Box 27, Folder 1: Geographical and Topographical Description of Wisconsin, 1844

Disputes

(without common consent) the southern boundaries of Michigan and Wisconsin. Notwithstanding this plain provision of the ordinances, [and law] which is declared to be "articles of compact between the original states and the people and states in the said territory, and forever to remain unalterable unless by common consent", yet Congress, in establishing the boundaries of the State of Illinois, extended that state about sixty miles north of the line thus unalterably established by the Ordinance. This is claimed to be obviously unjust and contrary to the spirit and letter of the compact with the original states. The subject of reclaiming this portion of our territory has been agitated in the Legislative Assembly and it is probable that Wisconsin will visit upon her rights when she is admitted into the Union as an independent state. Michigan was compelled by superior influence to the submit to a compromise by which she obtained, besides other valuable considerations, a much larger portion of

territory than that in dispute; and Wisconsin may from the same cause be obliged to submit to a many for want of ability to enforce her rights.

It is also contended by many that the portion of country set off to Michigan on Lake Superior between the straits of Mackina and the Montreal river, as a compensation in past, for the strip of land given to Ohio from her southern border, should also have constitutes a portion of Wisconsin; and especially as Michigan never made the least claim to it, and as the convenience of the inhabitants (when it becomes inhabited) will be best countered by uniting them with Wisconsin. The validity of our claim to this territory however may well be questioned, for it cannot be made out as clearly as in the care of the territory given to Illinois.

The difficulties which it has been apprehended might at some future time arise between the United States and Great Britain relative to that portion of our northern boundary lying between Lake Superior and the Lake of the Woods have been prevented by the settlement of that question in the treaty of 1842 usually known as "Webster's Beauty." Great Britain claimed all that portion of our Territory lying north of the St Louis river, while we claimed that the Kamanistaqria 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 disputes shall be settled. As in all cases of a similar nature we may expect some difficulties to arise. It has been proposed in the legislative to abandon all claims of this kind upon condition the 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 soon be settled to the satisfaction of all concern before they become of [so much] such importance as to create much excitement, trouble, and difficulty in their adjustment.

Face of the country

There are no mountains, properly speaking, in Wisconsin; the whole being one vast plane, varied only by the river hills, and the gentle swells or undulations of country usually denominated "rolling" This plaine 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 south west. This inclinations 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 states beneath the soil. The Wisconsin Hills and