MIKEL STOOS. This name is borne by a prominent agriculturist of township 149, range 72, in Wells county, whose life and labors in North Dakota date back from its early settlement. During this time he has aided materially in making it one of the thriving agricultural districts of the Northwest and is entitled to much credit for what he has accomplished, gaining for himself a good home and an enviable reputation.

Our subject was born on a farm near Rolling Stone, Winona county, Minnesota, in November, 1866. His father, Peter Stoos, settled in America in the early days and died in Minnesota in 1895. Our subject was reared on a farm and attended the German and English schools and at the age of seventeen years went to the Red River \'alley. He worked on the Dalrymple farm one summer, and then worked in that vicinity two years, and in 1881 his father went to North Dakota, and our subject farmed with him four years. He then rented land and farmed in the Red river valley two years and about 1887 went to Wells county, North Dakota, where he took government land in section 27, township 149, range 72, and erected a small house. He has followed wheat, flax, oats, cattle and sheep raising with success and now has a farm of three hundred and twenty acres, three hundred of which is under cultivation and twenty acres in meadow. He has a set of substantial farm buildings, including a comfortable house, good barns, granary and other buildings and all necessary machinery, wagons, etc., and twelve head of horses, fourteen head of cattle and some sheep and is in comfortable circumstances. He was among the first settlers in the northwestern part of the county and there were but few trails or roads when he located there and the nearest market was thirty miles distant.

Our subject was married, in 1885. to Maggie Gludt, who was born and raised in Luxemburg, Germany, and came to America at the age of fourteen years with her father, Peter Gludt, who followed farming in Minnesota. Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Stoos, as follows: Nick, Wady, Mikel, Lucy, John, Felix, Maggie and Arthur. Mr. Stoos has served as county assessor two years and held school offices many years and has served as road overseer and is actively interested in the welfare of his community. He is a member of the Catholic church and is highly respected and esteemed.

PETER P. SWANSON. The name of this gentleman will be readily recognized as that of one of the prominent business men of Harvey, Wells county. The firm of Jenson & Swanson, of which he is a member, is one of the oldest established houses of the town and conducts a prosperous agricultural implement business.

Mr. Swanson was born in Sweden on a farm in 1854, and was the son of Swan Paulson, a merchant miller of Sweden, who passed his life in his native land. The grandparents of our subject on the paternal and maternal sides lived to an advanced age.

Our subject was the sixth in a family of ten children and was raised on a farm and assisted with the work and attended the country schools. At the age of seventeen years he left home and followed the life of a sailor on a merchant vessel two years and during this time visited Norway. Denmark and England, and in 1873 landed at Baltimore, Maryland, and at once went to Illinois. He worked at farming two years and in 1876 went to work in the Marsh-Harvester factory and was thus employed five years. He went to South Dakota in 1881 and settled in Bowdie and worked in that vicinity seven years. During 1894-95 he was engaged in traveling for the Acme Harvester Company in North and South Dakota, and in 1896 went to Harvey. North Dakota. He established the machine business at Harvey in partnership with O. L. Jenson, under the firm name of Jenson & Swanson in the all of 1896 and this was the first establishment of the kind in the town. They have increased their stock and now occupy a main building 24x60 feet and have a machine shed of the same dimensions which is filled with machinery. They enjoy a liberal patronage and have built a successful business. Mr. Swanson has a fine farm of four hundred and forty acres on which he has a complete set of farm buildings, and he is also interested in the First Bank of Harvey.

Our subject was married, in 1896, to Miss Nelson. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Swanson. as follows: Arthur, Roy, Myrtle and Elmer. Mr. Swanson is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. He is a gentleman of active public spirit and was instrumental in locating the Harvey Milling Company at Harvey.

RICHARD SYKES, residing in Sykeston, Wells county, occupies a prominent position as a promoter of agricultural and town interests throughout several counties of North Dakota. He is a man of enterprising character; he has aided in developing many of the important enterprises of North Dakota and his active public spirit is recognized throughout the state. He was the founder of Sykeston, Wells county, and of Bowdon, in the same county, also of Edgeley, in La Moure county, and is largely interested in lands in and adjoining these thriving villages.

Mr. Sykes was born at Edgeley, in Cheshire, England, in 1839. His father, Richard Sykes, was a native of England, being a prominent citizen of that village. Mr. Sykes was educated at Rugby school and at the University of Heidelberg. After having been engaged in business in England he visited America in 1881 and the following year made land investments in Iowa and in Wells, Foster and La Moure counties in North Dakota. In 1883 he established the town of Sykeston, erecting a store building and large elevator, which still stands there.

Similarly in 1886 he established the town of Edgeley in La Moure county and in 1899 the town of Bowdon, where the 4th of July was celebrated when there were but two uncompleted buildings in the town. Mr. Sykes retains large land interests in Foster, Wells, Stutsman and La Moure counties, and has smaller holdings in Barnes and McLean counties. He has done much toward the settlement of these counties and has much land still to sell at three to ten dollars per acre. Mr. Sykes has made, at a cost of four thousand dollars, a beautiful lake within the town site of Sykeston, which is named Hiawatha Lake, and is eighteen feet deep in places and two miles long and about a fourth of a mile wide. The lake will be stocked with fish and boats will be supplied and the place become a summer resort. Mr. Sykes encourages sports of various kinds and is one of the leading golf players of North Dakota. In Edgeley is an artesian well, which supplies water for domestic use and fire protection and gas tor illuminating purposes. This water has superior medicinal properties.

Mr. Sykes' first large purchase of land was made in 1880 and consisted of a tract of two thousand acres in Lyon county, Iowa, which he beautified by planting and maintaining at considerable cost groves of trees and willow hedges. Mr. Sykes still retains an interest in the village of Larchwood, which stands in the center of this lovely Lyon county tract. He has donated a park to the village, also sites for public schools, three churches, play ground for the children and baseball ground. At Sykeston he has donated thirty acres for a park, which lies in the center of the village and is divided by Lake Hiawatha.

ZEPH VARNUM. This gentleman is the fortunate owner of one of the fine estates of Wells county, and has resided near Sykeston since the early days of the settlement of that locality. When he located there the buildings of Sykeston were shanties or small business buildings, and he has witnessed the growth of that thriving city. He has a well improved estate and is surrounded by all the comforts of rural life, and enjoys the respect and esteem of his associates.

Our subject was born in Ontario, Canada, April 4, 1838, and was a son of Prescott and Elizabeth (Clemmens) Varnum, both of American birth. His father was a farmer and blacksmith throughout his career. Our subject was the youngest in a family of six children and was raised on a farm in Michigan, where his parents moved when he was five years of age. He attended the county schools and assisted with the farm work and at the age of twenty-one years began working for others. His father's death occurred soon afterward and our subject conducted the farm for his widowed mother for ten years. He went to Attica, Michigan, in 1872, and operated a flouring mill there ten years, and in the spring of 1883 went to Wells county. North Dakota, and entered claim to government land near Sykeston and began farming. He had limited means and built a small claim shanty and the first year raised wheat. He now has a farm of eight hundred acres, with six hundred acres under cultivation, and has a complete of substantial farm buildings and all machinery necessary for operating a model farm. He has a few small fruits and has improved his farm in every particular and enjoys prosperity.

Our subject was married, in 1864, to Miss L. V. Vibbert. Mrs. Varnum was a daughter of Stephen Vibbert, a farmer by occupation, and a native of New York. He was a school teacher for several years, and is a lady of rare attainments. Mr. and Mrs. Varnum have been the parents of four children, as follows : Althia, now married : Edith, also married; Clarence, employed in a lumber yard; and Loren, deceased. Mr. Varnum was elected justice of the peace in 1896 and served four years as such, and has taken an active part in public affairs since residing in North Dakota. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and politically is a Republican and firm in his convictions.

HON. LUTHER L. WALTON, who enjoys the distinction of being the first settler to break land in township 147, range 68, in Wells county, and was the second man to settle in the county, now has one of the finest farms to be found within its limits. Every appointment of his place evidences careful attention and good taste, and his home is one of comfort and even luxury, while he is held in the highest esteem by his many friends who have known him from the earliest days of the settlement of that locality.

Our subject was born in Farmington, Oakland county, Michigan, March 5, 1844. His father, Joseph Walton, was a native of Pennsylvania, and went to Michigan from New York state in 1836. He was of English descent. The mother of our subject, who bore the maiden name of Cynthia Lapham, was descended from the Puritans in Massachusetts and went to Michigan in 1827, her people being pioneer settlers of that state, and located near Detroit.

Mr. Walton was the eldest in a family of four children, three sons and one daughter, and was raised on the farm and attended the country schools and the high school at Ann Arbor. He enlisted in the First Engineers and Mechanics Corps in 1863, and was in the service two years and four months, and was with Sherman to the sea and participated in the grand review at Washington, after going through the Carolinas, and was then ordered to Nashville and mustered out of the service in October, 1865. He returned to the home farm in Michigan, and then began farming for himself soon afterward. He continued in Michigan until 1882, when he disposed of his interests there and went to North Dakota and settled in section 36, township 147, range 68. He erected a claim shanty and broke some land, and lived alone the first summer, and the lumber for his shanty he hauled from Jamestown, fifty miles distant. His family joined him in the new home in August, 1883, and he has resided there continuously since that date. He now has a finely cultivated tract of sixteen hundred acres, and has some pasture and hay land, and has met with success in general farming. His residence is a commodious structure, with cellar and cistern, and is heated by furnace, and the other buildings of the place are in proportion, and evidence thrift and good management. He has all machinery necessary for the conduct of the place, including an eighteen-horse-power threshing rig, and he has about twenty-two head of horses and cattle for use on the farm. He has three acres of forest and, plenty of small fruits, and has one of the best equipped farms of the county.

Our subject was married, in 1868, to Miss Jane E. Norton, a native of Vermont . Mrs. Walton's father, Alanson C. Norton, was of American descent, and her mother's people were in some of the early wars, and her great-great-grandfather McClellan was a minute man in Washington 's time. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Walton, as follows: Guy, born in July, 1869, now engaged in farming in North Dakota ; Hugh, born in August, 1871, now employed as a telegrapher; Elizabeth C, born September, 1872; and Jacob, born in July, 1876. Mr. Walton served as school treasurer from 1886-89. He was elected a representative to the first state legislature in 1889, and re-elected in 1890. He was sergeant-at-arms in the state senate in 1894, and was elected railroad commissioner in 1896 and re-elected in 1898, and is still serving as a member of that board. He was county commissioner from 1892-95, and takes an active interest in local and state affairs. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and Knights of Pythias, and has been associated with the first named order since 1867, and is a member of the Scottish-rite Masons of Fargo, North Dakota.

WALTER P. WYARD, a general merchant of Cathay, North Dakota, was born in London, England, in 1863. His father, James Wyard, was also of English birth, and was a manufacturer of picture frames and ornamental moldings in the old country. He emigrated to America in 1880 and settled in Philadelphia, where he continued in his trade. His wife was an Aitchison, and was of English and Scotch descent. Her father was a civil engineer in the government service in India.

W. P. Wyard is the third son in a family of seven children. He was reared in London, and educated at a private academy. He came to this country in 1881, and was first employed by Mitchell, Fletcher & Company, wholesale and retail grocers in Philadelphia. He .left that city in 1882 in company with his brother, J. G. Wyard, and went to Chicago. There he found work for a short time, and then pushed on to the prairies of the West, and arrived in Fargo in May, 1882. In company with his brother, J. G., he walked across the country to Jamestown, a distance of one hundred miles. They were foot-sore and weary and stranded, but they had every confidence in the future of the great Northwest. They found work and engaged in the services of a large English syndicate, which was opening up extensive farms in the northern country. The firm was Sykes & Hughes, and the city of Sykestown commemorates the senior partner. The boys drove oxen and broke the prairies for farming the coming year. This was a novel experience for city lads. Breaking the prairie was itself a hard and unusual labor, but the surroundings made it both novel and interesting. They were sixty-five miles away from the nearest railroad station and post office: buffalo, antelope and other large game roamed the prairies.

They returned to the East for the winter, and were so well satisfied with the outlook that they brought their families back with them the coming spring, and coming to Carrington, filed on government land and commenced improvements. He began farming with one yoke of oxen and lived in a shanty 8x14 feet. They went through the hardships common in a new country. The county developed as the tide of settlement rolled in. New towns were built and the railroads came into the neighborhood. They were once more in civilization. Mr. Wyard proved up in 1890. and then engaged in the mercantile business at Carrington. He was in partnership with G. L. Farnham, and in 1893 the firm moved to Cathay and opened a general store. They were the pioneer merchants of the village and occupied the first building erected in it. In 1895 Mr. Farnham withdrew from the firm, and our subject assumed the entire business. He carries a stock of goods valued at about twelve thousand dollars. He has been remarkably successful, and has outside his store extensive real estate holdings in North and South Dakota.

He was married, in 1887, to Miss Barbara Quarton. She was born in Scotland and came to this country in 1885. Her father, John Quarton, was a grain merchant at Burnt Island, Scotland. Mr. and Mrs. Wyard have two children living: Barbara Anna, born April 23, 1892; Noel Osborne, born December 25, 1894. Mr. Wyard's business establishment is on the corner of Third avenue and Second street, and his residence is on Second avenue.

JOHN C. WYLDER, one of the earliest settlers of township 148, range 69, has prospered in the pursuit of farming, and is now surrounded by all that goes to make country life pleasant. He has passed through many discouragements incident to life in a new country, and his present accumulations are the result of persistent and faithful efforts. He is well known in Wells county, and highly respected and esteemed.

Our subject was born on a farm in Illinois, in November, 1857. His father, H. H. Wylder, is an early settler of North Dakota, and has successfully pursued farming in Wells county.

Mr. Wylder was raised on a farm and assisted with the work, and there learned the best methods of his calling. He left home after attaining his majority, and began farming in Christian county, Illinois, where he remained four years, and in 1883 removed to Carrington, North Dakota. He spent the winter there working for others, and in the spring of 1884 entered claim to land in Wells county, and began farming. He had a few effects, including a team of mules, horse, wagon, binder and buggy, and he built an 8x12-foot shanty and lived there alone. He had a small board barn, and the first year he broke and farmed sixty acres of rented land. The oats were burned by prairie fire, and our subject's share of the wheat crop was four hundred and eighty bushels. He lived in Carrington during the winter of 1884-85, and spent the following summer on his farm, and in the fall built a sod barn. He lived alone on his farm almost continuously until 1897. Many head of cattle were lost during the severe winters owing to lack of shelter and blizzards, and hail destroyed two hundred dollars' worth of grain about 1891. He now has a fine farm of four hundred and eighty acres, all but eighty acres of which is under cultivation, and he engages in raising wheat, oats, flax and barley. Sykeston, fourteen miles distant, was the nearest town when he located in Wells county, and our subject hauled lumber and supplies from Carrington, twenty-five miles distant, and on one occasion while hauling wood from Antelope, forty miles aw-ay, he was overtaken by a hailstorm and his tent was wet and he slept in the open air. The railroad was built through his farm in 1893, and Air. Wylder has witnessed a wonderful growth and development of the locality in which he chose his home.

Our subject is a member of the Knights of Pythias, and in political sentiment is a Republican. He is a man of broad ideas, and has made a success of his career.