Editing Essex County, Ontario (section)

=== Late 19th century===
[[File:Essex_County_Ontario_1881.jpg|thumb|right|Map showing the townships of Essex County in 1881. From the ''Illustrated atlas of the Dominion of Canada''.]]

By the late 19th century Essex County had seen fur trading and logging, land clearing and farming, road building and railway development, saw mills and gristmills, railway stations and water ports.  By this time the forests were being removed to make way for farmland.

Also noticeable in some farmers' fields are [[Pumpjack|oil pumps]], particularly near [[Belle River, Ontario|Belle River]] and [[Leamington, Ontario|Leamington]], in the northern and eastern parts of the county, respectively.  This is from [[oil shale]] within the [[bedrock]] of the [[Marcellus Formation]].