Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1913-09-18


Last week while i'll Price and Taylor counties saw
cut-over lands that may DC purchased for about (S>00)
five hundred dollars forty that the best proposition
unimproVed farms that can he found III the Onted
States.
The soil is rich Rainfall is plentiful, cold springs
and streams are Good wells may be
ed anywhere. The climate is temperate. 1t is a nat
nra grass country, Potatoes grains, socorn, clover,
timothy alfalfa, yield large returus Daryng is
tablished Good roads lead to the aud villages.
The country schools rank high. The high school at
Medford is excellent.
This north central section Of WISCONSIN is close to
markets. The railroad fare from Milwaukee, from
the Twin citieS,-St. Paul and MlnneapollS,-lS less
than five dollars.
1t is the one section of the country where dairy
farming be started without large initial invest
ment 1t is the last of the good land of this country
which may be purchased for less than twenty-five dol
lars acre i'll section where annual crops are certain
prices stable and markets are permanent
Some settlers have already been in that hardwood
cutover section for twenty-five years. Many have
moved there during the past five years.
Eight years ago | visited the same place, Al that
time some cut-over land could be secured at ($S.00)
FIVE dollars acre, at (S7S0) seven and halt
dollars acre, and much at from SlOO0) ten dollars
to (Sl250) twelve dollars and fifty cents an acre In
deed that time but little land seemed to be changing
hands This year. while the prices of these same lands
have more than doubled there many purchasers.
One real estate firm i'll Milwaukee retailed tSSo0)
thlrN-elght hundred OF winch was Sold lOl
less than SIS 0O) fifteen dollars per
To convince ones self how comparatively easy and
Inexpensive it is to clear this cuover land needs
but visit the country. Green timber more than pays
for clearing Burn-ovcr tracts easily converted III
stump pastures. The stumps of the two most common
trees birch and hemlock, - rot rapidly saw city
man. who out to the country year ago He had
made stump pasture of 100 acres OF burnovcr land
He also had some pillow land. He found that he could
pull stump his quarter section with SINGLE
she'd to drpd dollar Hercules
puller.
A German American from Fond du Lac county
bought 100 acres two years ago The price $1,000.
He had but $500 to pay down. He already has ten
milk COWS and is making success OF his new farm
While there many groups of Settlers two are
strongly established: German Americans and Scanda
navan- Americans Where the German Americans
have settled large clcarings have been made, dairy
farms numerous creameries and cheese factories
have been established Where the Scandinavian Amer
leans have settled attention has been devoted to log
gng and numbering. But during the past few years
these settlers too have found daying more profitable
than following the woods, and they are building sos
and increasing their cearngs
No one can visit Price and TAYLOR counties without
noticing how we'll the country is settled and how we'll
the settlers have succeeded.
WHY are such good lands cheap | think the
answer is this The early settlers foreign born
and poor. The first years hard ones AS soon as
they made little money they turned TO timber invest
ments, logging contracts, pulp wood, hemock bark,
ties lumber A could make money by investing
in broad-aXe and a cross cut Farming
overlooked first; later when they urged to try
farming they argued that the woods paid immediate
dividends, while farming meant an investment OF
couple of wears or more of work before large dividends
could be secured
Now however, the change is toward farming. l>um-
bering is no longer possible any large scale The
people have discovered that farming pays better The
cheap lands are going up i'll price. Lands that were
cleared are worth as farms than they were Tor
T,o r,,n bciup IIrDl1u ed &
cheese factory and the broad-axe by the milk pail.
couple of decades ago good land could be pur-
chased cheap in many sections of this country. Today
farm ownership has to be the business Of well
to do class Dairy farming particularly has become
almost a rich mans game" The one chance for the
man Of small means to get into that branch OF farming
in the best dairy State in the Union in the hardwood
cut over section of north central Wisconsin,