Agriculture 



Sixty-one percent of the land area of the region 

 is in farms; approximately 38 percent is cropped. 



Most of the region is in the northeastern dairy 

 belt. Sotithern Minnesota and a few southern 

 counties of Michigan and Wisconsin are within the 

 central corn belt. Western Minnesota is jDart of 

 the northern Great Plains wheat and small grains 

 area. 



Major crops are dairy products, grains, pork, po- 

 tatoes, fruit and vegetables, soybeans, flax, and seed 

 crops. 



The southern and prairie zones contain nearly 

 nine-tenths of the cropland. Farms here are com- 

 parable in most respects to those in northern Iowa, 

 Illinois, and Indiana. The average farm in 1940 

 contained about 112 acres, or approximately three 

 forties, of which 27 acres were woods (-/5). Today 

 the average farm is a little larger, the average wood 

 lot probably a little smaller. The wood lots char- 

 acteristically occupy land that is too rough, too 

 stony, too sandy, or too wet to make good crop 

 or pastvire. They also exist on limited areas of level 

 or gently rolling loam soils suitable for cropping, 

 but most of these are being cleared. 



The northern cut-over counties have developed 

 more slowly in agricultural lines. TAventy-seven 

 percent of the land is in farm ownership; but only 

 10 percent is cropped (56). Value of cash crops is 

 relatively low and a considerable portion of the 

 settlers seek supjalemental income from mining, 

 woods work, fishing, trapping, and tourist business 

 (3, 18, 34, 42, 46). 



Industry 



The leading manufacturing industries in the Lake 

 States region are these general types: 



1. Those making machinery, including automo- 

 biles, trucks, tractors, motors, and aa:ricultural im- 

 plements. Plants are largely concentrated in major 

 industrial centers in the southern part of the region. 



2. Those processing food, such as flour milling, 

 meat packing, brewing, and canning. These are 

 scattered throughout the farming sections of the 

 States 



3. Those turning out miscellaneous consumer 

 goods, such as textiles, pottery, alumininn ware, 

 furniture, refrigerators, and foot^vear. These, like- 

 wise, are mostly in the south. 



4 Forest Resou 



4. Those connected with extracting, processing, 

 and transporting natinal resoiuces— iron, copper, 

 and other ores; lumber, pulpwood, and other forest 

 products; commercial fish. These are, to a large 

 extent, in the northern part of the region. 



Primary forest industries make up a relatively 

 small proportion of the total in terms of employ- 

 ment and dollar value, but they aie of extreme 

 importance in the northern part of the region. 

 Without the industrial pay rolls, the job opportuni- 

 ties for local settlers, the freight tonnage, etc., 

 created by forest industries, people in many small 

 cities, villages, and farming communities in the 

 north could not maintain a satisfactory standard of 

 living. Without the tax revenue from wood-using 

 plants and forest lands, counties such as Koochiching 

 in Minnesota, Forest in W^isconsin, and Al2;er in 

 Michigan, ^vould find it difficult if not impossible 

 to maintain satisfactoi'y roads, schools, and other 

 public services (14, 15, 31). 



One of the major values of small forest industries 

 is the part-time employment given to settlers in 

 districts where full-time commercial agriculttne is 

 not practicable {2, 6), (fig. 4). Even in the main 

 farming districts, ^vinter work in the woods or in 

 portable sawmills offers a useful supplement to 

 regular farm work. Moreover, the local industries 

 provide cheaper building material {43), and the 

 fuel wood and posts obtained from local ^voods 

 operations often reduce the farmer's cash outlay 

 by hundreds of dollars (48). 



W» ' -11 







F — 37703S 



Fif.URF. 4.— Farmers in some parts of the Lokc Sidles (legend 

 upon work in the woods and nearby mills for a large part 



of their cash iurnme. 



rce Report No. 1, U. S. Department of Agriculture 



