River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1925-07-02
An Interesting History
Of the Badger State
After Long Years of Hardship, Wis
consin Has Climbed to the Top as
! the Country's Premier Dairy State

BOOST was paid for Badger dairy
products produced during 1928.
During the year Wisconsin ranked
as the greatest milk producing state
Of the country, producing one-tenth
Of Americas milk supply. She rank
ed first in the total production of
cheese, making 10 per cent of all the
cheese in the country; and she also
led in the production Of condensary
products, manufacturing no less than
one-fourth Of the supply made in
United States As butter state
Wisconsin placed third among all the
states. Is it any wonder that the ma
tion looks to Wisconsin?
As in all the frontier states, wheat
was king in the pioneer days Of Wis
cousin. In 1860 the yield was almost
30,000,000 bushels, and Wisconsin
was second only to Illinois in wheat
production.
Toward the close of the sixties the
farmers of Wisconsin were forced by
continuous short wheat crop to set
about developing another type Of
farming which would conserve the
fertility of the soil. Then began
what is without doubt one of the
most remarkable agricultural devel-
opments in Americas history, the
movement which made Wisconsin the
foremost dairy state in the Union.
Sturdy Settlers Imported
This was aided largely by four
Nfaetors. The first was the fact that
the soil ar,1 climate of Wisconsin
were well fitted to dairying. The
second factor was the character of
the foreign immigration which had
begun to pour into the state begin
hing in the ffties and running into
the Civil War period. This was
largely Gelman--the original inn
pulse to this immigration being the
German revolution Of 1S48. The
German knew the value of land, how
to conserve the soil, and was ac-
customed to careful farming. To
this element was added the Swiss
who settled in the southern part of
the state and were expert cheese
makers. BY this time also had be-
gun the original influx of Scandina-
'vian farmers, Woodworking, rugged
and Industrious. The third factor
was the great work done by the dairy
school, of the College of Agriculture
at the University of Wisconsin. The
final element in developing the great
dairy movement, especially in the
earlier period, was the splendid type
of personal leadership which rose to
the opportunity.
Leaders Blazed the Trail
Foremost among these leaders was
William Demster Hoard, afterward
governor of the state, to whose far
sighted vision appeared the disaster
ahead of Wisconsin's agriculture
unless new methods We're pursued,
whose sound judgment and wise lead
eiship led the way in her wonderful
development and achievement as a
dairy state. Governor Hoard has Of
ten been compared to Abraham Lin
coin and in many traits the resem-
blance was striking. Tall and gaunt,
he had an unlimited fund of stories
to illustrate every point he wished to
drive home; withal he was grave and
dignified in manner and gifted with a
compelling and trenchant English
style.
The slogan went forth that we
must substitute "The COW fN the
plow." The factory system of dairy
ing, which had revolutionizcd agri-
culture in the great dairy state
New York, was introduced into Wis
consin in 1864 when Chester Hazen,
an immigrant from New York state,
established the first cheese factor
in Wisconsin, AT the close Of the
Civil War there were 80 cheese fac
tories in operation in the state. In
1870 the first creamery in the West
was established at Elgin, Illinois,
south of the Wisconsin border, and
soon creameries began to spring up
in Wisconsin
Few Markets Open to Wisconsin
Numerous obstacles thwarted pro-
gress at the beginning. New York
was the great dairy state and the
East was the dairy market Wis
consin products were regarded as in
ferior. In order to open the market
1t was necessary to improve and
standarize the quality of Wisconsin
dairy products and to study market
ing methods and conditions, task
Of education and cooperation.
To further this purpose the Wis