Hiram M. Drache

Hiram M. Drache's roots are in rural Minnesota. He delivered milk to customers in the village of Meriden in the 1930s, first with a sled or a bicycle with a sidecar and finally a 1927 Studebaker. While working on an uncle's farm, he milked by hand, shocked grain beside his aunt, and did other mehr anzeigen chores. His first field work was driving a single-row two-horse cultivator. During two threshing seasons he drove a bundle team. With those experiences behind him, he has never understood the strong feelings many people have about labor-intensive farming of the past. Drache's college career was interrupted by service in the Air Force during World War II, after which he received his B.A. from Gustavus Adolphus College, his M.A. from the University of Minnesota, and his Ph.D. from the University of North Dakota. He taught high school, worked in various businesses, and purchased his first farm in 1950. From 1952 through 1991 he was a professor of history at Concordia College, Moorhead, Minnesota, where he specialized in European and economic history. Since then he has been historian-in-residence. Because of several innovations, his farming operation was the subject of many articles in regional and national farm periodicals. In 1962 he developed a computer record system for the farm and his cattle feeding business. After 31 years of farming, the Draches have rented out their farms. In the past four decades Dr. Drache has spoken to hundreds of audiences in 36 states, 6 provinces of Canada, Australia, and Germany. weniger anzeigen