Year: 1871

Within the memory of the living, Wisconsin was an
extreme border state All beyond unexploreG
wilderness The first hardy pioneers were mnglina


with the savages, and undergoing the privations o
earliest settlers. No roads made. The steam
whistle was, as yet, hardly heard the Atlantic
coast. Now, Wisconsin is scarcely halfway to = {


border. Railways stretch the state in various
directions, and penetr tie regions beyond One
great national steam highway extends to the Pacific
Ocean Another is advancing rapidly to the same
destination The Western border of the state hardly


reaches the central line of the continent Aeng the


Mississippi, animated ali the with floating pal
ac,S, new cities are sprnging into rapid life. Towns


everywhere full of comforts and Injuries as any
in the land Lake Michigan the is white with
the wings of commerce" Milwaukee is already a


larger city than Boston was half "A century ago Lake
Superior the north, will soon eclipse the Gulf OF
Mexico in commercial Importance. That inland sea


will nviIe the trade of the arheIest East in


connection with the great Northern Pacific road We


hold the central position beta the Atlantic and the
Pacific. Important nav gable waters three


sides OF US. On the other side, connected with


the greatest railway system in the United States


Our Industries are already becoming diversified We


are longer simply a grain producing state. The


stock growers OF Wisconsin have envable reputa


ton. The products of our rapidly increasing daries
compete in the market with the oest. We have a


mixed population of native Americans Germans and


ocandinavians Our people are hardy intelligent and
industrious. No state has a better common school
system. The debt of the commonwealth is small Its
population Is increasing with steady, healthy growth
The people noted for love of order prudence and
economy 0ur citizens represent worthily in COM
meree and in the councils Of the great nation


No state In the Union is better situated for manu-
featuring than Wisconsin. Vast industries of this
kind are already springng into life The raw materi
al of manufacture is produced in abundance or is
hand Wool is grown within our borders and all
around Cotton is US than to Massachusetts,
Oar forests seeming exhauStesS. Excellent iron
o~e is not wanting. We have no coal for manufactur-


md do not II ba,- tba hast
power on the continent The Fox River, between
Lake Wlnnebago and Green Bay, affords power to
turn mills than now exist between the two
oceans. In two miles there is steady fall of
one hundred and seventy feet The water can be used
over nd lake thirty miles long and ten miles
wide affords natural reservoir that hundreds of mil
lions could not build. Il collects the copous streams
from the of the and sends them down the
long slope below, without the possibility of food
drought


The Fox River from Neenah to Green Bav is worth
hundred Merrmacs. There those now living who
VIII see the wh2e dStance of forty miles almost eol
to say how many millions of feet of lumber are cut
every year in Wisconsin This state is destined to
take the lead in manufacturing household furniture
1t will compete with Ohio in agricultural imple
ments The cloths of its different wooden mills art al
ready esteemed in market Ladies regard the shawls
of Racine and Waukesha equal to those Of the Bay
State. The iron works of Milwaukee are among the
most important in the Northwest just as good loco
motivs are made here at Paterson, in New Jersey
The future of Wisconsin is clearly that of manufac


ure, and her position will be one of proud preem-
inence -MI3cauhee Seminal.