ANNUAL REPORT—COMMERCE. 
61 
“ The Wisconsin Leather Company are also constructing 
extensive dock lines east of the railroad track, and the city is 
dredging the channel of Kinnickinick creek to a sufficient 
depth to make it safely navigable. 
“ The Menomonee marsh, hitherto an almost totally useless 
and unsightly waste, in the heart of the city, is undergoing a 
wonderful transformation under the magic influence of com¬ 
merce, and where only two years ago nothing was to be seen 
but the sluggish water and tall grass of the swamp, are now 
broad and deep canals extending in all directions, with spa¬ 
cious docks intersecting each other, and in connection with the 
other dock extensions in progress, forming a grand system of 
interior wharfage unsurpassed by that of any other port upon 
the lakes or the sea. Many of these improvements extend be¬ 
yond the limits of our diagram, as, lor instance, the bayou 
above Cherry street bridge, which has been dredged and 
docked on both sides a distance of several thousand feet; also 
the canals extending westward through the Menomonee marsh 
beyond the slaughter houses. The extent of new docks ac¬ 
tually constructed during the past season, was in the neighbor¬ 
hood of ten thousand feet, and together with those now under 
way will give our city before the close of 1870, something like 
eight miles of dock line. 
“ The following letter from Col. J. B. Wheeler, U. S. en¬ 
gineer and superintendent of harbor improvements, gives an 
accurate description of the ‘straight cut,’ and what the gov- 
erment has done and is doing to improve the same : 
“ Milwaukee, Wis., Feb. 3d, 1870. 
“ Mr. Wm. J. Langson, 
“/Sec. Chamber of Commerce, Milwaukee, Wis. 
“Dear Sir —I have received your letter of Feb. 1st, and in reply to it, state 
the following facts: 
“The length of the north ‘straight cut’ pier is. 1,374 feet. 
“The length of the south pier is. 1,376 “ 
“The width between the piers is... 260 “ 
“ The foregoing lengths include the 403 feet of pier-work built during 1868 
and 1869, under my superintendence. 
