Page 292 - La Société canadienne d'histoire de l'Église catholique - Rapport 1961
P. 292
288 WISCONSIN IIISTORICAL COLLECTIONS.
a great deal of di5dence. We have listened with much plea-
sure to the addresses made, especially that of Mr. IIOLTON.
That gentleman is himself an evidence of the thrift and pros-
perity of Milwaukee. Iie is now in the prime of life, and the
heads of the patriarchs of this State are not yet whitened with
age. The day of small tl~ings for Milwaukee is but as yester-
.day. The patriarchs of this city, less than a generation ago,
$aid the corner-stone of the enterprise and prosperity which
you are enjoying. So great has been your growth, that the
pioneers have been allnost buried up in the great cron-d that
has followed.
You are to be congratulated upon the locality and elegant
room which you have chosen for your use. It is a place where
you will be proud to invite the stranger and friend. The or-
ganization of the Chamber of Commerce is indicative of the
prosperity and wealth of the city.
It is well that such an institution is now organized. In small
to~viis there is no need of such things - therc was no commerce
when JUNEAU here and traded his furs, and blankets, and
came
powder among the Indians ; there was no commerce hen far-
mers drew their loads to town through the heavy roads ; the
place was small, and everybody knew where to find his neigh-
bor ; and if he wanted to find him and could s't, it made no
difference, for thc steamer didn't go until the next week. But
the infancy of the city has passed away. The common road
has been succeeded by the plank road ; the plank road by the
rail-road ; the farmer went through the land and sowed the seed
where the prairie flower grew ; the axe-men and the surveyor
went forth, and then followed the construction of those arteries
which now enter our city on every hand, and heavy trains come
thundering along laden with the protiuce of the land, which, but
for these roads, must have rotted in the fields and in the barn-
yards. Ancl the telegraph came next. It is creeping onward
towards Minnesota now. It will follow up and cross the Rocky
Mountains, touching the shores of the Pacific ; and if the At-
