Many lines of activity profit by the enterprising spirit and resourceful business ability of O. B. Toalson, agriculturist, dairyman and lumberman, whose marked executive ability and determination have enabled him to carry forward to a successful termination whatever he has undertaken. He was born in the western part of Missouri, January 10, 1869, and there acquired his education. In 1906, when thirty-seven years of age, he came to Bartlesville and embarked in the retail lumber business, in which he is still engaged. Broadening the scope of his activities, in 1911 he turned his attention to the dairy business, the family taking up their residence on a farm, and it was owing to their desire to live in the country that he determined to enter this field. After thorough investigation he found that Holstein cattle were unsurpassed, as milk producers and he started his herd with five pure bred Holsteins, while he now has seventy-eight head, likewise engaging in breeding high grade males, for which he finds a ready sale. He has thirty-eight stanchions, besides eight stalls f or calves and his dairy buildings are modern, sanitary and well equipped, for he has made a comprehensive study of this branch of agriculture. The superior quality of the output commands for it a ready sale. His cow barn is thirty-two by seventy feet and has an L thirty-two by fifty-six feet in dimensions. The horse barn is sixty-two by seventy. His home farm comprises four hundred and ten acres of land, on which he raises all of his rough feed, and he has built two silos, one with a capacity of one hundred tons, while the other is capable of holding one hundred and seventy-five tons. Mr. Toalson is also the owner of a farm of one hundred and sixty acres situated six miles southwest of the place on which he resides and on that property he engages in raising alfalfa and registered Duroc Jersey hogs. In his farming operations he employs an average of four people, while in his lumber-yard he has five employees. In the near future he expects to engage in the raising of mules, being the owner of a fine bred Jack, and is now erecting for this purpose a building sixty-two by seventy feet in dimensions. His residence and outbuildings are situated on the top of a hill, thus commanding a fine view of the surrounding country, and his is one of the most valuable farms in this part of the state.
In 1892 Mr. Toalson was united in marriage to Miss Kate Chastain of Alabama, and they have become the parents of five children : George, aged twenty-two, who is married and assists his father in business ; Thomas, a young man of twenty ; Jewel, eighteen years of age; Hugh, who is in his fourteenth year and is attending school; and Katherine, who is also pursuing her studies. Mr. Toalson’s standards of farming are high and everything about his place indicates that he follows progressive methods, while his lumber business is also judiciously managed. He has never feared to venture where favoring opportunity has pointed out the way and has made wise use of the powers and talents with which nature has endowed him. The years have chronicled his growing success and he ranks with the leading citizens of Bartlesville and Washington county, to whose development and upbuilding he has contributed along many lines.
