The early settlers found the soil well suited to farming as it was not as rocky as they had been accustomed to in Scandinavia. Through the years, dairying became an important industry. The pioneer farmers soon found the soil well suited to growing potatoes and this became an important commodity for both cash sales and trading. Ham Lake Township would split from Grow Township (Andover) in 1871. From the early 1900s through the 1930s, potato farming was at its peak in then named "Ham Lake Township". Some of the farms remaining today are the sod farms in the southeast part of the city, where the ground is low and the soil black and heavy making it well suited to this crop as well as corn and potatoes in some places.