Barn in Buhl

“This was kind of a historic farm, and it came with a barn,” said Twin Falls County Farmer Rick Pearson.

That barn just outside of Buhl, Idaho was built back in 1912, along with a dairy and a cheese factory by Gustave Kunze, who moved here from Tillamook, Oregon. Master barn builder Henry Schick, a German-Russian immigrant built it using post and lintel framing and a gambrel style roof. It was specifically designed for use as a dairy barn, rather than as multipurpose style barn more common then.

“The hay was stored up here and the dairy was in the bottom, the milking parlor,” said Pearson.

“Back then they brought hay in on wagons, and so they would come up the ramp with hay on their wagon.”

120 feet long, the loft could hold 200 tons of hay.

“So, they have their own mill here, grinding mill and so obviously they would grow their own grain and then they augured it into the mill. They ground it and then they augured it up here, run it through their molassefier, they added the molasses and mixed it up and then dropped in back down into a truck or in something that would allow them to put it in the manger for the dairy.”

“And they had all sorts of lathes and forges and a whole bunch of belt-driven stuff,” said Pearson.

“From the stories I’ve been told they were just way ahead of their time as far as technology and industry back then.”