382 
WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
price of which is about twenty-five dollars per acre; the unimproved lands 
range in price from $1.25 to $10 per acre. 
Although comparatively a new settled county, it has good educational, 
religious and social privileges. There are eleven post offices, forty-nine 
schools, and eleven church buildings, with mills and stores sufficient for 
the wants of the inhabitants. Its market privileges will soon be equal to 
those of any portion of the state, as there are several lines of railroads 
contemplated that will soon be built, which will give more direct commu¬ 
nication with Lake Michigan; and lying on the eastern shore of Lake Win¬ 
nebago, it has direct water connection with Lake Michigan. 
As yet the industry of this county is mainly confined to agricultural pur¬ 
suits. There are but few manufacturing establishments in operation be¬ 
sides grist and saw mills. The soil is fertile, and well adapted to the pro¬ 
duction of the usual farm crops. The two leading agricultural products 
are wheat and butter; of the first, the yield for 1870 was 332,107 bushels; of 
the last, 297,513 pounds were manufactured. When the county is fully 
settled, and its resources developed, the producing capacity of its fertile 
soil will be found to be equal to any county of equal area in the state. 
CHIPPEWA COUNTY. 
BY WM. RICHARDSON, CHIPPEWA FALLS. 
Twenty years ago, when the pioneers of this county came here for the 
sole purpose of lumbering, they supposed that pine lands would only pro¬ 
duce pine trees, and consequently they brought their flour, pork, corn, 
beans, potatoes, and in fact all the necessaries of life, up the Mississippi 
in keel boats, from Prairie du Chien. Times are changed; now we produce 
both winter and spring wheat, 20 bushels per acre, which sells in Milwau¬ 
kee for No 1. Our oats are No. 1; average crop 40 bushels per acre. Bar¬ 
ley and rye grow equally as well. Hay grows wild in great abundance, 
and yields two tons to the acre. We also raise first quality timothy hay, 
two tons to the acre! As for potatoes, the world cannot surpass us in quan¬ 
tity or quality; the average crop is 200 bushels per acre. We have almost 
all kinds of wild fruits in abundance. Quite a large number of apple trees 
and small fruits have been set out the past season, and as apples do well 
fifteen miles south of us, we hope soon to raise fruit in abundance. 
The stock of the county is of a good average quality, but is mostly 
brought from southern Wisconsin, Illinois and Iowa. The pineries make a 
great demand for horses and working cattle. Three hundred breaking 
teams were employed last summer in turning over the prairie sod. Wild 
land can be bought for from three to ten dollars an acre. Twenty miles 
from the county seat, or from the West Wisconsin Railroad, good land can 
be bought at government price. Improved lands are held at $25 per acre. 
