DRY LANDS AND FORESTS 129 



is not a frontier. Forestry and mining have 

 preceded the tiller of the soil; built railroads, 

 huge lake terminals, of which one (Duluth) is 

 second only to New York City in the total 

 tonnage handled, school houses, good roads, 

 churches, manufacturing towns and cities, and, 

 what is of still greater economic significance, a 

 hungry population of 25,000,000 people is 

 within twenty-four hours by rail or steamer. 

 On the north the Great Lakes equalize the 

 temperature to such an extent that the shores 

 of Superior produce in profusion all of the 

 tender fruits and vegetables to be found in 

 the corn-belt. The State of Wisconsin has 

 for many years been considered foremost from 

 the viewpoint of collective effort in advancing 

 its agriculture, yet, after all, until to-day agri- 

 culture in Wisconsin has occupied only a small 

 strip toward the south. To-day the State has 

 organized its immigration commission as 

 have Minnesota and Michigan and is seeking 

 to attract settlers by a careful survey of the 

 opportunities that lie north of the forty-fifth 

 parallel. The main point that favors its rapid 

 development is that transportation and mar- 

 kets are already at the very door, and, with 

 these factors at hand, who will say that the big 



