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AGRICULTURE OF CRAWFORD COUNTY. 



Prairie Du Chien, December 26th, 1651, 



Dear Sir — In answer to the request made in yotir letter, I proceed to give a 

 brief account of Crawford county : — First, as to its size, boundaries, number of 

 square miles, and extent of land susceptible of cultivation. 



As the present limits of this county are quite small when compared with itg 

 original boundaries ; and as you extend your inquiries to " the north-western 

 portion of the State," which was originally included in Crawford county; and aa 

 it is doubtful whether you will receive the desired information from some of the 

 counties which have been taken from old Crawford ; I trust a more general 

 range in this communication will be acceptable, rather than one confined to our 

 present narrow limits. 



Crawford county, as constituted and organized, I think it was in October 1818, 

 by proclamation of Governor . Cass, of Michigan Territory, to which it then 

 belonged, included all that portion of what is now Wisconsin and Minnesota, 

 which lies west of a line drawn north and south through the Portage, between 

 the Wisconsin and the Fox rivers, now the site of the town of Fort Winnebago, 

 or Portage city, extending north to Lake Superior and the northern boundary of 

 the United States, and west to the Mississippi river. 



Within this boundary is included what is called " the Carver Grant," which, 

 having excited some attention, and acquired some thousands of owners, within 

 fifty years past, it may not be improper here to notice : The pretended grant 

 was " from the Falls of St. Anthony, running along the east bank of the Missis- 

 sippi nearly south east, as far as the mouth of Lake Pepin, where the Chippewa 

 river joins the Mississippi, and from thence eastward five days travel, accounting 

 twenty English miles per day, and from thence north six days travel, at twenty 

 English miles per day, and from thence back again to the Falls of St. Anthony, 

 on a direct straight line." Within these boundaries would be at least six millions 

 of acres, or about ten thousand square miles. 



This grant is said to have been made to Captain Carver, on the first day of 

 May, 1767, for and in consideration of- his services to the Nau-do-wissies — the 

 Dakota, or Sioux, by Haw-no-paw-ja-tin, the Turtle, and 0-toh-ton-goom-lish-eau, 

 the Snake, two chiefs of that tribe or nation. This deed was in Captain Carver's 

 own hand writing, as appears from Dr. Peter's testimony before a committee of 

 Congress, in 1805, and without witnesses, because no one was present who could 

 write his name. In 1769, Captain Carver went to England, and presented the 

 matter to the King, probably in 1770, and prayed a confirmation of the grant; 

 which, as Dr. Peters says, was promised, but the matter was delayed until the 



