Digging into Community History: Beltrami County’s “Potato King” and the Vanishing Varieties of Yesteryear

This studio portrait of George H. Miller of Grant Valley shows a farmer confident in the work he did best. Dressed in his good suit and holding a full basket of potatoes, he represents a period when potato farming was central to daily life in southern Beltrami County. Potatoes weren’t just a side dish; they were an essential measure of a farmer’s skill, and local growers paid close attention to yields, varieties, and soil conditions.

Newspaper mentions from the Bemidji Daily Pioneer confirm Miller’s reputation. In a 1917 advertisement for a potato digger, the paper refers to him as “George Miller, ‘Potato King,’” noting his strong yields. Lists of Beltrami County fair winners from that same era show the wide range of potato varieties being grown and judged—though, amusingly, Miller doesn’t appear to have taken home any first-place ribbons in the categories we have records for. Titles, it seems, were sometimes awarded by local consensus rather than contest results, and the “Potato King” may have been crowned more by reputation than by the judges’ scorecards.

We know a bit more about Miller thanks to a 1917 farm survey, which gives a clearer picture of the man behind the nickname. He was farming 230 acres in Grant Valley, with 86 cleared; tending heavy clay soil; and running a substantial operation that included six horses, 35 cows, four sheep, 15 hogs, 200 chickens, and four ducks. Eleven people lived in the household, and the farm marketed its products in Bemidji. This gives us a fuller picture of the man in the photograph: a hardworking, established farmer managing a diverse operation with a large family and deep roots in the community.

The Potato Kingdom of Early Beltrami County

The early 1900s potato scene in northern Minnesota was incredibly diverse. Farmers in Beltrami County commonly grew dozens of varieties—far more than the typical grocery shopper encounters today. Seed catalogs, USDA bulletins, and local fair records from the era listed many regional favorites. These potatoes had distinct personalities. Some stored well. Some matured early. Some mashed beautifully. Some stayed firm in stews. Farmers chose varieties the way gardeners now choose tomato cultivars: for flavor, climate, resilience, and tradition.

Many of the potatoes grown in early Beltrami County had long and well-documented histories in American agriculture. Early Ohio, released in 1875 by the agricultural firm A.H. Drummond & Company, was one of the first widely successful early-maturing white potatoes in the United States, allowing northern farmers to harvest weeks earlier than other varieties—an enormous advantage in short-season climates.

Irish Cobbler, introduced in the late 1870s and quickly embraced by Midwestern growers, became famous for its floury flesh and was so dependable that it remained one of the leading early varieties nationwide well into the mid-20th century. Rural New Yorker, developed in the 1880s by the prominent agricultural editor John J.H. Gregory, was bred specifically for market growers; its large, uniform tubers made it a favorite for commercial shipping before standardized grading. Green Mountain, originating in Vermont in the 1880s, earned a reputation for exceptional flavor and remarkable storage life, thriving in cool, rocky soils; it remained a New England staple for decades before falling out of favor when mid-century processors began demanding more uniform shapes for mechanized packing. Bliss Triumph, introduced by the Bliss family seed company in the 1870s, was one of the earliest successful red potatoes in the United States and became a mainstay of home gardens, truck farms, and early-season markets thanks to its reliability and good cooking quality. Together, these varieties formed the backbone of potato production across the northern states, reflecting the agricultural diversity that would have shaped daily life for farmers like George Miller.

Why Don’t We See These Potatoes in Stores Anymore?

The reason we rarely see heirloom varieties like Early Ohio or Green Mountain in grocery stores today has less to do with taste and more to do with how the potato industry changed over the last century. As frozen French fries became a dominant product, processors needed potatoes that were long, high-starch, and reliably uniform, which pushed Russet Burbank to the forefront. Its exceptional storage life also made it ideal for centralized distribution systems that required potatoes to hold for months without sprouting or breaking down.

At the same time, mechanization reshaped farming and packing: machines handled tough-skinned, evenly shaped potatoes more easily than the irregular heirlooms common in earlier decades. Agricultural researchers have described the resulting shift toward a few widely grown varieties as a form of genetic erosion, where diversity still exists in seed banks but disappears from commercial fields.

On top of that, marketing played a significant role; the Idaho potato industry invested heavily in building a national identity around the Idaho Russet, cementing consumer expectations of what a “standard” potato should look like. Taken together, these forces narrowed the American potato landscape from hundreds of distinctive regional varieties to the small set we see in stores today.

What This Means for Our Community’s History

In George Miller’s era, the diversity of a farmer’s potato patch was a matter of skill, preference, and local pride. Families compared yields, textures, and storage qualities the way we might compare recipes today.

Many of those old varieties still exist, just not in mainstream grocery stores. They survive through seed cooperatives, dedicated growers, heirloom seed catalogs, and home gardeners. Some, like Green Mountain and Bliss Triumph, have been revived after nearly disappearing.

Each one carries a story about the people who planted it and the place it grew.

A Basket of Storytelling

The portrait of Beltrami County’s “Potato King” is more than an awesome photograph. It’s a window into a time when agricultural diversity was a point of pride and when families across the county knew their crops as well as their neighbors. Our photo collection holds countless moments like this: small reminders of how people lived, farmed, cooked, and supported one another. Digging into them connects us to the textures and flavors that shaped daily life here.

We also want to take a moment to say thank you. Your support, whether through membership, donations, volunteer work, sharing stories, or simply showing up, helps us preserve and celebrate the history of this place. Because of you, we can continue uncovering and sharing the everyday details that make Beltrami County’s story rich, resilient, and uniquely ours.

We’re grateful to be able to do this work, and thankful that you’re part of it.