The central figure in this collection is Dr. E. H. Porter, though the majority of the letters come from Gardner Palmer. The few letters from William Palmer, who had established a law office in Milwaukee, speak enthusiastically of the opportunities there. In a letter of December 18, 1836, he describes a trip to the legislative session in the capital at Belmont and a ball held at the close of the session. Palmer Gardner had come to the territory and established himself on a tract of land west of Milwaukee in anticipation of the land sales. The postponement of the sales necessitated his remaining on the land to hold his claim, and his first letters speak of the disadvantages of pioneering. Later letters show the progress of agriculture and increasing comforts of life. Other letters to Dr. Porter indicate that he had extensive investments in the village of Southport [Kenosha]. His agent, writing in 1842, speaks of the development of the village, the thriving lead trade, the need of a harbor, and, three years later, of village improvements such as grubbing out the stumps in the streets and leveling them off. Most of the later letters in the collection deal exclusively with financial operations in Wisconsin lands, which Dr. Porter had bought for speculation.
The earliest letters have been printed in the Wisconsin Magazine of History 18:76-84, 204-211 (Sept.-Dec. 1934).
