Page 26 - DairyOnThePrairie

24 Dairy on the Prairie
pounds of butter and 350 pounds of cheese. This was
not a large operation compared to other, much high-
er-producing farms in the township and represents a
small-scaled dairy operation likely producing food-
stuffs just for the Ross household.89
The Ross Barn had a nearly two-foot thick founda-
tion of limestone rubble construction. In places, the
foundation had been reinforced later with concrete.
The exterior of the barn was clad with vertical board-
and-batten siding fastened with machine cut nails
dating from the original construction of the barn. Wire
nails in the siding reflected later repairs. The interior
construction of the barn showed the use of both hand-
hewn timbers and circular-sawn posts and beams. The
bent configuration was a simple bent consisting of
three vertical square posts (one center and two side
posts) supporting a single horizontal "big beam." The
vertical posts were sawn, while the big beam, the sill
and rafter plates, and the tie-beams were hand-hewn.
The rafters consisted of poles from which the bark had
South elevation ofRoss
Barn in January 2001.
been stripped. The floor
planks varied from
eight to ten inches thick, were essentially one-level threshing barns raised up
while the exterior sid-
ing consisted of boards
one foot in width and
one inch thick. An in-
teresting detail on the
underside of the floor-
boards was a hand-
painted advertisement
from the Ricklefs Store
in Monticello, Iowa.
This general store and
feed mill operation was in busi-
ness from 1867 to 1899.90
The floor plan of the Ross Barn was a single open
room in later years; however, its original layout would
have included a few milking stalls. The stalls were
subsequently removed so that the basement could lat-
er serve as a cattle loafing and feed shed. The upper
level showed loft levels for the storage of loose hay
and bins for grain. A drop down hay mow door in
the east gable end was a later addition for the loading
of baled hay into the mow; however, earlier door
openings likely aided in the winnowing of grain dur-
ing threshing. An earthen ramp with limestone re-
taining walls led up to the upper gable entry door from
the west.
The basement barn "marks the shift from a diver-
sified agricultural economy to dairying." The multi-
level barn had its roots in Europe but "is known best
for its utilization in the barn designs of southeastern
Pennsylvania."91 From there, this design diffused to
the northeastern states and was subsequently trans-
planted to the Midwest by settlers from states such as
New York and Pennsylvania. (J.B. Ross was one such
settler, having migrated to Jones County from
Herkimer County, New York, the same county from
which the Asa Bowen family originated.) These barns
on a basement and were used for hay and grain stor-
age on the upper levels and for the stabling of live-
stock including cows and horses in the basement level.
Such a design was well-suited to dairying, and when
the Midwestern agricultural economy shifted from
wheat production to livestock raising and dairying,
the raised barn design was adapted for this changing
economy.
A second barn in the Bowen's Prairie neighborhood
was also documented prior to its demolition to make
way for the recent expansion of U.S. 151. This barn,
known as the Craig/Allemand Barn, was located less
than one mile to the east of the Ross Barn, and was
built around the same time in the late 1860s-1870s.
The original core of the Craig/Allemand Barn was
not built for dairying and was a single-level, gabled-
roofed heavy timber-framed barn used as a horse
barn. However, it was later enlarged and adapted for
use in a dairy and general farming operation. Its most
recent use was for a hog shelter. The original barn
measured only 28 by 40 feet and had a limestone foun-
dation but no basement. The interior framing consist-
ed of hand-hewn oak posts and beams. The ground
level was used for livestock feeding and shelter, with
loose hay storage in an overhead loft. The basic form
of this barn had its origins in the single-level, three-
bay threshing barn type. This was a common barn
type in the Midwest in the mid- to late nineteenth cen-
tury.92
Studies of the Bowen's Prairie settlement area have
noted the survival of a number of other barns of the
same vintage as the Ross and Craig/Allemand barns,
with most of fairly large size and consisting of banked,
basement barns similar to the Ross Barn and used in
the area's dairy industry. Additional surviving barns