100 years and counting
Solie farm earns Century Farm status
Posted: 8/5/03
by Andrew Miller
Argus News Reporter
Itís weathered well over a century of change, but the Solie farm along Highway 76 outside Houston remains in good shape and in good hands.
As a testament to its longevity, the farm was recognized as a 2003 Century Farm by the Minnesota State Fair and the Minnesota Farm Bureau. To be eligible for the award, the farm must have been in continuous family ownership for at least 100 years.
Thomas N. Solie, who currently shares ownership of the farm along with siblings Carl, Thomas, James, Lois Jorpeland and Dorothy Van Gundy, traces the familyís acquisition of the land to 1874, when Tallef Findreng, the first cousin of his grandfather, purchased a 120 acre portion of the current farm from Andrew and Elizabeth Kragnes for $13.33 an acre.
Findrengís grandparents, Ole and Ann Kragness, left the Telemark region of Norway for America in the early 1850s. After residing for a time in Wisconsin, they moved to Sheldon Township in Houston County. Their daughter Tone was the mother of Tallef.
After Tallef and wife Annie purchased the initial 120 acres in 1874, they added 40 acres in 1883. The couple maintained ownership until 1915, when they sold the estate to Tallefís first cousin, Nils Dahle. Dahle and his wife Sarah owned and operated the farm for over 50 years, selling it in 1965 to their son-in-law and daughter, Thomas J. Solie and Pearl Dahle Solie.
The Thomas J. Solie family moved to the farm in March 1949, with their kids in tow. After Pearl Solie, who was preceded in death by her husband, passed away, the farm was inherited by their five children.
While much of the farmís history has been neatly documented, how some of the land was acquired remains shrouded in mystery. Records indicate the size of the initial purchaseñ 120 acresñ but how exactly the property reached its current size of 280 acres is uncertain. Thomas N. Solie thinks that perhaps some land was acquired in the Homestead Act, but public records essential to the farmís history are either missing or nonexistent. A fire at the county courthouse, Solie thinks, may have been responsible for the missing records.
ìItís been very difficult to document the history,î explained Thomas N. Solie, who undertook the task of tracing the farmís ownership. ìIf theyíve recorded things, theyíve been very difficult to find.î
Though the exact process of land acquisition remains murky, each successive generation left its mark on the farm. Tallef Findreng had the main barn put up in 1902.; the current owners discovered this after uncovering a builderís logo in the barn, inscribed with the date of its construction. The family residence was put in place by Thomas J. Solie, and the pole barn was erected by Carl Solie and his father in the early 1980s.
Its physical location and soil conditions proved conducive to agriculture over the years. With heavy clay and black loam soil, corn and oats and hay were harvested, and livestock were sent to pasture, to graze in the shadows of the precipitous bluffs adjacent to the farm.
Though the hills afforded a majestic beauty, they were also something to be wary of when fields were plowed, planted, and harvested. ìYou had to watch it, because sometimes it gets a little steep,î said Carl Solie. ìA few times it got pretty scary coming down the hill.î
Much of the farm is now rented out to a farmer who grows corn, but the Solies still keep cattle on the property, and Carl Solie tends to the livestock. The farm, as he and his siblings see it, is more than just a place to keep animals. For Carl and his siblings, it holds a special place in their hearts. And after three generations of their family spent much of their lives there, it would be hard for it not to.
ìItís been good over the years,î Carl said. ìWeíll try to keep it going as long as we can.î
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