164 Hadden—Early Banking in Wisconsin. 
were abnormally high. Flour rose from $5.00 in 1834 to $11.00 
per barrel in 1837; corn, from 53 cents to $1.50 per bushel. 
Bread riots broke out in New York; 8 inflated land values col¬ 
lapsed and the currency depreciated. In March and April, 1837, 
the failures in New York and New Orleans amounted to about 
one hundred and fifty million dollars. 9 
In the territory of Wisconsin the winter of 1838-9 was es¬ 
pecially severe. The settlers themselves had a hard time to get 
money or to sell their produce, and the distress in the neighbor¬ 
ing states checked immigration considerably. 
During the year 1838, the Miners’ Bank at Dubuque having 
failed, there were only two banks in active operation—the Bank 
of Wisconsin in Green Bay, and the Bank of Mineral Point. A 
committee was appointed at the December session of the legis¬ 
lature to investigate the condition of both banks. The officials 
of the Bank of Wisconsin refused to open their books to the 
committee for inspection and as this was a direct violation of 
its charter, the attorney general was authorized by a legisla¬ 
tive act to wind up its affairs. 
The committee appointed to investigate the affairs of the bank 
at Mineral Point reported it in a safe and solvent condition. 
On August 11, 1838, this notice appeared in the New York 
Morning Courier and Inquirer : “Notes of Bank of Mineral 
Point redeemed at par by Jas. S. Hunt, 27 Wall Street.” 
A charter had also been granted to a Bank of Milwaukee, but 
as two different boards of directors claimed the franchise and 
could not agree upon the management, the legislature on Nov¬ 
ember 30, 1836, repealed its charter and its affairs were in 
liquidation for two years. 
It is interesting to note that at this same session of the leg¬ 
islature in 1836, an act was passed establishing the The State 
Bank of Wisconsin with a million dollars capital. The governor 
on behalf of the territory was to subscribe over one-half, i. e., 
a majority of the capital stock and to pay for it in the bonds of 
the territory bearing 7 per cent, interest payable in 1863. It 
8 Epochs of American History Series —Wilson's Division and Reunion , 
p. 93. 
9 Ridpath’s History of the United States , p. 437. 
