnati; S. M. McEwen, Knoxvllle, Tenn.; J. L. Moore, Billings. Mont., and O. L. Stark, Kansas City, Mo.; S. J. Miller, traveling passenger agent, Vancouver, Wash.; James Magson, local passenger agent, and T. E. Coyle, assistant superintendent, Tacoma.