We still have families actively farming the original land of their pioneer ancestors dating back as far as 1869. Many of them have been raising wheat and barley since the beginning. We honor those unique families who still farm their ancestors’ original homestead of 100+ years ago.
The Florin family had come a long way from Switzerland to Minnesota before finally settling in Washington. In 1882, Lorenz Florin, at the age of 61, and his son David, 31, homesteaded adjacent quarter sections of land in the Washington Territory. They built a house and barn and began farming 320 acres with wheat as their original crop. Lorenz and his wife Mary had three children, and the farm eventually passed on to their daughter Mary in 1904, who would become the first of many daughters in the family to inherit the farm. Throughout the years, the farm has been passed down from generation to generation.
Katie Utt moved from Wisconsin to Hartline in 1888 with her parents and four sisters. In May 1889 Katie purchased a deed containing 172 acres. On this land, Katie and her family were able to build several small shacks. During these times, her father would haul water by horse and wagon daily.
As the land was originally intended to pasture horses and cattle, wheat was first grown on the 1620 tillable acres in the early 1900’s. To this day the land is planted in wheat, and cattle still graze the pasture land.
All three of the Hall girls helped out on the farm and even drove the trucks when they were young. However, one Sunday Elaine rolled the truck. That was the last time they worked on a Sunday - and the last time Elaine was allowed to drive the farm trucks.
The Painter barn is easy to see from a distance. It stands tall out in the Palouse, some 16 miles southwest of Cheney. It has been there for 100 years and remains today what it has always been, a working barn.
Hubbard and Dollie Petty moved from Arkansas to Asotin County in 1876, with their six children and all the belongings they could fit in a single wagon.
Combining the Faires & Paulson family farms, KHEM farms are thriving with the 5th generation in the Colfax and Rosalia areas.
Established outside Ritzville in the late 1800s, these three centennial farms are connected by blood, sweat, and tears.
