WISCONSIN. A north central State of the United States, popularly called the 'Badger State.' It is bounded on the north by Lake Superior and upper Michigan, on the east by Lake Michigan, on the south by Illinois, and on the west by Iowa and Minnesota, the greater part of the western boundary being formed by the Mississippi River. Its greatest length, between latitudes 42° 30' and 47° 3' N., is 315 miles, and its greatest breadth, between longitudes 86° 49' and 92° 54' W.. 294 miles. These dimensions include the Apostle Islands. in Lake Superior, and the islands at the entrance to Green Bay. in Lake Michigan. Wisconsin has an area of 56. 040 square miles, including 1500 square miles of water, and it ranks twenty-first in size among the States.
TottocitArnr. The surface of Wisconsin is a nearly level plain or undulating plateau with three faces or slopes, divided by a T-shaped ridge or line of highest elevation. The longitudinal arm of this ridge runs southward through the centre of the State. It is very flat. the land slop ing gradually from an altitude of a little over 1000 feet along the summit of the ridge to some what less than 600 feet on the shore of Lake Michigan and to somewhat more than 600 feet at the Mississippi, a slope of 400 feet in 100 miles. The transverse arm of the ridge is higher and more abrupt, being sometimes called the Penokee Mountains or Range. It stretches parallel with Lake Superior. about 30 miles south of it, and ex tends eastward into the northern peninsula of Michigan. Its general elevation is between 1500 and 1600 feet, and the highest point within the State is about 1700 feet above sea level. This ridge falls rapidly northward to an altitude of 600 feet on the shore of Lake Superior. A pecu liar diagonal valley runs across the State from southwest to northeast, guiding the course of the lower Wisconsin and Fox River, and occu pied in the northeast by Green Bay and Lake Winnebago. It is bounded on the south by a :somewhat bold escarpment. Otherwise there are no sharp irregularities in the surface except the .cliffs along the river valleys in the southwestern part of the State, and the rounded drumlins, mounds, or morainic peaks and ridges composed -of glacial drift, which are scattered over the remaining area.
The drainage systems are, of course, deter mined by the three plateau slopes described above. North of the Penokee flange a number of short streams fall into Lake Superior. Those on
the eastern slope, flowing into Lake Michigan, are larger, and include the Menominee, which forms part of the northeastern boundary and flows into Green Bay, the Fox, which drains Lake Winnebago and also enters Green Bay, and the Milwaukee River, which flows directly into Lake Michigan. The western and southern slopes of the State, including the greater part of its area. are drained by tributaries of the Alississippi, of which the principal are the Saint Croix. forming part of the northwestern boundary, the Chip pewa, and the Wisconsin. the last being the largest river within the State. Several streams rise in the southern part of the State and flow southward into Illinois, all of them joining the Mississippi. The chief of these are the Rock River and the Des Plaines and Fox rivers. two headstreams of the Illinois. The longitudinal divide is so flat that some of its lakes and swamps send their waters in both directions, west to the Mississippi and east to the Great Lakes: this is especially noticeable at Portage. where the waters of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers unite during the floods. A multitude of lakes are scattered over the northern and eastern parts of the State, lint only one. Lake Winnebago (q.v.), is of eonsiderable size.
CiAmATE. Owing to the proximity of the Great Lakes, the climate is more tempered than that of the more western interior States, aml the range of temperature is not excessive, though the winters are very cold and prolonged. The mean temperature for January is 12.S° at Bayfie111, in the extreme northern part of the State. 15.5° at 1.0 Crosse, on the Mississippi, and 19.3° at :NM wankee, (»I the southeastern lake shore. For .111l• the mean is 67' at hayfield, 73° at hal. Crosse, and 69.2° at. Milwaukee, showing that the summers are cooler on the lake shore than at correspondine Latitudes in the interior. The maximmn temperature is generally between 90° and 95°, and seldom exceeds 100°; the average minimum is between 10° and 25° below zero. The average annual precipitation for the State is 31 inches, which is very evenly distributed through the State, being only slightly greater in the east than in the west. The greatest amount falls between July and October. Thunderstorms are frequent in summer. but in winter the air is dry and clear, and the snowfall light.