A FOREST FIRE IN NORTHERN WISCONSIN _John L. Bracklin_ 16 BANKERS’ AID IN 1861-62 _Louise P. Kellogg_ 25 DOCUMENTS: The Diary of Harvey Reid: Kept at Madison in the Spring of 1861 35 HISTORICAL FRAGMENTS: Wisconsin’s First Versifiers; Memorandum on the Spelling of “Jolliet”; The First Edition of the Zenger Trial, 1736; A Novel Transportation Device 64 EDITORIALS: Introducing Ourselves; Our State Flag; The Society and the Legislature; Nelson Dewey Park and the First Wisconsin Capitol; Perrot State Park and John A. Latsch; Forest Fires, Generally and in Particular; Consolation for the Present Crisis 75 QUESTION BOX: The Oldest Church in Wisconsin; The First Mills in the Fox River Valley; Colonel Ellsworth’s Madison Career; The Story of “Glory of the Morning”; The Odanah Indian Reservation; First Exploration of Eastern Wisconsin; A Community Changes Its Name; How the Apostle Islands Were Named; The Services of the Menominee in the Black Hawk War 87 SURVEY OF HISTORICAL ACTIVITIES: The Society and the State; Some Publications 101 Copyright, 1917, by the State Historical Society of Wisconsin INCREASE ALLEN LAPHAM, FIRST SCHOLAR OF WISCONSIN BY MILO M. QUAIFE The most characteristic and comprehensive theme in all American history is that of the westward movement. From the time of the first feeble landings at Quebec, at Plymouth, and at Jamestown, the history of our country has been characterized by a steady westward surge of the population, reaching out eagerly for new lands to conquer, and in the process carrying the banner of civilization ever westward and establishing successive new communities and states. The present generation of students of American history has not been unmindful of the importance and interest which attaches to this westward movement, and has not failed to accord it, in the main, all due recognition. With the doings and deserts of our pioneer farm, canal, railroad, and city builders, our hewers of wood and drawers of water, in a word, historians have long made us familiar. Unfortunately, however, too little attention has been given, and too little recognition accorded, the equally important service of those among our western pioneers who laid the foundations of our spiritual and intellectual civilization. That man may not live by bread alone was stated long ago on excellent authority. The hewing down of the forests and breaking of the prairies, the building of houses, highways, and cities were all essential steps in the process of transforming the wilderness into an abode of enlightened civilization. Equally essential was the establishment of institutions of learning and religion, and the development of a taste for literature and art. The blossoming of these