## June 27. 1868.

### Railways 1845–46.

Wisconsin in part covered mit immense forests of most valueable timber; possesses a rich vegetable soil, averaging a depth of 2 feet; most prolific in minerals; the great level region of the Mississippi lies chiefly within its limits. Is already 2nd wheat producing State in Union. Population at last census was 800,000. Its area 54,000 ⁮□ miles, little less than that of England and Wales. Is deficient in railway communications. British capitalists invited to promote that object. Some proposed the West Wisconsin line, to be 157 miles in its total length, running in a north-westerly direction, from Tomah, on the south east, where it connects with the lines from Milwaukee and Chicago to Hudson, on Lake St. Croix, whence it will soon connect with St. Paul’s, the capital of Minnesota, where the great railways of the West concentrate. It passes through a fine farming country in a high state of cultivation, as well as through forests of pine, walnut, maple, and oak; and along the whole route are not only farms but numerous steam saw mills and flour mills, furnishing the means of a constantly growing freight traffic. The Congress of the U. St., as an aid to the construction of the line, made some years ago a grant to the Co. of 1 ⁮□ mile of land for every mile in length of road constructed – that is to say, of 1,004,800 acres. The value of these lands, at the present legal minimum price is 4,512,000$or £900,000. … The value of land is reckoned von 21/2$ to 5$p. acre. At the present moment the lands of the Illinois Central Co. have improved to average of nearly 11$ per acre; and the West Wisconsin lands as rich, if not richer, naturally.