its material achievements. Schools and churches are maintained with conspicuous liberality,
society organizations are numerous and well sustained, public libraries are established in almost
all the communities and extensive traveling library systems are operated for the benefit of the
farming communities. The Wisconsin Valley has always taken an active part in the affairs of
state, and has contributed to the public service citizens who have served the commonwealth
with marked fidelity and distinguished ability. In the interest of the unfortunate and dependent
public and semi-public hospitals and asylums are provided liberally. The interests of the peo-
ple are represented by a strong, fearless and earnest press. Throughout the length of the Val-
ley there is a community of interest in public affairs which makes for better ideals, and produces
high results. They are, as a whole, an energetic and progressive people, these dwellers in what
was once the pine slashing, and the finishing and polishing processes of development are going
forward with marvelous rapidity.
That the Valley of the Wisconsin is not devoid of scenic effects the accompanying illustra-
tions amply demonstrate. At the south the Valley is flat, and, but for the embellishment of the
river itself here and there, almost uninteresting. Going north, however, the land begins the
gentle undulations which by the time Marathon county is reached have become hills, and even
mountains. Mosinee Hill rises a massive mound, sharp and clear and round, shorn of the for-
mer glory of its timber, and in its sombre loneliness a fitting burial place for the old Chief Mosi-
nee, who gave his name to the village a little to the south of it, and whose best hunting was in
the forest which once surrounded it. A little to the north and west of this stands the grim
granite of Rib Mountain, with its quartzite formation glistening and sparkling in the sunshine,
the highest point of land in the state. Beyond this the land is broken into ranges of low hills,
and further on to the north, almost every depression between the hills becomes a lake, fringed
with timber, filled with fish, and, clear as crystal, lies like one of a thousand diamonds on the
bosom of the earth.
These lakes play a most important part in the development of the country.  They are
nature's reservoirs, holding in reserve the water supply which the river needs. Their efficiency
in that regard has been largely increased by the system of dams with which they have been sup-
plemented. By means of the lakes and the dams, the water is held in storage until it is needed,
and when the drives are ready to move, the necessary volume of water can be secured, first on
the little tributary streams, and then on the larger feeders, and finally on the main river.
But the lakes of Northern Wisconsin, by far the most of which are within the limits of the
Wisconsin Valley, are of more interest than this important commercial use to which they are
6