The International 1:55 Stock Food Farm
The image on the right shows the location of the International 1:55 Stock Food Farm in Savage, Minnesota where Dan Patch and his stable mates resided in the early 1900's. The surrounding terrain has changed quite a bit since 1970 when this aerial photo was taken, but you can still get a pretty good idea of where the farm was located. The photo is facing the southwest. To the west on Hwy 13/101 is Shakopee and Valleyfair. To the east is Burnsville and I-35W. To the north is the Minnesota River. The road to the old Savage Bridge (a swing bridge with a wagon/auto lane on one side and a railroad lane on the other) only goes for a short distance before you encounter a road block.
The bridge was closed in the 1970's, but the Twin Cities & Western Railroad recently bought the bridge and put the rail part of it back into operation. The structures at the bottom of this photo are part of the Cargill grain terminal. You can see where Credit River runs through the land. There is reportedly another "trout stream" on the land, but I am not sure where, if there is. The stables were located just on the north side of Minnesota Hwy. 13 - roughly across from Quentin Ave. and Continental Machines. I have superimposed an image of them into the picture approximately where they would have been (believe me - they were not still there in 1970.)
The famous "Taj Mahal" stables, built in 1902, were a flamboyant six-winged (some accounts say five-winged, and some artwork such as the litho below show it as 4-winged) structure that had 130 white box stalls, steam heat, running water, electric lights, a blacksmith shop, and a fire engine. Dan Patch's stall was 20 feet square. Reading, sleeping, and bath rooms were available for the 60 employees who were housed in the structure. In addition to the 130 horses housed in the main building, 200 brood mares were kept in a separate barn behind it.
The Mosque-like structure was painted white with green trim, and had a large glistening "onion dome" at its center that held a large water tank filled with 5000 barrels of water.
The water came from a local spring, and provided water for the entire complex. Under the dome in the octagonal center of the building that was over 100 feet high was a cinder-floored, 90 foot diameter cooling ring. Each wing was 157 feet long with a 40 foot lane - one of which was attached to a covered, steam-heated, ½ mile track.
The ½ mile covered racetrack ran to the west of the stables up near where the road to the old Savage Bridge is (off the front left of the stables - not behind it as depicted in the litho above.) It was 30 feet wide, with 8400 panes of glass on 1400 windows. You can see a slight outline of it in the above 1970 aerial photo, and it can reportedly still be seen today from the air as well (anybody got a helicopter?) The grade of the ½ mile track can also still be seen from the ground.
There was also a larger 1 mile track that was set at a NW/SE angle behind the location of the stables. This track was designed by a man named Seth Griffin at a cost of $18,000, according to a Savage publication. I am told that you can still find parts of the grade of this track as well, though I have not trespassed onto the property to find it. Aerial photos as late as 2016 still show the outline of the mile track, and both tracks were still visible in the 1960's and later (see below).
1967
Both mile and half mile tracks still visible.
2016
Mile track still barely visible.
On the right is a photo of the stables, which were designed by M. W. Savage as they were so that they would provide good ventilation and sunshine in every box stall. The railroad bridge that you see in the lower right of this photo is a key. If you stand just to the east of the Credit River on the south side of Highway 13 now looking north, you'd be about where this photo was taken from and this bridge is still there. Reportedly, somewhere among the 4 or 5 tracks that cross the Credit River there is at least part of the original bridge, and supposedly some of the original stonework can still be seen. I have walked over to the bridges and I personally can't tell one from the other, so I can't verify any of this. It is intriguing, though, if nothing else.
Below that photo is on that I took in April 2002 from approximately the same spot, though the angle is a little different. I shot the photo facing northwest from the parking lot at the Motor Mart (Amoco) station on Princeton Ave. and Minnesota Hwy. 13 in Savage. Key on the railroad bridge (barely visible) on the middle right-hand side, and you can compare the two photos.
As you can see, there is (sadly) nothing left at the site. To the left of the "Left Turn Lane" sign on the north side of the highway, you can make out a gate, which is one of several gates that block roads going into the site. I believe this gate is located about where the driveway to the stables was located (at the end of Quentin Ave.)
Near the banks of the Credit River, which flows under the highway at this point, is where Dan Patch was supposedly buried in an unmarked grave. There is a horse graveyard in the back of the land down towards the Minnesota River where many people believe the grave lies. Legend has it that Dan Patch's ghost haunts the site, according to a November 2, 1987 article in the Prior Lake American. Old timers in Savage used to say that Dan's spirit was "standing watch over the grave." The story was probably fabricated for a reason, though. The article quotes former Savage Mayor, Cleve Eno, as saying "They'd say a ghost was down there guarding the grave. I think they didn't want anyone to dig it up." The late Dan Patch historian, Joe Egan, concurred. The article goes on to say "shortly after he [Dan Patch] died, there was a real danger that someone would try to dig up the grave."
Another story circulated after Dan's death that Mrs. Savage had always been jealous of her husband's love for Dan Patch. A June 23, 1964 Minneapolis Star article about the story says that she reportedly "took his [Savage's] death as evidence of this and had a hired hand assist her in secretly burying the horse in a place where he would never be found." Harold Savage vehemently disputed this in the article saying "I know where the grave is and there is nothing to that story. No two people could have been more devoted to each other than my mother and father." So much for those two old yarns!
Below 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 eventually sold to settle the estate in 1919 and the land changed hands. The horses were sold to horsemen 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 that, 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 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 would have dreamed that it ever had been there. 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 below, 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.
