Columbia County, Wisconsin - Chapter with an unread heading (no. 1 of those read), 1880 (part 4 of 12)

The republican State ticket, in the Fall, was elected over the democratic - resulting in the choice of Lucius Fairchild for governor; Wyman Spooner, for lieutenant governor; Thomas S. Allen, Jr., secretary of state; William E. Smith, for state treasurer; Charles R. Gill, for attorney general ; A. J. Craig, for superintendent of public instruction ; Jeremiah M. Rusk, for bank comptroller, and Henry Cordier, for state prison commissioner. E.xcept Craig, all these officers were the former incumbents. The amendment to section 21 of article 4 of the constitution of the State, giving the members a salary instead of a per diem allowance, was adopted at this election. As it now stands, each member of the legislature receives, for his services, three hundred and fifty dollars per annum, and ten cents for every mile he travels in going to and returning from the place of the meetings of the legislature, on the most

route. In case of any extra session of the legislature, no additional compensation shall be allowed to any member thereof, either directly or indirectly.

The Eleventh Administration in Wisconsin commenced at noon on the 6th day of January, 1868. This was the commencement of Governor Fairchild's second term. On the eighth of January, 1868, began the twenty-first regular session of the legislature of Wisconsin. A. M. Thomson was elected speaker of the assembly. Of the laws of a general nature passed by this legislature, was one abolishing the office of bank comptroller, transferring his duties to the state treasurer, and another providing for the establishing of libraries in the various townships of the State. A visible effect was produced by the constitutional amendment allowing members a salary, in abreviating this session, though not materially diminishing the amount of bfnsiness transacted. A sine die adjournment took place on the sixth of March.

At the election in April, 1868, Chief Justice Dixon was chosen for the unexpired balance of his own term, ending on the first Monday of January, 1870. At the same election, Byron Paine was chosen associate justice for the unexpired balance of Associate Justice Downer's term, ending the ist day of January, 1872.

At the Fall election in this year, republican electors were chosen over those upon the democratic ticket, for president and vice president ; and, as a consequence. Grant and Colfax received the vote 'of Wisconsin. Of the members elected at the same time, to the forty-first congress, all but one were republicans - Eldredge being a democrat. The successful ticket was : H. E. Paine, from the first district ; B. F. Hopkins, from the second ; Amasa Cobb, from the third ; C. A. Eldredge, from the fourth; Philetus Sawyer, from the fifth, and C. C. Washburn, from the sixth district. These were all members, form their respective districts, in the previous congress - the only instance since Wisconsin became a State of a re-election of all the incumbents.

On the thirteenth of January, 1869, began the twenty-second regular session of the State legislature. A. M. Thomson was elected speaker of the assembly. A very important duty imposed upon both houses was the election of a United States senator in the place of James R. Doolittle. The republicans having a majority in the legislature on joint ballot, the excitement among the members belonging to that party rose to a high pitch. The candidates for nomination were Matthew H. Carpenter and C. C. Washburn. The contest was, up to that time, unparalleled in Wisconsin for the amount of personal interest manifested. Both gentlemen had a large lobby influence assembled at Madison. Carpenter was successful before the republican nominating convention, on the sixth ballot. On the twenty-seventh of January, the two houses proceeded to ratify the nomination by electing him United States senator for six years, from the fourth of March following. One of the most important transactions entered into by the legislature of 1869 was the ratification of the suffrage amendment to the constitution of the United States. Both houses adjourned sine die on the eleventh of March - a very short session. At the spring election, on the 6th of April, Luther S. Dixon was re-elected without opposition, chief justice of the supreme court, for a term of six years, from the first Monday in January next ensuing. In the Fall, both democrats and republicans put a State ticket in the field for the ensuing election : the republicans were successful, electing Lucius Fairchild, governor ; Thaddeus C. Pound, lieutenant governor; Llywelyn Breese, secretary of state ; Henry Baetz, state treasurer ; S. S. Barlow, attorney general ; george F. Wheeler, state prison commissioner ; and A. L. Craig, superintendent of public instruction. The office of bank comptroller expired on the 31st day of December, 1869, the duties of the office being transferred to the state treasurer.

At this election, an amendment to sections 5 and 9 of article five of the constitution of the Slate was ratified and adopted by the people. Under this amendment, the governor receives, during his continuance in office, an annual compensation of five thousand dollars, which is in full for all traveling or other expenses incident to his duties. The lieutenant governor receives, during his continuance in office, an annual compensation of one thousand dollars.

On the third of January, 1870, commenced the twelfth administration in Wisconsin, Governor Fairchild thus entering upon liis third term as chief executive of the State ; the only instance since the admission of Wisconsin into the Union, of the same person being twice re-elected to that office. It was an emphatic recognition of the value of his services in the gubernatorial chair. On the twelfth of January, the twenty-third regular session of the legislature of the State commenced at Madison. James M. Bingham was elected speaker of the assembly. Before the expiration of the month, Governor Fairchild received official information that over two hundred thousand dollars of the war claim of Wisconsin upon the General Government had been audited, considerable more than one hundred thousand having the previous year been allowed. In the month of March, an energetic effort was made in the legislature, by members from Milwaukee, to remove the seat of government from Madison to their city; but the project was defeated by a considerable majority in the assembly voting to postpone the matter indefinitely. According to section eight of article one of the constitution, as originally adopted, no person could be held to answer for a criminal offense unless on the presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in certain cases therein specified. The legislature of 1869 proposed an amendment against the " grand jury system " of the constitution, and referred it to the legislature of 1870 for their approval or rejection. The latter took up the proposition and agreed to it by the proper majority, and submitted it to the people at the next election for their ratification. The sine die adjournment of both houses took place on the seventeenth of March, 1870. On the first day of January, previous, the member of congress from the second district of the State, B. F. Hopkins, died, and David Alwood, republican, was elected to fill the vacancy on the fifteenth of February following.

Early in 1870, was organized the " Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters." By an act of the legislature approved March 16, of that year, it was incorporated, having among its specific objects, researches and investigations in the various departments of the material, metaphysical, ethical, ethnological and social sciences; a progressive and thorough scientific survey of the State, with a view of determining its mineral, agricultural and other resources; the advancement of the useful arts, through the application of science, and by the encouragement of original invention; tlie encouragement of the fine arts, by means of honors and prizes awarded to artists for original works of superior merit; the formation of scientific, economical and art museums ; the encouragement of philological and historical research ; the collection and preservation of historic records, and the formation of a general library; and the diffusion of knowledge by the publication of original contributions to science, literature and the arts. The academy has already published four volumes of transactions, under authority of the State.

The fourth charitable institution established by Wisconsin was the " Northern Hospital for the Insane," located at Oshkosh, Winnebago county. It was authorized by an act of the legislature approved March 10, 1870. The law governing the admission of patients to this hospital is the same as to the Wisconsin State Hospital.

On the third day of July, 1870, A. J. Craig, superintendent of public instruction, died of consumption, and Samuel Fallows was, on the 6th of that month, appointed by the governor to fill the place made vacant by his death. The census taken this year by the General Government, showed the population of Wisconsin to be over one million sixty-four thousand. At the Fall election for members to the forty-second congress, Alexander Mitchell was chosen to represent the first district; G. W. Hazelton, the second; J. A. Barber, the third; C. A. Eldredge, the fourth; Philetus Sawyer, the fifth; and J. M. Rusk, the sixth district. Mitchell and Eldredge were democrats; the residue were republicans. The amendment to section 8, of article 7 of the constitution of the State, abolishing the grand jury system was ratified by a large majority. Under it, no person shall be held to answer for a criminal offense without due process of law, and no person, for the same offense, sliall be put twice in jeopardy of punishment, nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself. All persons shall, before conviction, be bailable by sufficient sureties, except for capital offenses when the proof is evident and the presumption great; and the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus shall not be suspended unless, vi^hen in cases of rebellion or invasion, the public safety may require it.

Governor Fairchild, in his last annual message to the legislature, delivered to that body at its twenty-fourth regular session beginning on the eleventh of January, 187 1, said that Wisconsin State polity was so wisely adapted to the needs of the people, and so favorable to the growth and prosperity of the commonwealth, as to require but few changes at the hands of the legislature, and those rather of detail than of system. At the commencement of this session, William E. Smith was elected speaker of the assembly. A very carefully-perfected measure of this legislature vvas one providing for the trial of criminal offenses on information, without the intervention of a Grand Jury. A state commissioner of immigration, to be elected by the people, was provided for. Both bodies adjourned sine die on the twenty-fifth of March. On the thirteenth of January preceding. Associate Justice Ryro 1 Paine, of the supreme court, died; whereupon tlie governor, on the 20th of the same month, appointed in his place, until the Spring election should be held, William Penn Lyon. The latter, at the election in April, was chosen by the people to serve the unexpired time of Associate Justice Paine, ending the first Monday of January, 1872, and for a full term of six years from the same date. On the 3d of April, Ole C. Johnson was appointed by the governor state commissioner of immigration, to serve until his successor at the next general election could be chosen by the people. To the end that the administration of public charity and correction should thereafter be conducted upon sound principles of economy, justice and humanity, and that the relations existing between the State and its dependent and criminal classes might be better understood, there was, by an act of the legislature, approved March 23, 1871, a "state board of charities and reform'' created - to consist of five members to be appointed by the governor of the State, the duties of the members being to investigate and supervise the whole system of charitable and correctional institutions supported by the State or receiving aid from the State treasury, and on or before the first day of December in each year to report their proceedings to the executive of the State. This board was thereafter duly organized and its members have since reported annually to the governor their proceedings and the amount of their expenses, as required by law.

The "Wisconsin State Horticultural Society,'' although previously organized, first under the name of the " Wisconsin Fruit Growers' Association," was not incorporated until the 24th of March, 1871 - the object of the society being to improve the condition of horticulture, rural adornment and landscape gardening. By a law of 1868, provision was made for the publication of the society's transactions in connection with the State agricultural society ; but by the act of 1871, this law was repealed and an appropriation made for their yearly publication in separate form; resulting in the issuing, up to the present time, of nine volumes. The society holds annual meetings at Madison.

At the November election both republicans and democrats had a full ticket for the suffrages of the people. The republicans were successful, electing for governor, C. C. Washburn; M. H. Pettitt, for lieutenant governor; Llywelyn Breese, for secretary of state ; Henry Baetz, for state treasurer; Samuel Fallows, for superintendent of public instruction; S. S. Barlow, for attorney general ; G. F. Wheeler, for state prison commissioner ; and O. C. Johnson, for state commissioner of immigration. At this election an amendment to article four of the constitution of the State was ratified and adopted by the people. As it now stands, the legislature is prohibited from enacting any special or private laws in the following cases : 1st. For changing the names of persons or constituting one person the heir-at-law of another. 2d. For laying out, opening, or altering highways, except in cases of State roads extending into more than one county, and military roads to aid in the construction of which lands may be granted by congress. 3d. For authorizing persons to keep ferries across streams, at points wholly within this State. 4th. For authorizing the sale or mortgage of real or personal property of minors or others under disability. 5th. For locating or changing any county seat. 6th. For assessment or collection of taxes or for extending the time for the collection thereof 7th. For granting corporate powers or privileges, except to cities. 8th. For authorizing the apportionment of any part of the school fund. 9th. For incorporating any town or village, or to amend the charter thereof The legislature shall provide general laws for the transaction of any business that may be prohibited in the foregoing cases, and all such laws shall be uniform in their operation throughout the State.

Industrially considered, the year 1871 had but little to distinguish it from the average of previous years in the State, except^hat the late frosts of Spring and the drouth of Summer diminished somewhat the yield of certain crops. With the exception of slight showers of only an hour or two's duration, in the month of September, no rain fell in Wisconsin from the eighth of July to the ninth of October - a period of three months. The consequence was a most calamitous event which will render the year 1871 memorable in the history of the State.

The great drouth of the Summer and Fall dried up the streams and swamps in Northern Wisconsin. In the forests, the fallen leaves and underbrush which covered the ground became very ignitable. The ground itself, especially in cases of alluvial or bottom lands, was so dry and parched as to burn readily to the depth of a foot or more. For many days preceding the commencement of the second week in October fires swept through the timbered country, and in some instances over prairies and " openings." Farmers, saw-mill owners, railroad men and all others interested in exposed property, labored day and night in contending against the advance of devouring fires, which were destroying, notwithstanding the ceaseless energies of the people, an occasional mill or house and sweeping off, here and there, fences, haystacks and barns. Over the counties lying upon Green bay and a portion of those contiguous thereto on the south, southwest and west, hung a general gloom. No rain came. All energies were exhausted from " fighting fire." The atmosphere was every where permeated with smoke. The waters of the bay and even Lake Michigan, in places, were so enveloped as to render navigation difficult and in some instances dangerous. It finally became very difficult to travel upon highways and on railroads. Time drew on - but there came no rain. The ground in very many places was burned over. Persons sought refuge - some in excavations in the earth, others in wells.

The counties of Oconto, Brown, Kewaunee, Door, Manitowoc, Outagamie and Shawano were all more or less swept by this besom of destruction ; but in Oconto county, and for some distance into Menomonee county, Michigan, across the Menomonee river, on the west shore of the bay and throughout the whole length and breadth of the peninsula, - that is, the territory lying between the bay and Lake Michigan, - the fires were the most devastating. The first week in October passed ; then came an actual whirlwind of fire - ten or more miles in width and of indefinite length. The manner of its progress was extraordinary. It destroyed a vast amount of property and many lives. It has been described as a tempestuous sea of flame, accompanied by a most violent hurricane, which multiplied the force of the destructive element. Forests, farm improvements and entire villages were consumed. Men, women and children perished - awfully perished. Even those who fled and sought refuge from the fire in cleared fields, in swamps, lakes and rivers, found, many of them, no safety there, but were burned to death or died of suffocation.

This dreadful and consuming fire was heralded by a sound likened to that of a railroad train - to the roar of a waterfall- - to the noise of a battle at a distance. Not human beings only, but horses, oxen, cows, dogs, swine - every thing that had life - ran to escape the impending destruction. The smoke was suffocating and blinding ; the roar of the tempest deafening ; the atmosphere scorching. Children were separated from their parents, and trampled upon by crazed beasts. Husbands and wives rushed in wild dismay, they knew not where. Death rode triumphantly upon that devastating, fiery flood. More than one thousand men, women and children perished. More than three thousand were rendered destitute - utterly beggared. Mothers were left with fatherless children ; fathers with motherless children. Every where were homeless orphans. All around lay suff"ering, helpless humanity, burned and maimed. Such was the sickening spectacle after the impetuous and irresistible wave of fire swept over that portion of the State. This appalling calamity happened on the 8th and 9th of October. The loss of property has been estimated at four million dollars.

At the tidings of this fearful visitation. Governor Fairchild hastened to the burnt district, to assist, as much as was in his power, the distressed sufferers. He issued, on the 13th of the month, a stirring appeal to the citizens of Wisconsin, for aid. It was promptly responded to from all portions of the State outside the devastated region. Liberal contributions in money, clothing and provisions were sent - some from other States, and even from foreign countries. Northwestern Wisconsin also suffered severely, during these months of drouth, from large fires.

A compilation of the public statutes of Wisconsin was prepared during the year 1871, by David Taylor, and published in two volumes, generally known as the Revised Statutes of 187 1. It was wholly a private undertaking ; but the legislature authorized the secretary of state to purchase five hundred copies for the use of the State, at its regular session in 1872.

The thirteenth gubernatorial administration in Wisconsin commenced on Monday, January I, 1872. The only changes made, in the present administration from the previous one, were in the offices of governor and lieutenant governor.

The twenty-fifth regular session of the legislature began on the loth of January, with a republican majority in both houses. Daniel Hall was elected speaker of the assembly. The next day the governor delivered to a joint convention of the legislature his first annual message - a lengthy document, setting forth in detail the general condition of State affairs. The recent great conflagrations were referred to, and relief suggested. The work of this session of the Legislature was peculiarly difficult, owing to the many general laws which the last constitutional amendment made necessary. The apportionment of the State into new congressional districts was another perplexing and onerous task. Eight districts were formed instead of six, as at the commencement of the last decade. By this, the fourth congressional apportionment, each district elects one member. The first district consists of the counties of Rock, Racme, Kenosha, Walworth, and Waukesha; the second, of Jefferson, Dane, Sauk, and Columbia; the thirds of Grant, Iowa, LaFayette, Green, Richland, and Crawford ; the fourth, of Milwaukee, Ozaukee, and Washington ; the fifth, of Dodge, Fond du Lac, Sheboygan and Manitowoc; the sixth, of Green Lake, Waushara, Waupaca, Outagamie, Winnebago, Calumet, Brown, Kewaunee and Door ; the seventh, of Vernon, La Crosse, Monroe, Jackson, Trempealeau, Buffalo, Pepin, Pierce, St. Croix, Eau Claire, and Clark ; the eighth, of Oconto, Shawano, Portage, Wood, Juneau, Adams, Marquette, Marathon, Dunn, Chippewa, Barron, Polk, Burnett, Bayfield, Douglas, and Ashland. To this district have since been added the new counties of Lincoln, Taylor, Price, Marinette and New.

After a session of seventy-seven days, the legislature finished its work, adjourning on the twenty-seventh of March. At the ensuing November election, the republican ticket for president and vice president of the United States was successful. The ten electors chosen cast their votes in the electoral college for Grant and Wilson. In the eight congressional districts, six republicans and two democrats were elected to the forty-third congress ; the last mentioned from the fourth and fifth districts. C. G. Williams represented the first district; G. W. Hazelton the second; J. Allen Barber the third; Alexander Mitchell the fourth; C. A. Eldredge the fifth ; Philetus Sawyer the sixth ; J. M. Rusk the seventh ; and A. G. McDill the eighth district.

Throughout Wisconsin, as in all portions of the Union outside the State, a singular pestilence prevailed among horses in the months of November and December, 1872, very few escaping. Horses kept in warm, well ventilated stables, avoiding currents of air, with little or no medicine, and fed upon nutritious and laxative food, soon recovered. Although but few died, yet the loss to the State was considerable, especially in villages and cities, resulting from the difficulty to substitute other animals in the place of the horse during the continuance of the disease.

The twenty-sixth regular session of the State legislature commenced on the eighth day of January, 1873, with a republican majority in both houses. Henry D. Barron was elected speaker of the assembly. On the ninth, Governor Washburn's message - his second annual one - was delivered to the two houses. It opened with a brief reference to the abundant returns from agricultural pursuits, to the developments of the industries of the state, to the advance in manufacturing, to the rapid extension in railways, and to the general and satisfactory progress in education, throughout Wisconsin. He followed with several recommendations- - claiming that "many vast and overshadowing corporations in the United States are justly a source of alarm," and that " the legislature can not scan too closely every measure that should come before it which proposed to give additional rights and privileges to the railways of the state." He also recommended that the " granting of passes to the class of state officials who, through their public office, have power to confer or withhold benefits to a railroad company, be prohibited." The message was favorably commented upon by the press of the state, of all parties. " If Governor Washburn," says one of the opposition papers of his administration, " is not a great statesman, he is certainly not a small politician." One of the first measures of this legislature was the election of United States senator, to fill the place of Timothy O. Howe, whose term of office weuld expire on the fourth of March next ensuing On the twenty-second of January the two houses met in joint convention, when it was announced that by the previous action of the senate and assembly, Timothy O. Howe was again elected to that office for the term of six years. On the twentieth of March, the legislature adjourned sine die, after a session of seventy-two days.

Milton H. Pettit:, the lieutenant governor, died on the 23d day of March following the adjournment. By this sudden and unexpected death, the State lost an upright and conscientious jniblic officer.

Among the important acts passed by this legislature was one providing for a geological survey of the State, to be begun in Ashland and Douglas counties, and completed within four years, by a chief geologist and four assistants, to be appointed by the governor, appropriating for the work an annual payment of thirteen thousand dollars. An act providing for a geological survey, of the State, passed by the legislature, and approved March 25, 1853, authorized the governor to appoint a state geologist, who was to select a suitable person as assistant geologist. Their duties were to make a geological and mineralogical survey of the State. Under this law Edward Daniels, on the first day of April, 1853, was appointed state geologist, superseded on the 12th day of August, 1854, by James G. Percival, who died in office on the 2d of May, 1856, at Hazel Green. By an act approved March 3, 1857, James Hall, Ezra Carr and Edward Daniels were appointed by the legislature geological commissioners. By an act approved April 2, r86o. Hall was made principal of the commission. The survey was interrupted by a repeal, March 21, 1862, of previous laws promoting it. However, to complete the survey, the matter was reinstated by the act of this legislature, approved March 29, the governor, under that act, appointing as chief geologist Increase A. Lapham, April 10, 1873.

Another act changed the management of the state prison - providing for the appointment by the governor of three directors; one for two years, one for four years, and one for six years, in place of a state prison commissioner, who had been elected by the people every two years, along with other officers of the State.

At the Spring election, Orsamus Cole, who had been eighteen years upon the bench, was re-elected, without opposition, an associate justice of the supreme court, for a term of six years from the first Monday in January following. The two tickets in the field at the Fall election were the republican and the people's reform. The latter was successful ; the political scepter passing out of the hands of the republicans, after a supremacy in the State continuing unbroken since the beginning of the seventh administration, when A. W. Randall (governor for a second term) and the residue of the State officers were elected - all republicans.

The general success among the cultivators of the soil throughout the state during the year, notwithstanding "the crisis," was marked and satisfactory; but the financial disturbances during the latter part of the Fall and the first part of the Winter, resulted in a general depreciation of prices.

The fourteenth administration of Wisconsin commenced at noon on Monday, the fifth day of January, 1874, by the inauguration of William R. Taylor as governor; Charles D. Parker, lieutenant governor; Peter Doyle, secretary of state; Ferdinand Kuehn, state treasurer; A. Scott Sloan, attorney general; Edward Searing, superintendent of public instruction; and Martin J. Argard, state commissioner of immigration. These officers were not elected by any distinctive political party as such, but as the representatives of a new political organization, including " all Democrats, Liberal Republicans, and other electors of Wisconsin, friendly to genuine reform through equal and impartial legislation, honesty in office, and rigid economy in the administration of affairs." Among the marked characteristics of the platform agreed upon by the convention nominating the above-mentioned ticket was a declaration by the members that they would " vote for no candidate for office whose nomination is the fruit of his own importunity, or of a corrupt combination among partisan leaders ;" another, " that the sovereignty of the State over corporations of its own creation shall be sacredly respected, to the full extent of protecting the people against every form of monopoly or extortion," not denying, however, an encouragement to wholesome enterprise on the part of aggre- gated capital - this "plank" having special reference to a long series of alleged grievances assumed to have been endured by the people on account of discriminations in railroad charges and a consequent burdensome taxation upon labor - especially upon the agricultural industry of the State.

The twenty-seventh regular session of the Wisconsin legislature commenced at Madison on the fourteenth of January. The two houses were politically antagonistic in their majorities ; the senate was republican, while the assembly had a "reform" majority. In the latter branch, Gabriel Bouck was elected speaker. Governor Taylor, on the fifteenth, met the legislature in joint convention and delivered his message. " An era," said he, "of apparent prosperity without parallel in the previous history of the nation, has been succeeded by financial reverses affecting all classes of industry, and largely modifying the standard of values." "Accompanying these financial disturbances," added the governor, " has come an imperative demand from the people for a purer political morality, a more equitable apportionment of the burdens and blessings of government, and a more rigid economy in the administration of public affairs."

Among the important acts passed by this legislature was one generally known as the " Potter Law," from the circumstance of the bill being introduced by Robert L. D. Potter, senator, representing the twenty-fifth senatorial district of the state. The railroad companies for a number of years had, as before intimated, been complained of by the people, who charged them with unjust discriminations and e.xorbitantly high rates for the transportation of passengers and merchandize. All the railroad charters were granted by acts at different times of the State legislature, under the constitution which declares that " corporations may be formed under general laws, but shall not be created by a special act, exeept for municipal purposes and in cases where, in the judgment of the legislature, the objects of the corporations can not be attained under general laws. All general laws, or special acts, enacted under the provisions of this section, may be altered or repealed by the legislature at any time after their passage." The complaints of the people seem to have remained unheeded, resulting in the passage of the "Potter Law." This law limited the compensation for the transportation of passengers, classified freight, and regulated prices for its transportation within the State. It also required the governor on or before the first of May, 1874, by and with the consent of the senate, to appoint three railroad commissioners ; one for one year, one for two years, and one for three years, whose terms of office should commence on the fourteenth day of May, and that the governor, thereafter, on the first day of May, of each year, should appoint one commissioner for three years. Under this law, the governor appointed J. H. Osborn, for three years; George H. Paul, for two years ; and J. W. Hoyt, for one year. Under executive direction, this commission inaugurated its labors by compiling, classifying, and putting into convenient form for public use for the first time, all the railroad legislation of the State.

At the outset the two chief railroad corporations of the State - the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul, and the Chicago and Northwestern - served formal notice upon the governor of Wisconsin that they would not respect the provisions of the new railroad law. Under his oath of office, to support the constitution of the State, it was the duty of Governor Taylor to expedite all such measures as should be resolved upon by the legislature, and to take care that the laws be faithfully executed. No alternative, therefore, was le*'t the chief executive but to enforce the law by all the means placed in his hands for that purpose. He promptly responded to the notification of the railroad companies by a proclamation, dated May i, 1874, in which he enjoined compliance with the statute, declaring that all the functions of his office would be exercised in faithfully executing the laws, and invoking the aid of all good citizens thereto. " The law of the land," said Governor Taylor, "must be respected and obeyed." " While none," continued he,

" are so weak as to be without its protection, none are so strong as to be above its restraints. If provisions of the law be deemed oppressive, resistance to its mandates will not abate, but rather multiply the anticipated evils." '"It is the right," he added, ''of all to test its validity through the constituted channels, but with that right is coupled the duty of yielding a general obedience to its requirements until it has been pronounced invalid by competent authority,"

The railroad companies claimed not merely the unconstitutionality of the law, but that its enforcement would bankrupt the companies, and suspend the operation of their lines. The governor, in reply, pleaded the inviolability of his oath of office and his pledged faith to the people. The result was an appeal to the courts, in which the State, under the direction of its governor, was compelled to confront an array of the most formidable legal talent of the country. Upon the result in Wisconsin depended the vitality of much similar legislation in neighboring Slates, and Governor Taylor and his associate representatives of State authority were thus compelled to bear the brunt of a controversy of national extent and consequence. The contention extended both to State and United States courts, the main question involved being the constitutional power of the State over corporations of its own creation. In all respects, the Siate was fully sustained in its position, and, ultimately, judgments were rendered against the corporations in all the State and federal courts, including the supreme court of the United States, and establishing finally the complete and absolute power of the people, through the legislature, to modify or altogether repeal the charters of corporations.

Another act of the session of 1874 abolished the office of State commissioner of immigration, "on and after " the first Monday of January, 1876. The legislature adjourned on the twelfth of March, 1874, after a session of fifty-eight days.

The office of state prison commissioner having, by operation of law, become vacant on the fifth day of January, 1874, the governor, on the twenty-third of that month, appointed for State prison directors, Joel Rich, for twj years; William E. Smith, for four years; and Nelson Dewey, for six years: these to take the place of that officer.

On the sixteenth of June, Chief Justice Dixon, whose term of office would have expired on the first Monday in January, 1876, resigned. his seat upon the bench of the supreme court, Governor Taylor appointing Edward G. Ryan in his place until his successor should be elected and qualified. At the November election of this year, the members chosen to the forty-fourth congress were - Charles G. Williams, from the first district; Lucian B. Caswell, from the second; Henry S. Magoon, from the third ; William Pitt Lynde, from the fourth; Samuel D. Burchard, from the fifth; A. M. Kimball, from the sixth; Jeremiah M. Rusk, from the seventh, and George W. Cate, from the eighth district. Lynde, Burchard and Cate were " reform ; " the residue were republican.

At the same election, an amendment to section 3 of article 11 of the constitution of the State was duly ratified and adopted by the people. Under this section, as it now stands, it is the duty of the legislature, and they are by it empowered, to provide for the organization of cities and incorporated villages, and to restrict their power of taxation, assessment, borrowing money, contracting debts, and loaning their credit, so as to prevent abuses in assessments and taxation, and in contracting debts, by such municipal corporations. No county, city, town, village, school district, or other municipal corporation, shall be allowed to become indebted in any manner, or for any purpose, to any amount, including existing indebtedness in the aggregate, exceeding five per centum on the value of the taxable property therein, to be ascertained by the last assessment for State and county taxes previous to the incurring of such indebtedness. Any county, city, town, village, school district, or other municipal corporation, incurring any indebtedness as aforesaid, shall, before, or at the time of doing so, provide for the collection of a direct annual tax sufficient to pay fhe interest on such debt as it falls due, and also to pay and discharge the principal thereof within twenty years from the time of contracting the same.

In 1872, the first appropriation for fish culture in Wisconsin was made by the legislature, subject to the direction of the United States commissioner of fisheries. In 1874, a further sum was appropriated, and the governor of the State authorized to appoint three commissioners, whose duties were, upon receiving any spawn or fish, by or through the United States commissioner of fish and fisheries, to immediately place such spawn in the care of responsible pisciculturists of the State, to be hatched and distributed in the different waters in and surrounding Wisconsin. Two more members have since been added by law to the commission ; their labors have been much extended, and liberal appropriations made to further the object they have in view - with flattering prospects of their finally being able to stock the streams and lakes of the State with the best varieties of food fish.

The year 1874, in Wisconsin, was characterized as one of general prosperity among farmers, excepting the growers of wheat. The crop of that cereal was light, and, in places, entirely destroyed by the chinch-bug. As a consequence, considerable depression e.xisted in business in the wheat-growing districts. Trade and commerce continued throughout the year at a low ebb, the direct result of the monetary crisis of 1873.

The legislature commenced its twenty-eighth regular session on the thirteenth of January, 1875, with a republican majority in both houses. F. W. Horn was elected speaker of the assembly. The governor delivered his message in person, on the fourteenth, to the two houses. " Thanking God for all His mercies," are his opening words, " I congratulate you that order and peace reign throughout the length and breadth of our State. Our material prosperity has not fulfilled our anticipations But let us remember that we bear no burden of financial depression not common to all the States, and that the penalties of folly are the foundation of wisdom." In regard to the " Potter Law," the governor said, " It is not my opinion that this law expressed the best judgment of the legislature which enacted it. While the general principles upon which it is founded command our unqualified approbation, and can never be surrendered, it must be accomplished by our people," continued the speaker, "is not the management of railroad property by themselves, but to prevent its mismanagement by others." Concerning the charge that Wisconsin was warring upon railways within her limits, the governor added, " She has never proposed such a war. She proposes none now. She asks only honesty, justice and the peace of mutual good will. To all men concerned, her people say in sincerity and in truth that every dollar invested in our State shall be lawfully entitled to its just protection, whencesoever the danger comes. In demanding justice for all, the State will deny justice to none. In forbidding mismanagement, the State will impose no restraints upon any management that is hjnest and just. In this, the moral and hereditary instincts of our people furnish a stronger bond of good faith than the judgments of courts or the obligations of paper constitutions. Honest capital may be timid and easily frightened; yet it is more certain to seek investment among a people whose laws are at all times a shield for the weak and a reliance for the strong - where the wholesome restnints of judicious legislation are felt alike by the exalted and the humble, the rich and the poor."

The first important business to be transacted by this legislature was the election of a United States senator, as the term for which M. H Carpenter had been elected would expire on the fourth of March ensuing. Much interest was manifested in the matter, not only in the two houses, but throughout the State. There was an especial reason for this; for, although the then incumbent was a candidate for re-election, with a republican majority in the legislature, yet it was well known that enough members of that party were pledged, before the commencement of the session, to vote against him, to secure his defeat, should they stand firm to their pledges. The republicans met in caucus and nominated Carpenter for re-election; but the recalcitrant members held themselves aloof. Now, according to usual precedents, a nomination by the dominant party was equivalent to an election; not so, however, in this case, notwithstanding the friends of the nominee felt sanguine of his election in the end. The result of the first ballot, on the twenty-sixth of January, was, in the senate, thirteen for the republican candidate ; in the assembly, forty-six votes, an aggregate of only fifty-nine. He lacked four votes in the assembly and an equal number in the senate, of having a majority i.i each house. On the twenty-seventh, the two houses, in joint convention, h.iving met to compare the record of the voting the day previous, and it appearing that no one person had received a majority of the votes in each house for United States senator, they proceeded to their first joint ballot. The result was, no election. The balloting was continued each day, until the third of February, when, on the eleventh joint trial, Angus Cameron, of LaCJrosse, having received sitxty-eight votes, to Carpenter's fifty-nine, with five scattering, was declared elected.

As in the previous session so in this, - one of the most absorbing subjects before the legislature was that of railroads; the " Potter Law" receiving a due share of attention in both houses. The result was an amendment in some important particulars without changing the right of State control : rates were modified. The law as amended was more favorable to the railroad companies and was regarded as a compromise. The legislature adjourned sine die on the 6th of March. This was the shortest session ever held in the State except one of twenty-five years previous.

On the i6th of February, O. W. Wight was appomted by the governor chief geologist of Wisconsin, in place of I. A. Lapham, whose appointment had not been acted upon by the Senate. On the 24th of the same month, J. \V. Hoyt was appointed railroad commissioner for three years from the first day of May following, on which day his one-year term in the same office would expire. At the regular Spring election on the 6th of April following, Edward G. Ryan was elected, without opposition, chief justice of the supreme court for the unexpired term of Chief Justice Dixon, ending the first Monday in January, 1876, and for a full term of six years from the last mentioned date; so that his present term of office will expire on the 1st Monday in January, 1882. An act providing for taking the census of Wisconsin on or before the ist of July, 1875, was passed by the legislature and approved the 4th of March pievious. It required an enumeration of all the inhabitants of the State except Indians, who were not entitled to the right of suffrage. The result of this enumeration gave a total population to Wisconsin of one million two hundred and thirty-six thousand seven hundred and twenty-nine.

At the November election, republican and " reform ' tickets were in the field for State officers, resulting in the success of the latter, except as to governor. For this office Harrison Ludington was chosen by a majority, according to the State board of canvassers, over William R. Taylor, of eight hundred and forty-one. The rest of the candidates elected were : Charles D. Parker, lieutenant governor; Petei Doyle, secretary of state, Ferdinand Kuehn, treasurer of state, A. Scott Sloan, attorney general; and Edward Searing, superintendent of public instruction. The act abolishing the office of state commissionei of immigration was to take effect "on and after" the close of this administration; so, 01 course, no person was voted for to fill that position at the Fall election of 1S75.

During this administration the principle involved in -a long-pending controversy between the State and Minnesota relating to valuable harbor privileges at the head of Lake Superior, was successfully and finally settled in favor of Wisconsin. The influence of the executive was largely instrumental in initiating a movement which resulted in securing congressional appropriaiions amounting to $800,000 to the Fox and Wisconsin river improvement. A change was inaugurated in the whole system of timber agencies over State and railroad lands, by which the duties of agents were localized, and efficiency was so well established that many important trespasses were brought to light from which over $60,000 in penalties was collected and paid into the Treasury, while as much more was subsequently realized from settlements agreed upon and proceedings instituted. By decisive action on the part of the governor an unsettled printing claim of nearly a hundred thousand dollars was met and defeated in the courts. During this period also appropriations were cut down, and the rate of taxation diminished. Governor Taylor bestowed unremitting personal attention to details of business with a view of promoting the public interests with strict economy, while his countenance and support was extended to all legitimate enterprises. He required the Wisconsin Central railroad company to give substantial assurance that it would construct a branch line from Stevens Point to Portage City as contemplated by congress, before issuing certificates for its land grants.

The closing year of the century of our national existence - 1S75, was one somewhat discouraging to certain branches of the agricultural interests of Wisconsin. The previous Winter had been an unusually severe one. A greater breadth of corn was planted than in any previous year in the State, but the unusually late season, followed by frosts in August and September, entirely ruined thousands of acres of that staple.

The fifteenth administration of Wisconsin commenced at noon on Monday, January 3, 1876, by the inauguration of State officers - Harrison Ludington, as previously stated, having been elected upon the republican ticket, to fill the chief executive office of the State ; the others, to the residue of the offices, upon the democratic reform ticket : the governor, like three of his predecessors - Farwell, Bashford, and Randall (first term) - having been chosen by a majority less than one thousand ; and, like two of his predecessors - Farwell and Bashford - when all the other State officers differed with him in politics.

The twenty-ninth regular session of the legislature of Wisconsin began on the 12th of January, 1876, at Madison. The republicans were in the majority in both houses. Samuel S. Fifield was elected speaker of the assembly. On the 13th, Governor Ludington delivered in person, to a joint convention of that body, his message, communicating the condition of affairs of the State, and recommending such matters for the consideration of the legislators as were thought expedient : it was brief; its style condensed ; its striking peculiarity, a manly frankness. " It is not the part of wisdom," said he, in his concluding remarks, "to disguise the fact that the people of this State, in common with those of all sections of the Union, have suffered some abatement of the prosperity that they have enjoyed in the past.'' "We have entered," he continued, "upon the centennial of our existence as an independent nation. It is fit that we should renew the spirit in which the Republic had its birth, and our determination that it shall endure to fulfill the great purposes of its existence, and to justify the noble sacrifices of its founders." The legislature adjourned .f/«f <//V on the 14th of March, 1876, after a session of sixty-three days. The chief measures of the session were; The amendment of the railroad laws, maintaining salutary restrictions while modifying those features which were crippling and crushing an important interest of the State ; and the apportionment of the State into senate and assembly districts. It is a provision of the constitution of the State that the number of the members of the assembly shall never be less than fifty-four, nor more than one hundred ; and that the senate shall consist of a number not more than one-third nor less than one-fourth of the number of the members of the assembly. Since the year 1862, the aggregate allotted to both houses had been one hundred and thirty-three, the maximum allowed by the constitution ; one hundred in the assembly and thirtythree in the senate. The number of this representation was not diminished by the apportionment of 1876. One of the railroad laws abolished the board of railroad commissioners, conferring its duties upon a railroad commissioner to be appointed by the governor every two years. Under this law. DanaC. J^amb was appointed to that office, on the loth of March, 1876. On the 2d day of February, previous, George W. Burchard was by the governor appointed state prison director for six years, in place of Joel Rich, whose term of office had expired. On the same day T. C. Chamberlin was appointed chief geologist of Wisconsin in place of O. W. Wight.

The application of Miss Lavinia Goodell, for admission to the bar of Wisconsin, was rejected by the supreme court of the State, at its January term, 1876. "We can not but think," iaid Chief Justice Ryan, in the decree of refusal, " we can not but think the common law wise in e.xcluding women from the profession of the law." "The profession," he added, "enters largely into the well-being of society, and, to be honorably filled,, and safely to society, exacts the devotion of life. The law of nature destines and qualifies the female sex for the bearing and nurture of the children of our race, and for the custody of the homes of the world, and their maintenance in love and honor. And all life-long callings of women inconsistent with these radical and social duties of their sex, as is the profession of the law, are departures from the order of Nature, and, when voluntary, are treason against it." By a law since passed, no person can be denied admission to any court in the State on account of sex j and Miss Goodell has been admitted to practice in the Supreme Court.

By an act of the legislature, approved March 13, 1876, a State board of health was established, the appointment of a superintendent of vital statistics, was provided for, and certain duties were assigned to local boards of health. The State board was organized soon after; the governor having previously appointed seven persons as its members. The object of the organization, which is supported by the State, is, to educate the people of Wisconsin into a better knowledge of the nature and causes of disease, and a better knowledge and observance of hygienic laws.

By a law passed in 1868, as amended in 1870 and 1873, the secretary of state, state treasurer, and attorney general, were constituted a State board of assessment, to meet in the city of Madison, on the third Wednesday in May, 1874, and biennally thereafter, to make an equalized valuation of the property in the State, as a guide to assessment for taxation. In the tables of equalized valuations compiled by this board in 1876, the whole amount of taxable property in Wisconsin, is set down at $423,596,290 ; of which sum $337,073,148, represents real estate and $86,523,142 personal property.

This being the year for the election of president and vice president of the United States, the two political parties in Wisconsin - republican and democratic - had tickets in the field. At the election on Tuesday, November 7, the republican presidential electors received a majority of the votei cast in the State, securing Wisconsin for Hayes and Wheeler. The eight congressional districts elected the same day their members to the forty-fifth congress, whose terms of office would expire on the 4th of March, 1879. Charles G. Williams was elected in the first district; Lucien B. Caswell, in the second; George C. Hazelton, in the third; William P. Lynde, in the fourth; Edward S. Bragg, in the fifth; Gabriel Bouck, in the sixth; H. L. Humphrey, in the seventh ; and Thad. C. Pound, in the eighth district. A majority of the delegation was republican, the representatives from the fourth, fifth and sixth districts only, being democrats.

There was a general and spontaneous exhibition of patriotic impulses throughout the length and breadth of Wisconsin, on the part of both native and foreign-born citizens, at the commencement of the centennial year, and upon the fourth of July. The interest of the people of the State generally, in the Exposition at Philadelphia, was manifested in a somewhat remarkable manner from its inception to its close. By an act of congress, approved March 3, 187 1, provision was made for celebrating the one hundredth anniversary of American Independence, by holding in that city, in 1876, an exhibition of arts, manufactures, and the products of the soil and mines of the country. A centennial commission, consisting of one commissioner and one alternate commissioner, from each State and Territory, was authorized to be appointed, to carry out the provisions of the act. David Atwood, as commissioner, and E. D. Holton, as alternate, were commissioned by the president of the United States, from Wisconsin. This commission gradually made progress in preparing for an international exposition. " The commission has been organized," said Governor Washburn, in his message to the legislature in January, 1873, " and has made considerable progress in its work. The occasion will be one to which I'hc American people can not fail to respond in the most enthusiastic manner." The president of the United States, by proclamation, in July, 1873, announced the exhibition and national celebration, and commended them to the people of the Union, and of all nations. " It seems fitting," said Governor Taylor, in his message to the Wisconsin legislature in 1874, " that such a celebration of this important event, should be held, and it is hoped it will be carried out in a manner worthy of a great and enlightened nation." By the close of 1874, a large number of foreign governments had signified their intention to participate in the exhibition.

The legislature of Wisconsin, at its session in 1875, deeming it essential that the State, with its vast resources in agricultural, mineral, lumbering, manufacturing, and other products and industries, should be fully represented at Philadelphia, passed an act which was approved March 3, 1875, to provide for a "Board of State Centennial Managers." Two thousand dollars were appropriated to pay its necessary expenses. The board was to consist of five members to be appointed by the governor ; and there were added thereto, as ex-officio members, the United States centennial commissioner and his alternate. The duties of the members were to disseminate information regarding the Exhibition; to secure the co-operation of mdustrial, scientific, agricultural, and other associations in tlie State; to appoint co-operative local committees, representing the different industries of the State ; to stimulate local action on all measures intended to render the exhibition successful, and a worthy representation of the industries of the country ; to encourage the production of articles suitable for the Exhibition ; to distribute documents issued by the centennial commission among manufacturers and others in the State ; to render assistance in furthering the financial and other interests of the exhibition ; to furnish information to the commission on subjects that might be referred to the board ; to care for the interests of the State and of its citizens in matters relating to the exhibition ; to receive and pronounce upon applications for space ; to apportion the space placed at its disposal among the exhibitors from the State ; and to supervise such other details relating to the representation of citizens of Wisconsin in the Exhibition, as might from time to time be delegated by the United States centennial commission.

The board was required to meet on the first Wednesday of April, 1875, at the capitol, in Madison, to organize and adopt such by-laws and regulations as might be deemed necessary for the successful prosecution of the work committed to their charge Governor Taylor appointed Eli Stilson, J. I. Case, J. B. Parkinson, T. C. Pound, and E. A. Calkins, members of the board. Its organization was perfected, at the appointed time, by the election of J. B. Parkinson as president, and W. W. Field, secretary. The ex-officio members of the board, were David Atwood,

United States commissioner, and E. D. Helton, alternate From this time forward, the board was untiring in its efforts to secure a full and proper representation of the varied interests of Wisconsin in the centennial exhibition of 1876. E. A. Calkins having resigned his position as member of the board, Adolph Meinecke took his place by appointment of the governor July 24, 1875. Governor Ludington, in his message to the legislature in January, 1876, spoke in commendation of the coming exhibition. "The occasion," said he, "will afford an excellent opportunity to display the resources and products of the State, and to attract hither capital and immigration."

Soon after the organization of the United States centennial commission, a national organization of the women of the country was perfected. A lady of Philadelphia was placed at its head; and a presiding officer from each State was appointed. Mrs. A. C. Thorp assumed the duties of chairman for Wisconsin, in March, 1875, appointing assistants in various parts of the State, when active work was commenced. This organization was efficient in Wisconsin in arousing an interest in the general purposes and objects of the exhibition.

By an act of the legislature, approved March 3, 1876, the sum of twenty thousand dollars was appropriated to the use of the board of centennial managers, for the purpose of arranging for, and making a proper exhibition of, the products, resources, and advantages of the State at the exposition. The treasurer of Wisconsin was, by this act, made an ex-officio member of the board. By this and previous action of the legislature - by efforts put forth by the board of managers - by individual enterprise - by the untiring labors of the "Women's Centennial Executive Committee," to whom, by an act of the legislature, approved the 4th of March, 1875, one thousand dollars were appropriated - Wisconsin was enabled to take a proud and honorable position in the Centennial Exposition - a gratification not only to the thousands of her citizens who visited Philadelphia during its continuance, but to the people generally, throughout the State.

In Wisconsin, throughout the centennial year, those engaged in the various branches of agriculture and other useful avocations, were reasonably prosperous. The crop of wheat and oats was a light yield, and of poor quality ; but the corn crop was the largest ever before raised in the State, and of superior quality. The dairy and hog product was large, and commanded remunerative prices. Fruits were unusually plenty. Trade and business enterprises, however, generally remained depressed.

By section five of article seven of the constitution of Wisconsin, the counties of the State were apportioned into five judicial circuits : the county of Richland being attached to Iowa, Chippewa to Crawford, and La Pointe to St. Croix. In 1850, the fifth circuit was divided, and a sixth circuit formed. In 1864, Crawford and Richland were made part of the fifth circuit. By an act which took effect in 1854, a seventh circuit was formed. On the first day of January, 1855, the sixth circuit was divided, and an eighth and ninth circuit formed, the county of Columbia being made a part of the last mentioned one. In the same year was also formed a tenth circuit; and, in 1858, Winnebago county was attached to it; but, in 1870, that county was attached to the third circuit. In 1858, Kewaunee county was attached to the fourth circuit. An eleventh circuit was formed in 1864, from which, in 1865, Dallas county was detached, and made part of the eighth. By an act which took effect on the first day of January, 187 1, the twelfth circuit was formed. In 1876, a thirteenth circuit was " constituted and re-organized."

At that time, the whole sixty counties of the State stood apportioned in the thirteen judicial circuits as follows: First circuit, Walworth, Racine, and Kenosha; second circuit, Milwaukee, and Waukesha; third circuit, Green Lake, Dodge, Washington, Ozaukee, and Winnebago; fourth circuit, Sheboygan, Calumet, Kewaunee, Fond du Lac, and Manitowoc ; fifth circuit.

Grant, Iowa, La Fayette, Richland, and Crawford ; sixth circuit, Clark, Jackson, Monroe, La Crosse, and Vernon; seventh circuit, Portage, Marathon, Waupaca, Wood, Waushara, Lincoln, and Taylor; eighth circuit, Dunn, Pepin, Pierce, and St. Croix; ninth circuit, Adams, Columbia, Dane, Juneau, Sauk and Marquette ; tenth circuit, Outagamie, Oconto, Shawano, Door, and Brown eleventh circuit, Ashland, Barron, Bayfield, Burnett, Chippewa, Douglas, and Polk ; twelfth circuit, Rock, Green, and Jefferson; and the thirteenth circuit, Buffalo, Eau Claire, and Trempeleau, Marinette and New are now in the tenth ; Price is in the seventh circuit.

The thirtieth regular session of the legislature of Wisconsin commenced, pursuant to law, on the loth of January, 1877. The republicans had working majorities in both houses. J. B. Cassoday was elected Speaker of the Assembly. Governor Ludington delivered his message to the joint convention of the legislature the following day. " We should not seek," said he, in his concluding remarks, "to conceal from ourselves the fact that the prosperity which our people have enjoyed for a number of years past, has suffered some interruption. Agriculture has rendered less return ; labor in all departments has been less productive, and trade has consequently been less active, and has realized a reduced percentage of profit." " These adverse circumstances," continued the governor, "will not be wholly a misfortune if we heed the lesson that they convey. This lesson is the necessity of strict economy in public and private affairs. We have been living upon a false basis ; and the time has now come when we must return to a solid foundation." The legislature adjourned sine <&- on the 8th of March, after a session of fiftyeight days, passing three hundred and one acts - one hundred and thirteen less than at the session of 1876 The most important of these, as claimed by the dominant party which passed it, is one for the maintenance of the purity of the ballot box, known as the " Registry Law." On the 3d day of April, at the regular Spring election, William P. Lyon was re-elected, without opposition, an associate justice of the supreme court for six years from the first Monday in January, 1878, his term of office expiring on the first Monday of January, 1884.

Under a law of 1876, to provide for the revision of the statutes of the State, the justices of the supreme court were authorized to appoint three revisors. The persons receiving the appointment were David Taylor, William F. Vilas and J. P. C. Cottrill. By an amendatory law of 1877, for the purpose of having the revision completed for the session of 1878, the justices of the supreme court were authorized to appoint two additional revisors, and assign them special duties on the commission. H. S. Orton was appointed to revise the criminal law and proceedings, and J. H. Carpenter to revise the probate laws.

Governor Ludington declined being a candidate for renomination. His administration was characterized as one of practical efficiency. As the chief executive officer of Wisconsin, he kept in view the best interests of the State. In matters coming under his control, a rigid system of economy prevailed.

There were three tickets in the field presented to the electors of Wisconsin for their suffrages at the general election lield on the sixth of November, 1877 : republican, democratic, and the "greenback" ticket. The republicans were successful, electing William E. Smith, governor ; James M. Bingham, lieutenant governor; Hans B. Warner, secretary of state; Richard Guenther, treasurer; Alexander Wilson, attorney general ; and William C. Whitford, state superintendent of public instruction. At the same election two amendments to the constitution of the State were voted upon and both adopted. The first one amends section four of article seven ; so that, hereafter, " the supreme court shall consist of one chief justice and four associate justices, to be elected by the qualified electors of the State. The legislature shall, at its first session after the adoption of this amendment, provide by law for the election of two associa e justices of said court, to hold their offices respectively for terms ending two and four years, respectively after the end of the term of the justice of the said court then last to expire. And thereafter the chief justices and associate justices of said court shall be elected and hold their offices respectively for the term of ten years." The second one amends section two of article eight ; so that, heieafter, " no money shall be paid out of the treasury except in pursuance of an appropriation by law. No appropriation shall be made for the payment of any claim against the State, except claims of the United States, and judgments, unless filed within six years after the claim accrued." The year 1S77, in Wisconsin, was notable for excellent crops. A depression in monetary matters continued, it is true, but not without a reasonable prospect of a change for the better within the near future.

At noon, on Monday, January 7, 1878, began the sixteenth administration of Wisconsin, by the inauguration of the State officers elect. On the 9th of the same month, commenced the thirty-first regular session of the Legislature. A. R. Barrows was elected Speaker of the Assembly. On the day following. Governor Smith delivered his message - a calm, business-like document - to the Legislature. Both Houses adjourned sine die on the 21st of March following. On the ist day of April, Harlow S. Orton and David Taylor were elected Associate Justices of the Supreme Court; the term of the first named to expire on the first Monday of January, 1888 ; that of the last mentioned, on the first Monday of January, 1SS6. In obedience to a proclamation of the Governor, the Legislature convened on the 4th day of June, A. D. 1878, in extra session, to revise the statutes, A. R. Barrows was elected Speaker of the Assembly. The Legislature adjourned sine die on the 7th of the same month. In November following, the members chosen to the Forty-sixth Congress were C. G. Williams, in the First District ; L. B. Caswell, in the Second ; George C. Hazelton, in the Third ; P, V. Deuster, in the Fourth ; E. S. Bragg, in the Fifth ; Gabriel Bouck, in the Sixth ; H. L. Humphrey, in the Seventh ; and T. C. Pound, in the Eighth. The thirty-second regular session of the Legislature commenced on the 8th day of January, 1879. D. M. Kelly was elected Speaker of the Assembly ; the next day, the message of the Governor - a brief, but able State paper - was delivered to both Houses. On the 21st, Matthew H. Carpenter was elected United States Senator for six years, from the 4th of March thereafter, in place of Timothy O. Howe. The Legislature adjourned st7ie die on the 5th of March, 1S79. ^'^ 'he ist day of April following, Orsamus Cole was elected Associate Justice of the Supreme Court, for a term of ten years.

Wisconsin has many attractive features. It is a healthy, fertile, well-watered and well-wooded State. Every where within its borders the rights of each citizen are held sacred. Intelligence and education are prominent characteristics of its people. All the necessaries and many of the comforts and luxuries of life are easily to be obtained. Agriculture, the chief source of wealth to so many nations, is here conducted with profit and success. Generally speaking, the farmer owns the land he cultivates. Here, the laboring man, if honest and industrious, is most certain to secure a competence for himself and family. Few States have made more ample provisions for the unfortunate - the deaf and dumb, the blind, and the insane - than has Wisconsin. Nor has she been less interested in her reformatory and penal institutions. In her educational facilities, she already rivals the most advanced of her sister States. Her markets are easily reached by railways and water-navigation, so that the products of the country find ready sale. Her commerce is extensive ; her manufactures remunerative; her natural resources great and manifold. In morality and religion, her standard is high. Her laws are lenient, but not lax, securing the greatest good to those who are disposed to live up to their requirements. Wisconsin has, in fact, all the essential elements of prosperity and good government. Exalted and noble, therefore, must be her future career.

Topography And Geology

The surface features of Wisconsin are simple and symmetrical in character, and present a configuration intermediate between the mountainous, on the one hand, and a monotonous level, on the other. The highest summits within the state rise a little more than 1,200 leet above its lowest surfaces. A few exceptional peaks rise from 400 to 600 feet above their bases, but abrupt elevations of more than 200 or 300 feet are not common. Viewed as a whole, the state may be regarded as occupying a swell of land lying between three notable depressions; Lake Michigan on the east, about 578 feet above the mean tide of the ocean. Lake Superior on the north, about 600 feet above the sea, and the valley of the Mississippi river, whose elevation at the Illinois state line is slightly below that of Lake Michigan. From these depressions the surface slopes upward to the summit altitudes of the state. But the rate of ascent is unequal. From Lake Michigan the surface rises by a long, gentle acclivity westward and northward. A similar slope ascends from the Mississippi valley to meet this, and their junction forms a north and south arch extending nearly the entire length of th*; state. From Lake Superior the surface ascends rapidly to the watershed, which it reaches within about thirty miles of the lake.

If we include the contiguous portion of the upper peninsula of Michigan, the whole elevation maybe looked upon as a very low, rude, three-sided pyramid, with rounded angles. The apex is near the Michigan line, between the headwaters of the Montreal and Brule rivers. The northern side is short and abrupt. The southeastward and southwestward sides are long, and decline gently. The base of this pyramid may be considered as, in round numbers, 600 feet above the sea, and its extreme apex 1,800 feet.

Under the waters of Lake Michigan the surface of the land passes below the sea level before the limits of the state are reached. Under Lake Superior the land-surface descends to even greater depths, but probably not within the boundaries of the state. The regularity of the southward slopes is interrupted in a very interesting way by a remarkable diagonal valley occupied by Green bay and the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. This is a great groove, traversing the state obliquely, and cutting down the central elevation half its height. A line passing across the surface, from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi, at any other point, would arch upward from about 400 to 1,000 feet, according to the location, while .-xlong the trough of this valley it would reach an elevation barely exceeding 200 feet. On the northwest side of this trough, in general, the surface rises somewhat gradually, giving at most points much amplitude to the valley, but on the opposite side, the slope ascends rapidly to a well marked watershed that stretches across the state parallel to the valley. At Lake Winnebago, this diagonal valley is connected with a scarcely less notable one, occupied by the Rock river. Geologically, this Green-bay-Rock- river valley is even more noticeable, since it lies along the trend of the underlying strata, and was in large measure plowed out of a soft stratum by glacial action. Where it crosses the watershed, near Horicon marsh, it presents the same general features that are seen at other points, and in an almost equally conspicuous degree. Except in the southern part of the state, this valley is confined on the east by an abrupt ascent, and, at many points, by a precipitous, rocky acclivity, known as "The Ledge" - which is the projecting edge of the strata of the Niagara limestone. On the watershed referred to - between the St. Lawrence and Mississippi basins - this ledge is as conspicuous and continuous as at other points, so that we have here again the phenomenon of a valley formed by excavation, running up over an elevation of 300 feet, and connecting two great systems of drainage.

On the east side of this valley, as already indicated, there is a sharp ascent of 200 feet, on an average, from the crest of which the surface slopes gently down to Lake Michigan. The uniformity of this slope is broken by an extended line of drift hills, lying obliquely along it and extending from Kewaunee county southward to the Illinois line and known as the Kettle range. A less conspicuous range of similar character branches off from this in the northwest corner of Walworth county and passes across the Rock river valley, where it curves northward, passing west of Madison, crossing the great bend in the Wisconsin river, and bearing northeastward into Oconto county, where it swings round to the westward and crosses the northern part of the state. As a general topographical feature it is not conspicuous and is rather to be conceived as a peculiar chain of drift hills winding over the surface of the state, merely interrupting in some degree the regularity of its slopes There will be occasion to return to this feature in our discussion of the drift. It will be observed that the southeastward slope is interrupted by valleys running Mross it, rudely parallel to Lake Michigan, and directing its drainage northward and southward, instead of directing it down the slope into the lake.

The Mississippi slope presents several conspicuous ridges and valleys, but their trend is toward the great river, and they are all due, essentially, to the erosion of the streams that channel the slope. One of these ridges constitutes the divide south of the Wisconsin river, already referred to. Another of these, conspicuous by reason of its narrowness and sharpness, lies between the Kickapoo and the Mississippi, and extends through Crawford, Vernon and Monroe counties. Still another is formed by the quartzite ranges of Sauk county and others of less prominence give a highly diversified chaiacter to the slope.

Scattered over the surface of the state are prominent hills, some swelling upward into rounded domes, some rising symmetrically into conical peaks, some ascending precipitously into castellated towers, and some reaching prominence without regard to beauty of form or convenience of description. A part of these hills were formed by the removal by erosion of the surrounding strata, and a part by the heaping up of drift material by the glacial forces. In the former case, they are composed of rock; in the latter, of clay, sand, gravel and bowlders. The two forms are often combined. The highest peak in the southwestern part of the state is the West Blue mound, which is 1,151 feet above Lake Michigan; in the eastern part, Lapham's peak, 824 feet, and in the central part, Rib hill, 1263 feet. The crest of Penokee range in the northern part of the state rises 1,000 feet, and upwards, above Lake Michigan.

The drainage systems correspond in general to these topograpical features, though several minor eccentricities are to be observed. The streams of the Lake Superior system plunge rapidly down their steep slopes, forming numerous falls, some of them possessing great beauty, prominent among which are those of the Montreal river. On the southern slope, the rivers, in the upper portion of their courses, likewise descend rapidly, though less so, producing a succession of rapids and cascades, and an occasional cataract. In the lower part of their courses, the descent becomes much more gentle and many of them are navigable to a greater or less extent. The rivers west of the Wisconsin pursue an essentially direct course to the Mississippi, attended of course with minor flexures. The Wisconsin river lies, for the greater part of its course, upon the north and south arch of the state, but on encountering the diagonal valley above mentioned it turns southwestward to the " Father of Waters." The streams east of the Wisconsin flow southerly and southeasterly until they likewise encounter this valley when they turn in the opposite direction and discharge northeasterly into Lake Michigan, through Green bay. Between the Green-bay-Rock-river valley and Lake Michigan, the drainage is again in the normal southeasterly direction. In the southern part of the state, the rivers flow in a general southerly direction, but, beyond the state, turn westward toward the Mississippi.

If the courses of the streams be studied in detail, many e.Kceedingly interesting and instructive features will be observed, due chiefly to peculiarities of geological structure, some of which will 1)6 apiiarent by inspecting the accompanying geological map. Our space, however, forbids our entering upon the subject here.

The position of the watershed between the great basins of the Mississippi and the St. Lawrence is somewhat peculiar. On the Illinois line, it lies only three and one half miles from Lake Michigan and about i6o feet above its surface. As traced northward from this point, it retires from the lake and ascends in elevation till it approaches the vicinity of Lake Winnebago, when it recurves upon itself and descends to the portage between the Fox and the Wisconsin rivers, whence it pursues a northerly course to the heights of Michigan, when it turns westward and passes in an undulating course across the northern part of the state. It will be observed that much the greater area of the state is drained by the Mississippi system.

The relationship which the drainage channels have been observed to sustain to the topographical features is partly that of cause and partly that of eff'ect. The general arching of the surface, giving rise to the main slopes, is due to deep-seated geological causes that produce an upward swelling of the center of the state. This determined the general drainage systems. On the other hand, the streams, acting upon strata of varying hardness, and presenting different attitudes, wore away the surface unequally and cut for themselves anomalous channels, leaving corresponding divides between, which gave origin to the minor irregularities that diversify the surface. In addition to this, the glacier - that great ice stream, the father of the drift - planed and plowed the surface and heaped up its debris upon it, modifying both the surface and drainage features Looked at from a causal standpoint, we see the results of internal forces elevating, and external agencies cutting down, or, in a word, the face of the state is the growth of geologic ages furrowed by the teardrops of the skies.

Geological History Of Wisconsin

In harmony with the liistorical character of this atlas, it may be most, acceptable to weave our brief sketch of the geological structure of the state into the form of a narrative of its growth.

I.Aurkntian Period

The physical history of Wisconsin can be traced back with certainty to a state of complete submergence beneath the waters of the ancient ocean, by which the material of our oldest and deepest strata were deposited. Let an extensive but shallow sea, covering the whole of the present territory of the state, be pictured to the mind, and let it be imagined to be depositing mud and sand, as at the present day. and we have before us the first authentic stage of the history under consideration. Back of that, the history is lost in the mists of geologic antiquity. The thickness of the sediments that accumulated in that early period was immense, being measured by thousands of feet. These sediments occupied of course an essentially horizontal position, and were, doubtless, in a large degree hardened into beds of impure sandstone, shale, and other sedimentary rock. But in the progress of time an enormous pressure, attended by heat, was brought to bear upon them laterally, or edgewise, by which they were folded and crumpled, and forced up out of the water, giving rise to an island, the nucleus of Wisconsin. The force which pro-, duced this upheaval is believed to have arisen from the cooling and consequent contraction of the globe. The foldings may be imaged as the wrinkles of a shrinking earth. But the contortion of the beds was a scarcely more wonderful result than the change in the character of the rock which seems to have taken place simultaneously with the folding, indeed, as the result of the heat and pressure attending it. The sediments, that seem to have previoysly taken the form of impure sandstone and shale for the most part, underwent a change, in which re-arrangement and crystalization of the ingredients played a conspicuous part. By this metamorphism, granite, gneiss,- mica schist, syenite, hornblende rocks, chloritic schists and other crystalline rocks were formed. These constitute the Laurentian formation and belong to the most ancient period yet distinctly recognized in geology, although there were undoubtedly more ancient rocks. They are therefore very fittingly termed Archa;an - ancient - rocks (formerly Azoic.) No remains of life have been found in this formation in Wisconsin, but from the nature of rocks elsewhere, believed to be of the same age, it is probable that the lowest forms of life existed at this time. It is not strange that the great changes through which the rocks have passed should have so nearly obliterated all traces of them. The original extent of this Laurentian island can not now be accurately ascertained, but it will be sufficiently near the truth for our present purposes to consider the formation as it is now exposed, and as it is represented on the maps of the geological survey, as showing approximately the original extent. This will make it include a large area in the north-central portion of the state and a portion of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. All the rest of the state was beneath the ocean, and the same may be said of the greater portion of the United States The height of this island was doubtless considerable, as it has since been very much cut down by denuding agencies. The strata, as now exposed, mostly stand in highly inclined attitudes and present their worn edges to view. The tops of the folds, of which they are the remnants, seem to have been cut away, and we have the nearly vertical sides remaining.

Huronian Period

As soon as the Laurentian island had been elevated, the waves of the almost shoreless ccean began to beat against it, the elements to disintegrate it, and the rains of the then tropical climate to wash it; and the sand, clay and other debris, thus formed, were deposited beneath the waters around its base, giving rise to a new sedimentary formation. There is no evidence that there was any vegetation on the island : the air and water were, doubtless, heavily charged with carbonic acid, an efficient agent of disintegration : the climate was warm and doubtless very moist - circumstances which combined to hasten the erosion of the island and increase the deposition in the surrounding sea. \\\ addition to these agencies, we Judge from the large amount of carbonaceous matter contained in some of the beds, that there must have been an abundance of marine vegetation, and, from the limestone beds that accuiaiulated, it is probable that there was marine animal life also, since in later ages that was the chief source of limestone strata. The joint accumulations from these several sources gave rise to a series of shales, sandstones and limestones, whose combined thickness was several thousand feet.

At length the process of upheaval and metamorphism that closed the Laurentian period was repeated, and these sandstones became quartzites; tlic limestones were crystalized, the shales were changed to slates or schists, and intermediate grades of sediments became diorites, quartz- porphyries and other forms of crystalline rocks. The carbonaceous matter was changed in part to graphite. There were also associated with these deposits extensive beds of iron ore, which we now find chiefly in the form of magnetite, hematite and specular ore. These constitute the Huronian rocks. From the amount of iron ore they contain, they are also fittingly termed the iron-bearing series. As in the preceding case, the strata were contorted, flexed and folded, and the whole island was further elevated, carrying with it these circumjacent strata, by which its e.xtent was much enlarged. The area of the island after receiving this increment was considerably greater than the surface represented as Laurentian and Huronian on the accompanying map, since it was subsequently covered to a considerable extent by later formations. Penokee range, in Ashland county, is the most conspicuous development of the Huronian rocks in the state. The upturned edge of the formation forms a bold rampart, extending across the country for sixty miles, making the nearest approach to a mountain range to be found within the state. A belt of magnetic schist may be traced nearly its entire length. In tlie northern part of Oconto county , there is also an important development of this formation, being an extension of the Menomonee iron-bearing series. A third area is found in Barron county, which includes deposits of pipestone. In the south central part of the state there are a considerable number of small areas and isolated outliers of quartzite and quartz-porphyry, that, without much doubt, belong to this series. The most conspicuous of these are the Baraboo quartzite ranges, in Sauk and Columbia counties, and from thence a chain of detached outliers extends northeasterly through several counties. The most southerly exposure of the formation is near Lake Mills, in Jefferson county.

The Copper-Bearing Series

Previous to the upheaval of the Huronian strata, there occurred in the Lake Superior region events of peculiar and striking interest. If we may not speak with absolute assurance, we may at least say with reasonable probability, that the crust of the earth was fissured in that region, and thaf there issued from beneath an immense mass of molten rock, that spread itself over an area of more than three hundred miles in length and one hundred miles in width. The action was not confined to a single overflow, but eruption followed eruption, sometimes apparently in quick succession, sometimes evidently at long intervals. Each outpouring, when solidified, formed a stratum of trap rock, and where these followed each other without any intervening deposit, a series of trappean beds were formed. In some cases, however, an interval occurred, during which the waves, acting upon the rock previously formed, produced a bed of sand, gravel and clay, which afterward solidified into sandstone, conglomerate and shale. The history of these beds is lithographed on their surface in beautiful ripple-marks and other evidences of waveaction. After the cessation of the igneous eruptions, there accumulated a vast thickness of sandstone, shale and conglomerate, so that the whole series is literally miles in thickness.

The eruptive portions have been spoken of as traps, for convenience; but they do not now possess the usual characteristics of igneous rocks, and appear to have undergone a chemical metamorphism by which the mineral ingredients have been changed, the leading ones now being an iron chlorite and a feldspar, with which are associated, as accessory minerals, quartz, epidote, prenite, calcite, laumontite, analcite, datolite, magnetite, native copper and silver, and, more r.irely, other minerals. The rock, as a whole, is now known as a melaphyr. The upper portion of each bed is usually characterized by almond-sized cells filled with the minerals above mentioned, giving to the rock an amygdaloidal nature. The native copper was not injected in a molten state, as has very generally been supposed, but was deposited by chemical means after the beds were formed and after a portion of the chemical change of the minerals above mentioned had been accomplished. The same is true of the silver. The copper occurs in all the different forms of rock - the melaphyrs, amygdaloids, sandstones, shales and conglomerates, but most abundantly in the amygdaloids and certain conglomerates.

This series extends across the northern portion of the state, occupying portions of Ashland, Bayfield, Douglas, Burnett and Polk counties. When the Huronian rocks were elevated, they carried these up with them, and they partook of the folding in some measure. The copperbearing range of Keweenaw Point, Michigan, extends southwestward through Ashland, Burnett and Polk counties, and throughout this whole extent the beds dip north-norlhwesterly toward Lake Superior, at a high angle; but in Douglas and Bayfield counties there is a parallel range in which the beds incline in the opposite direction, and undoubtedly form the opposite side of a trough formed by a downward flexure of the strata.

After the great Archaean upheaval, there followed a long period, concerning wnich very little is known - a " lost interval" in geological history. It is only certain that immense erosion of the Archaean strata took place, and that in time the sea advanced upon the island, eroding its strata and redepositing the wash and wear beneath its surface. The more resisting beds withstood this advance, and formed reefs and rocky islands off the ancient shore, about whose bases the sands and sediments accumulated, as they did over the bottom of the surrounding ocean. The breakers, dashing against the rocky cliffs, threw down masses of rock, which imbedded themselves in the sands, or were rolled and rounded on the beach, and at length were buried, in either case, to tell their own history, when they should be again disclosed by the ceaseless gnawings of the very elements that had buried them. In addition to the accumulations of wash and wear that have previously been the main agents of rock-formations, abundant life now swarms in the ocean, and the sands become the great cemetery of its dead. Thoiigh the contribution'bf each little being was small, the myriad millions that the waters brought forth, yielded by their remains, a large contribution to the accumulating sediments. Among plants, there were sea-weeds, and among animals, protozoans, radiates, mollusks and articulates, all the sub-kingdoms except the vertebrates. Among these, the most remarkable, both in nature and number, were the trilobites, who have left their casts in countless multitudes in certain localities. The result of the action of these several agencies was the formation of extensive beds of sandstone, with interstratified layers of limestone and shale. These surrounded the Archaean nucleus on all sides, and reposed on its flanks. On the Lake Superior margin, the sea acted mainly upon the copper and ironbearing series, which are highly ferruginous, and the result wa, the red Lake Superior sandstone. On the opposite side of the island, the wave-action was mainly upon quartzites, porphyries and granites, and resulted in light-colored sandstones. The former is confined to the immediate vicinity of Lake Superior; the latter occupies a broad, irregular belt bordering the Archaean area on the south, and, being widest in the central part of the state, is often likened to a rude crescent. The form and position of the area will be best apprehended by referring to the accompanying map. It will be understood from the foregoing description, that the strata of this formation lie in a nearly horizontal position, and repose unconformably upon the worn surface of the crystalline rocks. The close of this period was not marked by any great upheaval; there was no crumpling or metamorphism of the strata, and they have remained to the present day very much as they were originally deposited, save a slight arching upward in the central porti jn of the state. The beds have been somewhat compacted by the pressure of superincumbent strata and solidified by the cementing action of calcareous and ferruginous waters, and by their own coherence, but the original character of the formation, as a great sand-bed, has not been obliterated. It still bears the ripple-marks, cross-lamination, worm-burrows, and similar markings that characterize a sandy beach. Its thickness is very irregular, owing to the unevenness of its Archaean bottom, and may be said to range from i,ooo feet downward. The strata slope gently away from the Archaean core of the state and underlie all the later formations, and may be reached at any point in southern Wisconsin by penetrating to a sufficient depth, which can be calculated with an approximate correctness. As it is a water-bearing formation, and the source of fine Artesian wells, this is a fact of much importance. The interbedded layers of limestone and shale, by supplying impervious strata, very much enhance its value as a source of