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The salubrity of the climate, the purity of the atmo sphere, and of the water, which is usually obtained from copious living springs; the coolness and short duration of summer, and the dryness of the air during winter, all conspire to render Wisconsin one of the most healthy portions of the United States. The wet meadows, marshes and swamps, are constantly supplied with pure water from springs; and as they are not exposed during summer to a burning heat, they do not send forth those noxious and deleterious qualities so much dreaded in more southern and less favored latitudes. Many of our most flourishing towns and settlements are in the immediate vicinity of large swamps and partially overflown meadows, yet no injurious effects upon the general health are produced by them.

It has usually been found, in making new settlements in the western wilderness, that as the forests are cleared away and the surface thereby exposed to the direct influence of the sun and winds, a deleterious effect is produced on the general health-the decaying vegetable matter being thus suddenly made to send forth its malarious qualities. But in Wisconsin no such result is apprehended, or can be produced, for a large proportion of the country consists of oak openings and prairie, and may therefore be considered as already cleared. The removal of the few remaining "burr oaks" cannot have the same effect upon the soil as the cutting down of the dense forests of the other States. And besides this, the fires that have annually raged over the surface, often kindled purposely by the Indians, on their hunting excursions, have prevented that rapid accumulation of vegetable matter which is always found in deep shady woods where the fires do not so often penetrate.

It is believed that the facts here stated will be sufficient to satisfy the reader of the truth of the opinion expressed by our most intelligent physicians, that Wisconsin is, and will continue to be, one of the most healthy places in the world.

The Territory was originally divided into three counties -Brown, Iowa and Crawford.

Brown county included all the country east of a line drawn due north and south, through the portage between the Wisconsin and Neenah rivers.

Iowa embraced all west of that line and south of the Wisconsin river; and

Crawford occupied the remainder, or all west of that line, and north of the Wisconsin.

The county of Milwaukee was separated from Brown, and extended to range number nine on the west, and to township twelve north. These were the only counties organized in 1836, when the Territory was separated from Michigan; but such has since been the rapid settlement of the country, that it has been deemed necessary to set off new counties at almost every session of the Legislature, and the number is now increased to twenty, as follows: Lake counties, or those bounded on Lake Michigan— Brown, Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Washington, Milwaukee and Racine.

Interior eastern counties-Walworth, Rock, Jefferson, Dodge, Fond du Lac, Calumet, Winnebago and Marquette.

Interior western counties-Richland, Sauk, Portage, Dane, Green and Iowa.

River counties, or those bounded on the MississippiGrant, Crawford, St. Croix, Chippewa and La Pointe.

Besides these counties, the Legislature have now proIvided for the division of the counties of Milwaukee and Iowa, should the people by vote sanction the same; and the establishment of the counties of Waukesha, Lafayette and Montgomery.

The counties of Brown, Fond du Lac, Jefferson, Milwaukee, Racine, Rock, Walworth, Dodge, Dane and Washington, are governed by what is called the "town system" being divided into towns, each having its separate organic.

tion, and its own officers. The other counties are not divided into towns, and are under the management of three Commissioners, elected annually by the people.

Having completed the foregoing general observation relative to the whole Territory, we now propose to give, under appropriate heads, a more detailed description of the several counties, towns, rivers, lakes, &c., &c.

BROWN COUNTY

Is bounded on the north and east by the line between Wisconsin and the State of Michigan; on the south by the counties of Manitowoc, Calumet and Winnebago; and on the west by Portage; or the boundaries may be traced more accurately, as follows: beginning on the Neenah river, on the line between ranges nine and ten west, on Buffalo lake, and running thence north, to the Territorial boundary; thence east and south, along said boundary, to the line between townships twenty and twenty-one, extending to the middle of Lake Michigan; thence west to the northwest corner of Winnebago county; thence south to the Neenah; thence up that river to the place of beginning. It is impossible to estimate the area of this county with any degree of certainty, on account of the territorial line between Wisconsin and Michigan not having been finally established, and for the want of an accurate survey of this part of the Territory. Brown county was organized by an act of the Legislature of Michigan, passed October 16, 1818, and then included all the country between Lake Michigan and a line drawn due north, and south through the middle of the portage, between the Neenah and Wisconsin rivers. The counties of Manitowoc, Sheboygan, Calumet, Fond du Lac, Marquette, Washington, Dodge, Milwaukee, Jefferson, Racine, Walworth, Rock, and parts of Dane and Portage, have been taken from Brown; and as she is still a large county, it is probable that her limits are destined, ere long,

to be further reduced, before her boundaries are finally established.

Little is known of the geographical details of the northern part of this county: it abounds in forests of pine, or "pineries," and the streams are full of "falls" and "rapids," affording an abundance of water power, where this pine is now, in large quantities, manufactured into lumber, shingles, &c., which find a ready market at Milwaukee, and other ports on Lake Michigan. The soil is said to be of excellent quality, and is covered with dense forests-no openings or prairies being found of any considerable extent in the county. A singular feature in the topography of the country is indicated by the course of the principal streams, which have a general southeasterly direction towards Lake Michigan, except the Neenah, which, with Green Bay (an enlarged continuation of it), runs at right angles to this course, and nearly parallel with the general course of the lake. The cause of this feature may be found in a rocky ridge extending along the east side of the Neenah, giving direction to that river, and "heading" all those that take their rise west of it. This ridge extends southwest quite through the Territory, and from it originates another system of streams running east or southeast into Lake Michigan.

This peculiarity in the topographical features of the country has a very marked effect upon the direction of the wind, which usually blows from the northwest at Green Bay, as shown by the tables of the weather kept at that place.

The population of Brown county was, in the year

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The falling off in 1840 was not occasioned so much by an actual diminution of population, as by setting off new counties from Brown. The county seat was established by a vote of the people, at Depere.

Seven post-offices have been established in Brown county-at Bridgeport, Depere, Duck Creek, Green Bay, Kakalin, Little Chute and Menomonee. There is one weekly newspaper published at Green Bay.

Agreeably to the United States census of 1840, there were then in Brown county 475 horses, 1,053 neat cattle, 85 sheep, 1,380 swine, 42 groceries and stores, 8 lumber yards, 1 tannery, 3 grist mills, and 25 saw mills. The products of the preceding year (1839) were as follows: 7,614 bushels of wheat, 137 bushels of barley, 13,674 bushels of oats, 60 bushels of rye, 259 bushels of buckwheat, 3,695 bushels of Indian corn, 27,508 bushels of potatoes, 1,707 tons of hay, 30,460 pounds of maple sugar, 2,316 barrels of fish, and 27,880 dollars' worth of lumber. In 1845 there were 112,798 acres of land liable to tax, and the whole amount of taxable property was $309,764.

The "town system" is adopted, and the county is divided into four towns-Green Bay, Depere, Kakalin and Howard.

The town of KAKALIN is on the Neenah river, in the south part of the county. The Grand Kakalin rapids, from which this town derives its name, is near the middle of the town. It is the principal and most noted rapids of the Neenah. In a space of eight thousand six hundred feet, according to the survey of Capt. Cram, there is a descent, over horizontal strata of limestone rock, of forty-four feet. The river is here divided, by about thirty small islands, into numerous small channels. On approaching, and upon leaving these rapids, it has a direction nearly northeast, but upon the rapids it is deflected to a due east course. The Konkapot creek enters the river from the south, at these rapids; and a town, called La Fontaine, has been laid out

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