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410 <br /> Elk River Historic Context <br /> Agriculture,1850-1950 <br /> While the development of this county has been retarded,by <br /> reason of a large amount of land held by speculators,yet,the <br /> fertility of the soil has attracted an honest and industrious <br /> class of farmers ... <br /> Sherburne County,in History of the Upper <br /> Mississippi Valley(1880)' <br /> Development of the waterpower on the Elk River was a notable <br /> early accomplishment,but flour and sawmill construction took <br /> place against the backdrop of agricultural settlement.Early <br /> farmers,like millers,were part of an economy that also <br /> included fur traders and those prospecting for suitable mill <br /> sites and townsites.Within fifteen years after the first farmers <br /> settled in Elk River,the railroad provided a wide market for <br /> agricultural products.This historic context encompasses the <br /> settlement of the first Elk River farm in 1850 through the post- <br /> World War II period when the rural population continued its <br /> gradual exodus to urban centers. <br /> Vitlkn <br /> Threshing on the Specht family farm,1924 Photo MHS. <br /> Pioneer Settlement <br /> An estimated twenty farms were established in Benton County <br /> in 1850,which then included present day Sherburne County.8 <br /> The first migration of Euro-American settlers,many of them <br /> potential farmers,was encouraged by treaties that opened <br /> lands west of the Mississippi. Many farmers in the Minnesota <br /> Territory sought lands along the Root,Zumbro and <br /> • <br /> Elk River Historic Contexts and Phase II Downtown Commercial Area Study <br /> 11 <br />