HISTORY OF SOUTHEAST MISSOURI 517 The population of the county is 14,557 and its taxable wealth is $3,939,516. There are 45 school districts, employing 75 tefichers. The high school at Charleston is a well-or- ganized and well-attended institution. The usual church organizations are found in the county and the population is known for its industry, thrift and sobriety. There are 620 square miles in New Madrid county, about one-fourth of the area being probably become one of the leading products of the county. The value of manufactured articles in 1910 was $1,682,959. The im- portant products were lumber, cotton and cooperage. A large part of the land was at first not susceptible to cultivation because overflowed by the Mississippi river. The government levee and local drainage ditches have reclaimed large parts of the land. The river affords transportation and the St. Louis & San Francisco. St. Louis, Iron Corn Measured by Horses luider cultivation at the present time. A part of it is in the sandy loam of the Sikeston ridge and a large part in the heavy soil of the Little river bottoms. The principal industry is farming. The county was once covered with a heavy growth of timber, much of which has been removed. There are still large bodies of valuable timber which is rapidly being cut. The principal products in the north part of the county are corn and wheat. in the south part, cotton. Alfalfa is begin- ning to be grown in large quantities and will Mountain & Southern and the St. Louis & Southwestern railways, all of which have branch lines as well as the main line. The present population is 19,488 and the total taxable wealth is .$4,485,765. The prin- cipal towns are New Madrid, the county seat, with a population of about 1,900; Lilbourn, Morehouse, Portageville, Point Pleasant, ]Iarston. Gideon and Parma. There are 50 school di.stricts in the county, employing 85 teachers, and a number of the towns have weU organized high schools.
