C)


         AN OUTLINE HISTORY OF WISCONSIN.



  The state of Wisconsin is situated between latitude 42 degrees 27 minutes
and 47 degrees
08 minutes north, and between longitude 86 degrees 53 minutes and 92 degrees
53 minutes
west of Greenwich, near London, England. It is bounded on the north by Lake
Superior,
on the east by Michigan and Lake Michigan, on the south by Illinois, and
on the west by
Iowa and Minnesota. It has an average length of about 260 miles, breadth
215 miles, and
an area of 56, 000 square miles, or 35,840, 000 acres. Deducting from this
the surface occu-
pied by lakes and rivers, there remain 53,924 square miles, or 34,511,360
acres of land.
  The tract of country from which Wisconsin was taken, was first claimed
by the French,
who exercised protectorate power over it until the close of the French and
Indian war,
after which, by the treaty of Paris in 1763, it went formally and absolutely
to Great Britain.
It became a part of United States territory at the close of the revolutionary
war, by the
treaty of 1783, confirmed by the treaty of 1795. In the meantime, Virginia
and other states
ceded to the government their claims to the territory northwest of the Ohio
river, and
congress, by the "ordinance of 1787," provided for its government.
It was enacted that
"there shall be neither slavery nor involuntary servitude in the said
territory," and that
there should be formed from such territory, as the population should justify,
"not less
than three nor more than five states."
  Nearly all of what is now Wisconsin, was afterwards included in Indiana
territory,
which was organized in 1800; then in the Illinois territory, organized in
1809; and in 1818,
when Illinois was admitted into the Union as a state, it was attached to
the territory of
Michigan. In 183, Wisconsin was made part of a separate judicial circuit,
and in 1836 was
organized as a territory, with Henry Dodge as governor. The first legislature
met at Bel-
mont, now in La Fayette county, October 25, 1836, and the next session was
convened at'
Burlington, now in the state of Iowa, November 6, 1837. In 1836, the seat
of governm6nt
was permanently located at Madison, where the legislature met for the first
time November
26, 1838.
  In April, 1846, the people voted in favor of a state government. On the
16th of Decem-
ber, a constitution was adopted in convention, which was rejected by a vote
of the people.
February 4, 1848, a second constitution was adopted in convention, which
was ratified by
the people on the 13th of March, in that year, and on the 29th day of May,
Wisconsin be-
came a state in the Union, being the seventeenth admitted, and the thirtieth
in the list of
states.
  Following are salient features of Wisconsin history briefly stated in chronological
order:
1634. The country was explored by Jean Nicolet, from Lake Michigan for a
considerable
         distance up the Fox river.
1658. Two fur-traders penetrated to Lake Superior and wintered there, probably
on Wis
         consin soil.
1665. Claude Allouez, an eminent pioneer missionary, established a mission
at La Pointe,
         on Lake Superior.
1669. Father Allouez established a mission on the shores of Green Bay, locating
at De
         Pere, in 1671.
1670. Father Allouez made a voyage up the Fox river to the present limits
of Green Lake
         county.
1671. In this year, the French took formal possession of the whole Northwest,
confirmed in
         1689.
1673. Louis Joliet, accompanied by Father James Marquette, discovered the
upper Missis-
         sippi.
1674. Father Marquette coasted Lake Michigan, from Green Bay, by Milwaukee,
to the site
         of the present city of Chicago.
1679. "The Griffin," a schooner built by La Salle, and the first
to make a voyage of the
         lakes above Niagara, arrived at the mouth of Green Bay.
1679. Capt. Duluth held a council, and concluded a peace with the natives
of Lake Su-
         perior.'