Page:History of Southeast Missouri 1912 Volume 1.djvu/587

 HISTORY OP SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 527 There are more than sixty miles of good rock roads within the limits of the county. There are a number of streams, the most important being Big river, but Indian creek, Fourche a Renault and Mine a Breton creeks are also important streams. There is an op- portvmity for the development of water power on some of these. Potosi, the county seat, is the principal towTi in the county. Its population is 840. It has a flour mill, stave factory and mining interests. Irondale is a mining town in the east pai-t of the county, and Caledonia, the old seat of IMarvin institute, has flour mills and mineral interests. Other towns are Bel- grade, Richwoods, Shirley and Blackwell. The population of the county is 13,378, and its total taxable wealth is $3,250,-1:10. There are 71 school districts, employing 84 teachers. The nearness to St. Louis makes possible the growing of vegetables in a profitable way, and also makes residence in the county much more pleasant than it would otherwise be. At one time Wayne county embraced about one-fourth of the area of the state. It has been reduced by the formation of other coim- ties until its area is now about 500,000 acres. Of this only a small part, less than one-fifth, has been put into cultivation. The remain- der is largely timbei'ed land. At one time the whole county was covered with an im- mense forest, principally pine, oak, cotton- wood, gum and maple. The greater part of the valuable timber has been removed, though there is still some pine and oak to be fownd. The land is hilly, being mountainous in the northwest part where the coimty joins Iron county. There are some river valleys, ap- proximating about 15,000 acres, that are ex- ceedingly productive. The other soil in the county consists of upland and is of two kinds. limestone, which is free from surface rock (this centers around Patterson), and then there is a gravelly clay, where considerable rock occurs, foimd in most other parts of the county. All the land in the county which may be farmed at all is fairly productive. The principal interests in the coimty are farming and lumbering, though mining em- ploys a considerable number of men also. The principal crops are corn and wheat. At one time the county produced more pine lum- ber than any other county in the state. There were then immense mills at Greenville and Williamsville, employing thousands of men. With the practical exhaustion of pine timber, however, these large mills have ceased to exist, and the timber is worked up by smaller mills which can be moved from place to place. The value of the eoimty's manufactured pro- ducts in 1910 was $396,770. The largest item was lumber. Other important products were flour and cooperage. The largest town is Piedmont, which is a division point on the main line of the Iron Mountain. It is in the western part of the county. The county seat, Greenville, is on the St. Francois river and is connected with the Iron Mountain system by the Williams- ville, Greenville & St. Louis Railroad, an in- dependent line, built in order. to carry the immense quantities of lumber manufactiired at Greenville to the railroad at Williamsville. Williamsville is the third town in the coimty. It has timber and farming interests, and there are also some iron mines in the vicinity. The population of the county is 15,181, and its total taxable wealth $2,979,166. There are 73 school districts, employing 95 teachers. The transportation facilities are good in the western and southern parts of the covmty. The main line of the Iron Moimtain runs near the western line, and the south part of