The Orchard and
Vineyard of the West: A Description of Jefferson
County, State of Missouri, Its Productions, Resources, and
Advantages for Emigrants
Compiled by the Jefferson
County Emigration
Society, 1867
8 pages
This informative booklet gives a glimpse of Jefferson County
Missouri agricultural life in the year 1867. The book mentions the Iron
Mountain Railroad that runs through the length of the county. Plus, Jefferson County is an easy day’s ride to St. Louis, whose markets were always in need of
supplies. Jefferson
County had fine bridges
at Le May Ferry and Fenton.
The hills were covered with useful timber, and three-fifths
of the county is composed of high lands. These high lands were not first rate
agricultural lands, but they have been proven to be adapted to the growth of
all kinds of fruit including peach, apple, grape, strawberry, gooseberry, and
blackberry.
The valleys produced about 60 bushels of corn or two tons of
hay per acre. The booklet states, “Let an intelligent, educated farmer settle
here, introduce better teams, better implements, more thorough cultivation, and
combine stock raising with general farming, and we have no fears of the
result.”
Lead mines were highlighted along with stock raising of cattle
and sheep. The average winter temperature was 20 degrees. The average
temperature in the Summer was eighty degrees. The extreme heat was 100 degrees.
In conclusion the booklet states, “Jefferson County
has caught the spirit of the times, and is on the high road to progress. Her
proximity to St. Louis, the great center of the Mississippi, her
facilities for marketing her productions, her organized horticultural and
agricultural societies, will not permit her fine lands to lie idle much longer…
we invite all to come to our county and see for themselves, assuring every
new-comer of kind, neighborly treatment, and a cordial welcome.”
