338 READINGS IN RURAL ECONOMICS 



The counties mentioned are in the extreme southeast portion 

 of the state or near the Mississippi River in the region of the 

 twin cities (St. Paul and Minneapolis). 



In 1870 the leading wheat counties produced as follows : 



Bushels 



Olmsted . , 

 Goodhue . 

 Fillmore 

 Wabasha . 

 Dakota . . 

 Winona . . 

 Blue Earth 

 Mower . . 

 Dodge . . 



2,117,054 



1,815,403 



1,687,424 



1,476,643 



i,435-36i 



1,315,012 



725,879 



673,017 



634,741 



It is thus seen that in 1870 the leading wheat counties con- 

 tinued to be practically the same as in the previous decade. Six 

 of the counties were now producing over 1,000,000 bushels each ; 

 while the leading county, Olmsted, containing only 648 square 

 miles of territory, produced over 2,000,000 bushels, or 3268 

 bushels per square mile. This product becomes significant when 

 we notice that thirty years later in 1900 the 2 leading wheat- 

 producing counties, Polk and Ottertail, produced only 1362 and 

 1 79 1 bushels per square mile, respectively. 



In 1880 conditions within the leading wheat counties remained 

 practically unchanged, though additional wheat fields, during the 

 intervening years, had been added along the Minnesota River 

 and in the central and northwestern parts of the state. While the 

 wheat industry had thus been practically at a standstill in the 

 older counties the increase in the total output of the state from 

 18,866,073 bushels in 1870 to 34,601,030 bushels in 1880 came 

 from new counties into which the industry had been extended. 



In 1890 there were 22 counties that produced over 1,000,000 

 bushels each. Of these the leading ones were Polk, Ottertail, 

 Stearns, Renville, Lac qui Parle, Sibley, Meeker, Blue Earth, and 

 Brown counties. All of these lie in the western half of the valley 

 of the Minnesota River or on the plains in the central-western 

 part of the state or in the valley of the Red River of the North. 



