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NORTHERN WISCONSIN— ITS CAPACITIES AND ITS WANTS. 



Stevens' Point, Portage Co., Wis., December, 1852. 



Sir — With much hesitancy, I attempt the task imposed on me in your 

 note of 8th Nov. last, to give a "general description of the northern 

 and unsettled portion of this State, and its capabilities for sustaining an 

 agricultural population." I must reiterate the hope expressed in my 

 note of the 20lh ultimo, that you will not rely on me alone, to set forth 

 the important information required. 



Four principal inquiries seem to be embraced in your letter, to wit : 



1. The general geographical and physical formation of the country. 



2. Its adaptafion to farming purposes generally, and its prospects for 

 becomino- a settled and self sustaining re«-ion. 



3. Its principal points. 



4. Its present wants. 



In speaking of Northern Wisconsin, reference will be made to that 

 part north of Town 24 of the public land surveys. It is situated be- 

 tween parallels 44<' 30' and 46'=' 40' N. latitude, and 87° 30' and SS'' 

 West longitude. It is about 120 miles in width from N. to S. ; 270 miles 

 long from E. to W., and includes an area of more than 40,000 square 

 miles. The settlements are extended in many instances much above 

 Town 24; though some small portions remain (between the Wisconsin 

 and Mississippi rivers,) south of this boundary, not yet penetrated by 

 the pioneer. 



Northern Wisconsin, though rolling and even hilly, is by no means 

 a mountainous country ; a traveler in passing from Galena to the mouth 

 of the Montreal river of Lake Superior, or from Green Bay to St. Paul 

 on the Mississippi, would never have the idea of a mountain rano-e 

 brought to mind. Its most remarkable features are constituted by its 

 Lakes and Rivers. Whenever it shall be all surveyed and accurately 

 mapped out, it will exhibit countless numbers of small Lakes coverino- 

 its northern part; this "Region of the Lakes," lies east and west from 

 about range 15 E., (of the surveys) to the western boundary of the 

 State ; and forms the sources of the rivers falling into Lake Superior and 

 Green Bay on the N. and E., and into the Mississippi on the S. W. 

 This district of the Lakes is some fifty miles in width, and more than 

 one hundred and fifty miles in length ; and constitutes what the geolo- 



