7.1. SR 07-29-2002 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Cannon rivers, and along the tributaries of the Upper Mississippi. Early farms were subsistence operations, with farmers supporting their own families with little to trade at market. Improved transportation and new agricultural machinery and techniques expanded the market for farm products, and agricultural ournals and societies assisted farmers in finding the best crops suited to their land. The Benton County Agricultural Society was founded in 1852, the first such County organization in Minnesota. Elk River's Oliver H. Kelley was among the founders. Elk River's first farm was reportedly that established by Silas Lane in 1850.9 Lane claimed acreage in Section 33 that included frontage on the Elk River and a promising mill site. This mill site was immediately noticed by Ard Godfrey and John G. Jameson, and was purchased by them in 1851. In 1855, Godfrey platted the townsite of Orono On a portion of Lane's farm. Lane's claim was followed by Charles M. Donnelly's in Section 32, and those of L.B. Culver and Richard Davis in Section 31. The 1860 census shows that many early Elk River township farmers were natives of Maine, with others from Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Illinois and a few from New Brunswick, Canada, Ireland, Hamburg and Prussia (Germany). By 1900, more Germans and farmers from Norway and Sweden were represented, but the community's roots were still predominantly from New England. 10 Some early farmers found winter work in the lumber camps of Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin. A nineteenth-century barn and early twentieth- century silo Oll Main Street in 2002. Northeastern Elk River Township in 1903 shows Hungarian fanlily farnls. Atlas of Sherburne County. Elk River Historic Contexts and Phase II Dozontown Commercial Area Study 12