Heart Prairie, Wisconsin

La Grange is one of the northern tier of towns, situated east of Whitewater and north of Sugar Creek. Speaking generally, the northern and soi^theastern portions of the town consist of rolling or hilly land, the central and southwestern of prairie land. The central sections of the town are quite flat, with slight elevations and sand-sinks. These latter are more frequent than in other parts of the county. An exception to the general hilly character of the north is the northwestern corner, in which is located a marsh containing some five sections. The direction of the hills and bluffs is from northeast to southwest. Heart Prairie, in the southwest, contains about six sections of land, and Kound Prairie, in the center of the town, one. The soil in these localities is not sandy and gravelly as in the north, but consists of clay loam and sand, mixed. To the east, its character changes to a heavy clay or sand. Originally, most of the town consisted of oak openings, \vith small gi-oves of black and white oak. The town is well watered. The Soiith Branch of the Scuf)ernong flows north through Sections 6 and 7 and a portion of 18, into Jefferson County. Pleasant Lake, in Section 24, Green, Middle and Mill Lakes, Sections 25, 26, 35 and 36, are situated in the southwestern corner. The latter three have Honey Creek as an outlet, which runs in an easterly direction. These bodies of water are smrounded generally by high bluffs and timbered land. Pickerel, pike, rock and black bass, perch, etc., find their natiu-al homes in them. They have been stocked also with Mackinaw trout. The depth of the water varies from ten to sixty feet. The town is given up almost entirely to farming, there be- no villages within its limits. Nearly eveiy variety of small grain is raised, the average yield being: Wheat, ten bushels per acre; oats, thirty; and corn, twenty-five. Very few of tJEte farms are devoted to dairying, the only butter and cheese factory in town, operated hy W. D. Stow, being biu'ned in 1879. The raising of swine is can-ied on quite extensively, B. Fowler, a resident of Heart Prairie, being particularly successful in bringing his breed of Poland-China pigs to a high state of perfection.

Passage source: History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, Containing an Account of Its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources...its War Record, Biographical Sketches, Portraits of Prominent Men and Early Settlers; the Whole Preceded by a History of Wisconsin...and an Abstract of Its Laws and Constitution.., published 1882.

The land sale of February, 1836, made sad havoc in the claims of some of the first settlers of Heart Prairie. Volney McCracken, in 1837, had claimed Section 30, but was obliged to pass over 33)^ per cent of it to Elii)halet Cramer, a capitalist of Milwaukee, aud, as be could not pay for the remainder, the whole property eventually passed into other hands. Much of Dr. Loomis' claim, on Sugar Creek, came into the possession of William McDougald. who removed to Heart Prairie in March of the next year and obtained land in Sections '29 and 30. Much of this property he has subsequently deeded to his sons. He is now the oldest settler upon the prairie.

Passage source: History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, Containing an Account of Its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources...its War Record, Biographical Sketches, Portraits of Prominent Men and Early Settlers; the Whole Preceded by a History of Wisconsin...and an Abstract of Its Laws and Constitution.., published 1882.

The following is the account given by Mr. Esterly of his attempts to imjirove his condition while a farmer of Heart Prairie: " In 1837, Mr. Esterly removed to Heart Prairie and secured over a thousand acres of land, engaging extensively in the cultivation of wheat - as many as 350 acres in a year. He soon ascertained that wheat could not be grown profitably in the far West, if harvested in the ordinary way, and set about inquiring how far the inventive genius of the country had supj^lemented and superseded labor. Obed Huzzy, of Baltimore, had invented a harvesting machine which was talked about, but he ascertained that it required four horses and ten men to cut and bind twenty acres per day, which was not a satisfactory exhibit as a laborsaving contrivance. Similar objections applied to other machines that were announced, and some of which he purchased and tried proved total failures, involving a loss greater than he could afford. He was thus induced, by the pressxu-e of necessity, to attempt the invention of something better than any of which he had knowledge, and commenced by experimenting on a style of reaper where the horses were placed behind the cutting apparatus and steered by a tiller, on the principle of steering vessels. He made many fruitless and costly experiments in his barn, which he had converted into a machine shop, bxit succeeded in producing a machine the first season that would cut successfully ten acres of wheat in half a day. This was in 18-1:4, and in the succeeding year he went to Milwaukee and employed what were called skilled mechanics to build for him five machines of the kind just described, but the result of this was a loss of $1,200, which he was compelled to jiay for machines that were only partially finished and of no practical value. The next year, he again converted his barn into a machine shop and began the construction of harvesting machines, which proved so entirely successful that he was induced to engage in the business of manufacturing them for sale, and which has resulted in one of the largest manufactories of the kind in the West. Mr. Esterly received his first patent in 1844, removing permanently to W'hitewater in 1857."

Passage source: History of Walworth County, Wisconsin, Containing an Account of Its Settlement, Growth, Development and Resources...its War Record, Biographical Sketches, Portraits of Prominent Men and Early Settlers; the Whole Preceded by a History of Wisconsin...and an Abstract of Its Laws and Constitution.., published 1882.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on La Grange Town - it names this place 18 more 18 times.