1884 Bird's-Eye View of the Artesian Stock Farm

This 1884 bird's-eye view by artist Alex Simplot appears on the back of the Artesian Stock Farm's "second annual catalogue," published in 1885. A billiard pavilion and a bowling alley appear on the west lawn between the residence and the Mississippi River, but were never constructed. Another building, the old estate office, was enlarged for billiards and school rooms, and has now been restored with the Dousman family's original Brunswick-Balke billiard table. The farm's outbuildings included a large stable with box stalls for mares and foals, an office, carriage house, hay loft, and barracks for the stable boys. Another remodeled barn housed the stallions. Nearby stood a scale house, a cottage for the trainer, and numerous other buildings associated with the horse operation. A series of breeding paddocks surrounded the buildings. Across from the mansion a half-mile track, paved with crushed cork, provided a venue both for training and periodic trotting races — called meetings in the parlance of the sport.
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