Fifty Years in the Northwest

Fifty Years in the Northwest is William Folsom’s detailed account of the settlement of Minnesota and Wisconsin, drawn from half a century of living and working in the region. A lumberman, legislator, and pioneer, Folsom writes as both witness and local historian, recording the founding of towns along the St. Croix valley, the growth of the timber trade, and the lives of the settlers, traders, and Native peoples he knew. The book gathers county histories, family sketches, and firsthand memory into one large reference, the kind of source later historians of the upper Midwest have relied on ever since. This free PDF and EPUB presents the full work for readers interested in American frontier and regional history.