Wisconsin Historical Society

Primary source

Manuscript

A government official compares rail and steamboat routes to Wisconsin, 1853.

Letter to the governor on immigrant transportation, 1853.

View document

About this record

Soon after Wisconsin became a state, the legislature established a Commission of Emigration to actively encourage the settlement of European immigrants. In this 1853 report to the governor, Herman Haertel, the state's emigration commissioner, discusses the various means of transportation available to immigrants to Wisconsin. He compares traditional steamboat routes with the then-new railroads as methods of travel to Wisconsin, and lays out some of the obstacles that new immigrants faced.

Citation

"Letter to the governor on immigrant transportation, 1853." Unpublished manuscript in the Wisconsin Historical Society Archives (Governor. Correspondence and Letterbooks: Special, 1840-1914; Series 34: box 12, folder 1 )