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IIICannon rivers,and along the tributaries of the Upper
<br /> Mississippi.Early farms were subsistence operations,with
<br /> farmers supporting their own families with little to trade at
<br /> markets. Improved transportation and new agricultural
<br /> machinery and techniques expanded the market for farm
<br /> products,and agricultural journals and societies assisted
<br /> farmers in finding the best crops suited to their land. The
<br /> Benton County Agricultural society was organized in 1852,the
<br /> first such county organization in Minnesota. Elk River's Oliver
<br /> Kelley was among the founders.
<br /> Elk River's first farm was reportedly that established by Silas
<br /> Lane in 1850.11 Lane daimed acreage in Section 33 that
<br /> included frontage on the Elk River and a promising mill site.
<br /> This mill site was immediately noticed by Ard Godfrey and
<br /> John G.Jameson,and was purchased by them in 1851. In 1855,
<br /> Godfrey platted the townsite of Orono on a portion of Lane's
<br /> farm. Lane's claim was followed by Charles M.Donnelly's in
<br /> Section 32,and those of L.B. Culver and Richard Davis in
<br /> Section 31.
<br /> The 1860 census shows that many early Elk River township
<br /> farmers were natives of Maine,with others from
<br /> Massachusetts,New Hampshire,and Illinois and a few from
<br /> New Brunswick,Canada,Ireland,Hamburg and Prussia
<br /> (Germany). By 1900,more Germans and farmers from
<br /> Norway and Sweden were represented,but the community's
<br /> III roots were still predominantly in New England.12 Some early
<br /> farmers found winter work in the lumber camps of Northern
<br /> Minnesota and Wisconsin.
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<br /> Elk River's Hungarian colony was founded by he 1890s by
<br /> John,Martin and Andrew Fazekas.Arriving in the United
<br /> III States in 1881,they came to Elk River in the late 1880s where
<br /> John purchased a farm in Section 10 in the hilly northern part
<br /> Elk River Historic Contexts Study Draft 5/2002
<br /> 9
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