The collection primarily documents the activities of the Green Bay and Mississippi Canal Company and the two enterprises which preceded it--the Board of Public Works and the Fox-Wisconsin Improvement Company. The records of these three groups have been organized as one series, Improvement Enterprise Records. Arrangement is by type of record and roughly chronological thereunder. Corporate names identified on individual volume covers are listed in the Container List. Researchers should note that the Green Bay and Mississippi Canal Company was in fact the reorganized Fox-Wisconsin Improvement Company; occasionally a volume postdating the demise of the Fox-Wisconsin Improvement Company will still have that corporate name on the volume. Some of the more fragile of the volumes were boxed for protection. Smaller quantities of records are in the other two series, Records of Other Companies and Legal Documents.
IMPROVEMENT ENTERPRISE RECORDS include minutes, financial records, land records, maps, and miscellany. Minutes may also include resolutions and miscellaneous reports such as engineering reports, financial reports and annual reports. The records of proceedings contain minutes and general, engineering, and financial reports submitted to the Board of Public Works. Other minutes may document both stockholder and Board of Directors meetings. Occasionally a volume is indexed. Financial records consist of journals, ledgers, cash books, day books, collection books, rental abstracts and tax abstracts. The journals and ledgers have entries for various individuals, corporations, and funds; many are indexed. Collection books consist of reports and listings of clearances for boats using the canals. Information recorded may include boat names, destination, cargo, and rate charged. The rental abstracts list the name, land description, annual rent, and a record of payment. The majority of the land records contain descriptions of land, purchaser, price, and general remarks. Of interest is the Record of Appraisals which records damage claims and settlements based on the appraisers' evaluation. Researchers should also consult the 1914 Legal History and Status of Properties of Green Bay and Mississippi Canal Company for a brief summary of the improvement programs to that date. Maps consist of of printed and hand-drawn maps and plats of rivers, adjoining lands, and waterway projects constructed.
Included in the miscellany are Records of Green Bay and Mississippi Canal Company which include transcriptions of various company records such as legal documents, correspondence, financial materials, and reports; the volumes are indexed. Miscellany also contains a volume of Water Power Leases, which lists the terms of the lease and the rates paid by area companies and individuals. An index is included and lists such companies as Appleton Knitting Company, Appleton Chair Company, Atlas Paper Company, Combined Locks Paper Company, Kaukauna Electric Light Company, Little Chute Pulp Company, Manufacturing Investment Company, Western Paper Bag Company, and Wisconsin Tissue Paper Company.
The second series, RECORDS OF OTHER COMPANIES, contains fragmentary records of other companies operating in the Fox and Wisconsin River Valley areas. The records include miscellaneous journals and ledgers of the Appleton Paper and Pulp Company, and minutes and a land sales book of the Kaukauna Water Power Company. The series also contains a ledger identified only as “B.L. and Company” and a two-part report about power in the Fox River Valley. The latter report recommends consolidating various power interests in power pool and a proposal to bypass the present river channel with a canal.
A small number of legal documents and papers concerning the Green Bay and Mississippi Canal Company comprise the third series. Some are available on positive microfilm and some are a typewritten copy of records from the Wisconsin Secretary of State's files.
