BONANZA FARMS
The wealthy investors who had bought these railroad lands converted their parcels into huge farms, but quickly realized they had no time to run the farms themselves. They hired local managers to run the bonanzas while they were away and became the absentee owners of these large farms. The local managers ran the farms like businesses: they employed hundreds of people and made huge profits through wheat production. The mills in Minneapolis that were connected by the Northern Pacific Railroad processed the wheat into flour which helped the flourishing of Bonanza Farms. By 1875, 91 farms had been established within 40 miles of the Red River. While the average American farm at the time was less than 100 acres, Bonanza Farms ranged in size from 11,000 acres to 63,000 acres. |
Bonanza Farms soon became "the subject of the nation's farm periodicals" and were the most successful farms in the USA. The Spanish term bonanza, which means "good weather," refers to any sudden source of wealth, and perfectly described the great farms of the Red River Valley.