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ST. CROIX. This county is finely situated upon the Mississippi River, and has very superior advantages for the lumber-trade. It has great forest wealth, and is now attracting much attention. The surface is generally rolling, composed of prairie, openings, and forests, of the best pine and other kinds of timber.

TREMPELEAU Contains about twenty townships of land of an excellent quality for farming purposes, offering great inducements to emigrants, as the lands are now in market at Government price.

WASHINGTON, a few miles back from Lake Michigan, is heavily timbered, has good soil, and is principally settled by Germans and Irish. Population, at present, over 25,000.

WAUPACCA is new, lying on both sides of the Wolf River, possesses plenty of Government land, well watered, consisting of prairie, openings, timber, and extensive pine forests. Steamboats pass through this county from Oshkosh to New London.

WAUKESHA and WALWORTH are both too well known to require a description.

WAUSHARA, an excellent agricultural county, formerly known as the "Indian lands," offers strong inducements to emigrants, in its fortunate combination of openings and timber-land. It is well watered, and there are yet large quantities of Government land open to settlers, Population in 1856, about 34,000.

WINNEBAGO, one of the finest counties in the State, lies on the west side of the lake of the same name. Its surface is gently rolling, and beautifully diversified with woodland, openings, prairie, and native hay-fields. Improved farms can be obtained, of all classes, at from ten to twenty dollars per acre; good unimproved lands, from three to ten dollars.

CENSUS OF WISCONSIN, FROM 1820 TO 1855.

COUNTIES. 1820 1830 183. 1836 1838 1840 1842 1846 1847 1850

1855

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Total ....... 1444 3245 5400 10,036 19,310 29,276 45,484 155,441 210,117 316,404 552,109

CHAPTER VIII.

GRANTS OF LAND BY CONGRESS -LA CROSSE AND MIL. AUKEE; CHICAGO, ST. PAUL AND FOND DU LAC; AND OTHER RAILROADS.

WISCONSIN, although one of the youngest States of the confederacy, is now, considering the time of its settlement, much better supplied with railroad communications than any other State in the Union. The General Government, with those broad and comprehensive views, which should always distinguish it, of the necessity for promoting internal improvements, and for assisting young and enterprising States, upon the recommendation of the Committee of the House of Representatives,' lately passed the following Act

1 This grant will complete a great north and south trunk road, from the Gulf of Mexico to Lake Superior and the Upper Mississippi; will develop the most valuable iron and copper mines, which are sufficient to supply the necessities of the world for ages to come, and distribute their products throughout the States. It will penetrate the extensive northern pineries, and, by rail and river, furnish lumber to all the West and South. It will speedily settle an immense wilderness, destined to remain unoccupied for a quarter of a century to come, without some such aid. The alternate sections remaining to Government will not only sell readily, and for a greater amount, but are actually more profitable with the road through them, than the whole without such a road. This measure will greatly increase the wealth, prosperity, and power of Wisconsin as a State, and also add to the comfort and general prosperity of its citizens.

Capital, enterprise, and industry from other States, will find in (133)

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granting public lands to Wisconsin, to aid in the construction of railroads.

SECTION 1. Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America, in Congress assembled, That there be, and is hereby, granted to the State of Wisconsin, for the purpose of aiding in the construction of a railroad from Madison, or Columbus, by the way of Portage City, to the St. Croix river or lake, between townships twenty-five and thirty-one, and from thence to the west end of Lake Superior, and to Bayfield; and, also, from Fond du Lac, on Lake Winnebago, northerly to the State line, every alternate section of land designated by odd numbers, for six sections in width on each side of said roads, respectively. But in case it shall appear that the United States have, when the lines or routes of said roads are definitely fixed, sold any sections or parts thereof granted as aforesaid, or that the right of pre-emption has attached to the same, then it shall be lawful for any agent, or agents, to be appointed by the Governor of said State, to select, subject to the approval of the Secretary of the Interior, from the lands of the United States nearest to the tier of sections above specified, as much land, in alternate sections, or parts of sections, as shall be equal to such lands as the United States have sold or otherwise appropriated, or to which the right of pre-emption has attached as aforesaid, which lands (thus selected in lieu of those sold, and to which pre-emption has attached as aforesaid, together with the sections and parts of sections, designated by odd numbers as aforesaid, and appropriated as aforesaid) shall be held by the State of Wisconsin for the use and purpose aforesaid: Provided, That the lands to be so located 'shall in no case be further than fifteen miles from the line of the roads in each case, and selected for and on account of said roads: Provided further, That the lands hereby granted shall be exclusively applied in the construction of the road for which it was granted and selected, and shall be disposed of only as the work progresses, and the same shall be

Wisconsin sure promise of a rich reward, and by thus invigorating one member of the confederacy, strength is given to the whole body politic, and bonds of affection will be created that will grow stronger, year by year, until they shall become indissoluble, and furnish the surest guarantee of the perpetuity of this glorious Union.-Abstract of the Report of the Committee on Public Lands.

applied to no other purpose whatever. And provided further, That any and all lands reserved to the United States by any Act of Congress, for the purpose of aiding in any object of internal improvement, or in any manner or for any purpose whatsoever, be, and the same are hereby, reserved to the United States from the operation of this act, except so far as it may be found necessary to locate the route of said railroad through such reserved lands, in which case the right of way only shall be granted, subject to the approval of the President of the United States.

SECT. 2. And be it further enacted, That the sections and parts of sections of land which, by such grant, shall remain to the United States, within six miles on each side of said roads, shall not be sold for less than double the minimum price of the public lands, when sold; nor shall any of the said lands become subject to private entry until the same have been first offered at public sale at the increased price.

SECT. 3. And be it further enacted, That the said lands hereby granted to said State shall be subject to the disposal of the Legislature thereof, for the purposes aforesaid, and no other; and the said railroads shall be and remain public highways for the use of the Government of the United States, free from toll or other charge upon the transportation of property or troops of the United States.

SECT. 4. And be it further enacted, That the lands hereby granted to said State shall be disposed of by said State only in the manner following, that is to say: That a quantity of land not exceeding one hundred and twenty sections, and included within a continuous length of twenty miles of roads respectively, may be sold; and when the Governor of said State shall certify to the Secretary of the Interior that any twenty continuous miles of either of said roads are completed, then another like quantity of land hereby granted may be sold; and so, from time to time, until said roads are completed; and if said roads are not completed within ten years, no further sales shall be made, and the land unsold shall revert to the United States.

SECT. 5. And be it further enacted, That the United States mail shall be transported over said roads, under the direction of the Postoffice Department, at such price as Congress may, by law, direct: Provided, That until such price is fixed by law, the PostmasterGeneral shall have the power to determine the same.

Approved June 3, 1856.

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