203 



of the different varieties of grain. Of flour, 22,977 barrels were shipped from 

 this Port in 1851, and a like quantity consumed. 



Furnaces and Foundries. — The three air furnaces and foundries in operation 

 at Racine, employ a capital of |25,000. From these manufactories the country 

 interior is supplied with hollow ware and stoves, a great variety of castings for 

 mill-irons, for machinery, &c. 



For the manufacture of threshing machines, fanning mills, carriages, waggons, 

 ploughs, &c., there are some eight or ten factories in operation at Racine, Bur- 

 lington, Rochester, Waterford, &c., requiring a capital invested of some thirty 

 to forty thousand dollars. 



The total annual produce of these establishments, and of all other manufac- 

 turing industry in the county, cannot fall short of $350,000. 



HISTORICAL. 



Bordering as this region did the south-eastern extremity of Wisconsin, and 

 nearest in proximity with the " white settlements," it was here that the plough- 

 share earliest obliterated the war-paths," and effaced the moccason-prints of those 

 powerful bands of the nomadic race, to whom Wisconsin was whilhom one vast 

 " deer park." The bi-ave, the magnanimous and athletic chief, " 0-co-mah-wah- 

 ba-she," (or The White Swan Chief,) who was "born to white man's estate," 

 with his band of Potawatomies, were the last remnant of Aboriginals who lin- 

 gered on the banks of the " Ah-chip-pe-cotton" — known among the French 

 sojourners here as the riviere de Racine, but rendered " Root River" in our xer- 

 nacular. Even this remnant of the " White Swan's" tribe, took their final depar- 

 ture hence as eariy as 1833, sullenly wending their way to the distant north-west, 

 in search of new hunting grounds, and of " a lodge in some vast wilderness" far 

 removed from the perilous proximity of the insatiate " pale faces." 



American adventurers began to make "claims" in this vicinity that same year. 

 And I believe Hon. George H. Walker, the present worthy Mayor of Milwaukee, 

 built his first occupant's shanty in Wisconsin, at or near " Skunk's Grove," in this 

 county, in the autumn of 1833. In 1834-5, several families located at the 

 mouth of Root River, and founded the village (now city) of Racine, adopting 

 the French name of the river for the village — Captain Gilbert Knapp having 

 been the principal pre-emptor of the village plat. 



City of Racine. — Racine occupies one of the most beautiful locations for a 

 town on the western shores of Lake Michigan ; and as it proved to be an eligible 

 point for a commercial mart and Lake Port, capital and enterprize were early 

 attracted hither, and the place had a rapid, continuous and healthy growth, as 

 will be seen bv the followino- statement of six several enumerations of its in- 

 habitants. 



