Box 23, Folder 4: Wisconsin: Geographical & Topographical 1844

TOPOGRAPHY. 9

known as "Webster's Treaty." Great Britain claimed all that portion of our Territory lying north of the St. Louis river, while we claimed that the Kamanistaquia, or Dog river should be the boundary. By the treaty, an intermediate route was agreed upon; and here again it is contended that the general government has given away a portion of the territory which should properly have belonged to Wisconsin.

It is not probable that Illinois, Michigan, and Great Britain will be very ready to surrender the territory now claimed by them, and hence it becomes an important question to determine in what manner these dispute, shall be settled. As in all cases of a similar nature, we may expect some difficulties to arise. It has been proposed in the Legislature to abandon all claims of this kind, upon condition that Congress shall construct certain works of internal improvement which are at present very much needed; and if the whole subject can be thus easily disposed of, it is undoubtedly the best policy for the United States to accept of this very reasonable compromise.

It is to be hoped that these questions of boundary may be settled to the satisfaction of all concerned, before they become of such importance as to create much excitement, trouble or difficulty in their adjustment.

There are no mountains, properly speaking, in Wisconsin; the whole being one vast plain, varied only by the river hills, and the gentle swells or undulations of country usually denominated "rolling"

10 TOPOGRAPHY.

This plain lies at an elevation of from six to fifteen hundred feet above the level of the ocean. The highest lands are those forming the dividing ridge between the waters of Lake Superior and the Mississippi. From this ridge there is a gradual descent towards the south and southwest. This inclination is interrupted in the region of the lower Wisconsin and Neenah rivers, where we find another ridge extending across the Territory, from which proceeds another gently descending slope, drained mostly by the waters of Rock river and its branches. These slopes indicate, and are occasioned by the dip or inclination of the rocky strata beneath the soil. The Wisconsin hills and many of the bluffs along the Mississippi river, often attain the height of three hundred feet above their base, and Blue Mound was ascertained by Dr. Locke, by barometrical observations, to be one thousand feet above the Wisconsin river at Helena. The surface is further diversified by the Platte and Sinsinawa Mounds, but these prominent elevations are so rare that they ^and^ form very marked objects in the landscape, and serve ^ing^ the traveller in the unsettled portions of the country, as guides by which to direct his course. The country immediate bordering on Lake Superior, has a very abrupt descent towards the lake; hence the streams entering that lake are full of rapids and waterfalls, being comparatively worthless for all purposes of navigation, but affording a vast superabundance of water power, which may at some future time be brought into requisition to manufacture lumber from the immense quantities of pine trees with which this part of the Territory abounds.

LAKES. 11

There is another ridge of very broken land running from the entrance of Green Bay in a southwesterly direction, forming the "divide" between the waters of Lake Michigan and those running into the Bay and Neenah, and continuing thence through the western part of Washington county, crossing Bark river near the Nagowicka lake, and thence passing in the same general direction, through Walworth county into the State of Illinois. The very irregular and broken appearance of this ridge is probably owing to the soft and easily decomposed limestone rock of which it is composed.

On our northern border is Lake Superior, the largest body of fresh water in the world, and on the east is Lake Michigan, second only to Lake Superior in magnitude, forming links in the great chain of inland seas by which we are connected with the "lower country" by a navigation as important for all purposes of commerce as the ocean itself. Besides these immense lakes, Wisconsin abounds in those of smaller size, scattered profusely over her whole surface. They are from one to twenty or thirty miles in extent. Many of them are the most beautiful that can be imagined — the water deep and of crystal clearness and purity, surrounded by sloping hills and promontories covered with scattered groves and clumps of trees. Some are of a more picturesque kind, being more rugged in their appearance, with steep, rocky bluffs, crowned with cedar, hemlock, spruce and other evergreen trees of a similar character. Perhaps a small rocky island,

12 LAKES.

will vary the scene, covered with a conical mass of vegetation, the low shrubs and bushes being arranged around the margin, and the tall trees in the centre. These lakes usually abound in fish of various kinds, affording food for the pioneer settler; and among the pebbles on their shores may occasionally be found fine speciments of agate, carnelion, and other precious stones. In the bays where the water is shallow and but little affected by the winds, the wild rice (Zizania aquatica) grows in abundance, affording subsistence for the Indian, and attracting innumerable water birds to these lakes. The rice has never been made use of by the settlers in Wisconsin as an article of food, although at some places it affords one of the principal means of support for the red men. It is said to be about equal to oat-meal in its qualities, and resembles it in some degree in taste. The difficulty of collecting it, and its inferior quality, will always prevent its use by white men, except in cases of extreme necessity. The Lake of the Woods, and Rainy Lake, near our north boundary, have been so often described as to need only to be mentioned here. Their thousand small wooded islands give them a peculiarly interesting and picturesque character not to be found in any other scenery in the world. Among the small lakes may be mentioned Lake Winnebago, St. Croix, (upper and lower,) Cass Lake, Lake Pepin, the Four Lakes, the Mille Lac, Ottawa, Pewaugan, Pewaukee, Geneva, Green, Koshkonong, and many others, all more fully described in another part^s^ of this work.

RIVERS. 13

The Mississippi, the great river of rivers, forms, as before remarked, the western boundary of Wisconsin. It is augmented in this Territory by the waters of the Wisconsin, Black, Chippewa, St. Croix and St. Francis rivers, which alone would be sufficient to form a very respectable "Father of Waters," but which do ^scarcely^ not perceptibly swell the mighty flood of the Mississippi: these with Rock river, which empties into the Mississippi in Illinois, and the St. Louis, Bois Brule, Mauvaise and Montreal rivers, tributaries of Lake Superior; and the Menomonee, Fox or Neenah, Wolf and Milwaukee rivers, tributaries of Lake Michigan, are the principal rivers in Wisconsin. Innumerable smaller streams and branches run through the whole extent of the Territory, so that no portion of it is without an abundant supply of good, and generally pure water. The Mississippi is navigable as far up as the Falls of St. Anthony. The Wisconsin is navigable [illegible pencil insertion] as far up as the Portage by small steamboats, at certain seasons of the year; and they have been up Rock river as far as Aztalan, in Jefferson county, but these streams are comparatively of little value for the purposes of navigation. All the principal rivers are, however, navigable for canoes. Their waters usually originate in springs and lakes of pure and cold water. Many of them, especially in the northern or primitive region, are precipitated over rocky barriers, forming beautiful cascades or rapids, and affording valuable sites for mills and manufactories of all kinds. The Falls of St. Anthony, on the Mississippi, seven miles above the mouth of the St. Peters, are only surpassed by the