322 



To treat this subject properly, statistics, gathered carefully from good 

 sources, would be indispensable. After failing to carry out the plan for 

 obtaining such, which first suggested itself, I thought I should be able 

 to obtain from some recent work on Wisconsin, or from the United States 

 Census, the information desired, but have been unable to reach anything 

 of the kind by any inquiry I have instituted, and I shall, therefore, be 

 compelled to substitute a few general observations : 



In the older portions of our State, the mechanic arts, in many depart- 

 ments, are in a fair state of advancement. In our large towns and cities, 

 will be found dwellings, stores, and public edifices, which in taste, and in 

 architectural style and finish, will compare well with similar edifices in 

 any part of the Union. Our principal commercial city, Milwaukee, prob- 

 ably cannot be excelled in the rare taste and beauty of many of her 

 business blocks — unrivalled in the richness of the material — those bricks 

 of world-wide fame, and seldom surpassed in the magnificent and tasteful 

 proportions of their architecture. Again, if we travel through our older 

 farming districts, we are struck with the frequency of farm dwellings of 

 neat and tasteful, and frequently of rich finish, indicating by their exter- 

 nal outlines, a convenience of internal arrangement. We think no coun- 

 try is in advance of Wisconsin in this particular. Lands lovely as the 

 sun shines upon, and buildings often which show the taste of the occu- 

 pant, apace with the natural influences which surround him. No huge 

 pile reared towards the close of life's struggle, as a vain monument of 

 an existence which has been spent in restraining the comforts of progeny, 

 now scattered over the earth ; but homes of reasonable proportions, 

 which look like shelter for loved ones, calculated to mould their tastes, 

 and multiply their enjoyments. 



In most of the towns and villages of Wisconsin we find the common 

 mechanic arts respectably represented, and new branches of mechanical 

 pursuits are from year to year being introduced. Many branches of man- 

 ufactures, allied to the earliest wants of a new country, the productions 

 of which are not conveniently transported from other parts, are in a 

 course of successful and extensive operation. Of these may be named 

 as prominent. Iron Foundries and Machine Shops, and manufactories of 

 some kinds of agricultural implements and machines. Already we hear 

 that some of the former have commenced the manufacture of Rail Road 

 Locomotives, and will no doubt be able to supply the great prospective- 

 demand of the country in that line. Steam engines are manufactured by 



