Crookston and the Red River Bonanza Farms

Crookston was settled in eighteen seventy-two and named for Colonel William Crooks, chief engineer of the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. The railroad opened the Red River Valley to agriculture, and between eighteen seventy-five and eighteen ninety some of the largest wheat farms in American history took shape here.

Wealthy eastern investors bought up thousands of acres, creating what were called bonanza farms, operations so enormous they ran like factories with seasonal hired crews. Crookston sat at the center of this wheat kingdom. Later, sugar beets replaced much of the wheat, and the University of Minnesota opened an agricultural school here in nineteen oh six to help farmers adapt.

Today it remains a small regional city on the flat, rich farmland of the far northwestern Minnesota plains.