Great Lakes Steamships and Canals

In 1834, the federal government opened land offices in Mineral Point and Green Bay, greatly speeding up the settlement of Wisconsin. Steamboats on the Mississippi River connected Wisconsin to the Gulf of Mexico, while immigrants and goods from the East came into the territory on Great Lakes steamships. Bordering these two great waterways, Wisconsin residents faced the problem of how to connect the two transportation systems. With the economic success of the Erie Canal, opened in 1825, the answer for many in Wisconsin seemed to be canals.

The increase in the number of settlements only added to the existing demands... more...

Original Documents and Other Primary Sources

	A woman's memoir of the founding of Sheboygan
	The Fate of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers Improvement Company
	Recollections of Old Superior
	Descriptions of Wisconsin disasters and catastrophes, 1848-1948
	Folklore and folktales collected by Charles E. Brown
	The first steamboat trip on the Upper Mississippi, in 1823.
	A Boston feminist visits the village of Milwaukee in 1843.
	Steamboating days, 1854-1863, are recalled by a Wisconsin pilot.
	Milwaukee developers try to dig a water route to the Lead Region in the 1830s.
	Increase Lapham examining a meteorite, ca. 1868
	An Austrian painter depicts Wisconsin in the 1850s
	Pictures of steamboats on Wisconsin waters, 1832-1931
	An 1832 drawing of a Great Lakes steamboat
	An Austrian painter describes sketches made while traveling Wisconsin, 1856-1860
	Developers try to cut a canal around the worst rapids in the Fox River.
	The route of the proposed Milwaukee and Rock River Canal, 1838.
	The wreck of the Schooner "Lucerne"

Primary Sources Available Elsewhere

	An examination of the narratives of four immigrant women
	The Wisconsin Legislature seeks federal support for canals, 1867
	Wisconsin Blue Books
	An 1872 report on a new bridge across the Mississippi
	Travel Guide to Lake Superior in 1872
	Complete text of Margaret Fuller's Summer on the Lakes, in 1843
	An 1858 topographical survey of the northern Great Lakes
	An artist and writer travels Wisconsin's rivers and lakes in 1846
	An 1858 description of Wisconsin's natural and commercial resources
	An 1870 proposal to build a canal at Sturgeon Bay
	An 1874 guide to travel on the Great Lakes and Rivers of America
	Art work of the Mississippi Valley in 1899
	Postcards of Wisconsin lighthouses
	Historic postcards of Milwaukee
	Canal proponents seek President Lincoln's support, 1862

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