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WISCONSIN STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY 
GRANT COUNTY. 
Grant county is one of the largest of the settled counties of the state, 
embracing thirty-six townships and fractions of townships. It is situated 
in the southwestern corner of the state, and is bounded on the north by the 
Wisconsin river, on the east by Iowa and La Fayette counties, on the south 
by the state of Illinois, and on the west by the Missssippi river. 
The surface rock throughout almost the entire county is the Trenton 
limestone. Along the Wisconsin river, however, there is a narrow strip 
along which appear lines of upper sandstone, magnesian limestone and 
Postsdain sandstone. The surface is undulating; in some portions hilly. 
Although usually regarded as a prairie and “ opening ” county, there are 
considerable bodies of hardwood forest timber in the southern and north¬ 
western portions. 
Grant is well watered by numerous small streams, emptying into the Wis¬ 
consin and Mississippi rivers, and has a fertile soil well adapted to the 
various crops common to this latitude. 
Although its developement has been much retarded by the want of rail¬ 
road improvements, it has steadily grown in wealth and population, as will 
appear by the following figures: 
1860. 1870. 
Population. 31,207 37,975 
Acres of land in farms. 163,463 288, 691 
Estimated value of farm products (census 1870). $3, 515, 049 
Value of maufactures.do. 1, 039,841 
The farm cultivation compares favorably with that of other counties. 
Stock-growing, though slower in making that progress which has distin¬ 
guished some other portions of the state, is now advancing at a commenda-, 
ble rate. While favorable to stock-raising generally, it is especially adapt¬ 
ed to sheep-husbandry, which must accordingly receive more and more at¬ 
tention. Fruit-growing has also received considerable attention, and has 
been quite successful. 
The most important products of manufacturing industry are flour, pig- 
lead and woolen goods; the total value of which in 1870, as per United 
States census of that year, were respectively as follows: 
Value. 
Flour.$397,393 
Lead. 270, 447 
Woolens . 65,478 
The business of mining, which, in the early history of the county, was 
the leading interest, has, of late years, somewhat declined in activity here, 
as elsewhere, in the lead district. Nevertheless, there are immense depos¬ 
its of both lead and zinc still undeveloped. The mines hitherto most pro¬ 
ductive are found in the regions about Hazel Green, Platteville, Potosi and 
Beetown. 
