Applications of the Chippewa Valley Colonization Company and the Wisconsin Colonization Company to sell mortgages on improved agricultural land to land mortgage associations for loans. Files include appraisers' reports to the commissioner of agriculture showing owner and location of farm; local conditions; general topography; surface; character of soil and subsoil; cultivated land; growing crops; character of unimproved land; land, if any, unfit for cultivation and why; location and condition of roads; distance to towns; mail and telephone service, if any; schools and churches; native timber and amount standing; nationality and character of neighborhood; detailed description of buildings on the land; and date of the approval to sell the mortgage. Photographs of the land and dwellings are also included. Arranged by colonization company, the appraisers' reports and photographs are mounted in albums. An alphabetical index of the land owner's name with corresponding page number is located at the front of each album. Since the only dates on the records are the dates of the approval to sell the mortgage noted on the appraisers' reports, they have been given as the approximate dates of the series.
Statutory Authorization: Chapter 666, Laws of 1913 created chapter 94 of the statutes regarding land mortgage associations, which were defined as corporations organized for the purpose of making loans upon improved or partially improved agricultural lands. The associations were given the power in section 2024-112 to make loans and accept as security for such loans a first mortgage on agricultural lands, forest lands or lands occupied by dwellings. The loans could not exceed 65% of the value of the real estate if improved or 45% or the value if unimproved.
Chapter 629, Laws of 1919 amended section 2024-112 and added a sub-section which gave land mortgage associations power to purchase first mortgages issued against improved or partially improved agricultural land from resident persons or firms, or from corporations engaged in the settlement or colonization of Wisconsin lands if, after investigation, the plan of settlement was approved by the Commissioner of Agriculture, if lands against which the mortgages were issued were found by the commissioner to be suitable agricultural lands, and if the terms of the loans were just and reasonable. Requests for investigations were to be accompanied by a deposit, the amount to be determined by the commissioner of agriculture. No mortgage could be purchased until the lands against which it was issued had been appraised as provided in section 2024-120 of the statutes.
Chapter 291, Laws of 1923 renumbered the land mortgage association section of the statutes Chapter 225,- and Chapter 399, Laws of 1943 repealed it.
