Wisconsin

In all parts of the State, except the driftless area of the south west, numerous large and small marshes are also to be found, many of them representing filled in or drained lake beds. The driftless area is lakeless, and has in general a much rougher topography. In its limits much of the most attractive scenery of the State is to be found. Between the Wisconsin and Mississippi valleys is the Western Upland, a plateau, ordinarily about 1,200 ft. in elevation, but dissected in every direction by tributaries of the two rivers which bound it into a succession of ridges and coulees, the former from 30o to 500 ft. above the valley bottoms. The bluffs are wooded and often capped by picturesque limestone cliffs. Originally the greater portion of Wisconsin was covered with forests, although in the south and west there were large tracts of open prairie land. In the south the predominating trees were hickory, elm, oak and poplar. Along the shores of Lake Mich igan, and extending inland a quarter of the distance across the State and northward through the Fox river valley, there was a heavy belt of oak, maple, birch, ash, hickory, elm and some pine.

Climate.

The climate of the State is influenced by the storms which move eastward along the Canadian border and by those which move northward up the Mississippi valley; that of the east ern and northern sections is moderated by the Great Lakes. The winters, especially in the central and north-western sections, are long and severe, and the summers in the central and south western sections are very warm; but cold and heat are less felt than they are in more humid climates with less extreme tempera tures. The average length of time between the last killing frost of spring to the first killing frost in the fall ranges from 170 days in the south-eastern corner of the State to 75 days near the Michigan boundary. It is much longer near the lakes and along the Mississippi river. The distribution of rainfall is remarkably uniform, the mean precipitation being about 31 inches. About half the rainfall comes in May, June, July and August, the period of greatest crop growth. The average snowfall is 45 in., though along Lake Michigan and in the northern part of the State it reaches an average of 53 inches.

Population.

Since 1840. when there were but 30,945 people in the State, the population growth of Wisconsin has been re markably uniform. The average increase for each succeeding ten year period amounted in 1920 to 325,140 persons, and the actual increase each decade was close to this average. In 1900 the popu lation numbered 2,069,042; in 1910 it was 2,333,86o; in 1920, 2,632,067; and in 1930, 2939, 006. Compared with the other States Wisconsin ranked 13th in population in 1920 and in 1930. The density had increased from a 42.3 per square mile

average in 1910 to 47.6 in 1920; and to 53.2 in 1930. One-third of the way across the State west from Lake Michigan the population density is above the 1920 average, while in a number of counties it rises above 90 per square mile. For the greater part of the remaining portion of the State the density averages between 18 and 45 per sq.m., and in a strip of northern counties it falls below 18 per square mile. The decade 1910-20 witnessed a rapid increase in the population of the northern counties, however, amounting in a number of them to between 25 and 50%. In the same period the south-western counties registered a decrease. In rural population alone all the southern counties showed a decrease. For the State in general the percent age of people living in cities of more than 2,500 inhabitants in creased from 43 in 1910 to 47.3 in 1920, and to 52.9 in 1930.

A high proportion of the population of the State is of foreign origin. Of the 2,939,006 inhabitants in 1930, 1,477,367 were foreign-born or children of foreign-born or mixed parentage. New immigration to the State from abroad, however, has greatly dimin ished, and many of the present foreign-born population were in fact pioneer settlers, who came in before 1911. Thus their num ber, which was 512,569 in 1910 fell to 460,128 in the census of 1920 and to 386,213 in the census of 1930. The principal mother tongues of the foreign-born in 1930 were: German, 128, 269; Polish, 42,359; Norwegian, 34,391; Czechoslovakian, 19,50o; Swedish, 18,808. Inhabitants born of native parentage increased from 763,225 in 1910 to 1,436,492 in 1930. Negroes increased in the same period from 2,900 to 10,739. There were in addition in 1930, 11,548 Indians, 363 Chinese and 24 Japanese.

The first wave of settlement (1824-40) in the lead regions of south-western Wisconsin was made up principally of Southerners who had ascended by the convenient Mississippi route. The next wave (1835-5o) consisted of those coming west from New York, Pennsylvania, Michigan and other Eastern States who took up a large proportion of the land in the south-eastern counties of Wisconsin. After them (1840-60) came the great tide of German and Norwegian immigration. The Germans settled mainly from Milwaukee west and north to the Fox river and Lake Winnebago. The Norwegians settled in Dane and other counties of south central Wisconsin. Swiss, Swedish, Danish, Irish, Dutch, Belgian, Austrian and Polish colonies were also soon founded. The Germans came in the greatest numbers and still total about half of the foreign stock. Of the children of foreign or mixed parentage those of German origin number 531,619 or 48.2%. Those of Norwegian origin, next in importance, number 102,385.