boundary was provided, and privileges accorded the government to freely occupy their territory until a treaty should be made for the cession of the same. This treaty was simply to define the rights of the Indians, and to give the United States the right of occupation.

11. Two treaties were made at Prairie du Chien, on the 29th of July, 1829, and August 1, 1829 at the first date, with the Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawattamies, by which these nations ceded all their lands which they claimed in the northwestern part of Illinois; and at the latter date with the Winnebagoes, by which that nation ceded and relinquished all their right, title and claim to all their lands south of the Wisconsin river, thus confirming the purchase of the leadmine region. Certain grants were made to individuals, which grants were not to be leased or sold by the grantees.

By this important treaty, about eight millions of acres of land were added to the public domain. The three tracts ceded, and forming one whole, extended from the upper end of Rock river to the mouth of the Wisconsin, from latitude 41° 30′ to latitude 43° 15′, on the Mississippi. Following the meanderings of the river, it was about two hundred and forty miles from west to east, extending along the Wisconsin and Fox rivers, affording a passage across the country from the Mississippi to Lake Michigan. The south part of the purchase extended from Rock Island to Lake Michigan.

12. Another important treaty was made at Green Bay, February 8, 1831, between the Menomonee Indians and the United States. That nation possessed an immense territory. Its eastern division was bounded by the Milwaukee river, the shore of Lake Michigan, Green bay, Fox river, and Lake Winnebago; its western division, by the Wisconsin and Chippewa rivers on the west, Fox river on the south, Green bay on the east, and the high lands which flow the streams into Lake Superior on the north. By this treaty all the eastern division, estimated at two and a half millions of acres, was ceded to the government. By certain other provisions, the tribe was to occupy a large tract lying north of Fox river and east of Wolf river. Their territory farther west was reserved for their hunting-grounds until such time as the general government should desire to purchase it. Another portion, amounting to four millions of acres, lying between Green bay on the east and Wolf river on the west, was also ceded to the United States, besides a strip of country, three miles in width, from near the portage of the Wisconsin and Fox rivers north, on each side of the Wisconsin river, and forty-eight miles long — still leaving the tribe in peaceable possession of a country about one hundred and twenty miles long, and about eighty broad. By supplementary articles to the treaty, provision was made for the occupancy of certain lands by the New York Indians — two townships on the east side of Lake Winnebago.

13. At the conclusion of the Black Hawk war, in 1832, for the purpose of clearing up the Indian title of the Winnebago nation in the country, a treaty was made and concluded at Fort Armstrong, September 15, 1832. All the territory claimed by this nation lying south and east of the Wisconsin and Fox river of Green bay, was ceded to the United States, and no band or party of Winnebagoes was allowed to reside, plant, fish or hunt on these grounds, after June 1, 1833, or on any part of the country therein ceded.

14. On the 27th of October, 1832, articles of agreement were made and concluded at Green Bay between the United States and the Menomonee Indians, by the terms of which that nation ceded to the New York Indians certain lands on Fox river.

15. An important treaty was made at Chicago, September 26, 1833, between the United States and the Chippewas, Ottawas and Pottawattamies. Those nations ceded to the government all their lands along the western shore of Lake Michigan, and between that lake and the land ceded to the United States by the Winnebago nation at the treaty at Fort Armstrong, September

15, 1832, bounded on the north by the country lately ceded by the Menomonees, and on the south by the country ceded at the treaty at Prairie du Chien, July 19, 1829-containing about five millions of acres.

16. On the 3d of September, 1836, a treaty was made at Cedar Point with the Menomonees, by which lands lying west of Green bay, and a strip on the upper Wisconsin, were ceded to the United States the quantity of land ceded being estimated at four millions of acres in the Green bay portion; on the Wisconsin river, a strip three miles wide on each side of the river, running forty-eight miles north in a direct line, equivalent to 184,320 acres. .

17. On the 29th of July, 1837, a treaty was made with the Chippewas of the Mississippi, at Fort Snelling, and the United States, the nation ceding to the government all their lands in Wisconsin lying south of the divide between the waters of Lake Superior and those of the Mississippi.

18. Certain chiefs and braves of the Sioux nation of the Mississippi, while visiting Washington, September 29, 1837, ceded to the United States all their lands east of the Mississippi, and all their islands in said river.

19. The Winnebago nation, by the chiefs and delegates, held a treaty with the government at Washington, November 1, 1837. That nation ceded all their lands east of the Mississippi, and obligated themselves to remove, within eight months after the ratification of the treaty, to certain lands west of the river Mississippi which were conveyed to them by the treaty of September 21, 1832.

20. The Oneida or New York Indians, residing near Green Bay, by their chief and representative, on the 3d of February, 1838, at Washington City, ceded to the United States their title and interest in the land set apart by the treaty made with the Menomonees, May 8, 1831, and the treaty made with the same tribe, October 7, 1832, reserving about 62,000 acres.

21. Another treaty was made at Stockbridge on the 3d of September, 1839, by which the Stockbridge and Munsee tribes (New York Indians) ceded and relinquished to the United States the east half of the tract of 46,080 acres which was laid off for their use on the east side of Lake Winnebago by treaty of October 7, 1832

22. On the 4th of October, 1842, a treaty was made at La Pointe, on Lake Superior, with the Chippewas. All their lands in the northern and northwestern parts of Wisconsin were ceded to the United States.

23. The Menomonee nation, on the 18th of October, 1848, at Pow-aw-hay-kon-nay, ceded and relinquished to the United States all their lands in the state, wherever situated - the government to furnish the nation as a home, to be held as Indian lands are held, all the country ceded to the United States by the Chippewa nation August 2, 1847, the consideration being the sum of $350,000, to be paid according to the stipulations of the treaty. A supplementary treaty was made on the 24th of November, 1848, with the Stockbridges the tribe to sell and relinquish to the United States the township of land on the east side of Lake Winnebago, secured to said tribe by treaty of February 8, 1831.

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24. A treaty was made with the Menomonee nation, at the falls of Wolf river, May 12, 1854, being a supplementary treaty to one made October 18, 1848. All the lands ceded to that nation under the treaty last named was ceded to the United States the Menomonees to receive from the United States a tract of country lying on Wolf river, being townships 28, 29 and 30, of ranges 13, 14, 15, 16.

25. A treaty was made with the Chippewas of Lake Superior, at La Pointe, on the 30th of September, 1854. That nation ceded to the United States all lands before owned by them in

, common with the Chippewas of the Mississippi -lying in the vicinity of Lake Superior in Wis

consin and Minnesota.

26. On the 5th of February, 1856, a treaty was held with the Stockbridge and Munsee tribes, at Stockbridge. All the remaining right and title to lands in the town of Stockbridge, possessed by them, was ceded to the United States; and the said tribes were to receive in exchange a tract of land near the southern boundary of the Menomonee reservation, and by treaty made at Keshena, February 11, 1856, the Menomonees ceded two townships to locate the said tribes.

With this last treaty, the Indian title to all the lands of the present state of Wisconsin was ceded to the United States government, except a few small reservations to certain tribes, and a perfect, indefeasible title obtained to all the territory within its borders.

In the region of country which is now the state of Wisconsin, the settlements in early times were, as before stated, near Green Bay and at Prairie du Chien. Soon after the organization of the Northwest territory, the subject of claims to private property therein received much attention. By an act of congress approved March 3, 1805, lands lying in the districts of Vincennes, Kaskaskia and Detroit, which were claimed by virtue of French or British grants, legally and fully executed, or by virtue of grants issued under the authority of any former act of congress by either of the governors of the Northwest or Indiana territory, which had already been surveyed, were, if necessary, to be re-surveyed; and persons claiming lands under these grants were to have until November 1, 1805, to give notice of the same. Commissioners were to be appointed to examine, and report at the next session of congress. An act was also passed, approved April 25, 1806, to authorize the granting of patents for lands, according to government surveys that had been made, and to grant donation rights to certain claimants of land in the district of Detroit, and for other purposes Another act was approved May 11, 1820, reviving the powers of the commissioners for ascertaining and deciding on claims in the district of Detroit, and for settling the claims to land at Green Bay and Prairie du Chien, in the territory of Michigan; the commissioners to have power to examine and decide on claims filed with the register of the land office, and not before acted on, in accordance with the laws respecting the same. The commissioners discharged the duties imposed on them, and in their report to congress in reference to the claims. at Green Bay, they said that the antiquity of this settlement being, in their view, sufficiently established, and that they, being also satisfied that the Indian title must be considered to have been extinguished, decide favorably on the claims presented. About seventy-five titles were confirmed, and patents for the same were sent to the proper parties by the government. In relation to the Prairie du Chien titles, they reported "that they had met few difficulties in their investigations; that, notwithstanding the high antiquity which may be claimed for the settlement of that place, no one perfect title founded on French or British grant, legally authenticated, had been successfully made out; and that but few deeds of any sort have been exhibited." This they attribute to the carelessness of the Canadians in respect to whatever concerned their land titles, and accords with whatever is known in this regard, of the French population throughout the country. They therefore came to the conclusion that whatever claim the people of the place possessed, and might have for a confirmation of their land titles, they must be founded upon proof of con tinued possession since the year 1796 The commissioners further say, that "since the ancestors of these settlers were cut off, by the treaty which gave the Canadas to the English, from all intercourse with their parent country, the people both of Prairie du Chien and Green Bay have been eft, until within a few years, quite isolated, almost without any government but their own; and, although the present population of these settlements are natives of the countries which they inhabit, and, consequently, are by birth citizens of the northwest, yet, until a few years, they have had as little political connection with its government as their ancestors had with the British. Ignorant of their civil rights, careless of their land titles, docility, habitual hospitality, cheerful

submission to the requisitions of any government which may be set over them, are their universal characteristics."

In reference to grants by the French and English governments, the commissioners say, they "have not had access to any public archives by which to ascertain with positive certainty, whether either the French or English ever effected a formal extinguishment of the Indian title at the mouth of the Wisconsin, which also may be said of the land now covered by the city of Detroit, that the French government was not accustomed to hold formal treaties for such purposes with the Indians, and when the lands have been actually procured from them, either by virtue of the assumed right of conquest, or by purchase, evidence of such acquisition is rather to be sought in the traditionary history of the country, or in the casual or scanty relations of travelers, than among collections of state papers. Tradition does recognize the fact of the extinguishment of the Indian title at Prairie du Chien by the old French government, before its surrender to the English; and by the same species of testimony, more positive because more recent, it is established also, that, in the year 1781, Patrick Sinclair, lieutenant governor of the province of Upper Canada, while the English government had jurisdiction over this country, made a formal purchase from the Indians of the lands comprehending the settlement of Prairie du Chien."

The territories and states formed from the section known as the Northwest territory,

were:

The Northwest territory proper (1787-1800) having jurisdiction over all the lands referred to in the ordinance of 1787. In 1802, Ohio was organized as a state with its present boundaries.

2. Indiana terrritory was formed July. 4, 1800, with the seat of government at Vincennes That territory was made to include all of the northwest, except what afterward became the state of Ohio.

3. Michigan territory was formed June 30, 1805. It was bounded on the south by a line drawn east from the south bend of Lake Michigan, on the west by the center of Lake Michigan. It did not include what is now Wisconsin. The upper peninsula was annexed in 1836. The state of Michigan was formed January 26, 1837, with its present boundaries.

4. Illinois territory was formed March 2, 1810. It included all of the Indiana territory west of the Wabash river and Vincennes, and a line running due north to the territorial line. All of Wisconsin was included therein, except what lay east of the line drawn north from Vincennes.

5. Indiana was admitted as a state April 19, 1816, including all the territory of Indiana territory, except a narrow strip east of the line of Vincennes, and west of Michigan territory, her western boundary.

6. Illinois was admitted as a state April 11, 1818. It included all of Illinois territory south of latitude 42° 30'. All of Wisconsin was added to Michigan territory. In the month of October of that year, the counties of Michilimackinac, Brown and Crawford were formed, comprising besides other territory, the whole of the present state of Wisconsin.

7. Iowa district was attached to Michigan for judicial purposes, June 30, 1834, out of which Des Moines and Dubuque counties were formed.

8. Wisconsin territory was formed April 20, 1836. The state was formed May 29, 1848. The territory of Wisconsin being a part of the Northwest territory claimed, and congress by direct action confirmed to her, all the rights and privileges secured by the ordinance of 1787, one of which was that congress should have authority to form one or two states in that part of the territory lying north of an east and west line, drawn through the southerly bend or extreme of Lake Michigan. Notwithstanding this plain provision of the ordinance, which is declared to

be articles of compact between the original states and the people and states in the said territory, and forever to remain unalterable unless by consent; yet congress, in establishing the boundaries of the state of Illinois, extended that state about sixty miles north of the line established by the ordinance. This action was claimed to be unjust and contrary to the spirit and letter of the compact with the original states. The legislative assembly of Wisconsin passed resolutions which were approved January 13, 1840, that it was inexpedient for the people of the territory to form a constitution and state government until the southern boundary to which they are so justly entitled by the ordinance of 1787 shall be fully recognized by the parties of the original compact. Owing to various complications over which the territory had no control, her people never succeeded in obtaining from congress what they considered their just rights.

It was also contended by many, that the portion of country set off to Michigan on Lake Superior given as a compensation in part for the strip of land awarded to Ohio from her southern border, should also have constituted a portion of Wisconsin, especially as Michigan never made the least claim to it by her delegate in congress, who was decidedly opposed to the extension of Michigan beyond the limits of the lower peninsula.

The first survey of the public lands northwest of the Ohio river, was made pursuant to an act of congress approved May 20, 1785 The geographer of the confederation was diected to commence the survey of the government lands on the north side of the river Ohio- the first line running north and south, to begin on said river at a point that should be found to be due north from the western termination of a line which had been run as the southern boundary of the state of Pennsylvania; the first line running east and west, to begin at the same point, and to extend through the whole territory. The survey comprised seven ranges, composing ten counties of the present state of Ohio. Other surveys followed when the Indian title was extinguished. Thomas Hutchins, who held the office of geographer, is believed to be the inventor of the mode of laying out land which was then introduced by him, and is still in general use by the government.

Soon after the government had acquired title to the Indian lands south of the Wisconsin river, the public authorities commenced a systematic survey of the lands, for the purpose of bringing the same into market at the earliest possible period.

The public lands in Wisconsin are, as elsewhere in the west, surveyed in uniform rectangular tracts, each six miles square, by lines running north and south, intersecting others running east and west. These townships are numbered from two lines called the principal meridian and the base line. The principal meridian by which the Wisconsin surveys are governed is that known as the fourth, and extends from the Illinois boundary line to Lake Superior, at the mouth of Montreal river, about two hundred and eighty-two miles. It divides Grant from LaFayette county, and passes through the eastern parts of Vernon, Monroe, Jackson, Clark, Chippewa, and Ashland counties. The base line separates Wisconsin from Illinois in north latitude forty-two degrees, thirty minutes. There are nearly seventeen hundred townships in the state. Each township is subdivided into thirty-six sections by lines running parallel to the sides of the township, one mile apart. A section is, therefore. one mile square, and contains six hundred and forty acres. In fractional townships, each section is numbered the same as the corresponding section in whole townships. Each section is subdivided into half-mile squares, called quarter-sections, each containing one hundred and sixty acres, and the subdivision is carried still further into half-quarter or quarter-quarter sections. It is found necessary to establish at stated intervals standard parallels, commonly called correction lines, to obviate the effect of the curvature of the earth's surface. The convergence in a single township is small, though quite perceptible, the actual excess in length of its south over its north line being in the state