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A potpourri of stories about various family members or events
Keith raising Quacks
My oldest brother, Keith, was in FFA (Future Farmers of America) in at least his sophomore year of high school. It appears that during that year, discussions between Keith and our grandfather, Jesse Hibbard, took place about raising some ducks in order to release them to other areas of the region.
We will look at several articles in the St. Cloud Times newspaper that covered this event. The first was published on 17 Jul 1965 on page 1 of the paper. There is a photo above of the text with children playing and another photo below that shows Keith's ducks being released. The short text is next, followed by the photo of the release article.
Heat Sends Kids-Ducks to Water
YOUNG HEAD FOR COOL SPOTS-Children and ducks took to water here Friday as temperatures reached a high of 85. Children (above) are shown as they lined up waiting to enter the Municipal pool. The wild ducks below, raised on the J. E. Hibbard farm, southeast of St. Cloud, are shown as they took their first dip in a new wildlife pit. The ducks were banded and released Friday afternoon.
(Times Photos)
Ducks being released
The next article was published by the Times on 13 Aug 1965 (p13c3-7). It is a lengthier article that explains the process of the duck raising project. Note that there were a few editorial errors in the first portion where there are some omissions. I made a guess on the first error and I think the second error is the name of the other person (last name being Gohman) working on this project (and from Clear Lake).
Duck Raising Project Successfully Ended
By ED GERCHY Daily Times Outdoor Writer
The mallard duckling rearing and release program, a state-wide Future Farmers of America project, was recently completed by two members of the Stearns County FFA. The [omission? release occurred] when they were four weeks old. [another omission or error] Clear Lake and Keith Hibbard, route 1, St. Cloud, raised 151 of a possible 180 ducklings that were received at the beginning of the project.
Originally 150 ducklings were received June 2. but due to unforseen conditions, only 29 survived. Robert Underwood, an FFA advisor and teacher of vocational and agricultural activities at St. Cloud Tech, picked up another batch of ducklings, 151 in all. These birds were obtained at a White Bear Lake duck hatching station June 14.
Gohman raised 21 out of the original 29 birds left from the first shipment. The total cost of raising the birds came to $6.95. The ducklings were five weeks old when they were released July 11.
Hibbard received the second shipment of ducklings and successfully raised 130 of the 151 birds under his care. These ducks were released July 14, when they weer [sic] four weeks old.
The ducklings were released in groups of 25 in separate areas around St. Cloud. Personnel of the Fish and Wildlife Service of the United States from Minneapolis banded 130 of the ducklings before they were released for the purpose of evaluating the distribution, migration, mortality, longevity and homing instincts of these released birds for future references.
The one-day-old ducklings cost 35 cents each when they are obtained from the game farms, which raise them from incubators. The eggs originated from matings of wild mallards trapped last winter at the Lake Andes National Wildlife Refuge in South Dakota, and selected females possessed by Fred Armstrong of Anoka and Mort Huber of St. Paul. The entire cost of the duckling raising project was sponsored by the St. Cloud Community Wildlife Club as one of their conservation contributions this year.
One of the areas which received the release of 25 of the young ducks is the farm of J. E. Hibbard, grandfather of Keith. The elder Hibbard, 74 years old, recently completed a newly constructed wildlife pit with the assistance of the Agricultural Stabilization Committee. This federal agency encourages and assists on these projects throughout the country, both financially and suggestively. Sixty percent of the cost of building was absorbed by the ASC and 40 percent by Hibbard. The wildlife pit, is the only one of its kind in this area.
The pit, constructed with the use of a dragline, is approximately 200 feet across and about 40 feet in diameter. It is 7 to 8 feet deep with an island in the middle for a nesting area, which affords protection for the raising of the young ducklings from predators.
Hibbard has been on the farm all his life. A graduate of the University of Minnesota, class of 1917, he is also a member of the Sherburne County ASC Committee.
Second article.
Two comments about this article. 1. The article mentions that J. E. Hibbard was 74 years old, while he was actually 71 (but almost 72, arriving at 72 three days after the publication). 2. The description of the "pit" could have been described a little better. The dragline crane used to dig this create this pit was an annulus (or doughnut, if you like) that is reversed. The "hole" in the middle is an island formed by using the dirt from the circular channel around it. Additionally, a rectangle was dug out that abutted the annulus, with the width of this being about the same distance as the channel of the circular portion. (All of this is based on my memory from before 1968, though I have likely seen it since. I tell another story entitled Walking to the Hole related to this annulus, if you are interested.)
The next article is shorter and describes an award that Keith obtained for his work on this project. This was published in the Times on 20 Jun 1966 (p13c4-6).
Hibbard Gets DAR Award for Conservation
Keith Hibbard, Rt 1, St. Cloud, was presented the Conservation Achievement Award of $10, by the St. Cloud Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Hibbard, son of Mr. and Mrs. Edmund Hibbard, received the award for his work in the "Wings for Tomorrow" program. Hibbard was one of hundreds of Future Farmers of America members raising wild ducks to be released on lakes and ponds. The project is conducted by members of the FFA in co-operation with local sportsmen's clubs.
Larry Lambert, St. Paul, was the state winner and will attend a Youth Conservation Camp, near Aitkin. Dale Shaltz, St. Cloud, was runner up.
Third article.
Again, I have a few comments. 1. The reader may scoff at the $10 award that Keith received, but that would be equivalent to about $103 in today's (2026) dollars. 2. My grandfather, Jesse Hibbard, sent me to a two-week camp on conservation also near Aitkin. This article may have caused him to think about sending one of his grandchildren to such a camp. He sent me to Long Lake Conservation Camp (now called Long Lake Conservation Center) in about 1968, two years after this article. (I have a story I want to write about my time there, but it is not yet finished or started.)
Published 2026-07-17.
If you find any errors in the text, please let me know. Thanks. Contact me with errors or comments using hibbardac@gmail.com. [Back to the top] [About the author, Al]