378 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
and hard wood,—has a soil of superior quality for winter and spring wheat, 
oats, rye, barley and vegetables, and produces grass in great abundance. 
It has but few acres under improvement yet, but with the building of the 
Lake Superior system of railroads, will be speedily developed. The great 
fisheries of Lake Superior are located along its lake coast and affords em¬ 
ployment for a large number of men and considerable capital. The manu¬ 
facture of lumber is also quite extensively engaged in, and is a source of 
great wealth to the county. 
Bayfield, its county seat, is a lovely, well built village, situated upon one 
of the finest harbors in the world, which is the general refuge for the ship¬ 
ping of the lake in storms. It contains about GOO inhabitants, 8 stores, a 
good hotel, two large saw mills, warehouses, shops, etc. The United States 
Land Office and the Agency of the Chippewa Indians is also here. The 
Bayfield Press is its newspaper. 
Over $200,000 worth of fish and lumber were exported from Bayfield in 1870. 
Bayfield will soon be connected by rail with the southern portion of the 
state, and with the Northern Pacific via. its eastern extension. 
Government lands are abundant, and homesteads can be found in any 
number within the limits of the county. All kinds of products of the soil 
bring good prices and find ready sale. The business of farming will pay 
the emigrant from the start, and the inducements to settlers are such as 
warrant its early settlement. 
The St. Croix and Bayfield Railroad Grant, the extension of which is still, 
unfortunately for the state, pending in Congress, will ultimately connect 
Bayfield with the St. Croix Yalley, and the whole railroad systems of Wis¬ 
consin and Minnesota. 
BUFFALO COUNTY. 
BY AUGUSTUS FINKELNBURG, FOUNTAIN CITY. 
Buffalo county embraces the territory between the Trempealeau and 
Chippewa rivers, extending north an average of thirty miles from the Mis¬ 
sissippi river to Pepin and Eau Claire* counties. To the traveler, viewing 
the country from the deck of the Mississippi steamers, the bold bluffs and 
frowning cliffs along shore, leave only an impression of wild beauty and 
romantic scenery. They see nothing of the broad acres, the fine farms, the 
cozy homes concealed by the grand old bluffs, and hid in the beautiful 
valleys extending many miles inland. 
The creeks and brooks emptying into the Trempealeau, fed from innu¬ 
merable springs, are lined with the homes of hundreds of thrifty farmers. 
The Waumandee valley, extending over thirty miles inland, is a perfect 
garden in culture and natural beauty, and would compare favorably with 
any of the renowned valleys of the eastern states, not only in richness and 
