WISCONSIN 



6338 



WISCONSIN 



a French explorer sent by Champlain, entered 

 Green Bay and followed the Fox River to Lake 

 nebago. Four years later two French trad- 

 ers, Radiason and Groseilliers, followed the Fox 

 and portaged across to the Wisconsin River, 

 which they descended nearly to the Mississippi. 

 This route was latei followed by the missiona- 

 ries, Allouei, Joliet and Marquette. In 1669 

 a mission was established on the Fox River, 

 which later grew into De Pere, the first per- 

 manent settlement. Rude forte were built on 

 Lake Pepin by Nicolas Perrot, who was the 

 discoverer of the lead mines in Southwestern 

 Wisconsin. In 1763, by the Treaty of Pans. 

 the English came into possession of the region, 

 and they permanently established the settle- 

 menu begun by the French at Green Bay, 

 Prairie du Chien, Milwaukee and Portage. 

 After the Revolution, Wisconsin was a part of 

 the Northwest Territory of the United States, 

 but in reality it remained under British control 

 until after the War of 1812. 



Territorial Government. The opening of the 

 lerfd mines in 1822 brought an influx of settlers, 

 and after the Indians were overcome in the 

 Black Hawk War many immigrants came from 

 the farms in the Ohio Valley and the Eastern 

 states. Wisconsin was successively a part of 

 the territories of Indiana, Illinois and Michi- 

 gan. In 1836 it was organized as a separate 

 territory, including parts of Minnesota, Iowa 

 and the Dakotas. Two years later that part of 

 the territory west of the Mississippi was in- 

 cluded in the territory of Iowa. 



Statehood. The steady immigration of for- 

 eigners and of settlers from the Eastern states 

 rapidly increased the population. In 1847 a 

 constitution was adopted, and the following 

 year Wisconsin was admitted as a state. There 

 has been rapid advance to the front ranks in 

 industrial and social progress. In 1913 the at- 

 tention of the nation was directed toward a 

 progressive law in Wisconsin which provided 

 for a physical examination of all male appli- 

 cants for licenses to marry. It was called the 

 "eugenic law." In a county court the law was 

 held to be invalid, but the state supreme court 

 reversed the lower, declaring the statute pro- 

 vided a proper exercise of power. Because of 

 this law there were 1,400 fewer marriages in 

 the state the following year than in the year 

 preceding. 



In 1914 there was an attempt to secure suf- 

 frage for women, but the legislature defeated 

 the measure. A law has been passed providing 

 for aid to dependent children of worthy moth- 



ers; the state pays one-third of the sum neces- 

 sary and the county two-thirds. 



Other Items of Interest. One of Wisconsin's 

 most interesting relics of the Mound Builders 

 is the great elephant mound in Grant County. 

 It is sixty feet high, 135 feet long, and has a 

 trunk thirty-one feet in length. 



Such names as Eau Claire, Fond du Lac, 

 Prairie du Chien and La Crosse show very 

 plainly the influence of the early French ex- 

 plorers and settlers. 



Wisconsin was once one of the chief hop- 

 growing states of the Union, but to-day it< 

 production of hops is almost negligible. 



On the Mississippi River there is shown a 

 high bluff from which, tradition declares, an 

 Indian girl leaped to death rather than marry 

 a man she did not love. The bluff bears the 

 name of Maiden Rock. 



Wisconsin has, at Madison, one of the most 

 beautiful capitol buildings in the Union, com- 

 pleted in 1916. The interior is ornamented with 

 specimens of Wisconsin granite which show re- 

 markable diversity of color and structure. 



The action of the great glaciers gave Wiscon- 

 sin many waterfalls and rapids, which arc of 

 the utmost value in furnishing water power. It 

 is thus an interesting fact that industrial es- 

 tablishments are most numerous in the gla- 

 ciated area. The driftless area, as the region 

 never visited by the glaciers is called, is in the 

 southwestern part of the state. 



The glaciers were also responsible for the 

 hollowing out of most of the lake beds. Of 

 the 2,500 lakes in the state, more than four- 

 fifths, it is estimated, are due to glacial action. 



The Indians depend for no small part of their 

 food on the wild rice which grows in such pro- 

 fusion in the marshy regions and on the low 

 shores of the lakes. 



A factory at Sheboygan is said to be the 

 largest in the world devoted exclusively to the 

 manufacture of chairs. E.B.P. 



Consult Thwaites's Wisconsin in Three Centu- 

 ries; McCarthy's Wisconsin Idea; Howe's Wis- 

 consin: An Experiment in Democracy. 



Related Subjects. For further information as 

 to Wisconsin, its geography and its industries, 

 the reader may consult the following articles in 

 these volumes : 



CITIES 



Appleton 

 Ashland 

 Beloit 

 Eau Claire 

 Fond du Lac 

 Green Bay 

 Janesville 



Kenosha 



La Crosse 



Madison 



Manitowoc 



Marinette 



Milwaukee 



Oshkosh 



