Winnebago County, Wisconsin - Chapter 27, 1880

The Fox and Wisconsin Rivers Improvement - Lands Granted to Wisconsin to Aid the Same - Transfer to a Company - Purchase of the Improvement by the United Slates.

^T will be seen from the foregoing pages that the water-courses in this State, viz.; the Fo.x and Wisconsin Rivers, and Lake Winnebago - the links which connect a chain from the Gulf of the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico - were the very earliest channels of the travel of the West, and that they are associated with the leading events of the earlier civilization of the continent. In all periods of our history this water communication has figured as an important national feature of the country.

In 1838, the improvement of this route was recommended to Congress by the Secretary of War, for the purpose of facilitating the transportation of troops and munitions of war to the frontier.

In i84(^. Congress granted for this purpose, and for the construction of a canal connecting the two rivers, a tract of land "equal to onehalf of three miles wide on each side of Fox River and the lakes through which it flows, from the junction of the canal with Fox River at Portage, to Green Bay, and along each side of the canal. "

August 8th, 1848, an act was passed to provide for the impro\'ement of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, and to connect the same by a canal, and providing for the election of five commissioners to be called the "Board of Public Works;" J. B. Estes, A. S. Story, John A. Bingham, Curtis Reeil and H. L. Dousman were elected.

The State elected to take the odd numbered sections, which amounted to 306,039.98-100 acres. September 4th, 1848, at a meeting of the Board, held at Madison, Mr. C. R. Alton was ap[)ointed chief engineer, and instructed to make a surve\- of the proposed route. In his report of Januar)', 1849, his estimate of cost for a canal and the improvement of Fox River from Portage City to Green Bay, was $373,- 706.09, with a depth of four feet at usual low water, which was then thought sufficient. This estimate included the cost of superintendence and salaries of officers.

nothing will be realized,) will, at $1.25 per acre, amount to $350,000." April 2nd, 1849, a land office was opened at Oshkosh for the sale of these lands, with the Hon. Joseph Jackson, Receiver, and Jedediah Brown, Register. During this year a survey was made of the Wisconsin River by Chief Engineer Alton, and resulted in a recommendation that the improvement of the river be confined to cutting down trees overhanging the river, and removing snags at a cost of $3,500, making the entire estimated cost of improvement of both rivers and canal, including "Superintendence and salaries ofofficers," $377,206.09. In the early part of the summer of 1850 the lock at Depere was brought into use.

In 1853, the Legislature passed an act conferring all the rights, franchises and property of the State in and to the Fox and Wisconsin Improvement, together with all lands heretofore granted by Congress for that purpose, and remaining unsold, to a corporation styled "Fox and Wisconsin River Improvement Company. "

In 1855, Congress passed an act enlarging the grant formerly made to Wisconsin, which gave to the State an additional 277,140 acres, makinga total of land granted for thisimprovement of 639,100 acres. The additional grant was claimed by the Company, and obtained by act of the Legislature.

In 1856, the Lower Fox had been improved so as to admit the passage of steamers from Green Bay to Lake Winnebago, and the first passage of a steamer between those points was made in June of that year.

The time having expired, as fixed in the contract for the completion of the work, the Company transferred all their rights and franchise to a new company called the Green Bay and Mississippi Canal Company, which was chartered by the Legislature in 1861.

In 1867, General Warren, under instructions from United States Engineer Department, made a survey of the rivers and an estimate of the cost of improving the same.

The following is an extract from his report: "To secure five feet of navigation at low water, all to be canal, 118 miles. Canal seventy feet at bottom, eighty feet at top. Locks, 160x35. Total lock lift, 175 feet. Sides of canals in cuts paved to allow the use of steamboats, $4,194,270. In order to finish in third year, will require $2,082,130 the first year, the remainder the second year, and $60,000 annually thereafter. "

In 1 87 1, the Government proposed to purchase the work and complete it, and the Company consenting to sell, an act of Congress was passed the same year, providing for a Board of Arbitrators, to be appointed to apprise the value of the property.

Since the Government took possession of this work in 1872, there has been more accomplished toward an available and permanent improvement, than in the twenty-four years preceding, and the improvement of the Fox River and canal may be considered virtually completed, although some of the old works are continually being replaced by new.

This is the great natural outlet of the heavy products of the Northwest. The annual shipments of wheat alone from points west of Lake Michigan eastward, that would naturally ship over this route, would average 50,000,000 of bushels, and the estimate cost of transportation by rail over that of water is on the single item of wheat alone, about $5,000,000, being a saving in one year of more than the entire estimated cost of the work in its most permanent and substantial form.

The importance of this work in its relation to the interests of the whole country cannot be over estimated, as it unites the only break in the chain of the incomparable water communication, which is one of the grand physical features of this continent.

The completion of this work by perfecting the navigation of the Wisconsin, would do more to stimulate the inter-trade and commerce of the country than any other project, and the amount of grain, cotton and other bulky products that will eventually pass over the route will far exceed the highest estimate of the most sanguine prophecy That portion of the great agricultural empire of the Northwest, comprised of the states of Wisconsin, Iowa and Minnesota, with three hundred thousand square miles of grain fields, would pour a continuous flow of their products through this channel, thus cheapening the