Meanwhile, Thomas H. Canfield of the Lake Superior and Puget Sound Company, a town site company auxiliary to the Northern Pacific, worked with the railroad engineers in seeking the best point for the line to cross the Red, since he wished to secure title to the land for his company before it was snatched up by some speculator in the hope of selling it to the railroad for a large sum. He and his engineers chose the present crossing because it was the highest point on the river and therefore in the least danger from floods. Andrew Holes, who with his wife had been touring the country in a covered wagon, was sent to Alexandria, Minn., to purchase the land on the east side of the river from its homesteader-owner, Joab Smith. In order to locate on the lands west of the Red it was necessary to plow a half acre of each section. Aided by Maj. G. G. Beardsley, Canfield secured the necessary farm equipment, hid it until Holes returned with the deed to the Minnesota property, and by moonlight secretly made the required improvements. On June 29, while on his patrol, Lowell found a "Farmer Brown" squatted with three Scandinavian settlers on what became the Fargo town site. Although Farmer Brown was clothed in well worn overalls with a brown hat and hickory shirt and "sat with such ease and unconcern upon the handles of his plow," Lowell doubted his being a farmer. He hastily summoned Back and McHench, and the three, after a consultation, located near Farmer Brown on July 1 and 2, 1871. Shortly afterwards Farmer Brown's identity as Beardsley became known and a stampede of settlers followed. Since Beardsley and his party were in the employ of the Lake Superior and Puget Sound Company, and were not bona fide settlers, their prior occupancy was disregarded and later, after much litigation, the company withdrew its claim to the Fargo land, retaining only the purchased Moorhead area. In September 1871 G. J. Keeney was appointed postmaster of Centralia, the little settlement that sprang up at the railroad crossing. Keeney was also a lawyer and real estate agent and his office was somewhat of a community center, according to one author, who wrote, "He placed over the door of his 10 × 12 office the sign 'Post Office', on the door the sign 'Law Office', and in the window 'Land Office.' He raised lettuce on the earth roof of his log shack, and decorated the inside walls with papers sent by the folks back home. On entering, one was at once impressed with the air of cleanliness and comfort which pervaded the sanctum of this enterprising limb of the law, and it became a popular reading and rest room, but ... one assumed a risk in becoming interested in a story as some chapter of it was certain to be found on the ceiling."