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       number of lath manufactured 7,860,000; number of pickets man-
       ufactured, 1,890,000.-
                                          J. G. CALLAHAN,
                                                 Lumber Inspector.
         The excellent agricultural lands of Marathon and adjoining
       counties are as yet but slightly developed. Almost the entire
       western part of Marathon county, containing thousands upon
       thousands of acres of as fine agricultural lands as can be found
       anywhere in this latitude, are as yet in a state of nature, and the
       same also is true of the eastern portion of the county. These
       lands are covered with a dense growth of rock or sugar maple,
ilk   beech, hickory, butternut, basswood, elm, ash and poplar, while
      along the streams, pine and hemlock, interspersed with cedar and
      fir, exist in munificent abundance. The productive capacity of
      these lands has been amply demonstrated by the sturdy farmers
      who have already settled on some portions of them, to be fully
      equal to any in the West, and in some very important particulars
      decidedly superior. In the raising of tame grass they particularly
      excel, both as to quality and quantity. Indeed, I confidently
      predict that there will be no grazing region in the entire North-
      west that will excel this, when once fully and fairly developed.
      Many whole townships yet unsettled, are awaiting the enter-
      prising emigrants from other States, and from other lands and
      climes, to develop happy homes and thriving and industrious
      communities.
        These lands are not all confined to Marathon county, although
      it contains a large share of them. The eastern portion of Chip-
      pewa, nearly the whole of Clark county, the northern portion of
      Wood, and the western portion of Portage county, contain the
      same class of lands, the soil and productions being essentially
      alike. This region is destined to be the richest part of Wiscon-
      sin. Located as it is on the borders of the most extensive
      pineries this side of the Rocky Mountains, occupying that po-
      sition which must inevitably become the main railroad transit from
      the terminus of the Northern Pacific to the great railroad
      thoroughfares leading to the Atlantic, its destiny ultimately, as
      one of the prime fertile gardens of the Northwest, is neither un-
      certain nor shadowy, but fixed as fate, in the brilliant and not