INDUSTRY OF COUNTIES. 
277 
is remarkable for its healthfulness; fevers are hardly known. 
The atmosphere is dry and pure. The county abounds in 
springs of the purest soft water; and there are numberless 
streams running through the hard wood lands. They are all 
rapid streams. Cattle thrive here better than they do on the 
prairies: the woods are full of wild pea vines, on which cattle 
can live and do well in the fall until the snow comes. 
The winters are generally cold and dry; it seldom rains 
during this season of the year. The country is so rolling and 
there is such an immense body of timber, that we scarcely feel 
any wind; it is consequently far more pleasant here in the 
winter than on the prairies. This w T ould make the best dairy 
country of any part of the State I have ever seen. In a few 
years it must have a great reputation for its butter, cheese, and 
cattle. 
The county is steadily settling up with an industrious class 
of men, a good portion of them from New England, New York, 
Pennsylvania and Ohio, with some Germans, English and 
Canadians. 
INDUSTRY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY. 
t 
BY HENRY CONVERSE, OF WYOCENA. 
The settlement of Columbia County was commenced about 
the year 1840 or ’41, in the south-east part of the county, 
and in 1843 and ’44 a few families located in the north-east 
part, after wdiich time the county was rapidly settled. 
Rivers.— The Fox river rises near the north-east corner of 
the county, running westerly through the north part of the 
county to Portage City, thence north-easterly. The Wiscon¬ 
sin river runs through the western part of the county. The 
several branches of Duck Creek unite near the center 
of the county, whence it flows west and unites with the 
Wisconsin. The Catfish waters the south-east part, and in the 
