In 1830, ______; in 1840, 1,458; in 1850 2,316; in 1860, 5,034; 1870 11,371; of who 11,106 were white, 384 colored; 5,959 male and 5,431 female; 10,625 native, and 675 foreign born.   The population at present is about 14,000.

Topography

Caldwell County is twenty-four miles in length, east and west, and eighteen miles in breadth.  Shoal Creek is its principal stream.  It runs very nearly throughout the central part of the County, from west to east, and empties into Grand river, about four miles east of Utica. Its principal tributaries are Log, Long, Mud, Brush, Goose, Mill, Poor Tom, Cottonwood and Turkey creeks.  Crooked river drains the south-western part of the County.  These streams afford an abundant supply of water to all portions of the County, for agricultural and mechanical purposes.  Shoal creek has sufficient fall to furnish fair water power.  The banks of these streams are usually high and bluffy, and are covered with timber.  But the body of the Country, except in the vicinity of these streams, is composed of undulating prairies, not so flat as to be unhealthy, nor so steep as to be difficult of cultivation.

Soil & Products

The soil is deep, and a dark sandy loam, of great fertility.  The chief agricultural productions are corn, wheat, oats, rye, barley, buck-wheat, sweet and Irish potatoes, flax, timothy, clover, and millet.  Blue grass seems to spring up spontaneously.  As soon as the prairies are closely pastured it supplants the prairie grass.  For pasturage our County is equal to the far-famed blue grass region of Kentucky.

Timber

The banks of the stream are covered with timber, which is very well distributed over the County.  The supply is ample for all reasonable wants.  The kinds most common are oak, elm, ash, hickory, cottonwood, walnut, crabapple, papaw and locust. 

Fruits

The soil and climate are well adapted to fruit growing.  Melons of the finest quality are produced in abundance.  Orchard, bearing fine apples, peaches, plums and cherries, are raised with but little trouble.  Currants and gooseberries "seem to the manor born," and cannot be excelled for size, quantity and quality.  many are beginning to turn their attention to the cultivation of grapes, and there are a number of vineyards in the County which produce an excellent quality of luscious wine.  Wild grapes, blackberries and raspberries are abundant.

Climate

The Climate is variable.  In the winter the thermometer sinks below zero, and the creeks are frozen so as to admit the passage of horses and wagons on the ice; while the summers are hot.  The atmosphere is pure and dry.  The climate is milder than that of the same latitudes East of the Mississippi Valley, and the winters are through severs, are drier and shorter.  The spring and autumn are almost uniformly delightful and salubrious.  The last frost in spring usually occurs about April 1st, and the earliest autumnal frost sets in about November.

County Indebtedness

Caldwell County has a good court-house and jail, and five good substantial bridges across Shoal Creek, and is out of debt.

Minerals

Underlying all the County there are immense beds of limestone, easily worked, and furnishing an abundant supply of the best building material.  Considerable quantities of it are shipped to the cities and towns along the H. and St. Jo. Railroad.  At some future day these quarries are sure to be the source of a large income to the County.

According to Professor Swallow, State Geologist, who made a geological survey of the section, the County falls within the coal fields which abound in the state.   According to his theory, there is under all this region of country immense deposits of coal awaiting development to minister to the wants and comforts of the inhabitants.   A small amount of capital and pluck [sic] would obtain a rich reward, if devoted to exploring and opening up thse mines.  In the bluffs, near the junction of Log and Shoal Creek, a very fine quality of sand-stone, rivaling the quarries of Carroll County, for building and mechanical purposes, may be found in inexhaustible quantities.