Download or read book Lost Farms of McHenry County written by Glynnis Walker and published by Arcadia Publishing. This book was released on 2010 with total page 132 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Farmers from the East found the broad and fertile prairies of McHenry County offered the perfect soil and climate for growing corn, wheat, oats, barley, and rye. This led the way for a flourishing dairy industry that eventually supplied milk to the city of Chicago. The first settlements appeared in 1835 in towns such as Crystal Lake, Woodstock, Harvard, and Cary. Families such as the Walkups, the Crandalls, the Beardsleys, the Stickneys, and the Terwilligers travelled by oxcart and rode on horseback from distant states. As word of the lush countryside spread, other farmers came from England, Ireland, and Germany to plow the fertile fields of the nation's heartland.