236 



LAND SALES IN THE SEVERAL STATES. 



This table shows, that to Wisconsin the rush of land- 

 bujers has been greater lately than to any other State, 

 and that Illinois alone approaches it in the quantity of 

 public land disposed of. In 1836, the Michigan fever 

 was the variety then at its height. In that year, four 

 millions of acres of the public lands were disposed of in 

 that State; but 1837 put an end to that excitement, and 

 the sales have since been comparatively small. 



North-west of Wisconsin, bounded on the east by 

 Lake Superior, and lying opposite the copper country 

 of Michigan, is the territory — about to become the State 

 — of Minnesota. This district is called by some the New 

 England of the West. It is in a colder latitude than 

 any of the older States, but it is bounded on the west 

 by the Missouri, and is traversed for 900 miles by the 

 Upper Mississippi. These rivers, with their many tribu- 

 taries, afford abundant facilities for inland navigation. 

 New as this territory is, we already hear of its agricul- 

 tural societies, its cattle-shows, and its lead-mines; and 

 steamers ply regularly to the town of St Paul, the seat 

 of government, situated immediately below the Falls of 

 St Anthony on the Upper Mississippi,* and 219 miles 

 within the borders of the territory. 



Its geology, and the nature of its soils, have not as yet 



* Seymour's Travels in Minnesota, the New England of the West, 



