Museum the New Llano Colony

Rice Ranch
Growing Rice, Pumping Station

"Llano Colonist," April 22, 1922

"Branch Colony Will Probably Result on 273 Acre Rice Farm -- The Llano Co-operative Colony is now in the business of producing rice. Arrangements have been completed whereby the Colony takes over the operation of a 273-acre farm located near Jennings, La., 75 miles from Newllano, and a force of men from the Colony are now on the place plowing and doing other work preparatory to putting in the crop.

About 50 acres are in timber and the remainder is under cultivation. All will be planted to rice except about 70 acres, which will probably be planted to Irish potatoes. A conservative estimate places the yield of rice at 1500 bage [sic], or about 3000 bushels which means a plentiful supply for colony use and one article less that will have to be bought on the outside.

On the place is a $6,000 well and pumping plant, which furnishes water for irrigation purposes to surrounding farmers for one-fifth of their crop and this arrangement will net the Colony an additional 2,000 bags at a low estimate. Besides a bountiful supply of rice for the table, a large surplus for stock is also assured. The rice straw makes excellent roughage for the animals, and any amount of this may be had by baling it on shares.

W.H. West and Arthur Sharp, both of whom live in the vicinity of Jennings, have become members of the Colony, and are now in charge of the place. Each has a wife and two small children and they are comfortably located in two of the three dwellings that are on the farm. The third houses the men from Newllano who are Synoground, Reeves, Sanders, Van Nuland, Waters and Paton. The first three men will remain only during the planting season and take care of the mechanical work. Van Nuland and Waters are scheduled to remain a little longer, and Paton is to stay for an indefinite period and show his skill in gardening, as the soil is excellent for truck raising. Two tractors and two teams are now being used in planting, and the pumping plant is being overhauled and put into shape to take care of the irrigation."

"Llano Colonist," February 2, 1926

"Comrade Leonard has charge of the agricultural end of the development and at this time has eighty acres of land plowed and laid off for the planting of pecan trees every hundred feet and orange trees between them every twenty five feet.

Comrade Hewett who has charge of the horticultural end of this project will immediately plant these trees as well as more varieties and greater quantities of fruit and nut trees for our own use as well as for sale. As the ground was wet today they cleared up around the place putting it in order and I assure you that the Rice Ranch is in the best condition that I have ever seen it. It speaks of prosperity, proper human initiative and practical work being done. The group that was there today included Cuno, Leonard, Mrs. Kimball, Ernest Kimball, Bennie Hewett, Ross Brannon, Shuster, Fall, Fred Jensen and Bill Shipman. There will be some additions made to this family at once as Comrade Hewett intends to set out this large acreage of orchard and Ben Roe will be invited by Leonard to come down and put his entire garden spot into early garden, much of it to be used by us here at the Colony.

This year we intend to build a new and efficient machine and blacksmith shop in conjunction with our boiler house and pumping plant.

We will have to and are going to make quite an extensive building program at this place. It will be a call for more help to take care of these extra developments we are making down there. We are establishing two big herds of cattle, one for dairy and the other for beef purposes.

This year we will have in very nearly four hundred acres of rice. At this time we have about twenty-five head of sheep and about seventy-five head of hogs and pigs that are being cared for and assisted in increasing their likeness.

This Rice Ranch is a wonderful place and it is too bad that we cannot at this time increase our holdings there in establishing a group just as large as the one up here. We have a congenial and optimistic group of people at the Rice Ranch who are enjoying life and doing much to help us to show that the Llano Way is the right way."

"Llano Colonist," December 3, 1927

"The Colony owns a rice ranch of about 433 acres, approximately 70 miles south of the Colony, with a pumping plant which supplies both colony lands and some neighboring farms. This produced 400,000 pounds of rice the first year, and produces equally good every year when seeded to rice. A small working force is kept there, workers being shifted between this and the main colony at intervals. Rice produces a supply of straw and grain for use of the colony and a surplus for the market."

"Llano Colonist," January 21, 1928

"Bert Busick and Lee Fread drove to the Rice Ranch, Bert to bale hay while Lee brot back a truck load of rice. Jim Hunter and Dauber grind most of this into feed for our chickens, cows, mules and horses. Some of it is hulled for our table use and to see to friends who want unpolished rice. Some of it is made into rice meal which is becoming a popular food article at Llano and among many of our customers. It is a better food than corn meal being next to wheat in food value."

"Llano Colonist," September 22, 1928

"The first 1928 crop of rice on our Llano Ranch was of the 'Japan' variety, which has a short, bulky kernel and belongs to the early maturing grains, imported to the United States from Japan, some years ago.

We have now threshed of this rice about two hundred sacks, the work of loading from the field, hauling to the threshing machine and filling into sacks having been done by a number of men co-operating with our own labor-force. In this part of the country most farmers are not sufficiently financed to hire 'hands' by the year, month, week or day, and as it is impossible for a single family to plant, harvest, thresh and store a year's crop of rice, farmers call upon their neighbors to assist them in the work and when one man's rice has been safely garnered, he goes to the neighbor's farm and helps him to bring in his crop.

The two hundred sacks of 'Japan' rice we harvested last week were grown on our land southwest of our ranch house, and eight men with five teams and trucks were engaged in the work. The sheaves of grain which had been on the field about 2 weeks were moist from several rainy days and so they had to be turned over with pitchforks before being loaded on the trucks and then hauled to the thresher, a distance of about three quarters of a mile. Next week we expect to start cutting the rice grown on our fifty-acre plot, west of the Llano orchard, from which we will remove about six or seven hundred sacks. This rice is of the 'Supreme Duro' variety, the grain of which is longer and more bulky than the Japan rice.

The work on this plot will take three or more days, but there is no long haul connected with it as the thresher will be moved right on the field. The last of the Llano crop will be that grown on the field on which the old Gilleroy house is still standing. This variety of rice is known as 'Fortuna'. Its kernel is long, thin and sharply pointed on both ends and it is more easily shelled than any other species of rice, the shell peeling off almost in hauling the crop. Altogether our rice crop this year will fill about one thousand sacks, if not more, the 'Supreme Duro' having grown unusually dense and large-eared. So far we now have over 10,000 pounds of rice stowed away in our granary."

"Llano Colonist," October 6, 1928

"At the Rice Ranch, "Harold Kemp and Shipman have been ploughing the eighty acres east of the ranch house, where either pecan trees or peanuts are to be planted, some experts perferring the latter, because, as they say that the demand for peanuts is greater than that for pecan nuts and peanuts will grow far more rapidly than pecan nuts. But rice we shall grow till the crack of doom, unless the ocean or some other power of "nature" stops us from doing so, or the scientists show us how to do something that is more profitable and easier too."

"Llano Colonist," November 3, 1928

"Last year's crop of rice was not enough. We have been sold out for the past two months or more. Llano Brand Un-polished Rice seems to be growing in popularity. Shipments were made from coast to coast, and many reached the Canadian border. Now this year it is a little different. Baldy just returned from the Rice Ranche [sic] and tells us that from this year's crop we have now received 920 sacks. That there is still the rice from 200 acres to thresh, from which we receive a fifth to cover the charge for irrigation, supplied by our pumping plant. He says we ought to have at least 1,100 sacks by the time the threshing is all done. Last year our total was 710 sacks."

"Every one of you at Newllano Colony, and all of you 'on the outside' who would like to be with us but are prevented by economic determinism, and particularly those who were with us but left because their moral backbone collapsed when they failed to grab what their selfish greed had made them imagine they would find here, should climb the steps leading to the wide doors of our spacious granary, open them and gaze at the imposing pile of a thousand sacks of rice, each weighing two hundred pounds and then remember that, nine years ago, we did not have a rice ranch and did not even have enough ready cash to buy a pound of rice so that we had to be contented with eating brown kidney beans and sweet potatoes all the year round..."

And when you have admired our imposing stack of sacks filled with rice you may walk to our pastures to enjoy watching our splendid herd of pure-bred Holstein cattle and Duroc hogs that contribute to the colony's support large quantities of milk, butter and cheese, pork, bacon, ham, all costing nothing but what the animals require for the maintenance of their bodies and those of hardly a dozen men who perform the labor at the ranch...

From the crop of one of our neighbors, whose rice fields we irrigated during the summer, we added 165 sacks of 200 pounds each to the big pile in our granary, and more will be brought in during the current week."

"Vernon Parish Democrat," March 7, 1929

"The Colony produces as fine rice as ever grew, and enough to supply all the co-operative stores in the Mississippi valley. It produces the finest sweet potatoes and cane syrup, and peanut products of an exceptional high grade."

"Vernon Parish Democrat," September 5, 1929

"The Yeldells got in from St. Louis Sunday morning after an absence of six weeks having donned their working togs they are again settled at the Rice Ranch helping to make Dad Cuno happy and ready to dig in on the fall work."

"Vernon Parish Democrat," March 27, 1930

"Comrades R.V. Shoemaker, Hewett, Baldwin, Kennedy and Klette made the run from the Rice Ranch for the weekend, returning Monday with the exception of Kennedy who will remain at Newllano where he thinks he will enjoy our hotel fare, at least for awhile, as a happy relief from his own cooking. Roscoe Busick packed his grip and was off for the Rice Ranch on Monday with the returning crew."

"Llano Colonist," September 24, 1932

"The rice fields are turning yellow-green; the water is being drained from most of them...

When we arrived at the Rice Ranch, we saw a sign on the side of the building, Llano Colony, Rice Ranch, Unit No. 2, and from the building came the sound of a steam engine. Stepping inside we found a 65 H.P. engine hitched to a turbine pump, which is capable of shooting 3,000 gallons of water a minute out into the canal which leads away from the pool below the mouth of the pump. In the same building is the big boiler, whose twin we had seen at Cravens, waiting for the day when it will be wanted for Llano service.

In that building are also the blacksmith and wagon shop, in charge of John Ricks, blacksmith. Earl Swenson was firing, and keeping track of the water in the boiler; now and then putting his hand on some moving part of the engine, to test the friction-developed heat. He... explained that the engine, which has been running now for months has developed a knock in the main bearing, and is running only at half speed for the few remaining days of the season."

"Llano Colonist," December 3, 1932

"Assistant Manager Septer Baldwin who has charge of the rice ranch, some 90 miles south, made a brief, but most satisfactory report of the season's work at the meeting.

He said that the Rice Ranch was in better shape than it had ever been; that the personnel to a man were 100 percent colonists and displayed the most vital interest. Early and late they worked, 'every man Jack of them'...

The biggest crop of rice ever produced on the place was made this year. 360,000 pounds or 1800 sacks of 200 pounds each were threshed and stored in the warehouse. Every bit of the straw will be utilized.

But 70 acres of the colony's land was used in the getting of this very fine crop. The rice return came from the neighbors whose fields the ranch furnished water for -- there being an enormous well on the ranch.

Next year, it is Manager Baldwin's intention to put in 375 acres, which can be easily done and from which a big yield will be sure to result...

Rice, the almost complete food, is being liberally served in all the colony's units."

"Llano Colonist," February 16, 1935

"The grist mill also boasts a complete rice mill outfit. I wonder if the outfit wouldn't be more useful at the Rice Ranch. Rice brought from the Rice Ranch is milled here. A huller separates the coarse hull from the rice kernel. The rice is then thrown into a grader, which separates the broken kernels from the whole. The rice is then run through a fanning mill, which separates the dust and the chaff from the rice, and pours the rice into a receptacle, ready to use. Quite a simple process.

Peter Kemp knows his job and enjoys his work. His place is a clean, business-looking establishment. The neighbors receive courteous treatment and fair dealing."

"Llano Colonist," May 30, 1936

"The Rice Ranch is located in Jefferson Davis parish, distance from our service station, on Highway 171, seventy-five miles. Thanks to the concrete highways, the building of which was initiated and pushed by Huey P. Long up to the time of his assassination, we arrived at the Rice Ranch in record time, a trip that years ago took from three to four hours...

I took a turn out of doors to look around, and heard the pump in action, flooding the planted rice. Pumping is going on day and night in three shifts, Howard Nelson, Al Johnson and Sylvester Watson, each in turn working eight hours. John Sutherland is in charge of the garden. Frank and Carl Nelson and Ramsey are the other men folks down here. (Carl Henry Gleeser)"