MANAGEMENT
"An outstanding feature of the bonanza farm was the large degree to which it used professional management."
-Hiram M. Drache: "The Day of the Bonanza"
-Hiram M. Drache: "The Day of the Bonanza"
All the work on Bonanza Farms was done by migrant workers. Since these workers had no experience operating new machinery used on the farms, they were often divided into teams of 5 to 20 men, with one supervisor. The local managers assembled bunk houses and dining halls, for they knew this would help maintain the workforce. In addition, young women were given domestic work to do. As Mary Dodge Woodward, pioneer from the 1880s, recounts:
(August 11, 1885) Harvest has started. Now there will be no rest for man, woman, or beast until frost, which comes, thank heaven, early here. I was nearly beside myself getting dinner for thirteen men besides carpenters and tinners. . . . I baked seventeen loaves of bread today, making seventy-four loaves since last Sunday, not to mention twenty-one pies, and puddings, cakes, and doughnuts.
(August 11, 1885) Harvest has started. Now there will be no rest for man, woman, or beast until frost, which comes, thank heaven, early here. I was nearly beside myself getting dinner for thirteen men besides carpenters and tinners. . . . I baked seventeen loaves of bread today, making seventy-four loaves since last Sunday, not to mention twenty-one pies, and puddings, cakes, and doughnuts.
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After the harvest was over, migrant workers moved away to work in logging camps. Few people remained on the farms in winter, mainly to take care of the horses, repair machinery, and keep track of the records.