Eagle River review. [volume] (Eagle River, Wis.) 1890-1927, 1899-09-07
Villas COUNTY
IT'S AGRICULTURAL resources.

/ hundred ana Unlfbsy-SsiA y ueai = -
thfrty-six full governments townships
/ The surface is generally level or stlga1.
/ 1y undulating with just sufficient TAI
for good drainage proposes.
It was formerly heavily tlmDereo
with pine and hardwood but the lum,
/ berman's- axe, followed by extensive
| forest fires which ragged in this sectlon
a few years ago have played SAD haVoe
with it's extensive forests althougi
there are still large tracts covered with
pine and considerable hardwood aeiii
/ left standing.
| A glance at the map Of the state Will
show number of rivers taking their
rise in this county. The wisconsin
and Chippewa rivers which flow into
| the Mississippi, the Wolf and Menohl-
nee. whose waters ultimately reach
lake Michigan, and the Ontonagon ana
Montreal of the Lake Superior system
all have their head waters in this coun
| ty. A closer inspection OF the map Will
show this county dotted with lnnumef-
able lakes. There are, IN facb, TOUR
hundred and eightysix meandered lakes
in the county which appear on the gov
erment plats and there are over Two
hundred smaller lakes which do not ap-
PEER on the plat: making total OF
about seven hundred lakes in the coun-
ty. OF al average of nearly one to every
section of land. Some OF these lakes
are from one to two miles long and from
one-half to a mile wide SO that there
are but very few sections that do not
contain or have a lake touching them
somewhere. These lakes are either
snring lakes or are fed with running
streams and as is to be expected IN a
country containing so many lakes, 1resn
water streams and brooks are to be
met everywhere. No other county In
the state can begin to compore With
this in this respect and it is an advan-
tag that will appeal with great force to
the Would-be settler in search OF Local
ton.
MANY who would otherwise look with
| favor upon Northern Wisconsin as
place for settlement have inbibed the
erroneous idea that it Is too far North
for general farming, that the winters
are too cold and The seasons too short.
The forty-sixth parallel of latitude,
which is the southern boundary OF
North Dakota, passes through the CEN
ter of Villas county, and the county only
lies one degree north of Minneapolis
and st. Paul. The presence OF large
bodies of water lake Superior on the
i North and lake Michigan on the East
exerts favorable influence on the eli.
mate and the average temperature is
higher here than in the same latitude
farther west. It also has the effect Of
keeping the temperature more uniform
It, to a certain extent, mitigates the
i rigors of winter and keeps it cooler If
summer season.
Although our seasons are about 9
week later in the spring than in the
southern part of the state, still we suf
fer less from late frOsts than there.
This is due to our lakes and to thu
neighborhood of the two great lakers
Superior and Michigan. The presence
of the ice in the spring makes the all
4 cold and vegetation backward abou
/ starting, so that at the time crops are
| suffering below from late frosts. our,
!. are not far enough advanced to be in
d iured, and later the lakes protect then
from frosts.
i Probably in no other county in TIL
state is there greater diversity of sol
than in this. 1t ranges through all tn,
grades from heavy clay to light sandy
4 In the. hardwood bolts can be found t's,
rich black loan. In Ihose parts wner,
there was pine among the hardwood W,
find some sand mingled with the blacl
| loam Where it was all white pine ",
find sandy loan and tracts where til,
Norway or Jack pines grow we fad
: light sandy soil. But in majority 8
cases we find q sandy loan.
Nowhere in the county will the sol
be found as light as the sandy bel
through the central part Of the stat.
which is to-day the great potatoe grow
| ing part Of the state.
Villas county, ii common with til,
rest Of Northern Wisconsin, has suffer
ed frem the erroneous belief tina
when the pine forests were removed, /
! would be wilderness. UP to i fe,
years ago even the people residing her
Il did not appreciateiits vast agriculture