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The Pamphlet Collection of Sir Robert Stout: Volume 9

Milwaukie, Wisconsin, November 20, 1847

Milwaukie, Wisconsin,

It appears to be your purpose to devise a plan by which one estate may provide a home in this country for its surplus tenantry, and create a fund to repay the costs and charges of their removal. The expense of management in such a case must, of course, fall much heavier upon one estate than if several were united in the object.

To tax the labour of the emigrant to pay the expenses advanced for his removal—unless he is secured employment here—would be useless, for the tax would never be paid. Every emigrant will have as much as he can do for three or four years after his arrival, to support himself and family by his industry.

The landlord, or capitalist, may secure himself abundantly, I think, by purchasing, in the first instance, a good tract of land, sufficiently large to enable him to keep off those who would purchase adjoining his settlement for the purpose of speculation, and twice the quantity which would be required for the use of his emigrants for two or three years. If twenty acres would be sufficient for one family, with the privilege of taking the adjoining twenty, if unsold in five years, by paying for it, sixteen families might be settled on one section of 640 acres (the section is one mile square). If forty acres should be allotted to each emigrant family, then eight families would occupy one section—the one-half of the section being reserved for sale.

The section would cost, at the minimum government price, eight hundred dollars. If a tract, equal to a whole township (six miles square) be purchased—which I would strongly recommend—there would be thirty-five sections to be paid for; the thirty-sixth section of each township being already given by government for the support of schools.

These thirty-five sections would contain 22,400 acres, and would cost twenty-eight thousand dollars; and with a small log-house on each alternate twenty or forty acre lot, could readily be sold, say in less than ten years, for one hundred thousand dollars, which is less than five dollars an acre.

The agent, however, should at any time sell unoccupied lots at a stated price—say three, four, or five dollars the acre—to actual settlers, whether foreign or American born.

You will readily perceive, therefore, that any gentleman who is willing to invest his capital in this way would, in my judgment, not only be quite sure to obtain repayment for all of his expenditures, but would derive a handsome profit from the investment. His own estate at home would be improved, and a thousand families rendered comparatively independent and happy.

My estimate is made upon the value of this measure to the person making the investment, without reference to the fact whether the emigrant occupies the lot assigned to him or not, or wholly abandons the settlement, and does not repay one cent of the money expended for his passage, &c. The actual value of the land, where the adjoining country is being settled, is sufficient to secure him against this loss; and it would be the same whether one or all of the emigrants sought their own homes on reaching our shores.

I would leave it wholly optional with the emigrant, when he landed in Wisconsin, to take the land provided for him by the landlord, or seek employment and a living elsewhere. I should entertain no fear for their success. Nobody starves here; and there is not one beggar in Wisconsin, in a population of 300,000 souls.

This liberty would, I am sure, be the means of rendering the colonists page 63 more contented with their location; and I also think it would be a strong inducement to many persons to emigrate. It would prevent any dissatisfaction on the part of the emigrant with the landlord or his agents, whose task will be difficult enough to make them contented with their new home.*

* * * * * * * * *

The investment would be safe, and after the first year, I think, would pay the interest and all agency charges, and after the third year, a portion of the principal, if required.

I do not think it would be prudent to calculate upon the emigrant paying any portion of his indebtedness before the third year, as he could do no more than improve his land and support his family to that time; and this is one reason why a large tract should be purchased at the commencement of the settlement.

You inquire, in what part of this territory should such a colony be located? I notice your preference of a prairie, over a timbered, country. In the counties of Marquette, Postage, Columbia, and Dane, there is good prairie, from sixty to eighty miles distant from Lake Michigan. Scattered lots, in three or four townships, could be obtained in Four du lac or Winnebago counties. I look particularly, however, to the prairie west and north of Fox lake, and examine the country and plots together. Your own observation here will satisfy you that the lands are being daily entered. It requires almost daily examination at the land offices to determine what and how much remains for sale. There is some prairie land north of Fox (or Neenah) river, and east of Wisconsin river; but it belongs to the Indians, is occupied by them, and it could not be purchased and offered for sale by government under three years. Along the valley of the Neenah, from Winnebago lake, up stream, there is much good land, consisting of prairie and openings; but it is reserved from sale at present by government—the proceeds, when sold, being set apart to be applied towards the improvement of the navigation of that river; and the price of each alternate section which is retained by government, is raised to two and a half dollars per acre. I have no doubt but those who settle on this tract, which is three miles wide, will eventually get the land by pre-emption, at one and a quarter dollar per acre; but in this case the occupant must become the purchaser, and no one can page 64 do it for him. There is too uncertain a tenure for me to recommend to any but my own countrymen, who understand how the public domain can be appropriated to their own use, and after years of uninterrupted possession, finally pay only the minimum price for the land they want.

The best location, in my opinion, for your people, which can now be made in this territory, is in the townships on the Manitoowac river, and between Lakes Winnebago and Michigan. The country is well watered—not heavily timbered, being timbered with maple, ash, bosswood, oak, &c.—lies rolling to the south and east—is broken occasionally with ledges of limestone, and is the best soil for wheat, oats, and potatoes. After thirty years' residence in this part of the country, I do not hesitate to express to you the opinion, that the small farmer, the man who can cultivate but five, ten, twenty, or even forty acres, does so much easier, and with much greater profit in the timber than in the prairies. The man of wealthy who can farm largely—who wants extensive fields and many cattle, undoubtedly does best on the prairie; but a farm in the timber will sell for one-third more than one in the open country, to any man who has lived on a prairie.

You will find that most of the Germans, and also your own countrymen, have chosen the timbered land in this country for their homes. And I have often remarked that the Indians, civilized and uncivilized, have always, in selecting their planting ground, manifested the same preference.

But in this case you are buying land with a view to the interest of the landholder as well as the emigrant—that is, you must make such a choice that the former may be sure to sell again in a reasonable time to reimburse his expenditures. You can readily imagine that land lying within ten or twelve miles of the mouth of a large river, and at its junction with the lake, will be ten-fold more valuable and saleable than if situated from forty to eighty miles inland, away from navigation and a market.

Besides, the emigrant himself would derive great advantages from the proximity of his residence to a small town and landing-place, where he could readily sell every article of produce for cash; and this only a part of a day's walk from his home. The expense and trouble are also saved, of transporting the emigrant, his family, and luggage, a great distance into the interior, to his place of settlement.

There will, undoubtedly, be a public highway much travelled between Manitoowac and Winnebago lake, which would be of great advantage to this settlement, and to this tract of land.

There are now three or four townships of land in that quarter, in which, I think, there have been no purchases made; and as there are no roads leading through them, it is not probable they will attract emigration before next spring.

If the settlement should be made between Lakes Winnebago and Michigan, Manitoowac would be the proper place for the emigrants to land. There are warehouses and a pier there—a lighthouse, and thirty or forty dwellings. If the Fox river country, or the prairie country around Fox lake or Fort Winnebago should be preferred, Green Bay is the best landing; transportation being, by Durham boats, from that town to any place on Winnebago lake, or Neenah or Pauwaugan rivers. This is a cheaper and much more convenient route for emigrants, than any land route or carriage.

There is a beautiful country, almost wholly unoccupied, along the Mississippi, from the mouth of Wisconsin river to Minesota river, as also up the Minesota one hundred and fifty miles. The soil is rich and productive, and the climate healthy. It is capable of receiving and sustaining one-half the population of Ireland. It may be reached by steamboats from New Orleans; and also with boats by way of the Neenah and Wisconsin rivers.

Any further information or explanations which I can give upon the subject of your letter, you may freely command; and I assure you that I remain, &c.,

J. B. Doty.

M. Wilson Gray

, Esq., Detroit.

Dublin: Printed by Alexander Thom, 87, Abbey-street.

* Governor Doty proceeds to estimate the expense of settling each family as follows, He supposes the landlord to commence his expenditure on the arrival of the families at New York. He also supposes the settlement to be made on timbered land:—

Dollar.
Twenty acres for an emigrant, 25
Log-house, clearing, fencing, and breaking up two and a half acres, 50
Cow, pigs, hens, seed, grain, tools, &c., 15
Provisions for a family of five souls, for one year (in part), 10
Passage of ditto from New York to Wisconsin, 20
120

Transportation to the land selected, for waggon and horses, two and a half dollars per day.

This makes 120 dollars, or about £25 sterling for each family, besides the expense of conveying them and their luggage, from the lake port in Wisconsin to the settlement in the interior—the amount of which would vary with the distance, and the quality of the roads. Probably one pound per family would suffice for this purpose. Thus, Governor Doty estimates that about £26 would convey up from New York, and settle in the manner indicated in his estimate, each family of five souls. He also makes a rough statement of the whole amount of capital he would deem sufficient for settling a thousand such families "during a period of from one to six years;" but as he does not enter into any of the explanations which would be necessary to show how he arrived at his conclusion; and I have reason to apprehend that, in the haste of writing a private letter, merely intended for my information, and not for publication, he has really set down wrong figures by some mistake, respecting which I have not had time to communicate with him, I omit this passage. From the estimate made for each family, however, and the other statements of the letter, each reader may make for himself an estimate of the whole amount of capital necessary. I may mention that the whole sum estimated by Governor Doty, as necessary for purchasing land, and for conveying from New York and settling the thousand families, within the time stated, is as low as fifty thousand dollars, or about ten thousand five hundred pounds; but, as I have already said, I believe there must be a mistake in these figures.—M. W. G.