Year: 1868

The reports from the various towns to
the Commissioners of immigration are be-
ginning to come in, and from the manner
in which they are being prepared they are
expected to be more correct than anything
heretofore published. From what we have
seen of them and from what we already
know Of this county, we feel justified in
saying that Iowa County, Wis, is one of
the best counties in the west to immigrate
to. One reason is that the attention of the
people has heretofore been almost wholly
taken up with mining, and although this
part Of the country has been settled thirty
or forty years, there is thousands of acres
of as good land as ever laid out doors,
which has never been disturbed by imple-
ments of husbandry, right here in this
county. We have the best wheat land in
the state. 1t will grow better wheat, and
grow wheat longer without manuring, and
when manured will yield better return
than any other quality of land. The ma
jority of land in this county, unlike almost
all other land in the state, has never been
washed it lays out of the course of the
great primeval wash current, and conse-
quently is exactly the same for miles in
every direction. The surface is rich clay
loan, underlaid with a retentive and never
failing clay sub-soil. The upper soil is
from one to three feet in depth. 1t is un-
equalled for small grain,-will grow the
heaviest kinds of crops of corn, potatoes,
turnips, and as for hops-the great and
growing staple of the west-it is not sur.
passed in the world. The people are just
awakening to the knowledge of the impor-
tance and value Of our farming lands, and
tracts which have been held by spectators
for years without buyers at any price, sim
ply because they were not mineral lands,
are now eagerly sought after as farms at
prices ranging from ten to thirty dollars
per acre. Being situated in the great Mis-
sissppi valley we have the advantage of
both an eastern and southern market, and
if the railroads impose too heavy charges
we can ship our surplus products on bar
ges down the Mississippi to New Orleans


We have railroad communication with the
competing markets of Chicago and Miwau-;
hee, 10y going few miles south or north,
and expect ere long to have railroad COM
munication from our very doors. Our
whole county is without doubt underlaid
with rich and paying deposits of lead ore.
The first miners in these parts, the Indians,
dug for the .1aoat, which is only found in
the soft ground above the rock; they
doubtless thought they had exhausted the
mines when they came to the rock The
miners of 1880 and 1885 worked a good
deal on surface diggings, but soon found
that more paying deposits of ore were to
be found in the crevices of the rocks They
worked on until they were annoyed by
water, which generally caused them to
quit. But it is the opinion of all eminent
geologists, and the experience of almost
every trial, that the richest deposits and
the best paying lodes are yet unearthed,
and remain for mere determined and
more enterprising people to develop The
only thing we need to make this one of the
richest counties in the state, and to bring
in a population which will develop all our
resources is a railroad right through the
heart of it, and this we believe will be &C.
complished in the next few years.