Madison County

In this, as in other counties generally throughout the State, the different varieties of grasses constitute the principal natural source of wealth. Blue-joint is the most valuable kind, and from the valleys and uplands an abundance of excellent pasturage and nutritious hay is obtained. A little buffalo grass is still visible on the sandy plains, and several kinds of coarse slough grass grow on the bottom lands. When the earliest settlers came into this county, considerable timber was found along the Elkhorn, and the creeks in the southern part of the county. Cottonwood trees a foot in diameter were found,

Public Schools The county has manifested commendable interest in the cause of public education, and has made noteworthy progress. There are fifty-seven school districts, fifty-three schoolhouses, sixty-five qualified teachers, and 2,225 school children enumerated—l,150 males and 1,075 females. The schoolhouse sites are valued at $1,110; schoolhouses at $10,337; books and apparatus at $350. Population When the county was organized in December, 1867, it contained about thirty families, perhaps one hundred and fifty persons. In 1876, it contained a population of 3,288; in 1880, according to the Government census, 5,587. The Assessors’ returns for 1881 make the population 5,577, distributed among