Shortly after the turn of the century there arrived in South Dakota from Denmark a young man who was to leave his mark in the history of the pioneers of what is now Jones County, SD. His name was Ole Iversen.
Ole was tough and strong and for the first couple of years after his arrival he boasted that he never slept under a roof. He hired out to his uncle, T. M. Madsen, and later to Murdo MacKenzie, as a sheepherder and then as a cowboy and horse breaker. In 1904 he homesteade and"proved up" his claim and began the years of struggle and reward that this entailed.
After two or three years of cow punching, he forsook the lariat and branding iron for the more prosaic sulky plow. He became a homesteader, and eventually the owner of 160 acres.
Throughout the years his ranch grew from 160 acres to encompass 10,000 acres and it normally wintered 1,000 cows and heifers.
He was a yearly shipper to Chicago market until 1931. Then he started to sell his calves and yearlings on the range to Corn Belt buyers. This system was continued until he came once more to the Yards to sell his stock.
Iversen was also to make history in 1905 when he rode as mechanic with Peter Norbeck on the first automobile to cross the state. They drove a single cylinder, nine-horse power Cadillac across approximately 150 miles of gumbo prairie. Starting at Fort Pierre, a departing point for many stagecoaches of earlier days, they guided the "one-lunger" over the unmarked trials.
Ole was tough and strong and for the first couple of years after his arrival he boasted that he never slept under a roof. He hired out to his uncle, T. M. Madsen, and later to Murdo MacKenzie, as a sheepherder and then as a cowboy and horse breaker. In 1904 he homesteade and"proved up" his claim and began the years of struggle and reward that this entailed.
After two or three years of cow punching, he forsook the lariat and branding iron for the more prosaic sulky plow. He became a homesteader, and eventually the owner of 160 acres.
Throughout the years his ranch grew from 160 acres to encompass 10,000 acres and it normally wintered 1,000 cows and heifers.
He was a yearly shipper to Chicago market until 1931. Then he started to sell his calves and yearlings on the range to Corn Belt buyers. This system was continued until he came once more to the Yards to sell his stock.
Iversen was also to make history in 1905 when he rode as mechanic with Peter Norbeck on the first automobile to cross the state. They drove a single cylinder, nine-horse power Cadillac across approximately 150 miles of gumbo prairie. Starting at Fort Pierre, a departing point for many stagecoaches of earlier days, they guided the "one-lunger" over the unmarked trials.
Shortly after the turn of the century there arrived in South Dakota from Denmark a young man who was to leave his mark in the history of the pioneers of what is now Jones County, SD. His name was Ole Iversen.
Ole was tough and strong and for the first couple of years after his arrival he boasted that he never slept under a roof. He hired out to his uncle, T. M. Madsen, and later to Murdo MacKenzie, as a sheepherder and then as a cowboy and horse breaker. In 1904 he homesteade and"proved up" his claim and began the years of struggle and reward that this entailed.
After two or three years of cow punching, he forsook the lariat and branding iron for the more prosaic sulky plow. He became a homesteader, and eventually the owner of 160 acres.
Throughout the years his ranch grew from 160 acres to encompass 10,000 acres and it normally wintered 1,000 cows and heifers.
He was a yearly shipper to Chicago market until 1931. Then he started to sell his calves and yearlings on the range to Corn Belt buyers. This system was continued until he came once more to the Yards to sell his stock.
Iversen was also to make history in 1905 when he rode as mechanic with Peter Norbeck on the first automobile to cross the state. They drove a single cylinder, nine-horse power Cadillac across approximately 150 miles of gumbo prairie. Starting at Fort Pierre, a departing point for many stagecoaches of earlier days, they guided the "one-lunger" over the unmarked trials.
Ole was tough and strong and for the first couple of years after his arrival he boasted that he never slept under a roof. He hired out to his uncle, T. M. Madsen, and later to Murdo MacKenzie, as a sheepherder and then as a cowboy and horse breaker. In 1904 he homesteade and"proved up" his claim and began the years of struggle and reward that this entailed.
After two or three years of cow punching, he forsook the lariat and branding iron for the more prosaic sulky plow. He became a homesteader, and eventually the owner of 160 acres.
Throughout the years his ranch grew from 160 acres to encompass 10,000 acres and it normally wintered 1,000 cows and heifers.
He was a yearly shipper to Chicago market until 1931. Then he started to sell his calves and yearlings on the range to Corn Belt buyers. This system was continued until he came once more to the Yards to sell his stock.
Iversen was also to make history in 1905 when he rode as mechanic with Peter Norbeck on the first automobile to cross the state. They drove a single cylinder, nine-horse power Cadillac across approximately 150 miles of gumbo prairie. Starting at Fort Pierre, a departing point for many stagecoaches of earlier days, they guided the "one-lunger" over the unmarked trials.
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