The romance of the American frontier is illustrated by the log-shaped card above whose purpose was to attract Germans to northern Wisconsin. During the nineteenth century the Federal Land Grant Program played a major role in promoting the expansion of the American nation. It accomplished this in part by granting land to railroad companies that promised to build along proposed routes; these, in turn, raised funds for railroad construction by selling some of the land. The Wisconsin Central Railroad, incorporated in 1877, hired W. H. Bartell beginning in the 1870s to serve as its land agent; by 1881 he is said to have sold as much as 10,000 acres. Bartell engaged the Milwaukee lawyer K. K. Kennan to serve as his repre-
sentative in Switzerland, and published brochures in German and English praising the advantages of Wisconsin land. It is important to note that virtually every American frontier state had agents in Europe to promote emigration, and many states also had offices in New York to assist new arrivals.