The early settlers of Allamakee and neighboring counties experienced all the trials and hardships of pioneer life in an unsettled country. There was no railroad nearer than Milwaukee. At McGregor there were a few stores where the necessaries of life could be had.[423] The process of home building and the clearing of the forests was slow and often attended with many difficulties. The pioneers generally brought with them no other wealth than stout hearts and strong hands, and it was only by industry and severe economy that they were able to make a living for themselves and their families. Those who hired out to others received very small wages, and as there was little money among the pioneer farmers this was paid in large part in food or other articles. It may serve as an illustration that in the winter of 1850-51 a pioneer in Clayton County[424] split seven thousand rails of wood for fifty cents a hundred; for this he was paid $3.50 in cash and the remainder in food.[425] [423] In the Clermont Settlement there was a log-cabin store at the village of Clermont. [424] This pioneer is still living.--See Tanner's article. [425] A barrel of flour at that time cost twelve dollars in Iowa, and a bushel of corn seventy five cents. The usual wages was 25c a day, sometimes a little more. Most of the Norwegians who first settled in Allamakee County came from Rock County, Wisconsin; later, some came from Dane County, Wisconsin, and also from Winneshiek County, where a settlement was formed in June, 1850. Several, however, came from Norway by way of New Orleans and the Mississippi, as did Gilbert C. Lyse in 1851. In 1856 there were in the whole county five hundred and five Norwegians; one hundred and eighty-one of these had settled in Paint Creek (then Water-ville) Township, the rest being located mostly in the neighboring towns of Center, La Fayette, Taylor, Jefferson and Makee. In the meantime a new settlement had been established in the northwestern part of the county, in Hanover and Waterloo, which soon extended into Winneshiek County. But the earliest Norwegian settlement in Winneshiek was formed on Washington Prairie in June, 1850,[426] when a number of families moved in from Racine and Dane Counties, Wisconsin. Eastern Winneshiek County received in the following year a large Norwegian population. [426] The county was organized in 1850, and the first term of court convened on October 5th, 1851.