Lake County is the extreme northwestern county in the State. It is bounded on the north by Lake Michigan, on the west by Illinois, on the south by the Kankakee River, and on the east by Porter County. The area is, in round numbers, 500 square miles. In 1870 the population was 12,352. The northern part of the county along Lake Michigan is an unproductive sandy plain, covered with dwarf pines and cedars. Some six miles or more to the south, and especially south of Turkey Creek, there is a rich alluvial soil, while along the Kankakee River there is a belt about five miles in width of low and overflown marshes. In the more central parts of the county, there is a great variety of surface consisting of ridges, rolling and level prairies, table lands, oak openings, and some heavy woodlands. The soil is equally diversified, and made of pure sand in some places, yellowish sand somewhat productive in others, white clay and rich loam again in other localities. The prairies cover nearly two-thirds of the surface. Door and Lake Prairies are very beautiful, and have a wide celebrity. The Kankakee drains nearly half the county; its shores - if such they may be called - owing to marshes, are ordinarily inaccessible, and seldom seen except by the wood-cutter or the lonely trapper, who, in pursuit of his calling, ventures near enough to behold its current hemmed in on each side by a wide expanse of marsh and water. The principal tributaries of the Kankakee in the county are Eagle, Cedar and West Creeks. The watershed is near the center of the county. North of it we find the Calumet River, which, flowing in from Porter County, traverses the county along a low, narrow, marshy region. Near Blue Island, in Illinois, it turns and flows eastward until it has nearly again reached the Porter County line, flowing in an almost parallel course with the upper part of its waters. The ridges in the northern part of the county occasion this peculiar eastward and westward flow. The only important tributary of the Calumet, in Lake County, is Deep River, in its eastern part. There are several lakes in the county, the larges of which is Cedar Lake, southwest of Crown Point. It is two and a half miles in length and one mile in width, and is a beautiful sheet of water. The name is derived from the Red Cedars growing upon its shores. Wolf and Berry Lakes, near the northwestern corner, are very near together; the former, which is the largest of the pair, lies equally in Illinois and Indiana. There was at one time a project to construct here a harbor for vessels on Lake Michigan, and the plan was strongly urged upon the Legislature in 1875, but failed to secure sufficient support. The other lakes are named Sheehan's Lake, Fancher's Lake, Lemon Lake and Lake Seven. The principal agricultural product is corn. Wheat, oats, potatoes, and the leading staples are raised in considerable quantities, and iron ore is found in the marshes.