331 



being opened, will be the first to be settled ; but the last district named, 

 the "Region of the Lakes," -will finally become the favorite. 



The whole is a timbered country, prairies and openings being so few 

 and far between, as to form exceptions to the general rule. The class of 

 settlers, therefore, who seek the great West to find farms "already 

 cleared to hand," will not be likely to locate in Northern Wisconsin, till 

 they have essayed the prairies, and there made the discovery, that the 

 bounties of Providence are nearly equally distributed over the great west ; 

 and that, what is to be had without toil, is seldom worth the possession. 

 Our immigration will come, as it has in fact thus far, from the more 

 Northern of the older States, the character of which, needs no eulogy 

 from me. 



Nor has so desirable a region escaped attention. The Indian title is all 

 extinguished ; the United States surveys are progressing over it with 

 great rapidity. Men of enterprise and forecast are becoming sensible of 

 its future destined greatness ; explorations of it are being made ; the eyes 

 of capitalists are scanning it closely, evidenced in the fact that already 

 three or four most important railways are proposed through it, to wit : 

 one from Milwaukee via Portage City to La Crosse ; one from Madison 

 (a continuation of the Chicago and Beloit Railroad,) up the valley of 

 the Wisconsin, to Ontonagon of Lake Superior; one from Fond du Lac, 

 (a continuation of the R. R. U. V. Railroad,) up the valley of the Wolf, 

 to Lake Superior ; and one from Green Bay west to St. Paul. These 

 roads are eminently practicable, and if constructed, would, no doubt, be 

 remunerative on the capital invested. Indeed, from the zeal and confi- 

 dence manifested by the several projectors, there is good reason to pre- 

 sume it not Utopian to look for their early completion. 



You inquire for the "prominent points in Northern Wisconsin." 



But few are known as yet. Green Bay, Muckwau, Waupacca, Stevens' 

 Point, Plover, and La Crosse, are in its southern border ; though none 

 of them, except Green Bay and Stevens' Point, are within the bounda- 

 ries I have named for this part of Wisconsin. Settlements north of 

 town 24, exists as follows : on the tributaries of Green Bay, at Oconto, 

 Peshitigo and Menomonee rivers ; on the Wolf River at Lake Shawauno ; 

 on the Wisconsin, are the Little Bull Falls village, in town 28; Big 

 Bull Falls, (otherwise called Wausau, the seat of justice for Marathon 

 Co.,) in town 29; besides several mill locations higher up, as at Pine 



