Title

Hopkins Farm

Creation Date

1912 – 1943

Description

Digital Scan of a reprinted photo showing the Steam Irrigating Plant at the Hopkins Farm. In 1912, Leigh Hopkins bought a used steam power pumping plant from the Twin City Street Railway Co. The steam plant consisted of an upright boiler, two large steam cylinders and two large water cylinders. Leigh hauled the steam plant from the Railway's St. Paul plant with a team and sleigh by disassembling the machinery and making several trips. The steam boiler was hauled by truck. Leigh reassembled the steam plant on the north bank of the Minnesota River bank near the site of the Hopkins Ferry Landing. From the steam plant, a six inch iron pipe was laid across the marsh and up the bluff slope to the black raspberry fields on the upland. 
Photo from the estate of George and Dorothy Hopkins.