History of Wheatland Township

    Wheatland Township is located in the northwest corner of Rice County.  Before the first settlers arrived there in 1854, the whole township was covered in forest, as it was part of the Big Woods region.  Today it consists primarily of rolling agricultural land. Soils in this township are based upon morainic till.  Wheatland Township contains three lakes—Cody Lake, Metoggha Lake, and Hatch Lake.  The first three settlers to lay claim to this county came from Czechoslovakia, but up until 1878 the township consisted primarily of French Canadians and Irish.  In 1878, the ethnicity of the county shifted to being primarily Czechoslovakian.  In 1858, the second catholic church in the county was raised in Wheatland Township.  There are two surviving towns in Wheatland Township today, Lonsdale and Veseli.  There was a third town, Wheatland, that existed in the late 1800’s, but it is no longer there.
 

Wheatland Township Crop and Livestock Census Data