The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1882-05-26

prospectors. birds of passage who came
with the spring and fed in the fall, hence
called suckers" Their ideas Of North
ern Wisconsin were in such marked con-
trast with Inter experience that l trust
you will pardon n brief comparison. AS
yet, You will remember, the north was a
terra incognita an unknown region
Few indeed had ever seen any portion Of
it. To the popular imagination, what Is
new is mysterious! What is unknown
is the abode of marvels.
If our first southern immigrants were
sure of anything, it was that Wisconsin,
from the coldness of its climate, would
never be occupied. BY some. however,
il was conceded hat nationalities, like
"the Firms and Laplanders, might posi-
bly, survive the winter south of" the Wis
consin, but as to anything much beyond
then ,couM not 30 a mile. The north to
them was a frozen desert waste. where
dwelt old Boreas and the Storm King. II
was a region of desolation, scantily ov-
cred with detached pines and evergreen
growth, with a surface and soil made up
of swamps rock, sand barrens and trap
ridges.
AS the drainage was southwark, the
existence of mountains was considered as
established. That as limestones were not
usually prominent strata, a prime ele-
ment Of fertility was lacking. That be-
tween lagoons and lakes, there was but
little Of dry surface, and that, trap or
granite rock. 1t might answer for log
gers camps and a pinery. but as to any
other use, the region was a waste, with a
polar climate and o lack of all attraction
for human occupancy. Such impressions
were widespread, even among the intel
ligent, and are not even yet wholly Grad
icated. The scientific fact established by
meteorological records that Cleveland,
Chicago, Madison, st. Paul, and even q
portion of Manitoba north Of the Saskatch-
avian river, have the same average mean
annual temperature, was a truth as yet
unknown and unsupported. Much spec
ulation was also INDUCED at the time as
70 the origin of prairies. The phenomena
Of ~treeless sections was a great puzzle
BY some it was held that there were por-
ions of the glacial sea bed, as yet unin-
vaded by arborescent growth; but with
the masses, annual fires were thought
sufficient to account for their existence.
That they were proofs of greater or
less rain fall, in given districts, was not
suspected. That forest regions actually
receive more rain and snow han prairies,
and retain it longer, is now well esta0-
lished. In one the evaporating power OF
the sun is greater than the precipitation.
In the other it is less, with a consequent
result that forest soils are usually moist
and cool, while in p~rairies the tendency is
TO drouth. For a natural reason, also,
forest soils are richer in original ele-
ments and more durable than those of
t~reeless regions. Indeed, the existence of
extensive woodlands, especially Of the
harder varieties, is Of itself proof OF a
strong soil, quite different in some re-
spects from the dark humns or muck Of
prairie lands. fertile as these are usually
found.
The experience of the coming century
will prove that the most productive lands
will be where forests grew. and not those
whose soils were made up in large part OF
indigenous grasses, the product of ages
of decay in each case.
FICTION COMPARED WITH REALITY.
How popular mists are dissipated by
the sunlight of practical experiment and
recorded investigation! Those who first
penetrated Northern Wisconsin, following
only river valleys, found them usually
sandy, and hence adopted the absurd
conclusion that the uplands were of the
same class. They found an evergreen
growth upon sandy tracts, and concluded
therefrom that this class Of forest growth
predominated. That soft and hard woods
were growing side by side failed to excite
attention, as did also the vast forests of
hard wood, in great variety OF species,
that cover 80 much of the country. That
clay soils are immense in extent Of area,
while barren or sandy tracts are quite
limited, was not at first recognized. That
an INSTRUCTED rivulet or river caused ov-
erfows on low grounds, which at once be-
came available for farms when the OBJ
stacle wal removed, did not at first excite
to drainage enterprise.
With 80 vast q domain to choose from,
only the more sagacious pro6ted by a
Close Inspection VI Vic duNdlthSCS VI III
cality. Many Of our best lands are those
most avoided in early times. 1t was
many years before the settlers in the
prairie regions Of the state recognized the
fact that the despised marshes were the
richest mines Of agricultural wealth.
WHO INTRODUCED CIVILIZATION.
Christian civilization and its influence
had penetrated the Chippewa Valley long
before Fort Crawford was erected as a
restraint upon Indian warfare by the gen.
eral government.
France, in her Canadian colonies, had
planted the seed of a peculiar race OF
frontiersmen whose heroic and venture
som life is the true romance of America
and, IL it could be written, would far excel
in interest the career Of either the Span
ish OF English upon this continent. The
natural home Of this of-shoot was the
wild woods and the prairies.