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| The International 1:55 Stock Food Farm |
  The photo on the right shows Dan Patch and his private railroad car in front of the stables. The railroad car was painted white with gold striping inside and out and decked out with a framed oil painting of Dan Patch, which was duplicated on the other side. The roof was painted aluminum. The signs that look like buckets were "3 Feeds for 1 Cent" ads for the International Stock Food Company. Lettering on the car included "Dan Patch Express", "Dan Patch Private Car" and "M. W. Savage, Owner". The inside was upholstered in plush with a rubber floor to absorb the bumps on the road. It could accomodate as many as 14 horses and 12 caretakers. Dan Patch traveled all over the country in his gleaming white rail car and always had throngs of admirers at every stop. According to a story in a 1947 issue of Reader's Digest titled "Million-Dollar Show-Off", "In 1904 The Patch traveled 10,000 miles in his private railroad car, played to 600,000. On his return home that winter he was met at the Minneapolis station by a brass band and escorted down Nicollet Avenue by 2000 paraders." Savage's advance men would saturate the area of his upcoming appearances with advertising for months ahead of time, so there was always a grand entrance.When I sit at the front desk at Continental Machines where I work now (which is right across the highway) I can't help but look over there and imagine what it would have been like back then. I can just about picture the scene in this photo if I try hard enough. I know... "Get back to work!!!" ;-) |
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 On the left is a photo taken in 1910 from behind the stables showing Dan Patch drinking from a concrete trough inside the mile track with his faithful caretaker, Charley Plummer. The outdoor mile track was made of tan bark and salt so that it would not freeze in the icy Minnesota winters. Savage touted it as "one of the best mile tracks ever built" and could sit on the veranda of his summer home across the river and watch as the horses trained on it.After Savage and Dan Patch died in 1916, Savage's eldest son, Erle, carried on for a while with the International Stock Food Company but he had little interest in the horse farm. Savage's younger son, Harold, was an avid horseman, but at the time he was too young to take over the operations. In any event, the farm was apparently not able to sustain itself after losing its crown prince, Dan Patch. The remaining horses were all eventually sold to settle the estate in 1919 and the land changed hands. The horses were sold to horseman all over the world. Some were reportedly sold to the Russian Imperial Government, and two were shipped to New Zealand. In the 1920's (some accounts have it as 1917) part of the stables burned, and shortly after, F. J. Arnoldy, a lumber operator in Savage, was commissioned to tear down most of the ½ mile track. Pieces of it were sold to souvenir collectors for $1 per running foot. A part of the remains of the covered track was converted into a barn and stood until the 1930's. 1928 saw part of the grade of the ½ mile track leased by D. A. Gray and used as a ¼ mile dog track for a short time. The track's "contribution" system apparently didn't fool the State of Minnesota, because they shut it down for illegal gambling practices after only a few weeks of operation. An article in the March 20, 1938 Minneapolis Tribune reports that "After nearly 40 years, the establishment if the late M. W. Savage at Savage, Minn., on the Minnesota river, will go back for use as a farm. Where crops now will be planted, Dan Patch and other famous race horses were bred and trained by Mr. Savage." The article continues with "The contract to clear all buildings, fences and piers still remaining from the old Savage buildings has been given to F. J. Arnoldy of Savage. He will also clear the grandstand built in later years when the place was used for a time as a track for dog races."  The land now is virtually empty and has been for as long as I can remember. So empty, that I never dreamed that it was at the spot where it is. There are some radio towers and a couple of other structures on the land back towards the river, and that's about it other than the brush and volunteer trees that choke the place more and more with each passing year and the ring of "No Trespassing" signs that surround it. The photo on the right, taken from the west side looking east (with the Cargill elevator in the background) shows the land as it looks now. Even though the stables are long gone, I have always wondered why there was never a historical marker or anything at or near this site. In reading old articles and newspaper clippings I have found that other people have wondered, too. Harold Savage pushed for one when he was still alive. A Cargill retiree named Joe Egan and his wife Jean tried for years to get a museum built - all the while amassing a collection of memorabilia to put into it - but they died before their dream ever came true. Their heirs (with nothing but dollar signs in their eyes in my opinion) sold the 500+ piece collection at an auction at the Meadowlands race track in New Jersey in 1992. It was the largest collection of Dan Patch memorabilia in existence, with an estimated value of over $100,000. There are still local collections of Dan Patch memorabilia, though, and the land is still there. It took me 35 years to finally find out just where this site was. I am astounded that the land is still vacant, but for how long, who knows? Savage is growing now like it never has before. Surely there are history-minded people somewhere with enough influence and money that could put this site "on the map" with a marker or something. Time is surely running out, I would think. I recently heard third-hand that the City of Savage has been thinking about doing something with the land such as possibly making it a park. I hope that it is tied to Dan Patch if they do. One local I talked to doesn't think it will ever happen though, because they have supposedly been talking about it for years and it always ends up being too costly. Hmmmm.... what would the final cost of an ATTRACTION be? Whatever happens now, what has transpired with this piece of Minnesota and sporting history thus far is shameful. I applaud those of you who have tried, but I can only say "shame on you" to the people who have stood in the way of anything ever being done with this site. |
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| Back to Page 1 (Click HERE) |
| "1:55" thanks to Chuck Nelson, Museum Curator for the Minnesota Masonic Homes, for the excellent reference material he loaned to me for creating this site, and Lisa Thorpe, Web Coordinator for the Minnesota Masonic Homes for putting me in contact with him. The Bloomington campus of the Minnesota Masonic Homes is located across the river from the stable site and was the site of Savage's summer home. |
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| Graphics on this page were hand crafted from scratch and from other graphics by Martha Decker on a Dell 8300 using Corel Photo Paint and Paint Shop Pro. The page itself was created using Hot Dog Pro 7.03 for Windows. If you are interested in using any of my graphics, please send an email to the autoresponder Graphics@deckernet.com for permission. This page was developed on a computer running at 1280x1024 resolution at 65K colors. If you are running at a different resolution or color depth, things might not look as intended. I HIGHLY recommend that you run at least 65K colors. The Web will look dramatically different to you - I guarantee it! |
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Last modified on Tuesday, January 03, 2006