Box 16, Folder 8: Immigration 1867

[1867]

35000 cord of wood consumed by the Pr. du Ch. Rail road (235 miles in operation) in one year.

About 150 cord for every mile The 1140 miles in the state then requires 171,000, cord of wood pr an. At 40 cord pr acre this requires 42, 750 acres to be stripped each year

A railroad in a well wooded country would require the trees from a width of two rods on each side, every year to supply the necessary fuel. How long, therefore would it require to convert a rich and flourishing country into a barren desert!

The annual increase of wood on an acre being 2 cords it requires 17,500 acres in wood to supply permanently the wood needed by the P. du C. Rail Road.

Statistics and useful information concerning the Climate, Productions, Population & Resources for the State of WISCONISN

Prepared for the Commissioner of Immigration 1867

Wisconsin

Is that one of the northwestern states of the American Union, that lies between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi river; it is about 260 miles average length, 215 average breadth, area 56000 square miles. The surface is uniform, or gently "rolling" with an average elevation of about 800 or 900 feet about the level of the sea. There are some Mounds, and Bluffs, but there are rather the exception than the rule. The chain of great lakes toward the East, and the Mississippi river towards the south afford a ready and cheap means of conveying the surplus products of the agriculture, the manufactories, the mines & forests of Wisconsin to a market. The rivers of the interior and the system of rail roads already built and in successful operation enable the farmers and others to send their surplus articles to the Lake or to the Great river for shipment.

2

The usual emigrant routes from the place of landing to Wisconsin are as follows: From M̶o̶n̶t̶r̶e̶a̶l̶ Quebec either by the Grand Frank Railway (w̶h̶i̶c̶h̶ ̶m̶a̶y̶ ̶b̶e̶ ̶t̶a̶k̶e̶n̶ ̶a̶l̶s̶o̶ ̶ a̶t̶ ̶Q̶u̶e̶b̶e̶k̶,̶ ̶s̶t̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶n̶e̶a̶r̶e̶r̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶S̶e̶a̶) to Sarnia a port on Lake Huron, from whence a steamboat conveys them directly to Milwaukee, the first port of reaching Wisconsin; or by steam boat from Quebec to the west end of Lake Ontario at Hamilton & from that place, by railway through Canada and across the state of Michigan almost in a direct line, to Milwaukee Irishmen and Norwegians usually prefer the route by Quebec.

From New York they are conveyed by way of the Hudson River & New York Central Rail way or by the Erie railroad to Buffalo on Lake Erie from whence a steamboat carries them through that lake to Detroit, where they find the Detroit & Milwaukee railway ready to complete their journey.

3

Emigrants destined for Wisconsin for Minnesota, or for Northern Iowa take these routes; while those going further south make Chicago one of the points in their route.

Arriving at Milwaukee the emigrant finds himself in Wisconsin, which is one of the new states, in which there is but a sparse populations; a very large share of the lands being still in the hands of either of the U. States or of the State governments, and subject to entry at a merely nominal price, or under the Homestead law without price.

The climate in Wisconsin is such as to give health and vigor both to body and mind; the proportion of deaths to the whole population being only one in one hundred and eight, annually while the proportion for the whole country is one in eighty. the mean temperature of the year is about 46° Fahr ([8 cent. 6 Reaum?]) which differs but little from that of Bergen, in Norway Copenhagen in Denmark, and Berlin the capital of Prussia. The mean winter