These wells vary in depth, from 90 to 130 feet. It is governed by a Mayor and Council. The population in 1870 was 12,764.

Lake Winnebago, on which the city is situated, is a beautiful sheet of water, 30 miles long and 10 miles wide, and is the channel of an extensive trade, being one of the chain of navigable waters which connect Lake Michigan with the Mississippi by means of the Wisconsin River. It empties it waters into Green Bay, through the Fox River, which has been rendered navigable for steamers. A canal has been cut from the Fox River to the Wisconsin, and steamers pass from Green Bay into the latter river. A very large trade in lumber and grain is thus brought to Fond du Lac. There are about 6 grain elevators in the city, and about 16 or 17 saw-mills. Railways connect the city with the principal points in the West.

There are a number of factories of agricultural implements, soap, and flour here, besides a large shop for the construction of railway cars. Fond du Lac was originally a French trading-post, but the settlement of the city was not begun until about 1835. Since then it has grown with great rapidity.

OSHKOSH,

In Winnebago county, is a rapidly growing city. It is pleasantly situated on both sides of the Fox River, at its entrance into Lake Winnebago. It is built on ground gradually sloping towards the lake and river, thus securing excellent drainage for the whole city. Immediately above the town the Fox River broadens out into the Lake Butte des Mortes.

Oshkosh is regularly laid out, and is built principally of wood. The County Court House and Jail, a handsome edifice, is the principal building. There are about 12 churches, several public and private schools, and 3 newspapers in the city. It is lighted with gas, and is governed by a Mayor and Council. In 1870, the population was 12,663.

The city is largely engaged in the manufacture of lumber, there being about 17 saw-mills, cutting about 50,000,000 feet of lumber annually, besides laths and pickets. There are also 6 shingle mills, which cut 6,500,000 shingles per annum, and several planing mills, and sash and door, and fence factories. The city also contains several founderies, machine shops, agricultural machine shops, flouring mills, tanneries, and breweries. A considerable quantity of grain is sent here for shipment. A ship-yard is located here for the construction

of barges and steamers for the Mississippi trade. Several boats built here were plying on that river and its tributaries previous to the war. Steamers from Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, have discharged cargo here. Railways connect the city with the principal towns of the State. Just above Oshkosh lie the vast timber regions of Wisconsin, which are reached by ascending the Wolf River, which is navigable for small steamers for 100 miles from the city. Owing to the proximity of so much water, the heats of the summer is much moderated at Oshkosh, and the place has become one of the most popular summer resorts in the State.

MISCELLANY.

THE OLDEST MAN IN THE WORLD.

Joseph Crele died in Caledonia, a little town in Wisconsin, on the 27th of January, 1866. He was probably the oldest man in the world, being, at the time of his death, 141 years of age. He was born of French parents, in 1725, at a French trading-post, which has since grown into the present city of Detroit. The baptismal register of the Catholic Church in that city settles this fact positively. He lived in Wisconsin for about 100 years. He was at one time a French soldier, and bore arms at Braddock's defeat. He married in New Orleans in 1754, when nearly 30. A few years after his marriage, he settled at Prairie du Chien, while Wisconsin was still a province of France. Before the Revolutionary war, he was employed to carry letters between Prairie du Chien and Green Bay. A few years ago, he was called as a witness in the Circuit Court of Wisconsin, to give testimony relating to events that had transpired 80 years before. For some years before his death, the old gentleman resided with a daughter by his third wife at Caledonia. He was 69 when this child was born. Until 1864, Mr. Crele was as hearty and active as most men of 70. He could walk several miles without fatigue, and frequently chopped wood for the family use.

He cast his first vote for Washington, and after that never failed to vote at every election. He had no bad habits, except that he was a constant smoker. In person, he was rather above the medium height, spare in flesh, but showing evidences of having been in his prime-100 years ago—a man of powerful physical organization. During the last few years of his life, he experienced a haunting sense of loneliness, and would frequently exclaim with sadness that he feared Death had forgotten him.

THE State of Minnesota is situated between 43° 30′ and 49° N. latitude, and between 89° 30′ and 97° W. longitude. It is bounded on the north by British America, on the east by Lake Superior and Wisconsin, on the south by Iowa, and on the west by Dakota Territory.

TOPOGRAPHY.

The State Government has recently published an excellent description of Minnesota, prepared by Col. Girart Hewitt, of St. Paul. We take the following from it:

"Although Minnesota is not a mountainous country by any means, its general elevation gives it all the advantages of one, without its objectionable features. Being equidistant from the Atlantic and Pacific oceans, situated on an elevated plateau, and with a system of lakes and rivers ample for an empire, it has a peculiar climate of its own, possessed by no other State. The general surface of the greater part of the State is even and undulating, and pleasantly diversified with rolling prairies, vast belts of timber, oak openings, numerous lakes and streams, with their accompanying meadows, waterfalls, wooded ravines, and lofty bluffs, which impart variety, grandeur and picturesque beauty to its scenery.

"The Mississippi River, 2400 miles long, which drains a larger region of country than any stream on the globe, with the exception of

the Amazon, rises in Lake Itasca, in the northern part of Minnesota, and flows southeasterly through the State 797 miles, 134 of which forms its eastern boundary. It is navigable for large boats to St. Paul, and above the Falls of St. Anthony for smaller boats for about 150 miles farther. The season of navigation has opened as early as the 25th of March, but usually opens from the first to the middle of April, and closes between the middle of November and the first of December. In 1865 and 1866, steamboat excursions took place on the first of December, from St. Paul, and the river remained open several days longer; in 1867 until December 1st. The principal towns and cities on the Mississippi in Minnesota, are, Winona, Wabashaw, Lake City, Red Wing, Hastings, St. Paul, Minneapolis, St. Anthony, Anoka, Dayton, Monticello, St. Cloud, Sauk Rapids, Little Falls, Watab. The Minnesota River, the source of which is among the Coteau des Prairies, in Dakota Territory, flows from Big Stone Lake, on the western boundary of the State, a distance of nearly 500 miles, through the heart of the southwestern part of the State, and empties into the Mississippi at Fort Snelling, 5 miles above St. Paul.

It is navigable as high up as the Yellow Medicine, 238 miles above its mouth during good stages of water. Its principal places are Shakopee, Chaska, Carver, Belle Plaine, Henderson, Le Sueur, Traverse des Sioux, St. Peter, Mankato, and New Ulm. The St. Croix River, rising in Wisconsin, near Lake Superior, forms about 130 miles of the eastern boundary of the State. It empties into the Mississippi nearly opposite Hastings, and is navigable to Taylor's Fall, about 50 miles. It penetrates the pineries, and furnishes immense water-power along its course. The principal places on it are Stillwater and Taylor's Falls. The Red River rises in Lake Traverse, and flows northward, forming the western boundary of the State from Big Stone Lake to the British possessions, a distance of 380 miles. It is navigable from Breckenridge, at the mouth of the Bois de Sioux River, to Hudson's Bay; the Saskatchewan, a tributary of the Red River, is also said to be a navigable stream, thus promising an active commercial trade from this vast region when it shall have become settled up, via the St. Paul and Pacific Railroad, which connects the navigable waters of the Red River with those of the Mississippi. Among the more important of the numerous small streams are Rum River, valuable for lumbering; Vermilion River, furnishing extensive water-power, and possessing some of the finest cascades in the United States ; the Crow, Blue Earth Root, Sauk, Le Sueur, Zumbro, Cottonwood, Long Prairie, Red Wood, Waraju, Pejuta Ziza, Mauja, Wakau, Buffalo, Wild Rice, Plum, Sand Hill, Clear Water, Red Lake, Thief Black, Red Cedar, and Des Moines rivers; the St. Louis River, a large stream flowing into Lake Superior, navigable for 20 miles from its lake outlet, and furnishing a water-power at its falls said to be equal to that of the Falls of the Mississippi at St. Anthony, and many others, besides all the innumerable hosts of first and secondary tributaries to all the larger streams."

Lake Superior washes the eastern boundary of the State for a distance of 167 miles, and has several fine harbors. Minnesota is thickly studded with small lakes, which abound in fish and game, and give a rich beauty to the landscape. Professor Maury says that Minnesota is the best watered State in the Union, although one of the farthest from the sea, owing its abundant summer rains to the presence of these lakes.

MINERALS.

Iron is abundant along the shores of Lake Superior. Copper is found in small quantities. Coal and red pipe-clay are the other mine