Review 2 March

1
Review 2 March
People, land and economy III. Tying it all
together transportation and towns
2
Guiding questions
How did transportation networks connect Wisconsin
with the rest of the world? What sorts of things
did they bring into and out of Wisconsin?   How
did waterways, rails, and roads help bring about
the creation of settlements and towns?   How did
transportation technologies influence the
location of industry and trade in Wisconsin?
3
Transportation geography

• With other factors, influences town development
• Stretches beyond Wisconsins borders
• Links distant places markets, resources,
  labor, capital

4
Review the World System
Three tiers core, semi-periphery, and
periphery Core regions power to achieve
geoeconomic objectives, supplies capital, has
wealth to fuel demand Periphery regions little
power to achieve objectives, supplies cheap labor
and natural resources, little wealth Semi-peripher
y regions can dominate other regions, still
dominated by the core Impacts new demands on
nature, changing social and cultural relations,
interdependency
5
Towns

• Influenced by transportation technologies
• Money-making (speculative) opportunities
• Waves of investment (from outside region)
• Sites of power sources (water power)
• May decline as technologies and waves of
  investment change, environmental resources decline

6

Native American trade pre-European contact
Ex Rock River and Mississippi River linked
places in a continental trading system Cahokia, a
world city and Aztalan, its outpost
7
The fur trade (French)
Montreal and its outposts Mackinac, Green Bay
(Fort St. Francois Xavier), and Prairie du Chien
(Fort St. Nicholas) Fox-Wisconsin waterway and
the Great Lakes
8

Lead mining
Mineral Point and Galena
Local roads and the Mississippi River Mineral
Point Railroad and zinc Other sites competed for
business ex Helena
9
Logging

• Many functions of rivers and water
• Carry laborers and supplies to logging camps
• Carry logs to sawmills and products to market
• Power mills

10
Logging The river years (through 1870s)
Two geographies of production rapids versus
flat water
11
Logging The river years (through 1870s)
Dependence on Chicago for connection to national
and global markets
12
Logging
Flat water Wolf and Fox Rivers
Oshkosh Competed for some time against Fond du Lac
13
Logging Rail enters the scene 1870s -
Convenient shipping allows more WI manufactures
to produce finished goods furniture, doors,
shingles, lathes, pickets, floor panels Wisconsin
lumberers could access western markets more
readily without Chicago Railroad rates were a
concern cheaper than water transport? Collusion?
14
The Wisconsin Central Line was the first to enter
northern Wisconsin 1871 Federal land grants
provided the space for rail incursions military
motivations in the wake of Civil War Capital from
Boston investors, obtained by promoters such as
Judge Reed of Manitowoc and Menasha
15
Logging Rail enters the scene 1870s -
Rail in N WI also increased access to remote
areas of forest spur lines
16
Farming and farm products
Grain markets on the Great Lakes dominant ports
reflect shifting geography of production
Milwaukee 1860s Superior-Duluth 1870s
17
Mills From flour to paper and woolens
Neenah and Menasha Paper mills replaced flour
mills New technology shifted paper production
from rag to wood pulp
18
Tourism and transportation
Railroads major capital investment Tourism
another opportunity to make money from
investments in rail