The Manitowoc tribune. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1866-1878, 1877-11-01
NORTHERN WISCONSIN FARMING.

Travelling as Pioneer Missionary by
lonely trails and marked trees, often
losing my way, I could but be impressed
with the beauty of the scenery, the fer
tility of the soil, the salubrity of the eli
mate, the excellence of the timber, the
purity of the water and almost every
natura, advantage. Population was
scarce, the region quite Terra hacog-
saita. Few penetrated the deep forests
except for. numbering. Water-powers
were discovered here and there and saw
mills built, each becoming the centre of
settlement. Some erected steam mills,
and thriving villages sprang up, mer-
chants selling their goods chiefly in ex-
change for logs, boards, shingles, cedar
posts, etc. Occasionally manufacturers
had their own men and supplied their
own men. The choice pine, generously
scattered through the country-some
trees making 10000 and $4,000 shingles
was serious ten ptation to neglect
| the soil but as the timber failed in one
locality and another, the settlers took to
agriculture, and with the most crafty
| ing results.
Except the lumbermen, the popula-
ton was chiefly foreign-German, Bo-
he1nian, French, Norwegian, Holland.
Dane, Swede, Pole, Swiss, Italian, and
twenty different nationalities 1 remem-
| Der whole Townships without an Amer
lean, your only answer '.Nix for sta !''
s.Nicht versteheni''
Many such districts have become
densely settled and seem like our own
people, their farms luxuriant, lands re-
jected at $1.25 per acre are worth $25,
$50, and even $75 g. 6. in New Holstein
now extensively improved and their own
ers independent. What Manitowoc and
Calumet counties were 20 and 80 years
ago, I find to-day fifty miles farther
north in Clark and Marathon counties.
| The people are largely absorbed in lum-
| boring, but agriculture is attracting
more and more attention.
On recent trip of several days for
health and diversion-soft water and
bracing atmospheric saw there many
valuable farms, some opened within
three years. but very productive. The
country is new and the roads rough (al-
though once went q miles in Is min
utes), but the townships are settling,
villages prosperous and an enviable fu-
ture assured. With two exceptions, all
I met were delighted with their new
| homes,
In Dorchester, 227 miles northwest
from Milwaukee, saw man with oxen
and stoneboat improvised- natural
limbs in the shape of a V-loaded with
well filled bags and other supplies. He
was going to his cabin two miles distant
said he had a farm. I asked, .sWhat
can you raise r. He replied, ''Anything
put into the ground" His counte-
nance was bright, his step elastic, and
no fear of drought or grasshopper or
fever disturbed him. This man lives in
Marathon county, which I had supposed
to be, for the most part, an uninhabita-
BILE, irreclaimable wilderness, the safe
retreats of wolves and bears and all man
ner of wild beasts. Portions of the coun-
| try, it seems, have been cultivated many
years and its productiveness demon.
strated. One farmer told me his wheat
| overran sixteen pounds to the bushel,
another his oats twenty two pounds. =
The Tenant Bros, on Sec. 20, Z. 90, r.
2 east, showed me samples of corn
King Philip and -blaze-that could
hardly be surpassed, ears large and ker-
nels perfect. Some dent corn was fair
1 noticed also turnips and onions very
large and the growth so healthy
smooth, well-shaped and solid Here.
too, were potatoes remarkable for size
and beauty. AS the hills were uncover
ed, was reminded of filters of pigs as
they lay side by side-15, IS and % in a
hill-quite sight. These were the
Early Rose the Peach Blow and Peer
less are also favorite varieties. NV at
tention was directed to patch of about
one acre and a half, from which was ia
ken a crop of ], ZOO bushels. Corn fields
were dotted with pumpkins of average
size, and some gardens with melons of
good quality. On logging roads was
struck with the prolific growth of grass
and learned that timothy sown in June
had produced one ton to the acre. The
soil is easily seeded very important
fact. In other parts / have known the
first, second and third sowing to fail.
The thrifty villages of Spencer, Unity
and Colby, and the adjacent improve
ments, indicate the character of the
country and what will be repeated
through long succession of townships
north.s While numbering is the absorb
ing business, the advantages of agricuI-
ture are SO obvious that one man in
Clark county is clearing 40 acres, conf
IDENTIFY expecting the first crop, probably
wheat, to pay the entire expense Of con-
| verting the dense forest into fruitful
field. He pays $50 per acre-it could
now be contracted at SIS per acre. A
home market among the lumber camps
gives the farmer great advantage his
hay, grain, pork, beef, butter, ETC., are
cash. So the farms already opened are
very remunerative. Some have coined
money, but now there will be COMPETE
ton, which, after all, is the life of So
ciety. @Tar
The intrinsic and permanent value of
the country being manifest, it's develop
ment will be more and more rapid.-
There is scarcely any liability to failure
of crops and besides there is generally
ready employment at the mills, SO that
beginning with his log cabin, the settler
can soon rear his frame buildings and be
well-to-do in the world.
Desirable homesteads are scarce. but
the WISCONSIN Central r. r, Co. are
selling their lands at low rates and on
1