North America [Sheet V]: The North West and Michigan Territories. Published in London by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in 1833.
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Michigan and the Great Lakes. By Thomas Bradford and Published by Ticknor in Boston in 1835.
From 1818 to 1836 Wisconsin was part of Michigan Territory. European settlement was sparse west of Lake Michigan, with Green Bay Township, located in Brown County, and some lead mines in the southwest being the only settlements of note.
Map-makers rarely depicted the entire legal boundary of the Territory. Perhaps they were aware that these territories were a paper fiction, bound to be carved into smaller territories on the path to statehood. The Bradford map clearly notes that Wisconsin (called ‘Huron’ here) is “Attached to Michigan” while the SDUK map does not.
Both maps mark off Green Bay Township and note the important water passages and portage that connected Green Bay with the Mississippi river system. The colloquial “Huron” was often applied to Wisconsin, though it was never a legal name of the U.S. territory or of any counties.
Detail from: North America [Sheet V]: The North West and Michigan Territories. Published in London by the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge in 1833.
Detail from: Michigan and the Great Lakes. By Thomas Bradford and Published by Ticknor in Boston in 1835.
These maps will be in the display case in the Map Library the week of February 18, 2013. They were generous gifts of Ron Dietz.
