![]() Surely, John Welker had no idea how big the farm would grow when he handed it down. One hundred seven years later, the Welker family owns part and leases part of the 10,000 acres they steward. Tractor prepares to pull along the Case IH Combine at Welker Farms in Montana. Out here, you can go for five, six, seven miles before seeing another farmyard.” Now you can’t see buildings for miles because, as people sold their acreage, the farm’s buildings were knocked down and fields were put in their place. Nick says, “Since that time, people have been selling land and the Welker family has been buying land. “When ample rains ceased and times got harder,” says Nick, “great-great-uncle Tom decided to sell his 320 acres to his brother, my great-great-grandpa John.” Other homesteaders also found north central Montana farming to be too difficult. That’s how our family farm started.” The year was 1912, and Welker Farms has been growing bigger ever since. “His brother, my great-great-grandpa, John, came up shortly after and got the piece of property right next to him. So, Tom went home to recruit others in the family.” He wanted them also to claim a piece of the beautiful land he had discovered. Nick says, “At that time there were tremendous rains. Nick’s great-great-uncle Tom was the first to come up from Oklahoma to stake a claim. After five years of improvement to the farm, the original filer became the property owner, free and clear, except for a small registration fee. Claimants were required to build a dwelling, live on the land, and cultivate it. That’s why people chose other areas to settle first.” According to Nick, 320 acres were deeded per homestead. Nick Welker says, “It was also the roughest territory in the nation. In the early 1900s, some forty years after President Abraham Lincoln instituted The Homestead Act of 1862, Montana still had land available for homesteading. The story he shares about four generations of the Welker family farm near Shelby, Montana, is, in one word, BIG. So, how much horsepower do you suppose is required to work 10,000 acres? Nick Welker knows. How much horsepower does it take to work an Amish farm of 80 acres? Depending on the task, anywhere from two to eight horses will get the job done.
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