Jackson County, Minnesota - Chapter 22: Descriptive, 1910

Chapter 22: Descriptive

JACKSON county is situated in the southern tier of Minnesota counties, and only two counties intervene between it and the South Dakota line. It is bounded on the north by Cottonwood county, on the east by Martin county, on the south by the counties of Dickinson, Emmet and Osceola, Iowa, on the west by Xobles county. The geographical center of the county is in latitude 43 degrees, 47 minutes and 30 seconds north and in longitude 95 degrees and 7 minutes west of Greenwich. Jackson county is rectangular in form, contains twenty townships, and its dimensions are twenty-four by thirty miles. Its area is 722.66 square miles, or 462,501.20 acres - over one-half the area of the state of Rhode Island. Of its total area 696.98 square miles, or 446,- 066.45 acres, are land ; 25.68 square miles, or 16<>434.75 acres, are water.

A glance at the map of Minnesota and the political division designated thereon as Jackson county will furnish the information above given. But there will be found nothing to distinguish Jackson county from the other divisions in the vicinity except that there are many lakes and watercourses, indicating excellent possibilities for drainage. The lithographed piece of paper does not convey much idea of the country; a personal inspection

The general surface of Jackson county is a high, gently undulating plateau, though considerably diversified by streams and lakes, which have bluffy shores and more or less natural timber. While this describes the general contour, it varies considerably in different parts of the county. The whole surface is so deeply covered by the glacial drift, deposited thousands of years ago, that there are no outcrops of the underlying rocks; there is no stony, waste land. The county is crossed through the center, north and south, by a belt of knolly and hilly and more prominently rolling land. This is from three to six miles in width and includes nearly all of the townships of Delafield and Heron Lake and about one-half of Hunter and Minneota. The same knolly and broken contour is also found in the southern parts of Sioux Valley and Round Lake townships. Excepting these higher and more rolling stretches of country, known to geologists as moraine tracts, the county is smoothly undulating, and in a few places noticeably quite fiat, ascending with a very gentle slope from east to west, enclosing lakes here and there in the depressions, slightly channeled by creeks and deeply cut by the Des Moines river.

The mean elevation of the county above sea level is 1,430 feet. The highest altitude is attained in the hilly belt which extends across the county from north to south and in the belt in the southwest corner, which in places rises to 1,475 to 1,550 feet above the sea. The lowest altitude in the county is 1,250 feet and is at the point in Petersburg township where the Des Moines river leaves the county. The mean elevations of the several townships are as follows:^

Concerning the drift and contour of Jackson county and the creation of its physical features, I quote at length from the writings of Hon. Warren TJpham in the geological and natural history survey of Minnesota, edition of 1884:

The drift spread over Jackson and Cottonwood counties is principally till, in part morainic, being accumulated in knolls and bills, or with a prominently rolling surface in massive, smoothly sloping swells, but for the greater part it is only gently undulating in contour. Its thickness on the quartzite ridge [in CJotton- wood county] varies from nothing to probably fifty feet or more, and in other portions of these counties it probably varies from one hundred to two hundred feet in depth. The moraines to be described were formed at the western border of tlie ice sheet of the last glacial epoch, the first when this ice covered its maximum area, and the second after it had receded considerably from its farthest limits, when its retreat was interrupted by a halt and perhaps even by some readvance.

First Terminal Moraine. The outer or western morainic belt of the coteau des prairies extends into the south edge of this state along its course next west of Spirit lake, where the greater part of its width lies in Iowa. From the Little Sioux river at the west side of Minneota, through Sioux Valley and Round Lake townships, to Indian lake in southeastern Nobles county, the part of this formation in Minnesota is characterized by numerous small ridges, hillocks and swells of till> and is from one and one-half to five miles wide, reaching north to Skunk lake, to a half mile beyond Rush lake, to Plum Island and Round lakes, and to the northeast of Indian lake. Its greatest extent north in this distance is at the north side of Round lake; but south of this a tract about two miles wide and three miles long to the east from State Line lake is smooth and only slightly undulating, ' though enclosed by rolling or knolly morainic areas.

Second Terminal Moraine. The inner or eastern of the two terminal moraines upon the coteau des prairies extends from the west side of Spirit lake north through the central range of townships in Jackson county. The width of this belt is from three to six miles. Its surface is prominently rolling, mostly in massive swells, twenty to forty feet above the depressions, but at many places in small, steep knolls and hillocks of similar height. The elevation of the range above the general level is from forty to seventy-five feet. Its material is till, which here contains more gravel and boulders than on its smooth, slightly undulating areas which extend at each side beyond the limits of the county. In Minneota this morainic belt is about three miles wide, reaching from Little Spirit lake and Clear lake west to the Little Sioux river. It here has many knolls and short ridges^ which continue into Hunter and are crossed seven to ten miles west of Jackson by the road to Worth ington. Farther to the north the moraine forms a prominently rolling tract, about six miles wide, between the Des Moines river and Heron lake, rising in smooth, massive swells fifty to seventy-five feet above the general level at the top of the bluffs of the river and seventy-five to one hundred feet above the lake. .

East of the second moraine, the country extending from it to the Des Moines river in southern Jackson county is till, nearly flat through the central part of Middletown for five or six miles northeast from Spirit lake; moderately undulating in the eastern half of

Minneota; and in the western part of Des Moines township massively rolling, in parallel swells that trend nearly from the north to south, sloping gently down on their east and west sides to the intervening depressions which are thirty to fifty feet lower, the distance between the tops of these undulations being from a half mile to one or two miles.

The surface of the part of Jackson county east of the Des Moines river is a smooth, nearly flat, -but everywhere more or less undulating, sheet of till, sloping eastward ten to twenty feet per mile. Its descent on the line of the Southern Minnesota railroad is 173 feet in eleven and one-half miles from the junction of the branch to Jaekson, at the top of the eastern blufif of the Des Moines. .

West of the second moraine, the eastern shore of Heron lake mainly rises in gradual slopes of till, reaching the summits of the morainic belt at a distance of three or four miles; the south end of this lake, lying within the edge of the moraine, is enclosed by banks about forty feet high; but on the west and southwest is a very flat expanse of till, ten to twenty feet above the lake, only undulating five to ten feet in slopes a mile long, stretching with slowly increasing height as far as the view extends westward. On the Sioux City [C, St. P., M. and O.] railroad, in the ten miles southwest from Heron Iiake to Hersey [Brewster], the ascent is sixty -eight feet; in eight miles on its branch from Heron Lake northwest to Dundee, twenty-six feet; and on the Southern Minnesota railroad northwest from its intersection with the Sioux City line to DeForest [Kinbrae], is thirty-two feet. . This smooth plain of till continues south through Rost. and Ewington townships, having the same slight ascent to the west, and crossed from north to south or southeast by occasional watercourses and sloughs ten to twenty feet below the general level.

Interglacial Drainage. Heron lake lies in the continuation of the southeast course of the upper Des Moines river below lake Shetek. lliere seems to be good reasons for believing that lake Shetek, this part of the Des Moines, Heron lake and Spirit and Okoboji lakes in Iowa resemble the chains of lakes in Martin county, in occupying portions of what was originally a continuous valley excavated by intei^laeial drainage in the thick till of the earlier and severer glacial epoch, before the time of the last ice sheet by which the terminal moraines in this and adjoining states were formed. It is possible that the Des Moines river then continued southeast where Heron lake is now, and onward in the same course through Hunter, where the rolling and hilly drift of the second terminal moraine now forms a watershed one hundred feet above Heron lake; thence southward at the east side of Minneota to Spirit lake and the Okoboji lakes; [and thence on, reentering the present valley of the Des Moines at Emmetsburg.] Drainage During the Last Glacial Epoch.

Uiis region have been produced by the lobe of the iee sheet which covered these counties and a width of about a hundred miles eastward during the last glacial epoch. From the south end of Heron lake to Okoboji township, in southern ^Dickinson county, Iowa, the interglacial channel of the Des Moines has been principally lost by being filled with the drift of terminal /noraines, accumulated tit the west border of the ice. The outer border of these deposits extends in Iowa from -Storm Lake, in Buena Vista county, northward through eastern Clay county to the Okoboji lakes, and thence westward to Ocheyedan mound in Osceola county. Thence passing into Minnesota, it reaches northwesterly through the central part of N6bles county, western Murray county to the most northeasterly township of Pipestone county, forming there and farther northwest the highest part of the coteau des prairies. The present Iratsin of the Des Moines river from central Iowa northwestward was entirely covered with this ice sheet; but a small portiim of its interglacial valley, in southern Dickinson and northern Clay county, Iowa, and most of the basin of Ocheyedan creek, here tributary from the northwest, were outside the ice lobe, by which they were dammed and their drainage in the old course to the east and southeast was made impossible. A lake about one hundred fifty feet deep and covering the greater part of Clay county was thus formed at the west side of the ice lobe, until its overflow cut the deep, trough-like valley or channel in which the Little Sioux river now flows along the south side of Clay county and in northeastern Cherokee county, one hundred fifty to two hundred feet deep, and in some places only a quarter of a mile wide between the tops of its bluffs, which consist wholly of glacial drift. This outlet was so deeply excavated while the ice sheet lay as a barrier on the east that after the departure the stream continued to flow by this passage to the Missouri through a broad area of till which has its surface one hundred to one hundred flfty feet higher than the divide between the Little Sioux and Des Moines rivers east of Spencer.

In northern Clay county, where the Little Sioux river takes the place of the interglacial Des Moines, the broad and deep valley eroded by that stream before the last glacial epoch has become nearly fllled with modified drift, which forms an extensive plain, ten miles long and two to four miles wide, bordering the Little Sioux river through Summit, Riverton and Spencer, reaching west to Stony and Ocheyedan creeks. These fluvial beds of gravel and sand were deposited after the excavation of the channel of the Little Sioux river, by which the lake that previously existed here had been drained into the Missouri; and they are thus shown to have been supplied during the latter part of this epoch, while the ice sheet, in which they had been held, was being melted away.

interrupted by a halt and probably by a readvance, forming a second or inner line of terminal moraine, which reaches through Murray, Cottonwood and Jackson counties, from the east side of lake Shetek southeast to the Blue mounds west of Windom, and thence south to Spirit lake, and continues southeast in Iowa within a few miles west of the Des Moines river to Pilot Mound and Mineral ridge. At this time the drainage from the head of the Des Moines basin in Murray county and the waters of Heron lake and its tributaries went southward through West Heron Lake, Rost and Sioux Valley townships and were carried by the Little Sioux to the Missouri river, instead of going southeast as now to the Mississippi. Heron lake stood about twenty feet higher then than now, probably covering three times its area. The shallow channel of its overflow has become partly filled by the silt of tributaries and contains a suggestion of sloughs and small reedy lakelets, connected at time of high water by a stream which is the head and most northern source of the Little Sioux river.

Further recession of the ice gave to the waters of Heron lake and the upper Des Moines river a lower outlet by the present course northeast across the second terminal moraine at the north side of the Blue mounds, and thence southeasterly along the east side of this moraine. This avenue of drainage became marked by a considerable valley eroded while the ice yet lay as a barrier upon the east part of Cottonwood and Jackson counties; for the top of the bluffs and the general surface of the country bordering the Des Moines in eastern Jackson county are slightly higher than the watershed between Heron lake and the Little Sioux river; and, furthermore, the natural slope in eastern Cottonwood and northeastern Jackson county is eastward, so that this river could not flow. here to the south-southeast unless its valley had been thus formed before the ice sheet was melted at its east side, being excavated sufl'iciently deep to hold the stream afterward in its course.

As has been stated, the soil of Jackson county is a drift deposit. It has the same nearly uniform fertility that characterizes all southern and western Minnesota, Jackson and Martin counties having a trifle more sandy soil than those counties adjoining them on the east, north and west.

The surface soil is a black sandy clay, with some intermixture of gravel, colored to a depth of from a few inches on the blufifs to two and three feet in other parts by decaying vegetable matter. The deposit contains many fragments of magnesian limestone, red quartzite, granite and crystalline schists. Its fine detritus is a mixture of these rocks pulverized, presenting in the most advantageous proportions the mineral elements needed by growing plants. It produces abundantly each year without perceptibly losing any of its fertility. The sub-soil is the same as the surface soil, except that it is not enriched and blackened by organic decay. It is of a yellowish-gray color to a depth of from ten to twenty feet, and of a dark bluish color below.

The great depth of soil contributes to its durability, and its fertile properides appear almost inexhaustible. One of its peculiarities is its remarkable ability to resist droughts. In time of exceedingly dry weather, a thin crust forms on the surface and retards evaporation below without being firm enough to interfere seriously with the growth of vegetation. The loam is free from surface water and ready for cultivation as soon as the frost leaves the ground in the spring.'

Several scientific analyses of the soil have been made, and by all authorities it has been pronounced as containing elements of extraordinary fertility. Years ago David Dale Owen, after an examination of Jackson county soil, described it as of '^excellent quality, rich as well in organic matter as in those salts which give rapidity to the growth of plants and that durability which enables it to sustain a long succession of crops.^' Another scientist, who examined the soil before its fertility had been proven, said: *T[t is a dark colored, fine-textured soil, abounding in organic matter and highly fertile. It has, in fact, a large amount of natural manures mixed with soil and cannot fail to produce great and permanent fertility.'*

There is no section of country in the United States which has a smaller proportion of waste lands. Except for the area actually taken up by the waters of lakes and creeks^ all is tillable, even to the tops of the hills and knolls and in the bottom lands. Jackson county has not the rocky, untillable land of many of the eastern states; it has not the marshy, untillable lands of other parts of the country.

, Sand and building stone are found by digging into the bluffs of streams and lakes. Good clay for the manufacture of brick aud tile is found in many parts of the county.

The climate is healthful. Owing to the more perfect drainage afforded by the Des Moines and Little Sioux rivers, Jackson county surpasses the neighboring entirely prairie counties in point of healthfulness as a result of the dryness of the atmosphere. This natural drainage not only prevents an accumulation of stagnant water, which breeds disease germs, but it purifies the air as only rapid streams can.

While Jackson county is classed as a prairie county, in places it supports a heavy growth of natural timber, and thereby has the advantage over all the counties of extreme southwestern Minnesota. This timber is not a mere fringe of trees along the banks of the streams, but in many places it extends back over the bluffs and forms dense woods. It was this character of the county^s physical features that led to its early settlement and gives Jackson' county a historical importance above any of the exclusively prairie counties. About three thousand acres are covered with natural timber, which includes black walnut, sugar and soft maple, ash, elm, oak, linden, iron-wood, box elder, cottonwood and poplar.

Jackson coimty has one of the most perfect and complete systems of drainage of any section of the west. It is located on the great divide or watershed separating the Mississippi and Missouri systems of rivers. The southwestern portion of the county is drained by the Little Sioux and tributaries to the Missouri; the eastem and northern portions are drained by the Des Moines and its tributaries and by Elm creek, by way of the Minnesota river, to the Mississippi.

The most important stream is the Des Moines river. It rises in lake Shetek, in Murray county, and flows in a general southeasterly direction to its junction with the Mississippi, 385 miles from its source. Of this length a little less than one-fourth is in Minnesota and about 26 miles in Jackson county. About 420 square miles of Jackson county land lie its basin. There is no stream of any consequence flowing into it within Jackson county and its only important affluent in the vicinity is the outlet of Heron lake, which enters it nine miles west of Windom. The descent of the Des Moines in the county is estimated to be eighty feet - from 1,330 feet at the north line to approximately 1,250 feet where it crosses the state line. The river provides a number of good water powersj several of which are utilized.

The valley of the Des Moines is one hundred to one hundred fifty feet below the average height on each side and is between one-third and two-thirds of a mile wide between the tops of its bluffs. In the north part of the county these bluffs take the form of knoUy and irregular slopes of morainic drift, but at Jackson and southeast from that town thev have generally the nearly straight course and steep aseent characteristic of fluviaJ erosion. At Jackson the immediate river bluffs are about one hundred feet high, but there is a further rise of moderately undulating expanse of till on each side, amounting to fifty or seventy-five feet within a mile or less from the top of the bluffs.

About ninety square miles of the northeast part of the county are drained by Elm creek, which has its sources in Belmont and Christiania townships, only two to four miles from the Des Moines river. Elm creek flows eastward through Martin county and enters the Blue Earth after a course of forty miles.

The northwest part of the county is drained by Jack and Okabena creeks, which flow into Heron lake, and whose waters ultimately join the Des Moines by way of Heron lake outlet.

Some two hundred ten square miles of Jackson county, lying in the southwest part of the county, are in the basin of the Missouri river, being drained by the headwaters of the Little Sioux, which rise near the center of the county and flow southwesterly, joining the Missouri thirty-eight miles north of Omaha.

The sixteen thousand odd acres of Jackson county that are water surface are taken up by about seventy-five lakes, great and small. Many of these are beautiful bodies of water, clear and sparkling, abounding with fish.

Of the lakes of any importance to the east of the Des Moines river, all are in Christiania township: Fish lake, two miles long, is in the extreme north part of the county, half of it being in Cottonwood county; lake Otto, one-half mile long, is on the boundary between Christiania and Kimball townships; Independence lake, a half mile long, is on the boundary between Christiania and Belmont; Lower's lake, of similar size, is in the center of Christiania township.

The largest body of water in Jackson county and the largest in the whole of southwestern Minnesota is Heron lake, located in the northwest part of the county, in Weimer, West Heron Lake and Heron Lake townships. Heron lake is eleven miles long and has a width of two and one-half miles in its central part, diminished to one-half or one-quarter of a mile at either end, giving it an area of about fourteen square miles. The water of Heron lake is mainly clear, but it has some portions that are reedy and covered with a dense growth of wild rice, with marshy shores. This affords a paradise to geese, ducks and other wild water fowl, as well as to the hunter of this game. Heron lake has a reputation far and wide as a hunters' paradise, and each season hundreds of sportsmen visit it.

There are a number of pretty little lakes in north central Jackson county, among them being: Lake Carroll, one-half mile long from northeast to southwest, in northern Delafield; Minneseka lake, a mile long from east to west, located just south of Wilder; Flaherty's lake, named in honor of an Irish trapper who operated in the vicinity in the early days, located in sections six, seven and eight. Heron Lake township, over a mile in length from north to south and over a half mile wide from east to west; Boot lake, located in section- 31, Belmont. A few miles west of Jackson, in the west part of Des Moines township, is Clear lake, having dimensions of about one mile each way.

In the southeast corner of Minneota township, extending into Middletown, is a group of pretty little lakes, on the shores of which some of the early day settlers located. The principal one of these bodies of water is Loon lake, nearly two miles across from north to south. Others in

In Sioux Valley township are two lakes of size. Skunk lake, a mile long from east to west, is in sections 22 and 27; Rush lake, smaller in size, is in the southwestern part of the township. Round Lake township has a number of pretty little bodies of water, the principal one being Round lake, a mile and a half in diameter, situated in the northwest part of the township. The others are Plum Island lake in sections 10 and 15 ; Illinois lake, about the center of the township; and a portion of State Line lake, in the extreme southwest comer of the county.

Jackson is an agricultural county. The principal products are com, barley, oats, wheat, rye, flax, hay, livestock, dairy products, poultry, fruit and vegetables. In the early days the settlers confined their energies almost exclusively to grain farming and largely to wheat raising. Now diversified farming is the rule. Every farmer raises stock and many engage in dairying on a large scale. While agriculture is the principal pursuit, manufacturing occupies an important place among the county^s industries. The manufactories include tow mills, grist miUs, brick and tile factories, creameries and garment manufacturing plants.

With transportation facilities Jackson county is not so well supplied as it should be. The Southern Minnesota division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul railroad traverses the county from southeast to northwest, passing through the townships of Wisconsin, Des Moines, Belmont, Hunter, Heron Lake, West Heron Lake, Alba and LaCrosse, on which line are located the villages of Alpha, Jackson, Lakefield, Okabena and Miloma. The main line of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis & Omaha railroad passes through the northwestern part of the county, penetrating the townships of Delafield, Weimer, LaCrosse and Alba. On this line are the villages of Wilder, Heron Lake and Miloma. A branch of the Omaha road extends northwestward from Heron Lake. Through the extreme southwestern corner of the county and of Round Lake township passes the line of the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific, upon which there are no stations within the county.

Local and long distance telephone lines form a complete network over the county, and every community is reached. There are about fifteen rural free delivery mail routes from Jackson county postoflfices, and lines from several outside towns penetrate the county. There are few farms to which mail is not delivered daily.

The soil of the county is uniformly fertile and productive. Owing to better drainage and the configuration of the land a few of the townships surpass the others in the value of the fanning lands. This is particularly true during seasons of abnormal rainfall. The following is a very brief description of the physical features of each of the townships:

Kimball, the northeast township, is moderately rolling, with broad, dry and fertile prairies. A branch of Elm creek flows across the southern part.

Enterprise is composed of rather level land, especially the southern part. Elm creek flows across the township and carries off the surplus water.

Wisconsin is drained by small tributaries of the Des Moines and a branch of Ten-Mile creek. Part of the surface is rolling ; the rest is flat.

Petersburg, the southwestern township, is rated as one of the countv's best townships, and it supports the largest farming population. Every acre of its surface is drained by the Des Moines river, which flows diagonally across the township, and its tributaries. Several creeks of good size and perpetual flow diversify the surfa<5e, which is generally very dry and rolling. The broad Des Moines valley, with its timber-crowned blulBfs and fertile bottoms and benches of table land rising back from the river shores, is a magnificent feature.

Middletown is another good township. The surface is gently rolling, and there is no waste land. It ia drained chiefly by tributaries of the Des Moines, although a portion of the township slopes toward the west, and the watercourses of that portion empty into the group of lakes near its western boundary.

Des Moines is the oldest settled township and one of the most prosperous. The Des Moines river flows through it, affording several water powers within the township. There is a considerable wooded tract on the east side of the river. The land is high and dry.

Belmont is crossed diagonally by the Des Moines river, upon the bluffs of which are heavy growths of natural timber. It is in every respect a township made rich by the hand of providence and was one of the first settled portions of the county. The land is rolling and fertile.

Christiania is the northermost of the river townships, and, like those farther south, is rich in all that nature contributes. The river valley diversifies the westem part. The, surface is gently rolling but has some bottom lands. Within the township are a number of fine little lakes.

Heron Lake township ranks fourth in population, and its land is high and rolling. Heron lake penetrates the township ; another flne body of water is lake Flaherty in the northwestern part.

Hunter is located o^ the ridge that extends across the center of the county. From some of its hills water runs to the west and finds its way into the Missouri river; from others it flows to the east and by way of the Des Moines reaches the Mississippi. The system of drainage is unsurpassed, and the land is all rolling.

Minneota, by reason of its many charming lakes, is one of the most picturesque townships of Jackson county. The lakes were responsible for Minneota becoming one of the early settled townships. The Little Sioux river flows through the west^ ern part. The farming land is rolling.

Sioux Valley is rated among the best and most prosperous townships. It is drained by the Little Sioux river and contains broad and abundant acres. It is very rich and fertile.

West Heron Lake is the smallest township in the county. In addition to the loss of several sections taken out of its farming land by Heron lake, that portion of its natural boundaries lying east of the lake has been given to Heron Lake township. The land is the most level of all the townships.

Weimer loses much of its farming land by reason of Heron lake and the village of the same name. Portions of the surface are undulating; other portions are bottom lands.

LaCrosse, the northwest comer township, has more miles of railroad within its boundaries than any other of the twenty townships. The surface is moderately rolling and is drained by Jack and other creeks flowing into Heron lake.

The total taxable valuation of the county, according to the- figures for 1908, is $8,065,052, of which $7,067,044 is on real property, while $998,000 is on personal property. These amounts are divided by precincts as follows:

The farmer in the older states east and south can dispose of an eighty acre farm, and with the proceeds purchase a quarter section in Jackson county, and in making the change will lose none of the advan-

Precinct

Jackson county land can be purchased at from $40 to $115 per acre, according to improvements and proximity to markets,, and, considering the richness of the soil, the excellent markets and the educational and social advantages offered, it is not easy to understand why any homeseekers pass through this country to the bleak prairies of the Dakotas or Canada. Jackson county land, at the price at which it can now be obtained, is cheaper, all things considered, than the Dakota or Canada land at the present prices, for the. settlers there will be compelled to spend tages and conveniences enjoyed. There will be no frontier hardships to endure, no years of lonely toil in a sparsely settled country, nothing lacking in the way of social pleasures or the advantages of schools and churches.

Another advantage of Jackson county that must not be lost sight of is its proximity to the great primary markets. It is within easy reach of the great Minneapolis, St. Paul, Sioux City, Omaha and Chicago markets. Their nearness and the low freight rates in effect insure high prices for farm products sold there and low- prices for commodities purchased there.

Histoby Op Jackson Oottnty

prospects for farmers who are in search of rich and productive lands close to markets, where they may establish homes amid schools and churches and congenial surroundings. There arc a few tracts yet to be put under cultivation, and there are large farms that may be subdivided, while other farms that are now in the hands of renters might be improved by resident owners.

The county is capable of supporting more than three times as many farmers as it now lias. The local creameries want more cream, the merchants want more eggs and poultry, the elevators want more grain, the stock buyers want more cattle and hogs, and all around is a demand for the products of Jackson county - a demand that cannot be taken away.