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[Typewritten page-Green Bay].

beautiful gardens and rich shrubbery- indicating alike the prescence of wealth, taste, and refinement.

The land on which Astor stands was purchased in 1836 of Mr. Grignon, a highly respectable indian trader, who had been in possession for nearly thirty years, and whose family name is identified with the history of the town. The original purchase was made by John Jacob Astor and others, through the Hon. James Duane Doty.

Green Bay possesses, probably, a larger number of fine buildings than any other town in Wisconsin. The Astor House is a very handsome building, and is delightfully situated upon the bank of the river. It is conducted by Mr. Charles M. Rogers, formerly of New York, and is decidedly the best hotel west of Buffalo. Nor should I omit to notice here the extensive and well built warehouse of Messers. David Jones & Co., which would do credit to any of our eastern cities. It is built upon a substantial wharf which extends sufficiently far into the river to enable vessels of the largest class to come along side and discharge cargo. The steamboat Great Western- the largest boat upon our American waters- on here late trip to this place, landed at the wharf in front of this warehouse. There are several private residences here which would be conspicuous both for taste and beauty in the celebrated villages of Northamption and Canandaigua.

At the head of the bay, upon a slight eminence, which commands a delightful view of this town and harbor, is Fort Howard, a military post under the command of Captain Merrill.

Six miles beyond Astor, on the Fox [Neenah] river, is the flourishing town of Depre, of which latter place, was however, and of its great hydraulic power, I shall speak in a future letter.

The country around Green Bay is as yet but thinly settled. The soil, however, is good and well watered. The land is mostly timbered; yet in many places prairie and timber are so interspersed that farmers can be accomodated who desire a proportion of each. The climate is salubrious, and no part of the west has been more blessed with health.

When the soil shall yield itself to the harrow and the cradle- when the settlements shall multiply in the interior, and the vacant lands be converted into wheat fields-then Green Bay will become the seat of an active and extensive commerce, and the fertile region that surrounds it, will be tributary to its growth and continually swelling the tide of its prosperity.

There is every reason to believe that the enlightened and public spirited efforts now making by the citizens of the place to secure the improvement of the navigation of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and to connect them by means of a canal