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a Board of Arbitrators to appraise the property. Tihe Company retained the
land grants, water pow- 
er privileges and other property, and turned the canal over to the Government
in consideration of 
$145,ooo. Since the Government took possession of the route in 1872, about
two millions of dol- 
lars have been expended on the work, and improvements and repairs are continually
being made. 
        The new Lawson Canal completed the present year is designed to furnish
a large additional 
 amount of power, and is already being utilized for manufacturing purposes.
        It will be seen from the foregoing account th ut the beginning of
improvements along this Val- 
 ley was during the period fron  1848 to 1853. 
        The dam   at Neenah was authorized in 1847, which act authorized
Harvey Jones, Loyal H. Jones, 
 Harrison Reed, Charles Doty, and Curtis Reed to erect a dam across the channel.
        By act of March 1848 Curtis Reed and his associates were authorized
to construct a dam 
 across the north channel at Menasha.   Work, however, along the route was
mainly begun in 183o, and 
 progressed during the next two years as already stated. 
       The Green Bay and Mississippi Canal Company still own a large amount
of water power along 
 the river.  The office is located at Appleton. The President of the company
is John Van Nort- 
 wick of Batavia, N. Y;     Vice- President, I1. J. Rogers of Applcton; Secretary
and Treasurer, Aug. 
 Ledyard Smith, Appleton. 
                                A VALLEY OF INDUSTRY. 
       The Valley of the Lower Fox is not merely a region of picturesque
and magnificent scenery, 
 but it is emphatically a valley of industry, although in this latter respect
it is but in its infancy. 
       Lake Winnebago has two outlets known as the Menasha and Neenah channels
of Fox River. 
The former is ii,8oo feet and the latter 7,500 feet in length. The two channels
unite in a beau- 
tiful little lake known as Little Lake Buttes des Morts.   The island thus
formed is known as 
Doty's Island. 
       Lake Winnebago is a body of water 35 miles long and from 9 to 14 miles
wide, having an 
area of not less than 350 square miles.  It also is connected with lake Poygan
which is about 30 
miles in circumference, and with lake Buttes des Morts of somewhat less dimensions.
 These reser- 
voirs are so vast in extent that droughts and freshets have but little effect
upon them. While other 
streams are crippled by     droughts or rendered furious and dangerous by
freshets, the Lower Fox 
flows ceaselessly on, a faithful servant of the mighty industries along its
way. This uniformity makes 
it a water power that is without equal in the whole country. 
       The total fall from Lake Winnebago to Green Bay is about 170 feet,
and the distance thirty- 
seven and one-half miles. The minimum volume of the Lower Fox is given by
Win. Westbrook at 
2,320 cubic feet per second. 
       As may be seen froom the tables already given there is a continuous
series of water powers 
from Lake Winnebago to DePere. At Neenah, Menasha, Appleton, Kaukauna and
DIePere, the power 
is employed to a greater or less extent, but a vast amount of power is yet
available, while at other 
points the magnificent powers, now idle are waiting to turn the wheels of
industry.  At all points 
there is still room and power for other manufactories. 
       Although mighty manufacturing industries are already firmly planted
along the banks of this mag- 
nificent river, yet this valley, as a manufacturing district, is yet in its
infancy.   It is not in the 
nature of things that an inch of this water power will forever remain idle.
 Even now projects are 
appearing which indicate that industries will multiply more rapidly in the
future than in the past. 
There is everything to warrant the prediction that the time will come when,
from  Lake Winnebago 
to Green Bay, there will be an almost continuous city.