Strohschiink and Thiel

even reach Madison until 1854); however, ambitious plans were championed,
even projecting lines from Milwaukee to the Pacific Coast.114
These modern data on the natural and cultural history of the state,
though abridged for our purposes, could only have been dreamed of by the
commissioners of emigration in the 1850s. Still, when compared to what they
already knew in their day and were able to pass on to the potential settler, one
cannot help but be impressed with the general accuracy and completeness of
the information that had been made available to them by pioneers like Lathrop
and Lapham.
For example, both authors correctly-though in the terminology available
at the time-outlined the geological formations of the region. Lapham's
description of the state's vegetation and fauna still stands as a model of
scientific observation. On top of this, Lapham provides a natural and population
history of the state that remains unmatched even today. The geographical and
meteorological statistics submitted by Lapham, though sparse, have been
confirmed by modern data. Both authors saw the great agricultural potential
of Wisconsin as well as the promising prospects for the exploitation of the
state's forests. They foresaw the rapidly growing need for workers and capital
in all branches of business associated with a mushrooming economy based in
agriculture, lumber, and transportation. For this, both Lathrop and Lapham
singled out Wisconsin's strategic location between the Great Lakes and the
Mississippi. However, in predicting improved rivers and new canals for
navigation, Lathrop did not anticipate the degree to which the railroads would
supersede river and canal traffic. Regarding the apparently infinite supply of
lumber, both authors failed to foresee the advances in technology that helped
to accelerate its depletion. Still, these developments did not adversely affect
the immigrants of the 1850s in significant ways. The building of railroads only
speeded up their travel from the seacoast inland (at the same time, though,
decreasing Wisconsin's competitiveness for easy access), and the clearcutting
of ever larger tracts of land, though deplorable from a modern, environmentalist
standpoint, only meant an exponential rise in the availability of farmland, a
welcome trend for the many emigrants who had been farmers in the Old World,
as well, and who continued their exodus throughout the 19th century.
Information Distributed by the Commissioners
Whereas the commissioners' pamphlets, fashioned after Lathrop and/

or Lapham, likely constituted the agency's principal vehicle for carrying its

114. Cf. David H. Bain, Empire Express, 20.

54