SOIL SURVEY OF PORTEE COUNTY, INDIANA. 



11 



The original land survey was made in 1830-1831. Settlers gradu- 

 ally drifted in from the east, and the country passed through the 

 usual pioneer development. A gradually increasing acreage was 

 cleared and cultivated. Wheat was grown and ground at small 

 mills established on the creeks, and flour practically displaced corn 

 meal as the staple food. At first flax was cultivated, but later sheep 

 were introduced and wool became the chief source of material for 

 clothing. Cattle were raised in increasing numbers on the prairies 

 and marsh land. There was the usual tendency to occupy first the 

 lighter and the forested soils, because they w^ere easier to handle 

 with the primitive implements employed than the heavier soils and 

 prairie lands, and in addition the timbered areas furnished game, 

 firewood, and building material. 



In 1850 the Michigan Central and the Lake Shore Railroads were 

 extended through Porter County to Chicago. Tlie Pennsylvania 

 Railroad was built in 1858 and was soon followed by other lines to 

 Chicago. 



With the advent of the railroads settlement became more rapid and 

 all the land was soon homesteaded. The use of binders and other im- 

 proved farm machinery became general in the seventies, and this led 

 to a great increase in the production of oats and wheat, although corn 

 has always bren the leading cultivated crop of the county. In the 

 marsh lands the cutting of wild hay and the grazing of cattle were the 

 leading and practically the only industries up to 15 or 20 years ago. 

 The acreage devoted to marsh hay steadily increased up to 1890, but 

 by 1900 it was greatly reduced, cultivated grasses, consisting of 

 timothy or timothy and clover mixed, displacing the marsh grasses 

 in the cropping system. 



The following table, compiled from the census reports for 1880 to 



1910, inclusive, indicates the general trend in the production of the 



chief crops : 



Production of principal crops. 



Crop. 



18S0 



1900 



1910 



Com 



Oats 



Wheat 



Rye 



Barley , 



Buckwheat. 

 Potatoes 



Acres. 



33,650 



13, 450 



13, 991 



1,213 



63 



303 



Hay and forage. 



27, 136 



Bushels. 



838,331 



412,625 



290,858 



14, 828 



1,347 



2,519 



180,723 



Tons. 



37,905 



Acres. 

 28, 224 

 20,620 

 10,630 

 2,389 

 37 

 230 

 2,064 



51,519 



Bushels. 

 820,088 

 700,038 

 156, 237 

 36,262 

 759 

 3,037 

 173,354 

 Tom. 

 66,305 



Acres. 



28, 760 



24,865 



5,666 



2,751 



25 



213 



1,652 



41,177 



Bushels. 



1,333,500 



798,450 



32, 950 



39,520 



420 



2,270 



110,750 



Tom. 



55, 724 



Acres. 



45, 899 



26,910 



10,694 



3,316 



10 



312 



2,217 



42,048 



Bushels. 



1,675,972 



976,695 



232, 702 



51,616 



168 



5,142 



219,340 



Tom. 



52,717 



