Auction

In 1885 my grandfather, Lars Negstad, bought the rights to a homestead in SDak. and three years later completed the requirements to receive the 160 acres from the U.S.government. Since that time the land has been farmed by Negstads. After Lars came my father, Albert. Albert was followed by his son and my brother, David. After David came his son, Wayne who has farmed until now.
This summer Wayne decided to quit farming and concentrate his efforts on his tax and accounting business. He is in the process of buying the H & R Block business in Brookings, where he has worked winters for a number of years. He will continue to live on the farm.
Yesterday he auctioned his farm machinery and he has rented his land for next year. The auction was cold but sunny, the high temperature reached 12 degrees. Grandpa Lars planted trees around the farmstead and those trees have been maintained by his successors. They provided welcome protection from the wind for the auction. It appeared to this bystander that the auction was a success.
The oldest item sold was an antique road grader that belonged to my uncle, Henry. In the early part of the 20th century he had a road building business building some of the first roads in Brookings County. He pulled the grader with his huge 40-80 Avery tractor.
Wayne's brother, Neil, is interested in history so his plan was to buy the grader and give it to the Brookings Co. museum, located in Volga. (Parenthetically, the museum was begun by Neil's great uncle on his grandmother's side, John Bergh.) We all thought that the grader would sell for $50 or $100. Give Neil credit, he stuck with the bidding until he prevailed...at $950. So the museum will get the grader.