SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC SURVEY OF A RURAL TOWNSHIP IN SOUTHERN MINNESOTA INTRODUCTION During the fifties of the last century vast tracts of the prairie region of the Central Northwestern states were taken up by the influx of immigration that followed the surveying and opening-up of those lands. Most of the early settlers of these regions were natives who had come from the "worn-out farm regions" of the East, although there were some northern European immigrants among them. Large groups of these homeseekers left the river ports and western terminals of railways, starting overland across the country and journeying until they reached some place where the choice lands had not yet been "claimed." These claims were all staked under the old Preëmption Law, according to which anybody could file on a quarter-section of land and gain title to it upon payment to the Government of one and a quarter dollars per acre. It was a part of the general immigration movement during that decade which settled the township to which our attention is directed in the following survey. The township is situated in the heart of south-central Minnesota and has been selected for the purposes of this study as representative of the more advanced rural townships in the State. X. township was one of the first to be settled in this territory. This was due to its favorable location quite as much as to the contour of the county. For the most part the land is gently rolling prairie. The southeastern quarter of the township is set off from the rest by rather steep banks running alongside of the winding course of the Prairie Creek. This area is comparatively rough and hilly. Originally it was covered with a heavy stand of choice hardwood timber, some of which still remains. The attractiveness of the fertile prairie lands was enhanced by the abundance of timber close at hand and the nearness of natural water-power. The latter was to be found at various places along the course of the Cannon River, which skirts the northwest corner of this township. It was here that the two men after whom this township was finally named built a sawmill to supply lumber for settlers coming in all around. The fall of the year 1854 marks the beginning of the early settlement. 1 It would not be within the limits of this brief sketch to give a detailed. history of this township, picturing the hardships and dangers that these early pioneers underwent. The narratives of old settlers, taken together with sketches of artists, have so embellished the accounts of historians that we have a very vivid picture of it all. The general features connected with the settlement of this township are the same as those of other communities of the northwest prairie regions. A few connected facts ought to be noted, however, before we proceed with the following chapters. The census reports for 1860 show that the population in that year was 867. Nearly all of the earliest settlers were natives of New England, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Illinois, and Wisconsin. From the two last named states came most of the few Germans and Norwegians. The foreign-born people did not begin to appear in large numbers until "the better lands had been staked and filed," and so it should not be inferred from a glance at our Nationality Map that the Norwegians all took, from preference, the comparatively rough hilly land where they now are found. It may be a national characteristic of the Scandinavians to prefer wooded Swedish 2.9% Irish 3.7% English 5.8% American 11% Mixed 21.3% Norwegian 24.2% German 30.8% Diagram showing relative proportion of different nationalities. lands and to build their log huts in some wooded ravine, with a near-by spring welling fresh from the hillside, but it is likely that, as one of their old settlers naïvely puts it, "they took that kind of land because it was about the only thing to be had." A further study of the National Census Reports gives us the following facts. In 1870 the population for the entire township was 2,206. In 1880 the farming population is given distinct from that of the village for the first time. And from that time on we note a decided decrease in rural population from decade to decade, falling successively from 854 to 826 in During the same time the vil- 1890, to 764 in 1900, and to 721 in 1910. lage population grew from 2,296 to 3,265. generally explained as due to the efflux from the country to the city; a part of it, however, appears to be due to the decrease of the birth-rate in Map showing distribution of nationalities. rural sections. Thus in 1860, when the population of the State was largely rural, the birth-rate per thousand inhabitants was 41.5. For the last five years the average birth-rate of this township was but 14.7. Again, comparing this township with the average of the State as a whole for the last five years, it further appears that, while the rate of increase (excess of |