20 BULLETIN 1295, U. S. DEPT. OF AGRICULTURE 
SUMMARY OF CLASSES OF LAND SETTLEMENT AGENCIES IN THE LAKES STATES 
The predominant characteristics of land settlement organization 
in the three States may be briefly summarized as follows: In Minne- 
sota the prevalence of dispersed holdings and the large number of 
small absentee owners has created a place for dealers and agents. 
Furthermore, most of the good land unsettled is in Groups Il and 
III (fig. 1), where this type of ownership is most prevalent. Only 
in Group I was land owned in blocks large enough to colonize to 
advantage, and here most of the land is swampy, sandy, or covered 
with rock outcrops. Hence, there has been comparatively little 
tendency in Minnesota toward the employment of the intensive 
colonization methods that prevail in Wisconsin, where the good land 
is nearly all in Groups I and IT (fig. 1) and is owned in larger and 
more compact tracts. In this State, not only the dealers but also 
many of the large timber companies have either directly or indi- 
rectly organized for systematic and intensive colonization. 
Michigan is in severe contrast to both of the other States. Only 
one or two dealers in Michigan may be said to be operating on a 
large scale in putting settlers on the land. Furthermore, the large 
landowning firms for the most part have exhibited little enterprise 
in promoting the settlement of their holdings. The majority have 
been satisfied to make sales as opportunity arose, with httle aggres- 
siveness in attracting settlers to the region and particularly without 
employing intensive methods of colonization. Michigan is still in 
the stage of wholesaling wild land, and much of the undeveloped 
area is too poor to sell even at wholesale until the demand for farm 
land reaches lower qualitative levels. 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF PROJECTS SURVEYED 
In selecting areas for the study of land settlement the purpose in 
some instances was to find a group of settlers trying to develop farms 
under the same physical conditions; and, in other instances, to find 
groups of settlers who had bought their land from the same com- 
pany under the same general terms of purchase, credit arrangements, 
and the like. Of the 3,000 settlers covered in the surveys, 583 were 
chosen for the latter reason. Since this bulletin is a study of selling 
methods, it will include only these settlers. They had bought their 
land from 15 different land agencies of the company type—11 in 
Wisconsin and 4 in Minnesota. 
It is difficult to say how many of these 15 companies were “colon- 
ization companies.” Colonization is a loosely used term. It usually 
carries with it, however, the following ideas: (1) Either a solid 
block of territory or else a group of smaller holdings so situated with 
reference to each other as to give them some sort of geographic 
unity, although the holdings may be scattered over several adjoining 
townships or out in several directions from a city or village; (2) 
some system of giving aid and supervision to the settler supposedly 
long enough to put him on his feet; (3) a more or less systematic 
plan of development, of laying out roads and farms, and of lo- 
cating settlers; (4) selection of settlers of similar experience and 
nationality. 
Although all these ideas are usually associated with land coloniza- 
tion, probably only the first two are essentials. The company which 
