25 
OWNERSHIP. 
Of the 18,500,000 acres of land contained in this north half of Wis- 
consin a little less than 7 per cent is improved; 24 per cent is held by 
actual settlers, the greater part of which falls to the counties along the 
southern and southwestern edge of this district; the United States 
holds about 5 per cent (2 per cent being Indian reservations); the 
State holds less than 2 per cent; the railways hold a little over 5 per 
cent, while the counties hold about 1.5 per cent in tax deeds, and about 
five times this amount conditionally on tax certificates. Of the 63 per 
cent owned by private nonresidents, fully 80 per cent, i. e., 50 per cent 
of total area, or 25 per cent of the land of the entire State, is held by 
Jumbermen. 
STATE LANDS IN WISCONSIN. 
According to the report of 1896 the State owns 398,103 acres of land, 
of which about 90,000 acres are situated in Burnett and Forest coun. 
ties, and over 100,060 acres in Vilas, Oneida, and Price counties; the 
bulk of these 190,000 acres is swamp and forest soils, the latter sandy 
pinery, mostly cut and burned over, since otherwise the low price at 
which they are held would make them cheap timber property. All 
these lands have come into the possession of the State by cession from 
the Federal Government. 
The lands are divided as follows: 
Acres. 
IDR OR (Sinn DY IES S65 268o5 dae Seas Oe ke ea aS nw Pa a 162, 000 
JORG GTI iy JERS) Sas sce 2e¢ ac/het BOCES a ae a a eR Ser Se eo ea 31, 000 
INGEN S CHO ls an C Spree eee eee ec ee ak Re ee Se eck a Se Bee See 162, 000 
CoOMMON-SCHOO gl al Sweeper ae aya renee eo sre mo eie beta ciotnn wee Soe ee ne ee eie o Suiee ie ere 40, 000 
DV SIRSTIRY 5 fog: co Ssedes pth ete Sean eee a ee ee eee eee ee ee ee 714 
22 DPE SLION, COLGEE Soy SESS SE SA ee eS Se ee ae 317 
Sales in 1895-96. 
we | Amount 
Acres. paid. 
Selsoall HETTS 2 2 GSS ets eee RN oe a a ee ee eel S58 1uL S15 585 
PNG AISCHOO LATICO Spt Se ee 3 ks STN gare mre oy ne Wk wn ale eiatoe cieih wise Stas Sino 18, 693 27, 104 
Wrainas land serer seen Ses: eee she ee eke we koe he ducts base oecee cece 20, 733 26, 513 
Sinidemniny tnGS\- ss om nao > = n= - ~~ - Spadecsdscenssseb esses esa sssosetecsstee | 4,619 14, 004 
A EU, DUG GS) cot ices sobosece socsees Ho eacns sea ee sober esc Sees ocseacdon scser cs 120 133 
“SDLP PRED? code cob ode ee ae cb SSeS sen Sos se stone soscp dubene sa 56 eh coger Sess eoecscnaon 161 599 
BIR Gs ctl eres seen ees caren Se ey ocorata noc cie SS alas dni look See eK be sis widls bie oye e’neeewe 57, 907 83, 936 
* Cession. 
FOREST CONDITIONS OF THE PAST. 
An uninterrupted forest, extending from Michigan through Wiscon- 
sin into Minnesota, originally covered almost the entire surface of these 
twenty-seven counties. Along the southern and southwestern border 
this forest faded into oak and Jack-Pine ‘‘openings,” and, in places, 
gave way to regular prairies. Generally, it was a mixed forest of White 
Pine and hard woods on all loam and clay lands. It approached the 
