2 FORESTS OF WISCONSIN. 



During tlie first part of tlie journey tlie writer was accom- 

 panied and greatly assisted by Prof. L. S. Cheney, of the State 

 University. 



Hearty thanks are due to J". T. Cleveland, Land Commis- 

 sioner of the Chicago and ISTorthwestem Railway, W. H. Killen, 

 Industrial Commissioner of the Wisconsin Central Lines, and 

 especially to L. Jackson, Industrial Commissioner of the Chi- 

 cago, Milwaukee and St. Paul Eailway, whose courteous assist- 

 ance did so much to facilitate this work. 



Phxsiogeaphy of the Area. 



The territory covered is that part of the State lying north of 

 a line from Green Bay to the mouth of the St. Croix river, 

 with the counties of Portage, "Wood, and Jackson as southern 

 projections; it involves 27 counties with a total land area of 

 about 18.5 million acres or about 53 per cent, of the entire 

 State, and contains almost all of the present supplies of lumber 

 sized timber of both pine and hardwoods remaining in Wis- 

 consin. 



Topography. — Over 90 per cent, of this territory is a broad 

 slope, which rises gently from the southeast, south, and south- 

 west to a flat divide running near to and parallel with the south 

 shore of Lake Superior; about 9 per cent, is occupied by the 

 more abrupt slope from this divide to the lake. 



In going from east to west, the divides between the several 

 large rivers which drain the larger slope, are very gradual, al- 

 most imperceptible, and in some cases are entirely lost in laby- 

 rinths of lakes and swamps. Hills over 300 feet high from 

 their base are scarce; a few "mounds," or isolated steep hills 

 with extremely narrow bases, rise out of the sandy plains of 

 Jackson and Clark counties and a few larger, more massive 

 hiUs occur in the valleys of the Wisconsin, Chippewa, and St. 

 Croix rivers and a rang© of low, broad hills form the crests 

 of the Iron and Copper ranges. On the whole, however, the 

 hills and hilly tracts do not occupy over 5 per cent, of the total 

 area, while about 45 per cent, is level upland, and about 50 per 



