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AGRICULTURE OF ST. CROIX COUIs^TY. 



Dear Sir — In answer to your inquiries I will ])roceecl in the order in which 

 your interrogatories are put, and give you such information I am able to on the 

 subject. Having been a resident of the county but three years, I cannot go into 

 full details. 



The first American settlements were made in St. Croix county, at St. Croix 

 Falls, on the St. Croix river, for lumbering purposes, in 1838 or 1839. There 

 were, however, a few French families living on St. Croix Lake, at the mouth of 

 Willow River, previous to that time. 



The present population does not fall below five thousand, and is rapidly in- 

 creasing. 



It is one of the lai-gest counties in the State, containing about 116 townships, 

 or 1176 square miles, and is bounded as follows, viz.: Beginning on the western 

 boundary line of the State opposite the mouth of Rush River, running thence 

 due east to range line between fourteen and fifteen west; thence due north on 

 said range line to the township line between thirty one and thirty two north ; 

 thence due east on said line to the range line between range eleven and twelve 

 west; thence due north on said range line to township line, between townships 

 forty and forty one north ; thence due west to the western boundary of the State ; 

 thence southerly along said boundary line to the place of beginning. 



It will be seen by reference to the map of the State of Wisconsin that the 

 western boundary of this county lies along the Mississippi and St. Croix rivers, 

 a distance of about 175 miles, one hundred miles of which boundary is on navi- 

 gable waters for steam boats six and a half or seven months in the year. In addi- 

 tion to this water communication we have abundance of hydraulic power on 

 Rush and Kinnikinuick rivers, in the south part of the county, and on Willow 

 and Apple rivers in the centre ; all running from east to west and emptying into 

 the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers. The St. Croix is navigable to St. Croix Falls, 

 about seventy miles above the point where it empties into the Mississippi. 



The surface is generally imdulating. South of St. Croix Falls it is diversified 

 with prairie openings and timbered land. North of the Falls it is mostly tim- 

 bered laud. 



The timber in the south part of the county, except upon the bottoms, is mostly 

 white and burr oak ; the timber on the bottom lands consists of the usual varie- 

 ties found on the Upper Mississippi bottoms. In the northern part of the county 

 the timber consists of sugar maple, white and black ash, white and red elm, 

 butternut, white and black oak, red and black birch, some hickory, some tama- 

 rack and cedar. The sti-earas and lakes are mostly belted with pine in strips of 

 from one to three miles wide. 



