|
|
HISTORY OF ALPENA COUNTY BY WILLIAM BOULTON IN 1876
. He has three barns, a commodious two-story house, excellent water from both well and brook, and his crops average to the acre thus: fall wheat 40 bushels; spring wheat 25 bushels; potatoes 175 bushels; hay one and a half tons. There are within sight of his, twenty farms with clearings on each side of from twenty to one hundred acres, and on all, good crops are as good as on any equal area in Michigan. There are few fences, as the farmers dare not build until sufficient clearing has been made to render them safe from fires in the forests and burnings. No cattle are allowed to run* at large, and in fact there are but few cattle in the vicinity, as it has been a hand-to-mouth struggle with most of the settlers, and standing upon one of the ridges, one can look for two miles to the east, a mile or more to the west, and see all this expanse that three years ago was an underbrush bramble, covered with waving grain, with broad belts of clover in full bloom, with patches of potatoes—enough, one would think, to feed a commonwealth—with gardens, dwellings, barns, and all the appointments and appurtenances of an old settled farming community.
"I could give you names and details until you could not rest, but have here mentioned one individual because he is more exclusively a farmer, as all others hope to be soon. Land is cleared and sowed to fall wheat the first year, the second year it is ready, if so desired, for the mower and reaper or any other modern farm machinery that requires horse power, and all this is within two and a half hours' drive from Alpena.
ALPENA COUNTY MICHIGAN
Page 27
|
|
|
|
|