WISCONSIN 



0331 



WISCONSIN 



the history of the Mississippi Valley. Promi- 

 nent private institutions of higher education in- 

 clude Beloit College at Beloit; Lawrence Uni- 

 -ity at Appleton; Ripon College at Ripon; 

 Milton College at Milton; and Milwaukee- 

 Downer College, a school for women, at Mil- 

 waukee. 



Institutions of Charity and Correction. The 

 1 supports hospitals for the insane at Men- 

 dota, Winnebago and Milwaukee; a school for 

 the deaf at Delavan; an institution for the 

 blind at Janesville; a home for the feeble- 

 minded at Chippewa Falls; the state public 

 school for dependent children at 'Sparta; a 

 tuberculosis sanatorium at Wales; a soldiers' 

 home at Waupaca; a reformatory at Green 

 Bay; an industrial school for boys at Wauke- 

 sha; a house of correction and an industrial 

 school for girls at Milwaukee; a state prison 

 and hospital for criminal insane at Waupun; 

 and an industrial home for women in Fond du 

 Lac County. The state board of control has 

 charge of these institutions. There is a national 

 soldiers' home at Milwaukee. 



The Land. Wisconsin is a state of low, roll- 

 ing hills and water-filled hollows, carved out by 

 the ice sheet which long ago covered the north- 

 ern part of our continent. Its rocky mounds, 

 woody dales, swift streams, sparkling lakes and 

 dense forests present many scenes of great 

 beauty. 



The state occupies the swell of land between 

 the basins of Lake Michigan, Lake Superior 

 and the Mississippi River. Its highest eleva- 

 tion follows a ridge of hills extending from 

 north to south a little east of the middle, and 

 meeting another line of hills stretching across 

 the state from east to west, about thirty miles 

 south of Lake Superior. There are no moun- 

 12 the loftiest elevation, Rib Hill, in Mara- 

 thon County, rises 1,940 : 



The gently undulating fields in the southern 

 part of the state are exceedingly fertile and arc 

 adapted to the growing of cereals and tobacco. 

 Much of the northern part is still covered with 

 primeval pine forests, whose trails arc followed 

 by hunters of th< <1. < r and whose clear streams 

 abound wit It fi-h The game, wild nuts and 

 berries of these woods, the plentiful supply of 

 fish from their lakes and streams, and tin wild 

 rice from the bordering swamps furnish most 

 of the food of the scattered inhabitants of this 

 wild region. 



Picturesque limestone bluffs border the Mis- 

 sissippi River, and alternating bluffs and sand 

 beaches lie along the shores of Lake Mi< i 



and Lake Superior. In the Dalles of the Wis- 

 consin River, the glaciers have carved the hard 

 rock into such grotesque forms and pillars as 

 "Stand Rock," which resembles a great toad- 

 stool. The Apostle Islands in Lake Superior 

 are another region noted for great beauty, and 

 like the Dalles and the pine woods are popular 

 as a summer resort. 



Rivers and Lakes. Wisconsin has three 

 (IrainaLM <\>toms, one draining the eastern part 

 of the state into Lake Michigan, another and 

 shorter system emptying into Lake Superior, 

 and the third and largest flowing into the Mis- 

 sissippi. The Wisconsin River, rising in the 

 northeastern part of the state and flowing 

 through the center, is the largest tributary of 

 the Mississippi within the state. Others are 

 the Saint Croix, which forms a part of the 

 western boundary, the turbulent Chippewa and 

 the Black rivers. All of these streams are fed 

 by many tributaries, but none is navigable 

 cept the Wisconsin, which is connected by a 

 short canal at Portage with the Fox River, 

 thus affording a continuous water route from 

 the Mississippi to Green Bay and Lake Michi- 

 gan. Along this pathway the explorer, mission- 

 ary and trader made their way into the heart 

 of the state and of the continent. 



The Fox, flowing through Lake Winnebago 

 and emptying into Green Bay, is the largest of 

 the rivers of the eastern system. The Menomi- 

 nee, forming part of the northeastern bound- 

 ary, also flows into Green Bay, and the Mil- 

 waukee drains directly into Lake Michigan. 



Among the short streams flowing into Lake 

 Superior are the Saint Louis, the Montreal and 

 the Brule rivers. The latter rises in the swamp 

 from which the Saint Croix flows, and these 

 two rivers, like the Wisconsin and Fox, form a 

 waterway between the Great Lakes and the Mis- 

 sissippi. The Rock Ki\<r. which rises in Lake 

 Winnebago, flows south through the northwest 

 corner of Illinois to the Mississippi. 



There are more than 2,500 lakes in the state. 

 Tin- largest inland lake is Winnebago, whirh 



nni'drd with Cirrm Bay by the Fox \\ 

 and has on its shores the cities of Oshkosh and 

 Fond du Lac. Other lakes noted for t 

 beauty are Lake Mendota, on which Madison 

 is situated, and Lake Geneva, on whose shores 

 many magnificent summer homes have been 



Ixillt. 



Climate. The climate varies considerably 

 between the northern and southern extrem 

 of the state, and there are sudden and extreme 

 changes of temperature. The winters are gen- 



