By an act of the legislature, approved March 19, 1859, townships thirty-two, thirty-three, thirty-four, thirty-six and thirty-seven north, in ranges twleve, thirteen, fourteen and fifteen west, were detached from Polk county and formed into a new county, with the name of Dallas, in honor of George M. Dallas, vice-president of the United States, from 1845 to 1849. It was attached to Polk county for all civil and judicial purposes, with the county seat at the village of Manhattan. In 1860 townships thirty-two to thirty-seven inclusive, in ranges ten and eleven west, were detached from Chippewa and annexed to Dallas. It was in the same year taken from Polk and attached to Dunn, for civil and judicial purposes. The first election for town officers took place in 1862, at the house of John Banks, who was the first man to settle here for farming purposes. He located in the southern part of the county in 1855. Those elected, however, failed to qualify, and no further steps were taken in this direction until 1868, when an election was held at John Quaderer’s camp. S. P. Berger, James Vennette and John Banks were chosen supervisors, John Quaderer, treasurer, and James Neville, town clerk.

In 1863 range fifteen of Dallas county, was, by an act of the legislature, on a vote of the constituents, annexed to Polk county. From and after January 1, 1869, Dallas county was organized for county and judicial purposes, under and act approved March 2, 1868. The county was continued as one town with the name of Dallas, and the first Tuesday in the following November (1869) was fixed for the election of county officers. The county seat was, by the same act, located on section twenty-six, in township thirty-four, range twelve west, upon which the city of Barron has been built, and the governor was authorized to appoint the first county officers, until the next general election, with the following result: County judge, Francis Finley; county clerk, D. F. Boswell; treasurer, James Bracklin; registrar of deeds, James G. Neville; superintendent of schools, Alfred Finley. The supervisors were Roseman Kellogg, C. P. Fuller and S. P. Barker. By an act of the legislature in 1869, the name of the county was changed to Barron, in honor of the late Henry D. Barron, of St. Croix Falls, Polk county, at that time judge of the Eighth judicial circuit, in which this county was included.

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The total population of the county by cities and towns, as appears in the census returns for 1890, is as follows:

Barron (town), 400; Barron (city), 829; Cedar Lake, 531; Chetek, 1,728; Clinton, 479; Cumberland (town), 1,546; Cumberland (city), 1,219; Dallas, 1,033; Maple Grove, 976; Oak Grove, 608; Prairie Farm, 1,047; Rice Lake, 2,130; Stanfold, 589; Stanley, 748; Sumner, 365; Turtle Lake, 874; Vance Creek, 314; total, 15,416.

The area is thirty miles square, containing a land area of about 878 square miles or about 566,400 square acres[^a]. The county is about the size of the state of Rhode Island.

The county embraces townships 32 to 36, north, inclusive, ranges 10 to 14, west, inclusive.

The mean annual temperature is between 41 and 42 degrees. The average date of the last killing frost is from May 20, to June 1, except in the extreme northeastern part, where it is a little later. The first killing frost averages from Sept. 15 to 20 except in the extreme northeastern part where it is a little earlier. The average growing season between frosts is 115 days. With the passing of the forests, however, the seasons are changing and the growing seasons growing longer.

The mean precipitation or annual rainfall and snowfall is between 36 and 40 inches. In the extreme western part it is between 40 and 44 inches. The wettest season is in May, June and July.

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The altitudes generally range from 1,000 to 1,200 feet along the valley bottoms, and 1,200 to 1,400 feet over the intervalley areas. The quartzite ridges east of Rice Lake, and north of Lehigh and Canton, reach a maximum altitude of over 1,600 feet.

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The county is dotted with many fresh-water lakes, forming the headwaters of several large streams and many brooks. There are also a number of artificial lakes caused by the building of dams.

Modern agriculture and dairying in Barron County dates back only about two decades, and it is in fact only in the last decade that the county has reached its present pre-eminence along these lines. Dairying, and the raising of fodder and seed clover incident to it, is the leading industry. Potato growing is also reaching large proportions. The Kringle strain of Rural New York potatoes, originated here, has a national reputation, there are many prominent certified seed potato growers, and in addition to this general potato growing for the market is so important that every railroad has its potato warehouses, varying in number from one to ten. Pea growing to supply the canning factories is also a profitable enterprise. Swine raising, which until recently, has been merely an adjunct to dairying, is now becoming a specialty with many farmers, and some fine droves are to be found. Poultry raising flourishes, and Barron County poultry has won prizes at many an important exhibition. Here and there throughout the county there are sheep herds which, since the eighties, have supplied the extensive woolen mills at Barron with wool, and provided a little surplus to be shipped out. There are a few stands of ginseng. General farming is also carried on in all its branches. The principal crops, in addition to potatoes, hay, clover and rutabagas, are com, oats, rye and barley. Tobacco and sugar beets are raised and honey produced. At one time, herds of steers were shipped in for grazing about Cumberland, and a little stock grazing is still done about Canton.

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About 1886 or 1887 three pure blooded Holstein bulls were brought into the county from Lake City, Minn. […]

Charles S. Taylor started the impetus toward modern dairying in 1895 when he started bringing in Jersey bulls from the famous “Brown Bessie” strain owned by a relative, H. C. Taylor, of Orfordville, Wis. […]

A few creameries and cheese factories were started here and there in the county in the early nineties. The farmers brought the milk to the creameries where the cream was separated and made into butter. Some are still in existence. Some ran for only a few years. Some were reorganized. It was not however until the dawn of the present century that any of the butter and cheese factories or their product began to attract more than casual attention.

The assessment of 1901 showed within the county: 17,760 neat cattle; 14,685 sheep and lambs; 6,332 horses; 3,012 swine, and 73 mules and asses.

In 1905 when the state census was taken, the county was still at the dawn of the modern era. The population was 28,376, of whom 21,225 were native born and 7,151 foreign born. Of the native born, 15,732 were born in Wisconsin, and 5,493 in other states. Most of the 15,732 were children and young folks, the offspring of foreign parents. The Norwegians continued to show a preponderance, and about the same ratio in regard to nativity was maintained as in previous years, although colonies from Italy, Bohemia, Austria, Poland and Switzerland had established themselves here. The 7,151 foreign born were divided as follows: Norway, 2,648; Germany, 1,226; Sweden, 911; Canada, 713; Italy, 308; Bohemia, 288; Denmark, 205; Austria, 142; Russia, 121; Hungary, 120; England, 91; Switzerland, 70; Finland, 67; Ireland, 67; Russian Poland, 44; Scotland, 41; German Poland, 24; France, 17; Holland, 14; Belgium, 9; Wales, 6; Greece, 1; Austrian Poland, 1; other countries, 17.

The county had 3,425 farms. The total acreage in farm lands was 351,732, of which 136,332 was improved, and 215,400 unimproved.

There were 37,740 cattle and calves, of which 17,767 were milch cows. During the year, 9,655 cattle and calves had been sold or consumed. There were 16,847 sheep and lambs, of which 7,696 had been sold or consumed during the year. The pounds of wool produced numbered 53,392. There were 8,318 swine, and 10,361 had been disposed of during the year. The horses and mules numbered 8,866. The fowls counted numbered 104,090 and the eggs produced amounted to 535,380 dozen.

The principal crops were: Hay, 53,808 acres, 80,930 tons; oats, 31,574 acres, 1,145,025 bushels; barley, 3,502 acres, 91,893 bushels; corn, 3,242 acres. 76,959 bushels; wheat, 3,073 acres, 51,542 bushels; rye, 1,245 acres, 22,706 bushels; buckwheat, 1,114 acres, 17,380 bushels; clover seed, 838 bushels; timothy seed, 565 bushels; flax seed, 1,170 bushels; potatoes, 5,962 acres, 614,336 bushels; root crops, 340 acres, 100,518 bushels; beans and peas, 322 acres, 5,603 bushels; sugar beets, 877 tons. The pounds of tobacco raised amounted to 34,940.

Sixty-one acres were in berries, producing 3,769 bushels. The apples raised amounted to 589 bushels, the grapes to 75 bushels. The amount of maple sugar produced was 1,655 pounds, of syrup 752 gallons. Honey produced amounted to 70,151 pounds. In Doyle Township one acre was planted to sorghum, yielding 30 gallons of syrup, valued at $15. ,

The milk produced was estimated at 1,185,883 gallons. The butter made on farms was estimated at 745,073 pounds, and the cheese made on farms at 1,830 pounds.

There were 16 creameries when the census of 1905 was taken. The cows owned by the patrons numbered 9,756. The amount of butter produced during the year was 1,413,414 pounds, valued at $278,366. A single creamery, that of the Barron Co-operative Creamery Co., has each year since 1917 made more pounds of butter than the entire output of all the sixteen creameries in 1905. The same year, 1905, there were seven cheese factories producing 343,691 pounds of cheese.

By 1909, the creameries and cheese factories were already giving indications of the wonderful success which was to be theirs in the next decade. The official report made to the Secretary of State on August 12, of that year, showed 15 creameries and 10 cheese factories.

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In 1915, Barron County factories produced 1,078,621 pounds of cheese valued at $151,114.39. In 1919 they produced 5,321,323 pounds of cheese valued at $1,388,440.67. In 1915, Barron County creameries produced 4,798,096 pounds of butter valued at $1,324,603.32. In 1919 they produced 5,481,612 pounds of butter valued at $2,190,472.42. The total amount received for butter and cheese sold by the factories of Barron County in 1919 amounted to $3,578,913.09.

In 1920 there were 44 cheese factories in the county and 19 creameries.

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The annual report of the assessor of incomes for 1921, showed 14,182 horses, mules and asses; 63,180 neat cattle; 8,767 sheep, and 8,917 swine. A mark of modern progress is shown in the fact that 4,259 automobiles are owned here.

Turtle Lake occupies Township 33, Range 14. It was created May 9, 1879, and occupied Townships 33 and 34, Range 14. The act was to take effect the first day of March, 1880, and the first town meeting was to be held the first Tuesday in April, at the schoolhouse in District 5. The earliest records in the possession of the present clerk are those of April 6, 1900.

Turtle Lake Township is twelve miles in length from north to south, and six miles in width from east to west, containing seventy-two square miles. It is bounded on the north by the town of Cumberland, on the south by the town of Vance Creek, on the east by the towns of Clinton and Prairie Farm, and on the west by Polk county. It has four fine bodies of water—Echo lake, Upper Turtle lake, Lower Turtle lake, and Moon lake, besides several small streams. The village of Turtle Lake is surrounded on all sides by forests of pine and hardwood timber, and located at the junction of the Minneapolis, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie and the North Wisconsin division of the Chicago, St. Paul, Minneapolis and Omaha roads. It was settled in 1879 by Stephen F. Richardson, who erected the first saw-mill here. He disposed of it to his brother, Joel Richardson, in 1884, who operated it until Allen, Moon & Co., of St. Paul, and J. W. McCoy, of New Richmond, foreclosed some mortgages they held on the plant, when it was sold in 1890, to the Parr Manufacturing Company of Barron, and removed to that city.

One of the necessities first provided by the early settlers was a schoolhouse. A small one was built in 1879. Mr. Knight was the first teacher. A graded school, with two departments, was erected in 1887, and the old building sold to Charles Brown, who fitted it up as a dwelling-house. Another necessity was a post-office. Stephen F. Richardson built one in 1879, and he was the first postmaster.

The first hotel in the village was the one erected by C. W. Haskins in 1881. It bore his name. He managed it until it was destroyed by fire in the fall of 1888. A new, handsome frame building was put up in its place by W. W. Fisk. He is conducting it, and it is named after him.

The records, which are imperfect, do not show when Turtle Lake was first platted, but additions were made to it in November, 1884.

The first religious organization established here was the St. Ann’s Roman Catholic church. This was in 1880. The preliminary work was performed by Father Paradis. He was succeeded by Rev. S. La Plante, the present rector. St. Ann’s church cemetery was platted in 1887.

A small frame church building was erected here in 1887, by the United Brethren, under the auspices of Rev. William Smith, the first pastor. He remained a year, when he was succeeded by Rev. Mr. Good. After he had served twelve months Mr. Smith returned, and has since that time continued in charge of the organization.

A shingle-mill, feed-mill and saw-mill, the last named with a capacity of 30,000 feet a day, were erected in 1890, by J. W. Stone. The shingle-mill plant was sold to the Parr Manufacturing Company, and removed to Barron in the spring of 1891.

F. E. Creelman, of St. Paul, purchased 5,000 acres of land adjoining the village, of Joel Richardson, in the fall of 1890, for the establishment of an extensive stock farm. Operations were begun in the following spring, and between 400 and 500 head of cattle located there.

The population of the village is estimated at 300, and the town hall is utilized for lectures, meetings, entertainments, etc. It has seating accommodation for 500 persons.

There are several large farms in a high state of cultivation within a short distance of the village with a corresponding product. For instance, John Benson raised from thirty to forty bushels of wheat to the acre in 1890. The potato crop has always been a prolific one.

Vance Creek Township is a regulation township bounded on the north by the town of Turtle Lake, on the south by Dunn county, on the east by the town of Prairie Farm, and on the west by Polk county. Several small streams have their source here, including Silver and Jones creeks and tributaries of the Hay river. The population in 1890 was 314.

Vance Creek Township occupies Township 32, Range 14. It was created Jan. 3, 1882, with its present area. The act was to take effect March 31, 1882, and the first town meeting was ordered held at the schoolhouse of District 3.

Reeve is a flourishing little hamlet in the southern part of Section 20, in Vance Creek Township. It has a United Brethren Church, a Modern Woodmen lodge, two general stores, a blacksmith shop, a creamery, a pea vinery, and a number of pretty residences. At one time there was a postoffice there, now discontinued. The village was started some twenty years ago. The creamery which was started by the farmers is now owned by the Clear Lake Creamery Association of Clear Lake, Pol[k] County.