3. The tide of emigration flowed westward by way of the Ohio river, and the States south were settled and admitted into the Union long before Wisconsin received even a Territorial government. This occurred in 1836, and in 1840 the census gave it but little over 30,000 inhabitants. Population now flowed steadily to it and we find, in 1850, over 300,000 inhabitants. It was admitted into the Union in 1848, making the thirtieth State. Its high latitude probably had something to do with this deferred settlement, the milder winters of the more southern range of States attracting the emigrants first. The climate, however, has important advantages over the States in question, being drier, less changeable, and not so subject to extremes. It is very healthy, and probably the oldest man in the country was living, hale and hearty, in this State, a few years ago, at the patriarchal age of 139. The climate is milder than in the same latitude farther east.

4. The surface is a high rolling prairie, open and mostly treeless, except near streams and bodies of water in the south, but in the north covered with timber. Vast forests of pine grow on the northern slope, which is some 1,200 feet above the level of the sea. Some parts of the State fall 600 feet below that elevation; and a succession of ridges having a general direction east and west, separate the rivers flowing into Lake Superior, Green Bay, and Lake Michigan, while many streams flow southwest into the Mississippi. The State is 285 miles long by 255 wide. Its beautiful prairies, gratefully returning a bountiful harvest to the intelligent farmer; its numerous charming lakes and ponds; its remarkable commercial advantages by lakes and rivers, supplemented by canals and railroads; its great manufacturing facilities, and valuable mineral deposits, give great promise to its future. Wheat is the leading agricultural staple, but all the grains, vegetables, and fruits of the Northern States well reward cultivation. It has an area of 52,924 square miles, equal to 34,511,360 acres. 1870 the population amounted to 1,054,670, which gave her eight Members of Congress. Wisconsin lies in the seventh

In

judicial circuit (which is composed of Wisconsin, Indiana and Illinois,) and forms one judicial district. It has one collection district, one port of entry (Milwaukee,) and five ports of delivery, viz.: Southport, Racine, Sheboygan, Green Bay and Depere.

The capital of the State is Madison. The Legislature meets on the second Wednesday in January. The State election is on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.

The enacting clause of her laws is as follows: "The people of Wisconsin, represented in Senate and Assembly, do enact as follows."

Is said to have been visited by the Spaniards in 1542, and by Sir Francis Drake, a celebrated English navigator, in 1578. The first mission' was founded by Spanish Catholics in 1769. It was sparsely settled by Mexican rancheros, who occupied themselves chiefly in raising cattle. In 1846 Fremont, who had been conducting an exploring party across the great plains and the Rocky Mountains, defeated, in conjuncion with Commodore Stockton, the Mexican forces in California, and took possession of it in the name of the United States; to which it

was definitely ceded by the treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, Feb. 2nd, 1848; the United States government paying Mexico for that territory and New Mexico $15,000,000, besides paying $3,500,000 indemnity, due from Mexico to citizens of the United States.

Scarcely had this arrangement been made, when it was published that California was rich in gold, and adventurers from all sections of the Union, and various countries of the Old World, rushed in like a flood. For some years, society there, composed in large part, of the wildest and most ungovernable elements of old communities, was like a seething volcano; but, to the immortal honor of American citizens, it was subdued by the superior resolution and summary vigor of the better class of emigrants from the States, and was admitted into the Union on the 7th of Sept. 1850, with a clause in its Constitution pro. hibiting slavery. The discussion in Congress on this point came near precipitating the Civil War that broke out ten years later. The difficulty between the slavery and anti-slavery parties was adjusted by compromise measures, for the time, but only served to allay the agitation produced by conflict of interests and opinions, which was irreconcilable.

California "The Golden," proved extraordinarily rich in precious metals and other minerals, as quicksilver, platinum, asphaltum, iron, lead, and rare qualities of marble. Its gold mines alone from 1858 to 1868 produced over $800,000,000.

It is a broken country, traversed by two ranges of mountains. The valleys are exceedingly productive. They are unexcelled for wheat; all kinds of fruit grow in the greatest perfection; and the grape culture promises to equal, if not to excel, the products of the most famous vineyards of Europe. Surprising as is her mineral wealth, her agricultural possibilities are far greater, and her commerce is already immense, and bids fair, from her position and relations to Eastern Asia, and the western parts of South America, to rival that of the Atlantic States.

The world was ripe for the discovery of these unparalleled