Excerpt from Esther's Town

Marshy areas covered much of the area until drainage made the soil highly productive agriculturally. Along the lakes and streams were hardwood trees such as oak, walnut, maple, hickory, and elm. There were wild fruits as well - gooseberries, crabapples, grapes, and plums. But most of the country was a treeless native prairie culture that flourished on the drift soils from Pleistocene glacial deposits. although the prairie was flat, the area was actually of relatively high elevation - 1,298 feet above sea level. Fresh water, both surface and at deep levels, was plentiful. The settlers hose well, as had the Indians, in seeking an environment that would sustain then. And it was the fertility of the soil, the dependable annual rainfall, and the ultimate abundant harvest of grain that sustained the country's trading center, Estherville, which had its beginning only a few months after the first white men arrived in the country.


Deemer Lee, Esther's Town.