STATE OF WISCONSIN. 235 



metal.* Professor Agasslz, again, looking at the mode 

 in which the mineral deposits occur in the large, thinks 

 the copper all plutonic — that is, thrown up in a melted 

 state ; remarks, " that the whole phenomena might easily 

 be reproduced artlficlallj on a small scale;" and adds, 

 " it appears strange to me that so many doubts can still 

 be expressed respecting the origin of the copper about 

 Lake Superior." f So far as I have had the means of 

 forming an opinion upon the chemistry of this subject, I 

 am certainly inclined to differ very widely from the two 

 opinions of Professor Agassiz above quoted — either that 

 the phenomena prove the copper to have been certainly 

 injected in a melted state, or that we really know 

 how to reproduce the phenomena on a small scale by 

 art. 



West of Lake Michigan is the new State of Wiscon- 

 sin, numbering, in 1848, about 220,000 inhabitants. 

 Its principal port, on the south-western part of the lake, 

 and the general destination of emigrants from the east, 

 is Milwaukie. Fifteen years ago Indian skeletons, in 

 rude coffins, might be seen suspended under the trees 

 where this town of 16,000 inhabitants now stands. 



Each of the new States has its turn in popular favour, 

 but for the last three or four years the tide of emigra- 

 tion has been setting most strongly towards these North- 

 western States, and especially to Wisconsin. This 

 appears from the extent of the public lands which have 

 been sold during these years in this, compared with 

 the other States of the Union. Thus the Government 

 Keturn for 1847 — the latest to which I have access — 

 gives the following comparative number of acres as 

 sold in the several States during that year : — 



* Proceedings of the American Association for the Advancement of 

 ^amce, 1849.— P.294. 



f LaTce Superior: its Physical Character, Vegetation, and Animals. 

 —P. 427. 



