Jules Verne was well aware of Wisconsin's reputation as the home of the first automobile in America, the first automobile race(click) and later (not quite as grandiose as Verne predicted) the world's first speedway (click).
He also knew the reputation of our state's advanced road system - a system that would lead to the first highway numbering system in the United States. Anyone who reads this blog already knows my oft repeated quote, "Whatever it is, odds are that it was done here first." Jules Verne describes Wisconsin as the progressive,forward looking place that it was in the late 1800's. Just as Edgar Rice Burroughs sets the rousing climax of Tarzan, The Ape Man in Wisconsin, Verne puts his imagined Badger State to good use in chapter 3 of Master of The World. Here's a brief excerpt...

"A race was to be held by the automobile Club of Wisconsin, over the roads of that state of which Madison is the capital. The route laid out formed an excellent track, about two hundred miles in length, starting from Prairie-du-chien on the western frontier, passing by Madison and ending a little above Milwaukee on the borders of Lake Michigan. Except for the Japanese road between Nikko and Namode, bordered by giant cypresses, there is no better track in the world than this of Wisconsin. It runs straight and level as an arrow for sometimes fifty miles at a stretch. Many and noted were the machines entered for this great race. Every kind of motor vehicle was permitted to compete, even motorcycles, as well as automobiles. The machines were of all makes and nationalities. The sum of the different prizes reached fifty thousand dollars, so that the race was sure to be desperately contested. New records were expected to be made.

Calculating on the maximum speed hitherto attained, of perhaps eighty miles an hour, this international contest covering two hundred miles would last about three hours. And, to avoid all danger, the state authorities of Wisconsin had forbidden all other traffic between Prairie-du-chien and Milwaukee during three hours on the morning of the thirtieth of May. Thus, if there were any accidents, those who suffered would be themselves to blame."

Thanks Jules. You said a mouthfull with that last line.