Waupaca County WI Archives History - Books .....Chapter IV 1890
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Book Title: History Of Waupaca Co., WI

CHAPTER IV.

OUR COUNTY—ITS BOUNDARIES—SOIL—NATURAL PRODUCTS. CULTIVATED
CROPS—POPULATION—CLIMATE—LAKES AND RIVERS—ETC.

  Waupaca County comprises twenty-one townships, each six miles square, and
twenty organized towns, as follows: Bear Creek, Caledonia, Dayton, Dupont,
Farmington, Fremont, Helvetia, Iola, Larrabee, Lebanon, Lind, Little Wolf,
Matteson, Mukwa, Royalton, St. Lawrence, Scandinavia, Union, Waupaca, and
Weyauwega.

  The county contains 756 square miles, and 483,840 acres. It is thirty miles in
length from north to south, and twenty-four in width from east to west, except
in the north tier of towns, where, by the addition of the town of Matteson on
the east, it is six miles wider.

  It is bounded on the north by Shawano County, on the east by Shawano and
Outagamie, on the south by Winnebago and Waushara, and on the west by Portage
County. In the northwest part of the county are many bluffs and hills. The soil
there is in many places rather stony, not so easily worked, and not so fertile
as in the valleys. In the rest of the county, with few exceptions, the surface
is gently undulating, capable of being easily cultivated, and producing all
kinds of crops usually raised in northern latitudes.

  The eastern and northern parts of the county are heavily timbered with hard
and soft maple, oak, birch, cherry, butternut, hickory, ash, elm, basswood,
ironwood, pine, tamarac, spruce, poplar, and in some places beech and hemlock.
The rest of the county is mainly oak openings. About three-fifths, prehaps more,
is timbered land.

  The soil in the timber varies from a light sand, on the pine ridges, to a
stiff, tenacious clay on the more level grounds. The sand, although light, can
be easily kept in heart, and pays well for the trouble and expense of
cultivation. Corn, buckwheat, beans and potatoes do best on the light soils,
while oats, wheat, peas and the grasses exhibit a decided partiality for clay or
a heavy loam. In many parts of the "openings" is much sand, yet there is much
excellent soil to be found there, dark, rich, and in many places quite
tenacious, yeilding the best of crops, and easily worked. Some of the best farms
in the county are found among the openings.

  Winter wheat seldom kills out, and is much raised. Spring wheat also does
remarkably well. In fact, Waupaca County may be put down as one of the best
wheat counties, not only in Wisconsin, but of the entire Northwest. No county in
the State can beat ours in the quality of that grain, and but few equal it,
although some may excel us in the quantity on a given number of acres. Corn is a
pretty sure crop; even dent corn, which can not be raised in the same latitude
East, seldom fails here, and is the crop with us. Oats and buckwheat do well,
but not so well as in many of the eastern states, where the weather during the
summer and early fall is cooler and more moist.

POTATOES.

  Waupaca County may justly claim to be the "banner county" for the raising of
that favorite esculent, the potato. While we are not behind other counties in a
great share of the agricultural products successfully cultivated in northern
latitudes, the potato seems peculiarly adapted to our soil, our climate, and our
tastes. Large fields are yearly cultivated—ten, twenty, and even forty acres are
not uncommon—bringing fair returns to the cultivators when a reasonable price is
secured.

  Years ago many predicted the ruin of our favorite fruit, and a speedy return
to a turnip diet, when our common enemy, the Colorado beetle, vulgarly called
the "potato bug," first made our acquaintance. But paris green saved us, and our
fears proved groundless.

  To give an estimate of the total number of bushels of potatoes annually
shipped from this county would test the nerve of even an honest historian. A
careful estimate by one of our principal shippers places the amount for the
season of 1889 at two thousand car loads of six hundred bushels each; total,
twelve hundred thousand bushels!

  The cultivated grasses do well in the timber— better than in the openings. Red
clover thrives, and is getting to be extensively cultivated, not only for stock,
but to turn under as a renovator of the soil. The wild grasses are plentiful,
very rich and nutricious, proving a great blessing to the hardy pioneer who has
to depend upon them for his stock to subsist on during the summer, and for his
winter's supply of fodder until he can clean up his farm and raise a supply of
the tame kinds. Our woods are full of a species of bean which is eagerly sought
after by our stock. There is also a kind of wild pea, which grows on the
uplands, much relished by stock. It is likewise very plentiful in many of our
natural meadows, often growing from three to four feet high, and making
excellent hay. Although we can let our cattle run at large only a part of the
year, and are obliged to fodder them more than half the time, stock raising pays
well, and much money is made in the business. Of late, our people are taking
more pains in the breeds, and much that is good is being introduced. Many prefer
the "short horns." They and their crosses are becoming quite popular, although
some cling to the Devons. For butter, the Jerseys and Alderneys can not be
easily beaten, and the breeds in some localities are becoming the favorites,
especially when crossed -with the short horns to improve the size.

  Taking it all in all, this is an excellent dairying county. Much superior
butter and cheese are produced, which will compare favorably with any made in
Wisconsin. Numerous cheese factories are in successful operation, producing as
good an article as can be found anywhere, as the premiums and medals received by
our citizens will attest.

  In horses we have some fine stock. Some of our horsemen are expending much
money in that direction, and -with a good prospect of success. Many of our
farmers and others are becoming convinced that it costs but little, if any, more
to keep a good horse than a stunted Indian pony or a miserable "scrub," and the
clumsy, raw-boned "critter" of the slow past is being replaced by the highbred
carriage horse, or the reliable roadster.

  Sheep do remarkably well. Our native grasses agree with, and keep them always
fat. They are seldom found diseased. Sheep raising would pay, provided wool
brought remunerative prices. But while we have to depend upon the eastern market
so much, the business is rather hazardous. Eighteen or twenty cents a pound does
not and can not be made to pay. We need more home markets—more factories in the
West, more encouragement for home industry.

  Fruit formerly did well, especially apples. Plums and cherries never were sure
crops, although somewhat extensively cultivated in some localities. But the very
severe winter of 1873-74 injured all of the fine orchards of Wisconsin, and
nearly ruined many of them. At that time excellent orchards were being started
in different parts of our county, but that winter discouraged many. Such a
winter was never before known in this section of the country, and it is to be
hoped that such a. one will never again be experienced in Wisconsin. The very
cold weather of that long-to-be-remembered winter, following so close upon the
unprecedented drouths of the preceding seasons, was undoubtedly the cause of
such general ruin in our apple orchards.

  But our fruit growers are becoming more hopeful, as well as more cautious. The
lessons of the past will not soon be forgotten. They have learned to criticize
very closely the claims of new varieties before trusting them, and not take the
word of every itinerant tree peddler who may chance to come along. The Fox River
Valley will yet prove favorable for fruit growers, and Waupaca County will not
be left far behind.

  Grapes do well, especially along the banks of our lakes, rivers and smaller
streams. We venture the assertion that no county in the Fox River Valley can
make much better exhibition of fine grapes than may be seen at our county fair
every fall. There are many favorable localities in our county where grape
raising would prove quite profitable.

  Strawberries, blackberries, raspberries and huckleberries grow in profusion.
But the great berry of Wisconsin is the cranberry. It is found wild in nearly
all of our tamarac swamps, and is the berry with us. Thousands of barrels are
picked annually and sent East and South for a ready market. Many are making
handsome incomes from the business, and we can but think that the cranberry
culture is but yet in its infancy, and will be a great source of revenue to
those who have favorable locations.

  Small lakes abound in different parts of the county, whose clear, pure waters
are stocked with nearly every variety of fish, while upon their placid bosoms
are found flocks of rice hens, and the sportsman's favorites, wild ducks. Our
rivers and smaller streams are the home of the pike, the pickerel, black and
white or silver bass, perch, catfish and sturgeon, which are caught by our wily
anglers in great profusion.

  The large game of our forests is becoming scarce, having fled before their
cruel, unrelenting enemy— man; but the partridge, the squirrel, and the timid
rabbit remain to furnish amusement for our juvenile Nimrods, and sportsmen of
bigger growth. Farewell to the exciting days when the hunting of the deer, the
bear and the savage wolf were but common pastimes. We welcome civilization, but,
after all, can not quite forget the past joys and excitement of pioneer life in
Wisconsin!

  In the eastern and northern portion of this county there was much valuable
pine, especially along the banks of the principal streams and their tributaries,
and much lumbering was done, giving employment to many hands. The business is
now carried on less extensively than formerly, the banks of the streams having
been robbed of their treasures. The pine is now hauled in many cases several
miles before being landed in the streams preparatory to being started oh its
winding way to market. But the supply is far from being exhausted, and it -will
be many years before the vast forests will be entirely stripped, and the last
log floated to market.

  The logs are mostly floated down the streams into the Wolf River, and down
that to the boom, where they are rafted, and thence towed by steam tugs to
Oshkosh, a large manufacturing city at the mouth of the Upper Fox River. A great
many million feet each year formerly passed down the Wolf from and through this
county, on the way to market.

  During the season of "driving," navigation on the Wolf River was, and is
still, at times, much impeded by the running logs. But when a "jam" occured it
might be days, and even weeks, before it could be broken so as to let steamboats
through. Some faint idea of the immense magnitude of the lumbering operations
formerly carried on in the Wolf River pineries may be gained from the fact that
the Wolf River is from twenty to thirty rods wide, and yet that stream has often
been completely jamed with logs from bank to bank, for miles, and no way for
boats to pass until the stream was cleared.

  The pine lands were mostly taken by speculators for the timber. As fast as
that is removed the land is generally sold to settlers at low figures. As the
pine grows mostly in clumps, on the ridges, there is scarcely a subdivision that
does not contain much excellent soil well suited for agriculture.

  The Wolf River flows through the eastern part of the county, and is navigable
for large steamboats at all stages of the water. The Little Wolf River empties
into the Wolf at about the center of the town of Mukwa, and is valuable chiefly
on account of its excellent water powers. So, also, is the Embarrass River,
which empties into the Wolf at New London. The Waupaca River also possesses
valuable water power. The Pigeon River in the northern, South Branch of the
Little Wolf in the central, Crystal in the south-western, and Little River in
the southern, are all excellent water powers, and much improved.

  Our railroad facilities are good. The Wisconsin Central enters the county near
the southeast corner, and passes through it in a northwesterly direction, on its
way towards Lake Superior. The Green Bay, Winona & St. Paul road enters the
county at New London, running westward, and making connection with the Central
at Amherst Junction, in Portage County, a few miles west of the west line of
Waupaca County. The Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western passes through that portion
of the city of New London lying in Outagamie County, touches two sections in
Lebanon, cuts off the northeast corner of Bear Creek, and crosses the towns of
Larrabee and Dupont. Fremont, Weyauwega, Waupaca and Sheridan are on the
Central; New London, Northport, Ostrander, Royalton, Manawa, Ogdensburg and
Scandinavia on the Green Bay, Winona & St. Paul; and New London, Clintonville,
Buckbee and Marion on the Milwaukee, Lake Shore & Western.

  Our winters are rather cold, but not colder than in the same latitude farther
east. But our snows are much less—none too much for good sleighing, and often
not enough for that. We seldom get much snow until after New Year. The cold
weather generally comes on gradually during the month of December, and continues
without much change until about March. Vegetation starts rather late in the
spring, but it grows rapidly when it does get started, and comes to maturity early.

  Our climate is very healthful. There are no miasmatic diseases, and but few
pulmonary complaints. The air is pure, bracing and invigorating, and somewhat
exhilirating. Many in the incipient stages of pulmonary complaints at the East
have been permanently benefited by coming here. The water here is good, and can
generally be obtained by digging from ten to twenty-five feet. In many parts of
the county artesian or flowing wells are readily obtained by boring from seventy
to one hundred feet. In most parts of the county are clear, running streams,
affording an abundance of excellent water for stock and other farm uses.

  Some towns in the county are settled mainly by emigrants from the Middle and
Eastern States. A few have a large proportion from Germany, Denmark, Norway and
other parts of Europe. Sober, intelligent, industrious and enterprising, as the
majority of them are, it is no wonder than our county is so rapidly improving in
wealth and real prosperity, and that it already ranks among the leading counties
of Northern Wisconsin.

  In every neighborhood are found free schools, where the children of the poor,
as well as the sons and daughters of the wealthy, enjoy all the advantages of a
liberal education. Our school code is one of the best in the world.

  Taxes are, perhaps, rather higher than in some of the older states, as must of
necessity be the case in a new country, where there is so much to be done in the
way of building school houses, laying out and finishing roads, building bridges,
etc.

  The emigrant from Europe or the Eastern States, in search of a permanent home,
would do well to take a look at some of our Wisconsin counties before roaming
farther towards the setting sun. Here he will find a climate healthful and
invigorating. Not so in many other Western States. He will find here a good
soil, pure water, plenty of wood, cheap lands, a ready market, and no
grasshoppers! Near the Rocky Mountains he may not be so fortunate. Our sober,
intelligent population, our schools, our churches, our good society, present no
mean attractions to the immigrant raised in the older states, or in any other
part of the world.

  Wisconsin counties are becoming rapidly settled. In a few years the man of
small means will be obliged to "go farther west." Our farms will materially
increase in value, villages will spring up, and many of them will become
important cities. Manufactories will be needed, mechanics will prosper, and the
man who this year or the next invests his small capital in Wisconsin property
may in a few years be ranked among the wealthy men of the great and rapidly
growing Northwest!


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

HISTORY OF WAUPACA COUNTY, WISCONSIN.

By J. WAKEFIELD,
Historian of Old Settlers' Society of Waupaca County.

WAUPACA, WIS.: D. L. STINCHFIELD,
1890.

COPYRIGHT, 1890, BY J. WAKEFIELD AND D. L. STINCHFIELD.

Printed by D. L. STINCHFIELD, Waupaca, Wis. 
Bound by W. B. CONKEY, Chicago.


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