USA > Minnesota > Houston County > History of Houston County, Minnesota > Part 105
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The cleaning of wheat for market or for seeding was attended with considerable inconvenience. Several methods were used, but there was one particular method that was most customary. A wagon body was lifted from the wheels and placed on the ground near the bin. The fanning mill was placed inside of it, and the wheat run from the bin as needed into a pail or half bushel measure. At intervals as cleaned and collected in the wagon body it was shoveled into cotton woven sacks, which for several years could not be obtained at less than a dollar a sack. Each sack held two bushels and eighteen of them made a fair load. The cleaning work over, the wagon body was placed back on the wheels, and the axles having been greased, the sacks were loaded into it, and preparations made for the trip to market. Usually this trip to market was made by several settlers in a neighborhood gathering a party and going together, taking several days coming and going, camping where night overtook them, and sleeping on the ground, their wagons their only protection against the elements. The people from Portland Prairie and vicinity took their wheat to Lansing, those in the
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northern part of the county took it to Winona, while others, conveniently located, found a market at Brownsville. A part of the crop was marketed in the fall, but many trips being required much of it remained stored in bins until the following spring.
Corn was planted in a much different manner than at present. The work was done with hoes, the planter sometimes trusting to the accuracy of his eye, or sometimes using a line, or going over the ground first with a marker. The summer battle with the weeds being over with in cultivating the crop, it was left to mature, and in the fall it was cut and shocked, either ten or twelve hills square to the shock. Through the fall it was hauled up about as needed and husked out to be fed to the hogs, oxen and horses, and the fodder to the cows. The main work of the autumn until the ground froze up was fall plowing, after which as much corn as possible might be hauled in from the fields, but the last of the shocks usually did not get hauled away until early in the spring.
The insect pests were not strongly in evidence in the days of the earliest settlement. The most serious among the early pests was the Colorado beetle, better known as the potato bug, which put in its appear- ance in 1865. Its ravages were practically unchecked except as the children could pick them from the plants, until 1870, when the Paris-green method of killing them was introduced. Since then they continue to make their annual appearance, but the use of poisons and sprays has reduced them so that they are now considered as a nuisance rather than as a serious menace.
Situated as the county is on the banks of the Mississippi, furnishing an excellent landing place for boats, the rats early began to make their ap- pearance here. Snakes have always been plentiful, and in the early days were a serious menace to the Houston county husbandman. The grass- hoppers were more or less in evidence from the beginning, but while they increased somewhat in 1873, when they began to become a plague in various parts of the State, they did little material damage in Houston county. In 1879 the chinch bugs made their appearance, and their ravages were great for the next few years.
The improvement that has been brought about in tools, implements and machinery, presents an interesting subject of study. A plow, a scythe, a pitchfork, a hand axe, a shovel and a hoe constituted about all the equip- ment of the average pioneer. "Stone boats," flat contrivances which were dragged along the ground as a method of conveyance, crude harrows and hand rakes, V shaped or brush drags, and rough cradles and flails were all made on the spot.
The first machines that came into use were operated by horse power. Some were run by as many as four or sometimes five span of horses, walking around in a circle and attached to the arms of a low machine largely com- posed of iron gearing, placed back about three rods from the threshing machine, the two being connected by a shaft in loose jointed sections so it could be slanted from a low level where the horses stepped over its cov- ering, gradually up to the shaft of the cylinder of the thresher, at which point beveled gearing communicated the power to the whole machine. They
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were provided with straw stackers, so that the straw could be piled as high as desired for use as covering for sheds, though oftentimes it was burned. The driver with a long lashed whip stood on a platform just above the gearing of the horse-power and which covered it over, thus keeping every- thing in motion. Occasionally a stop had to be made to mend a broken belt, or to adjust something else about the outfit that had gone wrong, but a genuine breakdown seldom occurred. It took about a dozen men and boys to attend to everything, three or four men going with the outfit, and the others being gathered in the neighborhood. After the outfit had been pulled away there was a ring of at least twenty-four feet in diameter left where the teams had circled around and much grain was left scattered on the ground where the pitching, threshing and measuring had been done. The harvesting and threshing made busy times for the women and their daughters, for they had much cooking to do for the extra help.
A few years before the Civil War broke out, a threshing machine run by a tread-power was introduced. This was little besides a cylinder, con- cave and fan. It had no straw stacker and one man stood at the rear with a fork and threw the straw back. In a short time a machine run by horse- power and tumbling rod, and equipped with a straw carrier and measuring device was invented, and gradually came into use in Houston county. Hay- ing was done with a scythe, hand rake and pitchfork.
Not long after the Civil War, reapers began to be used, great heavy clumsy machines, likely to clog in heavy grain and requiring two men to operate them. One man drove and the other was strapped to a post set in the center of the platform and removed the grain with a rake as it was cut.
A little later, better machinery began to come into use, and many farmers found their labors lightened by the use of combined reapers and mowers. These machines were usually drawn by three horses, two abreast, and one on the lead ridden by a small boy. This was done to avoid injury to the unbound gavels which would result from driving three horses abreast.
The next evolution was in the nature of a harvesting machine which required three men to operate. One drove, and the other two bound the grain as it was elevated to them. This was succeeded by the self binder.
The old horse power threshers were gradually improved until now the farmers have the modern steam threshers with wing feeders, automatic elevators and weighers, and wind stackers. Harrows, disks, cultivators, drills and seeders have come into general use, and the farmers of the county are keeping thoroughly in pace with the modern march of agricultural improvement.
The story of agriculture in Houston county has been one of almost unbroken success, and even the decline of the wheat crop, at one time so lamented, brought its compensation in necessitating the introduction of dairying, stock raising and diversified farming.
From the very first the crops were good, and during the first few years, the soil yielded in abundance. The first bad year was in 1857, when conditions were not favorable for growing, and the country suffered a financial panic, making it difficult for the farmers to obtain money to pay the preemption price of $1.25 an acre for their land, or to purchase supplies.
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Then ensued the hard winter of 1857-58 when the people subsisted on little more than unsalted game and corn meal, often ground by hand at home in the coffee mill. Many of the settlers during this hard winter were saved from starvation by being fortunate in getting deer meat. Some of the herds broke corrals for themselves in the snow, where, when they were found by the pioneers, they were as easily handled as cattle. Others of these animals broke through the hard crust with their sharp hoofs and, being unable to extricate themselves, perished by the hundred.
In 1858 and 1859 the crops were better, and when Governor Alexander Ramsey issued his Thanksgiving proclamation in 1860 the soil of Houston county had brought forth its increase in abundant measure.
The Civil War caused a severe setback to Houston county agriculture. At the outbreak of the war, the county was already well settled, and the pioneers were on the road to success and prosperity. Improved land was worth from $5 to $10 an acre, and more land was being broken each year. The average cultivated field consisted of some twenty or thirty acres, of which wheat was the principal crop; corn, potatoes and oats being next. Other vegetables and grains were used principally for home use. In the midst of this prosperity, the war called the flower of the county's manhood to the front, and the old men, and the women and children, with only a sprinkling of able bodied men, were left to operate the farms as best they could.
After the war, farming took on a new impetus. More land was being broken each year, and the wheat acreage was all the time increasing. Year after year the wealth of the land was harvested in wheat, and year after year the fertility of the soil was being drawn upon with no thought of replenishing it.
With the passing of the years, events were impending which were to bring about a decided change in Houston county agriculture. Disaster was approaching the wheat growers. The result was hastened by the weather conditions in 1878. For three days, when the wheat was in the milk, there were alternate hours of rain storms and periods of extreme heat, which resulted in baking the kernel and stopping further growth. When the wheat was harvested, it weighed but about thirty pounds to a bushel, instead of the sixty pounds that wheat should weigh when matured. Only about $3.00 an acre was realized and much distress followed. The other crops were good that season, but the acreage of everything except wheat was comparatively small.
Undaunted, the farmers tried again the next year, but the reign of wheat as the principal crop was over. The yield per acre decreased, and the farmers consequently decreased their acreage. The land had been robbed of humus, nitrogen and phosphorus. Chinch bugs and weeds began to choke out the wheat. Grain rust devastated whole fields.
The settlers were thus in bad shape. Money was hard to obtain. Money lenders profited by the farmers' misfortunes and loaned money at a usuri- ous rate of interest. Farmers who had purchased machinery and tools on credit were unable to pay. Wheat had been about the only money crop. Such other crops as were raised in excess of the immediate needs of the
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family were sometimes taken to the stores, but were exchanged only in trade. With the diminishing of the wheat yield, the farmers had no source of cash revenue. Many were compelled to gather up their personal be- longings, and journey further westward, there to repeat the sad experi- ment of trying to take from the land continually without putting anything back. But others, strong in the faith, hung to their homesteads, and cast about for some solution of the problems of sustenance and profits.
This solution was found in diversified farming, dairying and stock raising. At the present time the county is one of the leading dairying, stock and swine raising districts in the State, and the sheep industry is also important. Corn and fodder are the leading crops, and potatoes and small grains come in for their share of attention. A little tobacco is grown. Coincident with the other farming districts in this region, the county has had its experiments with hops, sorghum and sugar beets. Bees have been raised with considerable success, and as this is a famous clover region the government and state are encouraging the increased production of honey.
The raising of fruit and garden vegetables is also important, both for home use and for the market. It is possible that the first cultivated apples in the state were raised in Caledonia township, by Robert Lewis, who brought the trees all the way from Chicago.
John S. Harris, of La Crescent, was a pioneer in the growing of small fruits and berries, and market vegetables, being one of the fathers of horticulture in this state. He was one of the founders of the State Horti- cultural and State Agricultural Societies. At the State Fair held at Red Wing in 1864 he was an extensive exhibitor, and in 1866 he made at the State Fair at Rochester the largest exhibition of Minnesota grown fruit ever shown up to that time.
It was due to his efforts, to its soil and contour, and to the nearness of the flourishing city of La Crosse, that La Crescent is now one of the lead- ing small-fruit and market-vegetable growing sections of the state. Many La Crescent people, including his son, Frank I. Harris, and his grandson, DeWitt C. Webster, has followed in his footsteps.
Strawberries, currants, gooseberries, black and red raspberries, black- berries, are shipped in large quantities, as well as apples, plums and other fruits. Spring vegetables are raised in large quantities. Tomatoes have become an important crop, a large canning factory there canning this product exclusively.
Small fruit and truck raising are also important in several other parts of the county, Houston in particular counting its strawberry industry as of considerable importance.
The United States census and various reports contain some interesting facts in relation to Houston county agriculture. In 1860 less than a fourth of the land in an average farm was under cultivation, there being in the farms of the county that year, 20,126 acres of improved land and 72,146 of unimproved. Oxen were still the general beasts of burden, there being 1,118 working oxen in the county and but 563 horses. There were 1,522 milch cows, and 1,480 bulls, steers and calves. Hog raising was of some
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importance, there being 4,050 swine in the county. The sheep numbered 720. The year was an excellent one for corn, 143,825 bushels being raised. Wheat, the staple crop, measures 108,518 bushels, while 63,553 bushels of rye were raised. Potatoes were important, measuring 48,917 bushels, while there were 381 bushels of peas and beans, and 2,876 pounds of tobacco. The sheep produced 2,549 pounds of wool.
Statistics are not available for all the early years. But in 1867 the estimated number of acres of wheat was 29,941 producing 521,172 bushels, an average of 17.40 an acre. The average good farmer at that time was getting as much as twenty bushels to the acre and sometimes better. The prices, too, were fairly good for the times, though the markets were far away, and transportation difficult. The people in the northwestern part of the county took their wheat to Winona. Those in the eastern part, and in fact throughout the county, took it to Brownsville or some other boat landing in the county. A few, especially those on Portland Prairie, took their grain to Iowa points. Usually the trip to market was made by several settlers in a neighborhood making up a party and making the journey together, taking several days coming and going, camping where night overtook them and sleeping on the ground, their wagons their only protection against the elements.
In 1870 the number of acres planted to wheat in the county was 36,747, yielding 559,682 bushels, an average of 15.23 an acre. But the crops were yearly taking from the richness of the soil, and the farmers were giving nothing back to it. The new fields were yielding abundantly but the old ones were gradually decreasing in productiveness, so that while the acreage was increasing the crop was diminishing. In 1871 there were 39,380 acres yielding 549,496 bushels, an average of 13.75 an acre. In 1876, with most decided increase in acreage there was a noticeable decrease in the crop. There were 59,003 acres sowed, yielding 499,805 bushels, an average of 8.50 an acre.
In 1879, the year following the wheat failure, the wheat acreage in Houston county was 55,820, with a crop of 543,898 bushels, an average of 9.76 an acre. In 1891 there were 12,102 acres devoted to wheat, yielding 181,562 bushels, an average of 15 bushels an acre. In 1910 there were 3,545 acres, yielding 65,500 bushels, an average of about 18.47 bushels an acre. With the outbreak of the World War, the loyal farmers considerably increased their wheat acreage and the high prices of the present year have caused a continuation of this acreage, though owing to weather con- ditions the yield has been considerably diminished.
The most recent census figures available concerning agriculture in Houston county are those of 1910, which are herewith given:
Number of all farms, 1,912 (in 1900, 2,132).
Color and nativity of farmers. Native white, 1,130; foreign-born white, 782.
Number of farms, classified by area. Under 3 acres, 4; 3 to 9 acres, 24; 10 to 19 acres, 23; 20 to 49 acres, 94; 50 to 99 acres, 325; 100 to 174 acres, 727; 175 to 259 acres, 426; 260 to 499 acres, 256; 500 to 999 acres, 29; 1,000 acres and over, 4. 50
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Land and farm areas. Approximate land area, 364,800 acres. Land in farms, 327,094 acres. (Land in farms in 1900, 331,986 acres.) Improved land in farms, 174,020 acres. (Improved land in farms in 1900, 168,810 acres.) Woodland in farms, 133,396. Other unimproved land in farms, 19,- 678. Per cent of land area in farms, 89.7. Per cent of farm land improved, 53.2. Average acres to each farm, 171.1. Average improved acres to each farm, 91.0.
Value of farm property. All farm property, $16,836,250. (All farm property in 1900, $9,944,080.) The per cent increase in farm values in ten years was 69.3. Value of land alone, $10,708,007. (The value of land alone in 1900 was $6,619,250.) Value of buildings alone was $3,304,145. (Value of buildings in 1900, $1,575,760.) Value of implements and machinery, $584,016, ($360,500 in 1900). Value of domestic animals, poultry and bees, $2,240,082. (Value of domestic animals, etc., in 1900, $1.383,570.) Per cent of value of all property in land, 63.6. Per cent of all property in buildings, 19.6. Per cent of all property in implements and machinery, 3.5. Per cent of all property in domestic animals, poultry and bees, 13.3.
Average values. Average value of all property per farm, $8,806. Average value of land and buildings per farm, $7,329. Average value of land per acre, $32.74. (Average value of land per acre in 1900, $19.94.) Domestic animals (on farms and ranges). Farmers reporting domes- tic animals, 1,889. Value of domestic animals, $2,178,443.
Cattle. Total number, 37,389. Dairy cows, 14,837. Other cows, 4,021. Yearling heifers, 5,423. Calves, 6,118. Yearling steers and bulls, 4,761. Other steers and bulls, 2,229. Total value, $732,661.
Horses. Total number, 8,827. Mature horses, 7,799. Yearling colts, 885. Spring colts, 143. Total value, $1,019,662. Mules. Total number, 73. Mature mules, 72. Yearling colt, 1. Total value, $9,007.
Swine. Total number, 43,935. Mature hogs, 22,523. Spring pigs, 21,412. Total value, $365,909.
Sheep, total number, 12,781. Rams, ewes and wethers, 8,304. Spring lambs, 4,477. Total value, $51,169. Goats, Total number, 11. Total value, $35.
Poultry and Bees. Number of poultry of all kinds, 145,052. Total value, $58,288. Number of colonies of bees, 1,028. Total value, $3,351.
Farms operated by owners, 1,514. (1,736 in 1900.) Per cent of all farms in the county operated by owners, 78.2. (Per cent of all farms in 1900, 81.5.) Land in farms operated by owners, 253,414 acres. Improved land in farms operated by owners, 134,160 acres. Value of lands and buildings in farms operated by owners, $10,834,892. Degree of ownership. Number of farms operated by owners, consisting of owned lands only, 1,335. Num- ber of farms operated by owners which also include with the owned land some hired land, 179. Of the men in the county owning and operating farms, 812 are native born Americans, and 702 foreign born. Farms operated by tenants. Number of farms operated by tenants, 390. (385 in 1890.) Of all farms in the county 20.4 per cent are operated by tenants. (18.1 per cent in 1900.) Land in rented farms, 71,667 acres. Improved
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land in rented farms, 39,126 acres. Value of land and buildings in rented farms, $3,079.360.
Form of tenancy. Share tenants, 168. Share cash tenants, 7. Cash tenants, 142. Tenure not specified, 73. Of the people renting farms in the county, 311 are native born Americans and 79 are foreign born.
Farms operated by managers. Number of farms operated by mana- gers, 8. (9 in 1900.) Land in farms operated by managers, 2.013 acres. Improved land in farms operated by managers, 734 acres. Value of land and buildings in farms operated by managers, $97,900.
Mortgage debt report of farms operated by their owners. Num- ber free from mortgage debt, 992. Number with mortgage debt, 517. Number on which no mortgage report was made, 5. Mortgage debt report for farms consisting of owned land only. Number reporting debt and amount, 430. Value of their land and buildings, $2,937,680. Amount of mortgage debt, $954,340. Fer cent of value of land and buildings mort- gaged, 32.5.
Farm expenses. For labor. Number of farms from which reports were obtained, 1,184. Cash expended for labor on these farms, $164,707. Rent and board furnished for labor, $56,025.
For feed. Number of farms reporting on this question, 543. Amount expended, $30,577.
Principal crops. Corn, 30,816 acres; bushels, 1,215,563. Oats, 29,- 748 acres; bushels, 849,657. Wheat, 3,545 acres; bushels, 65,500. Emmer and spelt, 158 acres; bushels, 3,698. Barley, 22,555 acres; bushels, 566,- 612. Buckwheat, 113 acres; bushels, 1,817. Rye, 304 acres; bushels, 5,- 351.
Hay and forage. Total, 38,708 acres; tons, 67,052. Timothy alone, 7,659 acres; tons, 12,554. Timothy and clover mixed, 28,512 acres; tons, 49,576. Clover alone, 601 acres; tons, 1,083. Alfalfa, 9 acres; tons, 33. Millet or Hungarian grass, 34 acres; tons, 74. Other tame or cultivated grasses, 131 acres; tons, 194. Wild or prairie grass, 1,310 acres; tons, 2,303. All other hay and forage, 452 acres; tons, 1,235.
Special crops. Potatoes, 1,349 acres; bushels, 172,090. All other vegetables, 306 acres. Cane, sorghum, 5 acres; tons, 27. Sirup made, 260 gallons.
Orchard fruits. Apples, 40,714 trees; 33,295 bushels. Peaches and nectarines, 13 trees ; 2 bushels. Plums and prunes, 1,629 trees ; 373 bushels. Cherries, 618 trees; 42 bushels. Grapes, 7,507 vines; 18,619 pounds.
Small fruits. Total number of acres, 54. Total number of quarts, 65,385. Strawberries, 24 acres; 37,629 quarts. Raspberries and logan- berries, 20 acres; 22,088 quarts. Nuts, 299 trees; 9,995 pounds.
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CHAPTER XV
COUNTY REPRESENTATION
On July 7, 1849, Alexander Ramsey, the first Minnesota territorial governor, issued a proclamation, dividing the territory into seven council districts and ordering an election. The settlers scattered on the west bank of the Mississippi river at Jefferson and Brownsville in Houston county, were included in the first district, which was described as follows: The St. Croix precinct of St. Croix county, and the settlements on the west bank of the Mississippi south of Crow village to the Iowa line.
1849. The first territorial legislature met on September 3 and ad- journed November 1. The first district was represented in the council by James S. Norris, of Cottage Grove, and in the house by Joseph W. Furber, of Cottage Grove, and James Wells, from the head of Lake Pepin.
1851. The second territorial legislature met January 1 and adjourned March 31. The first district was represented in the council by James S. Norris, of Cottage Grove, and in the house by John A. Ford, of Red Rock, and James Wells from the head of Lake Pepin.
By the apportionment of 1851, the original division of the territory into counties having been made in 1849, the counties of Wabasha and Wash- ington, with the precincts of St. Paul and Little Canada (Wabasha county to be one representative district), were made to constitute the fourth dis- trict. Wabasha then included Houston county.
1852. The third territorial legislature assembled January 7, and adjourned March 6. The fourth district was represented in the council by Lorenzo A. Babcock, of Sauk Rapids and St. Paul, and in the house by Fordyce S. Richards, of Reed's Landing.
1853. The fourth territorial legislature assembled January 5 and adjourned March 5. The fourth district was represented in the council by Lorenzo A. Babcock, and in the house by James Wells. This legislature created Fillmore county, March 5, 1853, and Houston county, which had been a part of Wabasha county since Oct. 27, 1849, became a part of Fill- more county. But the boundaries of the fourth district, until the appor- tionment of 1855, remained as established by the apportionment of 1851.
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