Bachelor farmer brothers leave behind a surprising gift that's now blooming in Iowa

Mike Kilen | The Des Moines Register

Show Caption Hide Caption Frugal bachelor farmer brothers' surprising gift to Iowa Palmer and Roger Larson of Thor were not known as conservationists, but the bachelor brothers left a legacy to wildlife.

THOR, Ia. — Two bachelor farmer brothers lived together much of their lives on a small farm in Humboldt County. They were friendly, if a bit reserved. Not many folks knew them well, so the word "reclusive" was tossed around.

Palmer Larson died at age 86 in January 2012, and his brother Roger died at age 82 six months later.

One would not expect much to be heard about them again.

But they left a surprise: a legacy that is just now coming into full bloom.

Here, in the middle of one of the most heavily farmed counties in Iowa, where public land is scant, the Larson brothers left 150 acres of highly productive land to the state to establish a prairie and wetland. Three Rivers Wildlife Management Area immediately became the largest wildlife area in Humboldt County, but it left some scratching their heads.

“People said, 'That is good farmland; why do that?'” said Paul Knudtson, who did some harvesting of the brothers’ corn and bean fields because they didn’t have a combine. “I guess because they can do what they want.”

Bryan Hellyer was equally surprised. The brothers weren't openly conservationists but arranged a meeting with the Iowa Department of Natural Resources wildlife supervisor in 2001. He said they asked pointed, serious questions about the goals of his agency as they walked the flat farm fields, but left it at that. He never heard from them again.

Then he got an email after their deaths about the donation.

“I nearly fell over,” he said. “I thought, 'No way.' As far as farmland, there is not much better, so this is not the typical type of land the DNR manages.”

Iowa has lost 99.9 percent of its native prairie and 89 percent of its wetlands to development, most of which has been agricultural. In Humboldt County, there were 257,545 acres of prairie in 1859, but in a 2009 state survey, there was none.

Who wants prairie here when farmland is going for $8,000-$10,000 an acre? Few conservation agencies can afford to buy it.

As Hellyer and wildlife technician Rob Patterson scan the horizon of prairie forbs and grasses swaying in the wind around them, the shock still hasn’t worn off in the five years they have spent restoring the land to its native condition.

For miles in every direction, squares of farmland are covered in corn and beans. In the middle of all of that is a prairie with singing dickcissels balancing on bluestems and regal fritillary butterflies drifting past. The rains are soaking into the soil, improving water quality in the watershed, and feeding deep prairie roots that hold everything in place.

“Hopefully, they are looking down and saying, 'Hey, it’s getting there,'” Hellyer said.

A quiet, frugal pair and a big shock

The Larson brothers are nearly as rare as the native prairie.

Turns out, they had some pretty good investments. Eight other nonprofit agencies were benefactors of a gross estate of $2.6 million, despite the frugal brothers running a very small farm by Iowa standards.

Palmer and Roger were the only children of Palmer Larson Sr. and Mabel, who established a farm here just east of the tiny town of Thor. The younger Palmer served in World War II with the U.S Army and was among the first troops to fly into Japan after its surrender, according to his obituary.

“Once he got out of the service (in 1946), he came back and just stayed on the farm,” said Lyle Larson, whose dad, Leslie, is a first cousin.

Roger was legally blind, and for much of his working life, he tuned pianos in Fort Dodge, before returning to the farm to live with his brother.

Lyle Larson said he had never heard of either having romantic relationships. They were good cousins who often showed up for a holiday meal at his father’s place.

Knudtson said the brothers were a bit timid when they came to town to buy groceries and were shy around women, so some would bake them a cake and make sure to talk with them at gatherings.

One must be careful with the characterization of this rural archetype so embedded in Iowa lore — that of the lifelong bachelor farmer. Rumors are a mighty force.

“People around here said they were weird, but that’s their word for reclusive,” said Sandra Back, director of the Humboldt County Historical Museum. “The way they lived was not sophisticated, but they had sophisticated investments.”

Her museum was given roughly $300,000, she said, despite being unsure whether the brothers ever set foot in the place. To honor them, the museum named an archaeological excavation at an old mill site the Larson Memorial Test Excavations.

Back toured the farm after the brothers died and found a home filled with stuff.

“I don’t think they had anything new. It wasn’t a hoarder situation, but they never threw anything away,” she said.

They were just frugal.

“If the fridge took a crap, they would go buy any old fridge to replace it — the fridge one color and the stove the other, never matching. They were farmer bachelors,” said Tom Hundertmark, whose company ran the two auctions held after the brothers died because they had so much stuff.

One he called a "paper auction" because the brothers had hundreds of books and car and tractor literature, manuals and brochures that can be worth more than $100 each, he said.

The estate was soon parceled out according to their interest. The Iowa Department of the Blind and the Iowa Radio Reading Information Service in Des Moines, which reads articles for the blind and print-handicapped, each received a donation, after which Roger became the first member of the newly-established IRIS Legacy Society.

“Roger became our ‘field staff’ in the Fort Dodge area,” according to the IRIS website. “For more than 20 years, this Eagle Grove gentleman monitored our signal and called to let us know when there was a problem or chat about articles from the Fort Dodge Messenger.”

They also left money to the historical museums in Clarion and Eagle Grove, two hospices, emergency services and a community foundation, according to court records.

It was all rather quietly done.

But you can’t miss the prairie. The brothers’ legacy grows there every day.

'You can just sit here and listen'

The 33-mile Three Rivers Trail runs right near the prairie, offering walkers and bikers a view of the work that Patterson undertook in 2013, starting with a blank slate of rich, dark Iowa soil.

Once the homestead and outbuildings were torn down, Patterson immediately began assuring the neighbors that what the DNR was planning would have no effect on nearby cropland. The key was not surprising the residents of an area with just a handful of small county parks and only 350 acres of wildlife area and, usually, a sparing presence of conservation officials.

Two parcels, of 52 and 64 acres, were seeded with native prairie plants. The rest is in food plots for wildlife and a small patch of timber around the former homestead. Few neighbors have complained yet, say DNR officials, who also try to be understanding of chemical drift from nearby fields.

“We are farmers, too. We are just farming for something different,” said Hellyer.

But as the prairie grows into maturity this summer, it’s easy to see this place as an oasis.

Patterson started with 73 species of grasses, wildflowers and forbs and is now up to 109, some so rare and expensive — more than $1,000 for a shot glass of one seed — that each time he ventures out to the property and sees new growth, it’s like opening a gift.

Hellyer and Patterson point to the yellow flower on the tiny partridge pea plant, the big and little bluestem so entrenched in Iowa's natural history, and the wild bergamot, whose flowers, purple in bloom, will be loaded with insects.

The coneflowers and yarrow, the cup plant and prairie cinquefoil — it all works together to form a habitat for insects, the critters that eat them, and bedding for pheasants. That’s why Humboldt County Pheasants Forever has volunteered to mow the prairie, which is necessary to suppress weed pressure and let the native plants flourish and wave in the breeze with songbirds that thrive on the prairie, such as the bobolink.

“You can just sit here and listen,” said Hellyer.

“There goes a dragonfly.”

There is a milkweed, vital for the monarch butterflies.

There is mountain mint. Smell it.

“People around here don’t know much about the DNR because we don’t have a huge presence, so we put our all into this,” Patterson said.

Plans are in the works for completing the project later this summer, by taking out field tiles so the low areas in the fields will fill with 11 acres of surface water, with additional soggy wetland areas that will introduce a whole host of other species to this part of the county.

It’s a place that stands out now in the middle of cropland — a legacy for a pair of brothers who tried not to stand out.

“I wish I had known before they died — I would have liked to call them and say thank you. But that’s not the way they wanted it,” Hellyer said.

“I guess the way to thank them now,” Patterson said, “is to carry through with what they wanted done. And make it good.”

Visiting the public land

Visitors are welcome to roam the Three Rivers Wildlife Management Area at 3629 250th St. east of Thor except during some nesting seasons. No dogs are allowed.

Mike Kilen tells the stories of Iowans across the state. A senior reporter for The Des Moines Register since 2000, he’s traveled to all 99 counties and navigated most of its main streets and river channels. Reach him with story suggestions at 515-284-8361, mkilen@dmreg.com or on Twitter, @mikekilen.