Leiier 6T Johhi tow
»a^1^407s:\&4=-a'H*l--&5 years ago—is
A w r i 11 e n  by  an
The last of this group of letters
from  Racine  county  settlers  in  the
■sj
an
Englishman to a
friend in London, and is chiefly interesting for
its . enthusiastic
testimony to the
d e s i r ability of
these lands over
those of any oth-
'   *ir"l HF   er    section    of
*"'■'■■■''■■■"" northern    Ameri
ca, including the
Canadas, through
and over which
he had previous-
1 ly traveled on a
tour   of   explora-
E."w. LEACH   tl0"   and   inspec-i
tion.
In one respect these six letters
have been very similar—there has
been no minor note struck in, any of
them; no complaints; no whimpering. The writers have all soft-pedaled on the drawbacks, and stressed
the advantages of conditions as they',
found them. These men left home,
looking for farms, and certainly
were prepared to find adverse wilderness conditions, and to grapple
with them, but when they arrived
in Racine county, their fears were
disappointed, and their hopes realized beyond all expectation. It is
no wonder that they anticipated incredulity and perhaps charges of exaggeration by their readers, though
they did in fact stick close to the
truth.
In the weekly Dispatch—printed
and published at 139 Fleet street,
London, April 11, 1841, is the following copy of a letter from Mr. '
John Cole, farmer, late of Mensiss,
Somerset, to his friend, Mr. Gibbons,
of No. 2 Arbor street, Commercial
Road, East LondOn:
Wisconsin Territory.
Nov. 16, 1840.1
Dear Sir:    I promised when I left!
England  to  better  my condition  by
emigrating,    that    if    successful    I!
would   write   to   you.'    At   length   11
have been as good'as my word.     I
had a fair  passage  from  Bristol  to j
New  York;   after  remaining  here  aj
few days, I began my labors in this;
wide  country, and traveled through;
the   whole   of   the   northern    states,
(the    Canadas)    but   could    see    no
chance  for  a farmer  of  small  capi-:
tal to  begin farming upon new land;
in   these   heavy   timbered   countries,!
to  bring  about  anything  like  comfort  in  my  lifetime.     Every   rod   of j
ground  is  covered   with  timber,   the
Work  of  a  man's  life-time  to   clear
a small farm, and cleared farms are
very dear—entirely out of my reach.
So I' began to think of returning to
England   again,   but   seeing   a   great
emigration in this country from the
other states and Canadas, I resolved
to  go  back  and  look  at it,  and  believe me, I found it as much before
any other country here as it is possible to be in any point of view. This
country is as handsome in appearance as any part I have seen in England. If any industrious person with
£100 to £200 does not get a good independent and certain living here,
it must be entirely his own fault.
I am located three miles Of the seaport town of Racine. The land all
about this part is of the best quality—principally black loam, and already fit for cultivation—not a stick,
bramble, or stump in your way.
The timbe*r is in clumps or groves
of about one mfle apart, enough for
fuel and building purposes' only;
and there are tamarack nearly fit
for rails without splitting, to fence
in your farm in any quantity, (a
great advantage not to be found in
.any other part,) as a person can
fence in his farm with very trifling
trouble.
There are no land speculators
here, or land companies puffing out
their flattering delusions, to get a
high price and profit for their land,
like there are in Canada, Australia
and New Zealand. The government
office is open daily for the sale of
any of the vacant lands, at $5 per
acre, and no more, title deeds included. I purchased 80 acres and
the whole of my taxes do not
amount to more than £7 per year,
including school tax. No poor rates
and more-wanted: no tithes—ho po-
licmen lurking about your peaceable
homes inquiring what you have in
your pot for dinner" nor is there any
need   of   them.
I will just state how rapidly this
country is settling by emigration
from Canada and other states here.
It is four years since the Indians
left this territory (about the size
of England,) The capital, Milwaukee, was then two log huts—now it
is a large town with 24 taverns, and
churches, court house, gaol—many
large offices for government professional men, too, many shops ofv
every kind, and three newspapers,
printed Weekly, and a reading room
with English newspapers there at
present, 23 days old. Four steamboats and several large vessels lying
in the harbor.
' Farming stock- is very plentiful,
the old settlements are so very near
—good cows $16 each—horses $30,
pigs you may have almost for nothing, they are so plentiful, and almost,
every kind of fish, too, particularly
trout, showing that the water is of
, the best kind.
, This is the best watered country
I have ever seen—equal to any part
of England, so that you can locate
in any part, all having water privileges; not like Australia) where you
can only locate in certain spots, for
want of water; and a healthier cOXin-
try there cannot be. I have seen
no sickness these two years I have
been here, from the effect of the
climate    very    different    from    the