Stearns County, Minnesota - Chapter 38: The County's Standing, 1915

Chapter 38: The County's Standing

Stearns county is located a little south of the geographical center of the state and practically in the center from east and west. Its greatest length is from east to west, which measured from Clearwater to the western line is 52 miles and its width is from 25 to 34 miles. Its area is 1,330.07 square miles, or 851,241.36 acres, of which 37,021.27 acres are covered with water. The entire state of Rhode Island, one of the thirteen original states of the American union, could be set inside its boundaries and leave a comfortable margin around the outside. The Mississippi river forms its entire eastern boundary ; on the north is the county of Todd and a part of the county of Morrison ; the western border is the eastern line of Pope county; while its southern neighbors are the county of Meeker and parts of the counties of Kandiyohi and "Wright. It lies between the 45th and 46th degrees of latitude.

The county is drained to the Mississippi river by tributary streams arranged as follows in their order from north to south : The south branch of Two rivers, Spunk brook, Watab river, Sauk river, St, Augusta (or Johnston's) creek. Plum creek, Clearwater river and the North Fork of the Crow river. The largest of these is Sauk river, whose basin includes about half of the county, its principal affluents being Ashley and Getchell creeks from the north and Silver, Ashley, Stony, Cole and Mill creeks from the south. The North Fork of the Crow river drains the southwestern part of the county.

One third is prairie, partly level and partly rolling, but with few elevations in any part. There is nothing in the county which rises beyond the modest dignity of hills, and these are practically all in the timbered localities.

Less than one-twelfth is not suited for actual cultivation, and much that is thus excepted is composed of sloughs which can be converted into meadows, and stony knolls serviceable for pasturage.

Pure water is readily obtained in practically any and every part of the county by means of wells, the depth varying from 15 to 75 feet, in a few localities it has been found necessary to go to a depth of 100 feet before a reliable flow of pure water is obtained. Most of the wells are in sand, gravel and pebbles, but some pass through till and hardpan. In many localities are springs, which furnish a constant and accessible supply of water which cannot be excelled for pvirity. Of the wells of the more moderate depths many are spring-fed and the supply of water seldom fails even in the dryest weather.

The two hundred lakes which add to the scenic beauty of Stearns county are fairly evenly distributed, practically every township in the county having one or more of these lovely sheets of water. The lakes, the groves, the rivers and the creeks in the county entitle it to the place it holds as one of the most attractive parts of the Park Region of Minnesota. The more noteworthy of these lakes with their location are as follows: Sauk Centre - Sauk, Cedar, McCormic. Melrose - Middle Birch, Sylvia, Stub, Hartnett's, Clear. Mill- - Mary, Birch Bark, Cedar, Long, Kirig's, Swamp, "Wolf. Krain - St. Anna, Beautiful, St. Mary, Vos, Fish, Bear, Leitner. Holding - Two River. Le Sauk - Watab. Brockway - Shepard's. Avon - Pelican, Pine, Lower, Middle and Upper Spunk, Kepper, Anna, Linneman, Minnie, Ahman's. St. Wendel - Watab. Albany - North, Fifth, Sand. Oak - Uhlenkott 's, Maria, Frevel's. Sand, Getchell's, Metzger's. Grove - Black Oak, Isabella, Ellering's. Raymond - Sand. Lake George - Lake George. St. Martin - Gravel. Farming. - Big and Little Rice, Clear, Henn. CoUegeville - St. Louis (on the shores of which is located St. John's University), Big Fish, Long, Sand, Stump, Island, Big Watab, Little Watab, Thomas, Petts, Kreighle, Eagle, Schuman. St. Joseph - Kraemer. St. Augusta - Block, Beaver. Rockville - Grand, Pleasant. Wakefield - Great Northern, Kray's Knaus, Parr, Bolfings, Zumwaldes, Koetter, Cedar Island, Schneider's - constituting a chain of lakes through which Sauk river runs, and is navigable for gasoline or steam launches, making a very attractive trip. Munson - Horse Shoe, Big, Becker, Schroederl, Cedar Island, Thien. Lake Henry - The lake from which this township originally derived its name has dried up. Crow Lake - Crow, Tamarac, Halvorson's Fish, Grass. Paynesville - Karonis, Rice. Eden Lake - Eden, Rice, Long, Brown's. Maine Prairie - Pearl, Cornelian, Goodner's Island, School Section, Morey, Day's, Willow. Fair Haven - Lake Lura, parts of Clearwater, Augusta, Caroline, Maria, Louise on the southern line, and of Beaver on the northern. Lynden - Long, Crooked, Maria, Holman's, Belle, Warner's and Fuller's, with parts of Clearwater, Grass and Centre.

The altitude of the surface of the county, as given by the Great Northern railway officials, increases steadily and gradually from the southern to the northern boundary, except at Freeport, where the elevation gains rapidly. At the mouth of the Clearwater river it is 956 feet ; at St. Augusta, 1,008 ; at St. Cloud, 1,029 ; at St. Joseph, 1,080 ; at CoUegeville, 1,087 ; at Avon, 1,124 ; at Albany, 1,194; at Freeport, 1,234; at Melrose, 1,204; at Sauk Centre, 1,248.

Stearns county was generously endowed by nature with the elements most essential to the growth, development and prosperity of a state, or any of its subdivisions. It has a rich soil - a warm loam which responds readily to the stimulating action of air and moisture, underlaid by clay which maintains the soil's durability. It has both forests and open land fairly distributed, by which the farmer is enabled to supply himself with timber for fuel and building uses and with open land for cultivation. It is well watered by rivers and creeks - the Mississippi river, the Sauk river, the North Fork of the Crow river and the Watab river passing along its border or meandering tortuously through township after township, as though purposeful to do the greatest good to the greatest number. Within its boundaries are more than two hundred beautiful lakes, most of which are fringed by woods, adding to the scenic attractions of the neighborhood as well as affording food for the settler and rare sport for the angler, as all are abundantly stocked with fish - bass, pike, croppies, pickerel and other varieties. There are also a number of trout streams, which in the season attract those best skilled in the use of the rod and line. It is the policy of the state to furnish free of cost **fry" of the most desirable kinds of fish, so that the lakes and streams may always be kept well stocked.

The surface of the country is gently rolling, there being few high hills and very little waste land. There are thousands of acres of meadows from which nutritious hay is made, although most farmers are raising the tame grasses, both for hay and for the enriching of their land. The natural roads are good, but an intelligent policy of road building has been adopted by the state which will be of great advantage to all the counties, even to counties such as Stearns where the character of the soil lends itself readily to goodroads purposes. A liberal state fund, to be supplemented by local taxes, will provide means by which in a very few years these county roads can be made equal to the best.

The rural telephone reaches practically every farm house, which with rural mail delivery, places the farmer in close touch with the great markets and with the current of affairs of the outside world. There is no longer any isolation such as existed in the early days when pioneering meant privation; no longer any need for the denial of many of the luxuries as well as the comforts of life. The farmer can have his daily newspaper and his daily market reports; he can have the advantage of the circulating library, and his table can be supplied with whatever the village or city market may have to offer. The changes of the half century have been more marked in scarcely any direction than in the conditions which surround life on the farm. The plodding ox which did the field and farm work has disappeared; the gang plow, the mower, the seeder, the harvester and the steam thresher are doing the work so laboriously and imperfectly done by the scythe, the cradle, the handsower, the flail and the horse-power thresher. The buggy, the carriage and now the automobile are almost universal among the conveniences of the farm, while the sewing machine, the organ and the piano are familiar objects in the inner life of the farm home. The future doubtless holds still more in the way of conveniences and comforts, but it can give nothing beyond what the great service the farmer has rendered and is rendering the country in the way of its development merits. There cannot but be deep regret, however much it is in the nature of things, that so few of those who bore the heat and burden of the day in the years of beginnings, have survived to enjoy the fruits which their labors produced. "Their epitaphs are writ in furrows."

"Deep and wide The wheels of progress have passed on: The silent pioneer is gone. His ghost is moving down the trees. And now we push the memories Of bluff, bold men who dared and died In foremost battle, quite aside."

Stearns county is the fourth in population in the state, being exceeded only by the counties of Hennepin, Ramsey and St. Louis, in which are located the three large cities of Minneapolis, St, Paul and Duluth. Aside from these three counties, which may fairly be eliminated in a matter of comparison, this county stands at the head of the counties of the state.

The first census of Stearns county was taken in 1856, by Addison Gilmore, who was both assessor and census taker. The total number of inhabitants then reported was 2,840. What became of the original of that census is apparently an unsolvable mystery. It is not in any of the departments at the state capitol. It cannot be in Washington, as it was not a government census. It is not in any discoverable place in the court house. It may possibly be hidden underneath the piles of unassorted and unassortable documents of past years which are in the vaults, and when a new court house is built with proper accommodations for the arranging of papers and documents it may be brought to light, and when found - if ever - it will be a document of exceeding interest and value.

The first government census was that of 1860, which was taken by the late C. Grandelmyer. Unfortunately it was taken as a whole, instead of by township subdivisions, with the population of the towns and villages given separately. The showing as to the population of the county at that time was as follows : The total population as first published was given as 4,059 (but in the official report issued later by the census department it is 4,505), of whom there were white males, 2,451 ; white females, 2,056 ; colored females, 2 ; number of families, 1,050 ; number of dwelling houses, 1,257 ; number of persons attending school during previous year, 428 ; number of blind persons, 1 ; there were no deaf and dumb, insane, idiotic, paupers or convicts. The number both of families and dwellings were greater in Stearns county than the average in the state at large - the latter very considerably greater. The native-born population numbered 1,457, of whom much the larger proportion, 316, were born in Maine; New York following with 280; Pennsylvania, 128; Vermont, 81 ; Massachusetts, 70 ; dropping to New Jersey and Delaware each 2 and Alabama and the District of Columbia 1 each. The total number of foreignborn was 1,956, of whom 866 came from Prussia, 667 from the rest of Germany, 75 from Ireland, 74 from Canada, 49 from England, 58 from France, 42 from Switzerland, 41 from Austria and 21 from Norway and Sweden. In 1870 the total population was 14,206 ; in 1880, it was 21,956 ; in 1890, it was 34,844; in 1900 it was 44,464; and in the last census, that of 1910, it was 47,733.

While the per cent of increase for the decade between 1890 and 1900 was 27.6, in the decade following it was only 7.4 per cent. This falling off was due largely, indeed wholly, to the fact that immigration, lured by the inducements held out by less thickly settled localities to the west and by the activity of Canadian land agents, went further to fare worse. Many who had already taken farms in this county were induced by the bewildering offers of "cheap lands" to pull up and try their fortune in new fields - too often having decided in haste to repent at their leisure. The per cent of increase has been least in the rural districts, where for the ten years preceding 1900

Of the population in 1900 the native-born was 11,404, or 25.6 per cent of the whole; in 1910 it was 15,465 or 32.4 of the whole. From the beginning of its settlement Stearns county has been an attractive field for Germans, who came in large numbers, some townships being almost wholly occupied by settlers of that nationality. They have made a most desirable class of people - sturdy, industrious, honest and thrifty. The census statistics for 1910 show that this condition has persisted, out of the total population of 47,733, there being 15,626 Germans of foreign and native birth, or over 32 per cent of the whole. The various foreign-bom nationalities in the country are as follows, the first number after each country being the ones born in a foreign country and the second number being those who had both parents born in a foreign country but who themselves were born in the United States: Germany, 5,315, 10,311; Austria, 678, 695; Norway, 523, 846; Sweden, 439, 428; Denmark, 94, 123; England, 122, 101; Canada, 341, 198; Ireland, 148, 356; Switzerland, 81, 68 ; Holland, 188, 97 ; Italy, 349, 4 ; Hungary, 188, 217 ; Greece, 89, 0.

Of the total population 24,783 are males and 22,950 are females, showing a fairly equal proportion. The number of males who are of voting age is 11,987. Of the foreign-born males 3,355 are naturalized, 186 have taken out their first papers, 637 are aliens, while as to 646 no information is given.

In the matter of illiteracy the showing is very creditable. Of the males of voting age but 512 cannot read or write, this being 4.3 per cent of the total number. Of these 81, or 1.1 per cent, are native-born, and 431, or 8.9 per cent, are foreign-born. The total number of inhabitants ten years old and over is 35,234, of whom 972 are illiterate, being 2.8 per cent. Of this total 26,539 are native-born ; illiterate, 225 ; per cent, 0.8. Foreign-born, 8,681 ; illiterate, 747; per cent, 8.6. The number of persons in the county of school age, that is from 6 to 20 years, is 17,586, of whom 11,920 attend school, being 67.8 per cent.

Population of the townships, villages and cities in Stearns county, as shown by the last government census, that of 1910: Albany township, 966; Albany village, 657; Ashley township, 533; Avon township (1), 758; Avon village (1), 277; Belgrade village, 448; Brockway township, 1,244; Brooten village, 562 ; Cold Spring village, 594 ; Collegeville township, 606 ; Crow Lake township, 438; Crow River township, 492; Eden Lake township, 899; Eden Valley village (part of), 287; Fairhaven township, 623; Farming township, 956 ; Freeport village, 450 ; Getty township, 605 ; Grove township, 685 ; Holding township, 1,343; Holding village, 276; Kimball Prairie village, 312; Krain township, 1,329; Lake George township, 678; Lake Henry township, 606; Le Sauk township, 278 ; Luxemburg township, 1,117 ; Lyden township, 388 ; Maine Prairie township, 1,106 ; Meire Grove village, 163 ; Melrose city, 2,591 ; (Ward 1, 1,291; Ward 2, 1,300); Melrose township, 768, Millwood township, 894; Munson township, 817; New Munich village, 190; North Fork township, 577; Oak township, 721; Paynesville township (2), 459; Paynesville village (2), 901; Raymond township, 494; Richmond village, 563; Rockville township (3), 535; Rockville village (3), 127; St. Augusta township, 766; St. Cloud city (4), 10,600; (Wards 1, 2, 3 and 4, 8,611); St. Cloud township (4), 654; St. Joseph township, 721 ; St. Joseph village, 706 ; St. Martin township, 601 ; St. Martin village, 177; St. Wendel township, 643; Sartell village (5), 240; Sauk Centre city, 2,154 (Ward 1, 784; Ward 2, 1,370) ; Sauk Centre township, 578; Spring Hill township, 653; Spring Hill village (6), 100; Waite Park village, 406; Wakefield township, 735; Zion township, 675. (1) Avon village made independent of Avon township in 1900. (2) Part of New Paynesville village annexed in 1904. (3) Rockville village incorporated from part of Rockville township in 1903. (4) Part of St. Cloud city detached and annexed to St. Cloud township in 1908. (5) Sartell village incorporated from part of Le Sauk township in 1907. (6) Spring Hill village incorporated from part of Spring Hill township in 1900.

The statistics as to farm homes and conditions contained in the report of the United States census for 1910 give much valuable information. The total number of homes in Stearns county, with a population of 47,733, was 8,661, of which 4,162 were farm homes, 2,207 being owned by their occupants and free, 1,240 were encumbered and 699 were rented. This would give an average of 5.5 persons to each home.

The approximate land area was 871,680 acres, of which 761,242 acres was in farms. The improved land in farms was 452,316 acres; woodland, 158,665 acres ; other unimproved land, 150,261.

While the number of farms in the county decreased from 4,449 in 1900 to 4,255 in 1910 (doubtless by purchase and merging), the area in farms increased 29,919 acres and the improved land, 31,888 acres.

Mr. And Mrs. F. J. Lorinser

The number of farms operated by their owners in 1910 was 3,551; as against 3,701 in 1900. This class of farms included 610,004 acres, of which 356,814 acres were improved; the value of the land and the buildings being $12,524,277. Of these farms, 522 included some rented land. The owners were 1,711 native white and 1,840 foreign-born white - this item and another following showing that the number of foreign-bom whites owning their own farms, as compared with tenancy, was relatively larger than those owned by native whites.

The number of farms operated by tenants in 1910 was 682 as against 721 in 1900, showing a slight decrease during the decade, doubtless going to add to the ownership column. These farms included 140,248 acres, of which 91,024 acres were improved; the value of the land and buildings being $5,272,740. Of these tenants, 502 were on shares, 40 share-cost, 110 cash, 30 tenure not specified. In nationality, 499 were native white and 183 foreign-born white.

Managers operated 22 farms as against 27 in 1900; these farms having 10,990 acres, of which 4,468 acres were improved, the value of the land and buildings being $377,210.

Of the farms operated by the owners 2,187 were free of mortgage debt, while 1,339 were encumbered, 25 making no report. Of the farms consisting of owned land only, 1,047 reported their land and buildings as having a value of $6,090,221, with a mortgage indebtedness of $1,613,488, or 26.5 per cent.

The number of farms reporting domestic animals was 4,184, or within 71 of the total number, showing that the percentage of farmers too poor or too non-progressive to have stock was almost negligible. The total value of these animals was $3,959,713.

In the item of expenses for the year 1909, 2,513 farms reported having paid $403,121 for labor ; rent and board furnished, $147,653. Seventeen farms reported an expenditure of $771 for fertilizers. On farms having a good supply of stock the necessity of purchasing fertilizers - and then only for some special use - is reduced to the minimum. For feed 1,268 farms reported an expenditure of $72,827, with $325,181 received from the sale of feedable crops.

The total acreage given to cereals was $264,842, the product being 7,008,- 396 bushels. Of this corn had 38,167 acres, yield 1,215,007 bushels; oats 72,695 acres, yield 2,694,415 bushels; wheat 116,052, yield 2,180,607 bushels; emmer and spelt 125 acres, yield 3,449 bushels; barley 23,597 acres, yield 654,100 bushels; buckwheat 70 acres, yield 1,286 bushels; rye 14,136 acres, yield 259,532 bushels; dry peas 131 acres, yield 3,344 bushels; dry edible beans 27 acres, yield 732 bushels; flaxseed 8,438 acres, yield 90,161 bushels. It will be observed that wheat still leads all the other cereals in acreage, being followed by oats, corn and rye in the order here given.

Of hay and forage the total acreage was 108,234, with a yield of 162,200 tons. The acreage given to all tame and cultivated grasses was 31,133, tons of hay 50,001 ; timothy alone 12,156 acres, tons hay 18,215 ; timothy and clover mixed 9,745 acres, 16,921 tons hay; clover alone 2,235 acres, tons hay 3,644; alfalfa 40 acres, tons hay 73 ; millet or Hungarian grass 324 acres, tons hay 396 ; other tame or cultivated grasses 6,733 acres, tons hay 10,752 ; wild, salt or prairie grasses 75,078 acres, tons hay 100,587 ; grains cut green 40 acres, tons 87; coarse forage 1,967 acres, tons 5,466.

Potatoes 3,938 acres, yield 486,540 bushels; all other vegetables 1,394 acres; sugar beets 47 acres, yield 591 tons; maple trees 244, from which 56 gallons of sirup was made; sorghum cane 65 acres, with 441 tons of cane, making 5,854 gallons of sirup.

The total number of fruit trees growing was 19,007, giving 8,337 bushels of crop. Of these trees 14,261 were apple, and the yield 8,148 bushels ; 3,739 plums, yield 143 bushels; cherries 882, yield 39 bushels; and one lonesome peach tree, with a reported yield of one bushel. Its locality is not given. Some years ago a peach tree in bearing was in the Stager nursery at Sauk Rapids, and was a curiosity. It was carried through the winter by the branches being bent down and all deeply covered. However, it died young, meeting the fate which usually befals the good. Further climatic changes will be required before peaches become a usual or profitable fruit crop in Minnesota. Of grapes there were 947 vines, yielding 4,440 pounds; strawberries 12 acres, with a yield of 14,757 quarts ; raspberries 6 acres, yield 5,852 quarts; nuts 157 trees, yield 350 pounds.

Stearns county holds its primacy in the matter of wealth as well as in that of population. Its taxable property valuation in 1913 - the latest report available - $18,144,916, is exceeded by that of only four counties, with which no fair comparison can be made, viz. Hennepin, Ramsey and St. Louis, in which are the three large cities of the state, Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth, and Itasca with its many developed iron mines. In the list of the agricultural counties of the state, Stearns stands first. The total number of acres assessed was 850,087.45, the average value being $12.75. The average rate of taxation in the county was 30.60 mills, only 31 out of the 86 counties in the state having as low a rate, while a number exceeded 40 and 50 mills, one having a rate of 61.50 and another 72.34 mills.

The personal property assessment for 1914 gave 7,732 assessments, the total true value of the property assessed being $13,614,621, and the assessed value $4,411,187. The following items were included: Household furniture, $485,051 ; rugs, carpets, books, etc., $23,380 ; sewing machines, $27,299 ; watches and clocks, $16,343; jewelry, $9,252; pianos (1,000), $71,332; melodeons and organs (736), $6,863. (These are assessed at 25 per cent of their true value.)

In the following list will be found under each township, the total assessed value of real property as equalized by the county board, the total assessed value of personal property as equalized by the county board, and the number of automobiles and auto trucks.

The lowest real estate true value was in Collegeville, $19.36 per acre ; the highest in Ashley, $41.34, and in Lake Henry, $41.25; the average true value per acre in the county being $35.22.

A bulletin from the State Board of Immigration, compiled from the official records, gives the crop reports for 1913 for the states of Minnesota, Iowa, Illinois, North Dakota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan and Wisconsin. Minnesota leads, either in total production or in average yield, in practically every product. Its average yield of corn, 40 bushels per acre, is equaled only by Wisconsin, which is the same, Ohio coming next with 38 bushels. Its production of wheat is exceeded only by North Dakota, while in yield per acre it is 5.3 bushels ahead of that state. In oats it leads in average yield, 38 bushels, and in production is exceeded only by Iowa. The barley crop is far in the lead in total production and in average falls but two bushels below Illinois, which has 26 bushels on a very small total crop. In rye its average is the highest, 19 bushels, and the production is exceeded only by Wisconsin. The average of the potato crop is first, 110 bushels, the total yield being slightly below that of Michigan and Wisconsin. The average of the hay crop, 1.50, is second, the total product being fourth. Other statistics show that Minnesota is the leading state in the Union in flour-mill and grist-mill products. In the production of butter, cheese and condensed milk it advanced from the sixth place in 1889 to the fifth in 1904 and fourth in 1909, which place it still holds.

By the first government census, that of 1860, the number of farms in the county was 680; number of acres under cultivation, 16,770; number of neat cattle, 3,865; number 'of horses, 423; number of swine, 3,267.

The official crop report for 1862 gave for Stearns county 100,000 bushels of wheat; 12,000 bushels of rye; 2,400 bushels of barley; 48,000 bushels of cats; 43,000 bushels of corn; 68,000 bushels of potatoes.

For many years Wheat was King in Stearns county. It was practically a sure crop, the yield was seldom less than thirty bushels per acre of Scotch Fife No. 1 hard. The generous soil paid this tribute year after year although in too many cases the farmer gave nothing in return - no fertilizing, no summer fallowing, no rotation of crops. In frequent years the price was exceedingly low, yet it was always a cash article when it reached the market and it provided the farmers with the means to pay taxes and such other demands as required actual money.

But as years passed the yield gradually lessened, and at the same time farmers grew wiser. They came to appreciate the wisdom of diversifying agriculture, to realize the greater and surer profit which came from raising stock, either for dairying or for beef purposes. Butter had been much of the time a drug in the market, and much of the time was without a market at any price. The demand was almost wholly that created by local consumption; only the best quality was saleable at anything like a fair price, and only too large a proportion was not of a fair quality.

The remedy for this condition came gradually, but it finally did come - through the creamery. The result has been to fairly revolutionize the situation as regards butter production and to make this one of the most profitable branches of the farmer's income.

the progress was slow. At the end of ten years there were but 27 ; at the close of the year 1890 there were 200. It was during this year that the separator came into use, and by 1900 it had entirely displaced the gravity method of separating the cream from the milk. Minnesota made rapid progress in the amount and value of its dairy products. While in 1880 it was only eighteenth among the states, by 1890 it was seventh ; ten years later it was sixth, and in' 1910 it was fourth, being outranked only by Wisconsin, New York and Iowa. In the matter of quality its success has been still more marked. At the national dairy convention held in Chicago Minnesota scored the most signal and sweeping victory in the butter exhibition ever achieved by any state. Not only did it win the $100 banner offered as a trophy to the state whose entries led in average for the ten highest scores, but both the first and second highest scores were taken by Minnesota buttermakers - the former being 96.83 and the other 96.50. The average of Minnesota's ten highest scores was 96.24; Iowa was second with 95.68 ; Wisconsin third with 95.43 ; Illinois fourth with 94.48. The judges were from Wisconsin and Iowa.

Stearns county has taken a leading part in this development. In 1860 there were 1,102 cows, producing 87,565 pounds of butter and 1,000 pounds of cheese ; in 1870, there were 4,399 cows, producing 323,085 pounds of butter and 10,435 pounds of cheese. Ten years later the number of cows had increased to 9,723, and the factory had come to take its place in the farm economy, the result being that 43,147 pounds of milk was sent to the factory, while 591,202 pounds of butter was made on the farm, and 40,440 pounds of cheese. By 1890 there were 16,348 cows, whose product was 3,920,526 gallons of milk, 851,080 pounds of butter and 10,273 pounds of cheese. In 1900 dairy products were reported from 4,168 farms, the value being $397,650, of which products to the value of $144,984 were consumed on the farms. The total number of gallons of milk produced was 7,671,896, of which 2,363,433 gallons were sold, and in addition 2,379 gallons of cream were sold. Of butter 1,- 043,154 pounds were made, 654,137 pounds being sold. The cheese production was 2,040 pounds, 1,182 pounds being sold. In 1910 there were 35,090 cows on farms reporting dairy products - an increase of more than one hundred per cent since 1890 - producing 8,337,777 gallons of milk, of which 3,018,714, or almost two-thirds were sold. The amount of cream sold was 439,378 gallons, of butter fat 1,022,376 pounds. The butter produced was 622,491 pounds, 325,730 pounds being sold. The production of cheese was 2,704 pounds ; sold, 2,350. The value of all dairy products excluding the home use of milk and cream was $814,549, and of this $739,092 was received by the farmers from the sale of their products.

These figures are intended as showing the remarkable growth of the dairying interests of the county from 1880^ when there were but 1,102 cows, to 1910 when the number had increased to 35,090, bringing to their owners a cash income of almost three-quarters of a million dollars a year, aside from the milk and cream consumed at the home table. The records of the Minnesota Dairy and Food Department show that during the year 1913 the farmers of Steams county received more money from the sale of butter fat than was received in any other county in the state, aside from Ramsey and Hen- nepin counties, which are not agricultural counties at all but in whose cities are located the "centralizers" which draw from all parts of the state. This income could be very materially increased if farmers generally would grade up their cows along dairy lines, too many of them acting on the principle that ' ' a cow is a cow. ' ' A farmer with a good-sized herd, or a group of farmers, if preferred, could profitably invest in a registered bull - Jersey, Guernsey, Ilolstein or some other recognized good breed - thereby increasing the yield of milk rich in butter fat sufficient to pay a handsome dividend on the cost of the animal.

The creameries would seem to have crowded out the cheese factories in this county. While at one time there were three, with a production of 10,435 pounds of cheese, the number was reduced until in 1910 there was but one, producing 8,897 pounds of cheese. A year later even this one had disappeared and its place has not since been taken. In the entire state there are 72 cheese factories, 31 being in the two counties of Dodge and Goodhue - Benton has one, paying its patrons in 1912, the sum of $3,255.04 - the amount paid patrons being $621,301.92, with $76,490.67 expenses. The larger proportion of these factories (46) make American cheese; thirteen, brick cheese, and four Swiss cheese.

In the days of the first settlement of the county it was an accepted belief that corn could never become a profitable crop, that the growing season was too short. The only variety of corn that was planted for a number of years was "squaw corn," small of ear, small of grain, small of yield and inferior in quality. But gradually the farmers ventured to try the flint and the dent, with most gratifying results. In recent years it has become one of the most profitable crops in the county and state. Experiments at the state farm have produced varieties, especially Minnesota No. 13, giving exceptionably large yields. The cultivation of corn has been found to be advisable not only for the yield of the grain but for the cleaning of the land and as \aluable in a wise system of crop rotation. The corn acreage has also increased as farmers are more and more abandoning the raising of wheat and giving their attention to stock raising, both for the market and for dairying purposes. Corn stands at the head of the list of grains for fattening purposes, while ensilage has a superlative value as a feed for cows.

At the sixth national corn exposition held at Dallas, Texas, in 1914, Minnesota took many prizes. It won with white dent the championship of the northern zone, beating Michigan, "Wisconsin and North and South Dakota. It took the world's sweepstake prize for the best ten ears of early sweet corn, as also the second prize. It won the second prize on pop corn, the first going to Michigan, in the world's sweepstake competition. Minnesota had the only ear of corn measuring fourteen inches, for which $1,000 was paid by James J. Hill.

But it was not alone in corn that Minnesota won honors and prizes. The sweepstakes prize for spring wheat from the northern zone was won by Minnesota. The judges pronounced the samples of wheat exhibited at this exposition the finest ever shown in the history of the association. In millet seed, the world contest, it took second prize ; buckwheat, first prize ; alfalfa, fourth prize; alsike clover, fourth prize; Kentucky blue grass, second prize - the last being in competition with four samples from Kentucky, the "home of the blue grass;" timothy seed, fifth prize.

As one of the most fertile and productive counties in Minnesota, Steams shares in the honors won for the state at this exposition. There are none of these grains or grasses but are most successfully raised here. While the principal crop is still wheat, yet the tendency is strongly in the direction of corn, barley and rye, for feeding stock, and the grasses, clover, timothy, millet, blue grass and red top, especially the two first named. The result has been favorable both to the income of the farm and the strengthening and improving of the soil. It is an undeniable fact that farmers are giving more attention to the science of farming, to adopting methods with a view to results, in other words doing more intelligent farming than in years gone by. No small amount of credit for this is due to the influence of the agricultural department of the State University, with the experimental stations, from which scores of farmers' sons and daughters are graduated each year.

In a contest entered into the present year (1914) among the farmer boys of the state for the championship on the product of one acre there were entries from 80 out of the 86 counties in the state. The successful contestant was Hoy Halverson, a 16-year-old farmer of Kerkhoven, Chippewa county, whose record was 115 bushels of dry shelled corn on one acre of ground. Three others raised more than 100 bushels of dry shelled corn to the acre. The results obtained by the Stearns county contestants are not given, but their failure to be winners was not due to any defect of soil or natural conditions but to lack of the best methods of cultivation.

The system by which the prize lot of corn was grown is somewhat at variance with other experts who have advocated planting corn early and planting it deep so that in case of heavy frost the roots would not be damiged. This boy won his success by planting the corn on May 18, after the 'rost danger was past; drilling only an inch and a half deep; cultivating :ften and deep; thinning out stalks carefully; giving the corn ample time in the fall to mature and harden; testing the seed in seed corn week; planting Minnesota No. 13 corn. It might be well for Stearns county farmers, old as well as young, to give this young champion's method careful consideration and a practical test.

The reputation of Stearns county for blooded stock is not only state-wide but is almost national. Some of the highest grade animals, both cattle and horses, have been owned in this county, not merely as individuals, but in herds and studs, selected with the greatest care and handled with skill and every attention to the best results. This distinction began early in its history. The first importation of choice stock was in 1857, when the Rev. Thomas P. Calhoun brought overland from Tennessee a herd of pure-blood cattle, these being probably the first blooded cattle ever brought into Minnesota. It was Mr. Calhoun's intention to go into stock raising on a somewhat extensive scale, but his tragic death a little more than a year afterwards had disastrous results for his undertaking.

farmers of this part of the Northwest from improving the grade of their stock, especially their cattle, both for dairy and beef purposes, secured by purchase in the United States and by direct importation from Great Britain - often by personal selection - some of the choicest animals that could be had. His specialty was Shorthorns, and he eventually gathered at his farms in this county an exceedingly choice and valuable herd. They took prizes wherever exhibited, and their progeny went to grade up the herds of many of the more progressive farmers not only in Minnesota but in the states adjoining. In the way of horses Mr, Clarke was equally successful, his stables of imported Clydesdales being unexcelled in the country.

Others who engaged in the raising of blooded cattle, although on a less extensive scale, were the late Judge D. B. Searle and John Cooper, both of whom confined themselves mainly to Shorthorns. John Lorenz, near Rockville, has been successful with Herefords.

Of late years more attention than before has been given to graded swine. Hodgson Bros., purchasers of the Searle farm at Pleasant lake, breed Chester whites, as also Percheron horses and Aberdeen Angus cattle. These gentlemen removed to Stearns county from Martin county, where they had many years' experience in raising fine stock.

P. J. Fosse, who came to this county from Wisconsin, locating near the city limits of St. Cloud, breeds the Duroc Jersey swine, as also Percheron horses and Poll Durham cattle. Both breed prize animals, and dispose of their product both inside and outside of the state. There are other breeders in different parts of the county who handle blooded stock.

The raising of Angora goats, principally for use in clearing brush land and only incidentally for the wool, has been undertaken, several large flocks having been introduced, but on the whole the experiment was not satisfactory, and there are now very few left.

Following for many years the policy which prevailed in most of the counties in the state of having road work done piecemeal, a section here and a section there, without any concerted plan or competent supervision, Stearns county's roads were far from being what they should have been. The plan of "working out" the road tax, whereby tolerably good roads were made almost impassable by the plowing up of sod and piling it in the middle of the highway, was popular, as it made the payment of the tax easy and convenient, but it was wasteful and unprogressive. But more recently the ''gospel of good roads" which had been vigorously preached made many converts, and the oldtime policy of the road overseer was supplanted by a consistent plan of state supervision. The more important roads were made state highways and competent engineers were placed in charge of the work of construction and improvement. The result has been that Stearns county has annually added many miles of well-built roads. The character of the soil and the material readily at hand make possible the construction of excellent roads at a minimum cost.

During the year 1914 fifty-five miles of good roads were built in this county, and provision has been made for the care and repair of all state roads, which is quite as important as their construction. The following synopsis of the annual report of R. P. Didlake, deputy highway engineer, made to the state board contains much that is of value and interest :

The total road mileage in Stearns county is approximately 2,200 miles, including 118 miles of state roads. State road No. 1, from St. Cloud through St. Joseph, Avon, Albany, Freeport, Melrose, Sauk Centre north to the county line. State road No. 2, from St. Cloud through Rockville, Cold Spring, Richmond, Roscoe, Paynesville, west to the county line. State road No. 3, from St. Cloud through Kimball south to the county line. No. 4, from St. Cloud through St. Augusta to Clearwater. No. 5, from Avon through St. Anna to Holdingford. No. 6, from St. Joseph to Cold Spring. About 125 miles of this total are improved according to the standard adopted for earth roads by the state highway commission.

During the year 1914, $43,523 has been spent on this system of roads under the supervision of the highway commission. This includes $7,000 given toward the Sartell bridge, $1,153 for a bridge in the town of St. Augus(ta, and $6,500 for the maintenance of the state road system during the season. Not all of this money was expended directly by the county, some of the work being handled by the different town boards.

A total of 55 miles was graded and improved during the season. The total cost of these 55 miles was $29,370 - or $534 a mile. The cost (including clearing, grubbing, grading and culverts) on a few pieces with which the reader is familiar is as follows : St. Cloud to St. Joseph, 5.1 miles, $3,000 ; St. Cloud to Rockville, including the graveling at Waite Park, 9.8 miles, $6,640.85 ; Melrose to Sauk Centre, 7.8 miles $6,502.54; Halfway House to Pleasant lake, $3,273.62.

The first job on state road No. 1, St. Cloud to St. Joseph, was graded by the county outfit, consisting of one 35-horse traction engine and two blade graders. After finishing this job, the county outfit has graded that portion of state road No. 2 that could be worked with a blade grader, from Cold Spring through Paynesville to the county line; state road No. 6, from St. Joseph to Cold Spring and several other smaller jobs. This outfit is suitable only for light grading or turnpiking and has been busy the entire season.

Stearns county has done very little in the way of gravel and nothing in the way of macadam roads this year. It has been the policy of the county board to spend the money to get the largest number of miles of earth roads improved to serve a large number of people, rather than spend the money at this time on concrete, macadam or gravel roads and construct a few miles to serve a few people

The 118 miles of state roads in the county were divided this year into nine sections for the purpose of maintenance. A man was placed in charge of each section at a salary of $90 per month. These men were placed under bond and had power to hire additional help when needed. They were started to work April 15th and taken- off November 1. A small two-horse grader and a drag were furnished each man by the county, the men themselves furnished a team, wagon and such small tools as were needed. They devoted all their time to the work and it was each man's duty to keep his portion of the road dragged, free from holes and the loose stones picked off, and in the best possible condition. Short pieces of the roads were surfaced, drainage looked after and some culverts installed.

The road program for 1915 so far as mapped out by the county board includes the following: The building of four bridges now under contract. The grading of state road No. 1 from Freeport to Melrose, on state road No. 3 from St. Cloud to Kimball, the completion of the work on state road No. 2 from Richmond to Paynesville, the graveling of state road No. 2 from St. Cloud to Rockville, and the graveling of state road No. 6 from St. Joseph to Cold Spring.

In connection with the matter of roads it may be said that 162 miles of county and judicial ditches have been built in this county, at a cost of $148,615.23, and benefiting 19,861 acres of land.

In the earlier days of the county's history the limited needs of the settlers for lime in the localities off from the lines of travel and transportation were met by the use of magnesian limestone boulders which were to be found in almost every township. These were burned and sufficient lime secured not only for individual use but for sale. A geological and natural history survey of the county made in 1882-85 by Warren Upham, under the direction of the State University, discovered how generally this work had been carried on. In Maine Prairie, on section 30, A. B. and H. J. Hicks made about 400: barrels of lime yearly, which they sold at $1.40 per barrel at the kiln. All the limestone boulders collected yielded white lime. The largest block found measured 12 x 6 x 6 feet. In Luxemburg lime was made in this way by N. liardy in section 4, John Rausch in section 11 and by others. In Eden Lake B. Pirz in the N. W. 14 of section 5, during ten years or more, and John Leyendecker in the N. E. 14 of section 6, beginning in 1880, made white lime at $1.25 per barrel at the kiln. About a twentieth part of the boulders in the morainic hills in these sections were limestone, the remainder being mainly granite, syenite and crystallenic schist. In Munson, John Corde in section 8. In Farming, John Ludewitz in section 27, John Clouse in section 28, and others; selling at $1.35 to $1.50 per barrel. In Zion, Christian Lauer and Michael Hammer, both in the east half of section 6. In St. Martin, David Smith in section 7. In Oak, Henry Welle in section 14, and Joseph Haas in section 21 ; selling at $1.00 to $1.25 per barrel.

In Spring Hill, C. Sehoenborn in the S. W. 14 of section 21, and Joseph Gau in the N. E. 14 of section 27, the latter obtaining the stone mostly from a large mass, fifteen feet or more in length, buried in the drift excepting a small point. In Melrose, A. J. Petrie in section 20, and John Dwyer in section 30. In Getty, G. Gilbertson in section 19 and George Barlow in section 22. The largest limestone block f oiuid by Mr. Gilbertson measured 8x5x4 feet. In Sauk Centre, L. M. Thomason in section 22. Generally through the western part of the county about one in a hundred of the large boulders is limestone, one in twenty approximately of the smaller boulders, and a still further increased proportion of the gravel.

passed beyond the ability of a sufficient supply being secured through these primitive methods, it was obtained from the localities where the supply of limestone was abundant and where the making of lime was carried on on a scale sufficient to meet all the demands of the market. "While no further use is made of these scattered boulders they served in their day a very useful purpose.

Stearns county with its lakes and trees - its tempting fields and bam yards, has its full share of birds each season. The permanent residents and winter visitors find more food here than further south where the tree trunks are often covered with ice, while during the spring and summer seasons practically all the birds found in Minnesota can be found in these parts.

As early as March before the snow has begun to melt many of the summer birds are seen. The meadow lark and the prairie horned lark, the bluebird, robin, red winged black bird, phoebe and the flicker come while we are still wearing our winter furs. These are followed in April by the yellow headed black bird, the martin, grackle, cowbird, mourning dove, cat bird and the vesper and song sparrow.

Among the May birds are the rose-breasted grosbeak, the Baltimore and orchard orioles, yellow warbler, red-start, northern yellow throat humming bird, swallows, thrush, house wren, bobolink, king bird and pewee. Sometimes we have had snow storms in May and the birds have been fed with suet, bread crumbs and grain by the farmers and town people. In May the yellow bellied sapsucker taps the maple trees, riddling the trunks with holes not more than an inch apart and it is often necessary to destroy the bird in order to save the tree. About the lakes are often found the Great Blue Heron and the Little Green Heron, the Killdeer and Sandpiper, while Coots and Loons are very plentiful.

Some winter visitants are the tree sparrows, often seen in flocks with the Junco in town and country, and the snow bird who lives on small seed and comes in barn yards when the fields are covered with snow. The most striking winter bird is the evening grosbeak which is only seen occasionally and in small numbers near boxelder trees. It is large with a buff - white and black color scheme and is sure to excite comment, both because of its rarity and its beauty.

With these winter birds are the permanent residents who receive more attention now than in the summer months when the woods are filled with the brilliantly plumaged songsters. There are the two woodpeckers, hairy and northern downey, and the white breasted nuthatch who are easily attracted to our porches and window sills by suet or crumbs. The American gold finch loses its yellow color this time of year and looks like its buff female. The black capped chickadee is seen and heard through the entire year, as is the bob white or quail. It seems heartless to place these with game birds as they so trustingly respond to a little kindness and will feed in yards except during the breeding seasons.

Of the 47,093.14 acres of school lands originally in the county but 120 acres remain unsold. The rest were purchased by settlers for cultivation, either as original farms or to be added to the acreage already possessed. As the terms of payment were easy, extending over a long period of years at a low rate of interest, these school lands were an attractive investment. Every precaution was taken, by legislation and otherwise, to prevent their going into the hands of speculators.

Stearns county never had a poor farm. While action in that direction was taken several times by the board of county commissioners it never reached fruition. For some years the poor were cared for by the county from a special fund raised by taxation, but a change was made whereby they became a town charge (chapter 234, special laws of 1877). Attempts were made at different times to secure legislation whereby there would be a return to the former plan, but without result, and the township method has been generally accepted and now prevails throughout the county.

Payments into the state treasury on account of the two per cent tax on liquor licenses issued for the fiscal year ending July 31, 1914, for the support of the Inebriate Asylum at Willmar, were made by Stearns county and the different cities and villages : County, $90 ; St. Cloud, $1,120 ; Sauk Centre, $144 ; Melrose, $170 ; Albany, $70 ; Avon, $40.12 ; Belgrade, $50 ; Eden Valley, $50; Freeport, $60.55; Holdingford, $30; Kimball, $76.76; Meire Grove, $20; New Munich, 40 ; Richmond, $120 ; Rockville, $20 ; Spring Hill, $12.

Minnesota ranked eleventh in area and nineteenth in population among the 49 states and territories of continental United States by the census of 1910. In 1890 the density of population to the square mile was 16.2; in 1900 it was 21.7 ; in 1910 it was 25.7. Forty-one per cent of the entire population resided in incorporated cities and villages having a population of 2,500 inhabitants or over. There were eight cities having a population in excess of 10,000 inhabitants.

Minnesota ranked thirty-second in 1889 among the states and territories in respect to the gross value of products, but advanced to the thirteenth place in 1899, which position was retained in 1904 and in 1909. Although not essentially a manufacturing state, the government reports show that the manufacturing industries of Minnesota have developed rapidly during the decade prior to the last census, the increase being especially marked during the last five-year period. The increase in the value of products from 1899 to 1909 was 83 per cent.

The number of children employed in the manufacturing industries of Minnesota is very small; the average being largest in the printing and publishing business, where 53 were employed in 1910, forming only nine-tenths of one per cent of all wage earners engaged in this industry.

In the year 1913 eighty counties in Minnesota received from the state treasury more money than they paid in, only six receiving less, those being Cook, Hennepin, Itasca, Ramsey and St. Louis. The excess paid by Hennepin was $485,092.34; by Ramsey, $294,565.48; by St. Louis, $836,785.02. Stearns county paid in $63,555.69, receiving $97,985.36, making an overplus of $34,429.67.

The following statement gives the gross earnings of the different telephone companies within Stearns county or having their offices in the county. On these earnings a tax of 3 per cent is paid to the state. Of the figures given the first sum under each name is for 1912, the second for 1913 : Albany

The earnings of the Northwestern Telephone Company, which has one of its district offices in St. Cloud, were $2,714,886.53 in 1912 and $3,380,830.83 in 1913.