History of the Bagg Bonanza Farm
Mr. F.A. Bagg of South Hadley, Mass. came to work for his uncle, Mr. J. F. Downing on his bonanza farm at Mooreton, ND. Planning on staying for only a short while, Mr. Downing convinced him to take over the job of managing the farm after his superintendent resigned. To sweeten the deal, Mr. Downing offered him $500.00 a year and one-quarter interest in the farm, provided he would stay on as manager for at least 20 years. He agreed and stayed for 26 years. Mr. Bagg received his inheritance upon the death of Mr. Downing and in 1915, he moved his properties to the present location, 1 mile away. Mr. Bagg managed his own farm as efficiently as he had on the downing Farm and within a few years; he owned almost 6,000 acres, making the Bagg farm a bonanza farm in its own right. The Bagg farm has buildings conveying the type of wooden structures of the bonanza farming era of the 1800s and early 1900s. Bonanza farming gave agriculture a method and an ideal, which transformed farming from a family – based, animal – powered effort in the 19 Century, to a technologically oriented business of the 20-Century.
Men working on the Bagg farm in the early 1900s
