BUREAU OF CHEMISTRY AND SOILS, 1926


*    Actual settlement of the county dates from 1833, when settlements
   were mad at Two Rivers, Manitowoc, Manitowoc Rapids, and Shoto.
   The infii of German settlers started about 1846. In 1847, 15 Ger-
   man families settled at Mishicott and more than 40 families in
   *N6Wttol' In 1854 a colony of Badenese settled in Eaton Town,
   foundig, S. Nazianz under the leadership of Father Oschwald.
   Many Norwegians were among the early settlers. They first settled
   in 1843 at Manitowoc Rapids. The Irish settled mostly in Maple-
   grove, Rockland, Cato, Meeme, and Franklin Towns. Several Eng-
   lish settlements were made in Kossuth and Manitowoc Towns. In
   1850 the population of the county was 3,720, of which 1,378 were
   Germans, 246 Norwegians, 175 Irish, 129 British, 165 Canadians,
   and 255 other foreign-born people of different nationalities. Of the
   native born 409 came from Wisconsin, 376 from New York, and the
   remainder from several other States.
     The cities of Manitowoc and Two Rivers and the smaller towns
   and villages of the county afford local markets for considerable farm
   produce, but the greater part is shipped out of the county. The
   largest items in the merchantable produce are the dairy products.
     The Minneapolis, St. Paul & Sault Ste. Marie Railway, the Chi-
   cago & North Western Railway, and the Chicago, Milwaukee, St.
   Paul & Pacific Railroad systems furnish good transportation facili-
   ties. Car ferries cross Lake Michigan from Manitowoc to Luding-
   ton and Frankfort, Mich., where they join with the Pere Marquette
   Railway and the Ann Arbor Railroad.
     The wagon roads and highways within the county are being
   improved under a joint State and county system, and 75 miles of
   improved concrete highways have been constructed representing
   about one-fifth of the main system. Good road-building material is
   abundant in the county, and poor roads are yearly becoming scarcer.
   County and State trunk highways are graded and crowned with
   gravel, crushed rock, or cement, and most of the side roads are also
   graveled.
                               CLIMATE
     The climate of Manitowoc County is typical of the eastern part
   of Wisconsin. Climatic conditions along the lake are somewhat
   different from those 20 to 30 miles distant from it.
     The region covered by this report is included in the "Michigan
   shore," which is one of eight climatic provinces in Wisconsin.2 This
   province stretches along the western shore of Lake Michigan and
   extends inland as far as the influence of the lake modifies the climate
   to any appreciable extent, in few places more than the width of
   a county.
     The Michigan shore possesses the most equable climate in Wis-
   consin. The winters are mild and somewhat more moist than else-
   where in the State, spring is retarded and cool, summer is mild and
   pleasant, and autumn is warmer than it is farther west. The lake
   shore is not especially a corn region but is excellent for pasture
   grasses, peas, and hay. The average frost-free season extends from
     ay 2 to October 11, and the latest and earliest recorded killing
     2 WHITSON, A. R., and BAKER, 0. hl. THE CLIMATE OF WISCONSIN AND ITS
RELATION TO
   AGRICULTURE.  Wis. Agr. Expt. Sta. Bul. 223, 65 p., illus.  1912.


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