which places Wisconsin in the eighth rank among manufacturing states. In 1909 the wage-earners numbered 82,583, and the amount paid them was $93,905,000, while the value of the products was $90,306,000. Lack of coal is a drawback to industries; but in spite of this lack the extent, variety and value of its manufactured commodities are phenomenal. This is explained in part by large natural resources of timber, agricultural, cattle and dairy-products, its great wool-clip and the mineral ores, in addition to extensive water-power and general manufacturing facilities, with the aid given by financial wealth and banking resources and the further aid afforded by its transportation facilities, both by land and by water. Foundry and machine products in 1909 were worth $34,124,000, while of like value were the gross flour and grist-mill products and the yield from the manufacture and sale of malt liquors. The yield from leather, tanned, curried and finished, was close upon $44,668,000; while the trade in cattle-slaughtering and meat-packing yielded over $27,217,000; planing-mill products had a gross return of over 11 millions. Even tobacco was grown to the extent of 31,710,000 pounds in 1910. Agricultural implements in 1909 netted in excess of 11 millions; carriages and wagons 9 millions; men's clothing 9½ millions; boots and shoes 13½ millions; printing and publishing 11½ millions; paper and wood-pulp nearly 26 millions; and railroad construction material and repairing netted 14 millions of dollars.
Commerce and Transportation. Banking facilities have helpfully increased in the past few years; while the gross deposits show the prosperity and thrift of the people. In 1911 Wisconsin had 128 national and 517 state banks. The former had over 17 million dollars of capital, and the latter an excess of 13 millions; while the aggregate deposits in the national institutions were close upon 123 millions, and in the state banks close upon 120 millions There also were a large number of private banks and nine or ten loan and trust companies, each with considerable deposits.
The total railway mileage on June 30, 1910, was 7,475 miles, distributed among the following chief lines: the Chicago, Milwaukee and St. Paul; Chicago, Burlington and Quincy; Chicago and Northwestern; Great Northern; Minnesota, St. Paul and Sault Ste. Marie; Illinois Central; Wisconsin Central; Northern Pacific; and Duluth, South Shore and Atlantic (Canadian Pacific) railroads. Besides these facilities are those by steam-vessels on Lakes Michigan and Superior, in addition to the transportation via the Mississippi, Wisconsin, Fox and Chippewa Rivers, not to speak of the canal connections between Portage and Fox River. The assessed valuation of property in 1910 was $2,941,412,842. The state's debt, incurred mainly during the Civil War, amounted to 2¼ millions; and its expenditure was about a like sum.
Education. Wisconsin is far-sighted enough to see the advantage of dealing liberally with education. In 1912 its expenditure for public schools amounted to $13,292,068, including the amount appropriated for the maintenance of the state's normal and the counties' training-schools for teachers. Out of a school-population of 780,008 in 1910 the enrolled numbered 460,470 and the daily average attendance was about 351,830. The number of teachers was then 14,729, the most of whom were women. There were about 300 free high schools, with a gross enrollment of 34,800. Higher education is represented by the University of Wisconsin, at Madison, with 470 instructors and 5,533 students; by Lawrence University (undenominational), at Appleton, with 45 instructors and 650 students; by Beloit College (Congregational), with 35 instructors and 410 students; by Ripon College (Congregational), with 27 instructors and 267 students; by the Northwestern University, a Lutheran institution at Watertown, with 12 instructors and 221 students; by Marquette University (Roman Catholic), at Milwaukee, with 161 instructors and 1,100 students; by Concordia College (Lutheran) at Milwaukee; and by Milton College (Seventh Day Bap.), with 13 instructors and 88 students. The state also maintains industrial schools for children of both sexes, schools for the deaf and the blind, homes for the feeble-minded and insane and hospitals, reformatories and penitentiaries.
History and Government. From an early period the region was the theater of mission work undertaken by French-Canadian priests and of the discoveries of gentlemen-explorers from New France, as well as the fur-trading and trapping ground of French-Canadian coureurs des bois. They came thither from Quebec by way of Ottawa River, Lake Nipissing, Rainy River and the Great Lakes, thence via Sault Ste. Marie to Marquette and Duluth on Lake Superior or via St. Ignace to Green Bay on Lake Michigan. These expeditions date as far back as the era of Champlain, governor of New France in 1633-5, and among them numbered Nicolet, the first white man, it is believed, to visit Green Bay, and the fur traders, Radisson and Groseilliers, supposed to have discovered the upper Mississippi in 1659. In 1665 Father Allouez established missions at La Pointe and on Fox River; he was followed about 1673 by the explorers Louis Joliet and Pére Marquette, the latter proceeding by
