The River Falls journal. (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1857-1861, 1857-11-18
yyIscoNssN--A STRETCH.


miles, cxclusiye- Of lis water-suriace il. the
two lakes lis surface is everywhere UNI
,!ttating, though not billy. 1t is, in fact,
vest lSiasn, elevated from SIX to- fifteen
hundred feet aboyelthe ocean. The most
elevated land in the State being the Blue
Mounds, eleven hundred and seventy feet
above Lake Michigan. Towards Lake
Superior, the slope is abrupt and the
rivers short, rapid and broken with falls
and rapids. 'o " I.
It's present population is estilnatedto
be ole million, and its resources in CON
sequence of its internal improvements, are
counted upon as being at the rate of SO
per cent, and likely to continue SO for
several years to come. 1t is noticed that
the inhabitants of Wisconsin are all in the
prime Of life, ana that aIl its business is
conducted By comparatively young men,
and therefore its productive capacity is
so much the greater in every branch pui>-
sued. This strikes us as a very curious
fact. Here is furnishing State without
any cd people to drag it behind, either
1 Wltu luciT IHHTiIitiCS, tHciI NdlltS, tiIci
preiutliees, or resistance. tu.
All is youthful, fresh, ardent and reso-
lutte. Perhaps little conceit belongs to
such condition Of mind.
1t has good climate which makes but
few inroads upon health, and so the popu-
Iation will have the advantage of remain
inc Young for longer periods than that
which is continually exposed to violent
atmospherieal changes on the Atlantic
coast.
Thus, we are informed that it has al
most entire immunity from spring and
summer droughts; that tie air is salu-
brious and dry; that its winters have a
uniform temperatlife-a very great adj
vantage: and that its climate as well rs
soil fayors the growth of all kinds of grain.
1t is the experience of residents that it is
the hcalthiest of the States, free from
fcyers and agucs; it has neither endemics
nor epidenics; miasmatic affections are
unknown; and the ar acts maryelously
i'll the restoration of brightness to the eye
ana color to the check. Consumptiyo and
asthmat;c patients generally find relief
after temporary residence in Wisconsin.
There is indeed no such thing as damp
ness in the atmosphere in winter OF. sum
mer, such as Expresses and chil!s us in
New England or New York, and which
we feel after every storm of rain. We
should think these facts alone would de-
eide the destiny of tie State OF Wisconsin.
1t appears there are one million and a
half acres of improved land in the State,
and twenty millions more capable Of being
converted into beautiful farms. The i'm
proved farms however rise to ten and fif-
teen dollars in price per acre. Wheat is
produced at the rate Of from 80 to 50
bushels Per acre. The indigenous and
cultivated grasses flourish admirably, and
with the rich soil of the prairies and the
great belt Of hard TIMBER one hundred
and fifty miles in extent there seems to
be every facility for agricultural and me-
ehanical development. It seems, toe,
that notwithstanding the large grants
made by Congress to the railway com
panies, there are millions Of acres open to
prescription, and the railway grants do
not effect them even along their own
routes till the lines are actually located.
Under these circumstances, we think
Wisconsin much better place for land
spectators than the tar-iamel Kansas
where a terrible shrieking las been kept
up TO attract a population, and property
has advanced thousand-fold wherever
the most noise has been made. Now
then is the time "to IGabc q claim," as it
is called, and we cannot help advising the
Commissioners of Emigration to give d
roctions to such elnigrants as have little
money, to lay out a portion Of it in the
cheap lands of Wisconsin. The quantity
of grain raised is becoming enormously
large Wool growing is also a fourishing
occupation ana the dairy is becoming a
regular Wisconsin institution.
The mineral productions are very valrl-
able, is we'll known; copper, lead, iron,
and zinc, the two former being in exhaust
less quantities, as is also well known to
our readers.
The river navigation in this State is
admirably adapted to its position and its
wants. The Mississippi, after running
southerly from Its source some hundreds
of miles, singuarly enough, bends cast
warily until it approaches within the Bay
of St. Louis, the head Of ocean navigation,
in Lake Superior, only forty miles distant
This great river gives direct colnmunica-
ton with all the States, ports, and towns
of its valley. Tho Wisconsin, tributary to
it, intersccting the State, and navigabe
for steamers to Portage CITY, the st.
Croix river and the Fox. with their in
tended improvements. are all most impor-
tant and valuable streams, giving every
facility for, navigation east and south,
either to the Gulf of Mexico, or that Of
St. Lawrence, and with the choice of
] boundless homo markets near ut hand.
One thousand miles of steam navigation
:, will ere long be open between Lake Mich;
gan and the Mississippi. One Of the pc
I culiarities of the State is the number and
beauty of its Lakes from the Winnebago
down to the groups in Dane county. The
principal towns AMI cities are Milwaukee,
Madison, the latter the centre of twenty
five county wagon roads and seventeen
mail and stage routes, although a new
city; Beloit, Prairie du Chen, La Crosse,
the terminus of two great railways; Por-
tage City, Fond du Lac, GAINESVILLE, Osh-
kosh, konosha, and many others, all i'm
proving very rapidly So 'saAI2
The railroad spectators have, of course,
mapped out Wisconsin, and taken posses