I 
190 Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters. 
provement in earnest, in 1866, a more adequate engineering 
.‘solution was worked out. It was realized that the shifting 
sands interfered with lasting improvement; that parallel piers 
-must be constructed, channels dredged and protection break¬ 
waters established. 
“ The sum total of government appropriations for Wisconsin 
harbors prior to 1866 was $175,700, Milwaukee having received 
$84,100, Kenosha $37,500, Racine $26,100, Sheboygan $20,000 
and Manitowoc $8,000. Thus fully three-fourths of the num¬ 
ber of harbors within the boundaries of the state had not been 
begun by this date and the insignificance of the sum spent is 
seen by comparison with the total of expenditures within the 
state up to 1900, an amount approximating $8,000,000. The 
representatives of the state in Congress were largely responsible 
for the securing of this large sum, several of them, notably 
Philetus Sawyer, having been at the very forefront in defense 
of harbor improvement. Persistent memorials from the state 
legislatures, petitions from individuals and the steady co-opera¬ 
tion of private enterprise—all have been factors in obtaining 
government aid. 
Aside from government improvements in Wisconsin there 
have been Several other agencies at work. First as to the part 
played by the state. This has been comparatively unimportant 
and consists almost entirely of legislative control,, such as pro¬ 
viding and limiting the methods that the corporate locality 
might employ in the schemes of improvement. Of itself it has 
done nothing, outside of the construction of the Sturgeon Bay 
Canal, by means of proceeds from a land grant, donated for the 
purpose bv the general government. This project, while still 
in the hands of the contractors as The agents of the state, was 
purchased by Congress and has since been conducted as a na¬ 
tional waterway, free of all tolls. 
The next factors in Wisconsin improvement have been the 
village and the city, always prominent,, and particularly so in 
ante-bellum days. Government aid was at that time slow and 
uncertain and many Wisconsin towns proceeded to help them¬ 
selves. In fact the city and village were the chief instruments 
in improvement and the general government merely assisted. 
