Bibliography

Settling the Wisconsin Cutovers: This article describes the difficult transformation of Northern Wisconsin from logging to farming during the 1890s and early 1900s. As part of the expanding western frontier of American agriculture, land dealers marketed the newly available, deforested cutover lands of northern Wisconsin throughout the United States and Europe. Their advertising often greatly exaggerated the quality of the land and made false promises to develop infrastructure and schools. These supposed opportunities drew many farmers to Wisconsin, increasing the population and introducing more European immigrants to the state. Once settlers arrived, however, they faced the great task of clearing the land of stumps and the reality that the land was often much poorer than had been advertised. As a result, many farms failed in the Wisconsin cutovers by the early twentieth century.