BULLETIN 1296, XT. 8.' DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
SETTLEMENT AND DEVELOPMENT OF McPHERSON COUNTY 
The first settlers came to McPherson County in 1866 and the 
county was organized in 1870. At that time there were 239 farms in 
the county containing an average of 192 acres each (see Table 1). 
The decade from 1870 to 1880 was one of rapid settlement and 
expansion. Two railroads came into the county in 1879. By 1880 
more than 80 per cent of the land area was in farms and 60 per cent 
of that in farms classed as improved. The population has varied 
little since the county was fully settled in 1880. 
McPHERSON COUNTY STUDY 
KANSAS 
ACTUAL SURVEY AREA 
AREA WHERE APPLICABLE 
AREA WHERE LESS APPLICABLE 
Fig, 1.— The type of farming in McPherson County is that of most of the winter-wheat belt of central 
Kansas 
Table 1. — Number of farms, land in farms, value of land and buildings per acre, 
and population of McPherson County, Kans., 1870— 1920 1 
Year 
Farms 
in 
county 
Land 
in 
farms 
Average 
acreage 
per farm 
Improved 
acreage 
per farm 
Value of 
land and 
buildings 
per acre 
Popula- 
tion 
1870 
Number 
239 
2,949 
2, 849 
2,820 
2,748 
2,656 
Acres 
45, 902 
476,616 
509, 840 
571, 695 
556, 232 
557, 662 
Acres 
192 
162 
179 
203 
202 
210 
Acres 
15 
100 
160 
179 
178 
173 
Dollars 
6 
11 
21 
21 
61 
109 
Nu ruber 
738 
1880 
17, 143 
1890... - 
21,614 
1900 
21,421 
1910... 
21,521 
1920 
21,845 
1 Data from Bureau of Census. 
CHANGES IN THE ACREAGE OF IMPORTANT CROPS 
The crops which are grown in this region may be divided into two 
important classes: (1) Those produced for sale, and (2) those pro- 
duced primarily for use in feeding livestock on the farms where 
grown. Winter wheat is the only important crop in the first class; 
