USA > Wisconsin > Columbia County > A history of Columbia County, Wisconsin : a narrative account of its historical progress, its people, and its principal interests > Part 4
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Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42
XXXV
INDEX
trips more or less exciting, 68; Mer- rell in politics, 68; Satterlee Clark's perilous journey; 69; 'Black Hawk threatens Fort Winnebago, 70; Clark sent for reenforcements, 70; on return overtakes mounted militia, 70; fatal stampede of trooper's horses, 71; "Battle" of the Wisconsin, 71; end of the Black Hawk war, 72; De La Ronde makes the Portage in 1828, 72; the noted Indian family, De-kau-ry (De Korra), 73; Perrish Grignon, 74; John B. Lecuyer, 74; De La Ronde becomes a Caledonia farmer, 74; Indian re- moval of 1840, 74; L'Ecuyer's grave, 76; the Post cemetery, 77
Train, H. V., 214
Trapp, Casper, 515
Trapp, John, 554
Trapp, Louis, 515
Trapp, Mary, 554
Trapp, Otto, 554
Trapp, Peter, 554
Treadwell, Clarence L., 696'
Trimm, E., 214'
True, E. C., 151
Tucker, L. J.,' 132 .
Turner, "A. J., 31, 33, 34, 51, 56, 76, 94, 113, 135, 137, 181, 191, 282, 337, 342, 387
Turner, Frederick J., 38, 139
Twigg; Thomas, 86
Twiggs, David E., 50, '168
Twigg's Landing, 86
Twitchell, M. E., 666
Udey, Myron G., 510 Uffenbeck, William, 219:
Underdalil, Ellick O., 543'
!
Underdahl, G.'O., 542
Underdahl, Ole, 543'
Union Bank of Columbus, 246'
Upper Dells, 5
Utley, Joseph, 277
Vandercook, D., 201 Van Cleve, Horatio P., 53
Van Cleve, Lieutenant and' Mrs., 53
Van Ness, Jesse, 128
Van Ness, Sarah B., 435
Van Zandt, Benjamin, 215
Vaughan, Samuel K., 176
Vaughan, S. K., 221
Veeder, Richard F., 217
Views-Chimney Rock. and Romance Cliff, Dells of the Wisconsin, 6; Witche's Gulch, Wisconsin Dells, 7; Louis Bluff, Head of Wisconsin Dells, Old Indian Signal Station, 19; Mar- quette Voyaging toward the Missis- sippi, 35; Fort Winnebago (near the Portage) in 1834, 50;' Last Relie of Fort Winnebago, 55; Old Indian Agency House, Portage, 56; Log Cabin
of the Real Settler, 82; Wisconsin River Lock, Portage, 93;' Scene in Flooded District, South from Kil- bourn, 99; Courthouse, Shortly after its Erection, 114; County Asy- lum and Poor Home, Wyocena, 116; a Dairy Herd in Columbia County, 126; Columbia County Training School, Columbus, 154; Presbyterian Academy, Poynette, 158; Wisconsin Street Front of City Hall, Portage, 189; Second Old Wisconsin River Bridge, 195; Portage High School, 209; Old Pauquette Church, Portage, 211; City Hall and Auditorium, Columbus, 237; Columbus High School, 1895-1910, 239; Public School Building, Kilbourn, 253; Power Dam at High Water, Kil- bourn, 258; Steamboat at Devil's El- how, Wisconsin Dells, 262; Presbyte- rian Church, Lodi, 273; Old Mill, Nuc- leus of Pardeeville, 277; High School, Pardeeville, 279; Village Hall, Rio, 283; New High School, Cambria, 290; Old Cambria Hotel '(remodeled), 293; Wyocena Public School, 361; Mill Dam, Okee, 383; Log House of Dr. Leander Drew, West Point, 434; Wis- consin River , Along the Newport Shores, 439
Village Hall, Rio (view), 283
Vliet, Garret, 396
Vliet, J. B., 251
Voertman, August, Sr., 610
Voertman, Emma, 611
Voss, Fred, 519
Voth, Ferdinand, 578
Waggoner, J. H., 137
Walking Turtle, 24 .
Wall, George, 116
Walsworth, Silas, 118, 184, 185, 194
Ward, Mrs., 212
Warren, Nathan, 193
Washburn, W. B., 193
Water courses, 13
Watson, Phineas, 340'
"Wau-Bun," 27, 56, 159
Waubun Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 37
Wauona Lodge, No. 132, I. O. O. F., Portage, 221
Wehb & Bronson, 112
Webh, B. M., 428
"Wecker, Der," 143
"Weekly Events," 146
Weir, Andrew J., 617
Weir, William, 55, 616
We-Kaw, 43 Wellen, Coonrod, 280
Wells, Jabes, 417
Wells, J. H., 132, 223, 593
Wells, Thomas J., 621
Wells, T. S., 384
xxxVi
INDEX
Welsh Calvanistie Methodist Cambria, 294
Welsh Colonists, 286
Welsh Prairie, 289. 292
Wentworth & Company, 303, 350
Wentworth, Robert B., 135, 137
Wentworth, R. B., 201, 204
Wentworth, Mrs. R. B., 191, 192
Westcott, Ida A., 364
Westerfield, John. 244
Western Land Company, 267 Westphal, Henry, 529
West Point Township-West Point quite rural, 433; first house builder in West Point, 434; changes in name, 435; schools, 435; only one hotel venture, 435
Wheeler, John E., 247. 551
Wheeler, J. Russell, 247
Wheeler, John R., 246
Wheeler, J. R., 249
Whirry, William T., 442
Whistler, William, 43
White Crow, 25
White, Daniel, 92, 115, 116
White. Harvey, 362
Whitelaw, William Reed, 656
Whitman, A .. 218
Whitney, A. H., 249
Whitney, Alonzo H., 552
Whitney, C. J., 207
Whitney, Clark, 185
Whitney, H. A., 234, 235
Whitney, Henry A .. 552
Whitney, Jonathan, 397, 424
Wilderman, J. H., 218
Wilkins, Samuel, 341
Williams, Arthur, 596
Williams, Benjamin, 440
Williams, David E., 606
Williams, E. B., 288
Williams, Edward, 432
Williams, Griffith J., 605
Williams, J. L., 291
Williams, Robert, 282
Williams, Thomas, 606
Williams, William R., 288
Wilson, James, 414
Wilson, James W., 655
Wilson, John, 301, 655
Wilson, John J., 455
Wilson, Robert, 310, 455
Winchell, A. B., 402
Winn, Lorenzo A., 571
Winnebago City, 386 Winnebagoes, 20 Winnebago uprising, 43 Winnebago villages, 21 Wisall, Elsena, 210
Wisconsinapolis, 78, 393
Wisconsin Central R. R., 102
Wisconsin City, 398 "Wisconsin Mirror," 141, 146, 251
Church,
Wisconsin river, 4, 5, 13, 97 Wisconsin River Along the Newport Shores (view), 439
Wisconsin river bridges, 194 Wisconsin River Hydraulic Company, 251
Wisconsin River Lock, Portage (view), 93
"Wisconsin State Register," 136 Wisconsin State Register Company, 137 Wisconsin Street Front of City Hall, Portage (view), 189
Witche's Gulch, 7
Witche's Gulch, Wisconsin Dells (view), 7
Womer, Capt. J. D., 181
Wood, A. L., 279
Wood, Big Billy, 412
Wood, E. H., 113
Wood, Nathan, 285
Wood, Samuel F., 669
Woodward, James, 730
Wotring, Fred R., 215
Wrede, Henry C., 576
Wyocena-Founded by Major Elbert Diekason, 358; naming of Wyocena, 358; high grade of early settlers, 359; first store, 360; pioneer schools and churches, 360; Messrs. Dey and Dieka- son, 360; dairy industries, 361; Wyo- cena State Bank. 362; the Baptists, 362; the Congregational Church, 362; social and literary, 362; pienie held on historie ground, 363
"Wyocena Advance," 148 Wyocena Cheese Factory, 361
Wyocena Public School (view), 361
Wyocena State Bank, 362
Wyocena Township-Railroads, 400; old water powers, 401; first wheat and corn raised. 401; settlers of 1845-46; 401; town organized, 401: U. S. Regu- lars rout claim agent, 402; grist mill below Wyocena, 402
Wycoff, Samuel, 215
Yellow Thunder, last Winnebago war chief, 26
Yellow Thunder, 26-30, 31, 68
Y. M. C. A., Portage, 226
Yockey, Mary, 270, 382
York, G. E., 192
York, Irving W., 627
York, Robert E., 628
York, R. E., 192, 201
Young, Clark M., 377, 378, 480
Young, Usual. 378
Yule, John T., 181
Zastrow, Ferdinand, 710 Zastrow, Herman E., 710 Zienert, Alois, 564 Zion's Evangelical Lutheran Church, Cambria, 294
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
CHAPTER I
NATURAL FEATURES
WISCONSIN'S BOLDEST FEATURE-NATURAL ROUTE OF INDIANS AND FRENCH DISCOVERERS-PROTECTION OF THE PORTAGE NECESSARY TO SETTLEMENT-THE WISCONSIN RIVER AND THE DELLS -- THE "HOW" OF THE DELLS-THE BARABOO BLUFFS-THROUGH THE "GRAND EDDY" ON A RAFT-THE GREAT PRAIRIE BELT OF LIMESTONE-THE WATER COURSES OF COLUMBIA COUNTY-PRAIRIES, MARSHES AND TIMBER LAND-BUILDING STONE-DAIRYING AND AGRICULTURE.
Columbia County occupies the central area of one of the most remarkable physical features of the State of Wisconsin, and its entire history has been moulded in an especially striking manner by geo- graphical position and geological status. Trace the course of history to its fountain head and it will be found that it has been largely deter- mined by such foreordained conditions, but in the case of Columbia County the results may be so plainly traced from the grand and natural premises that the book lies open in all the charm of rugged simplicity.
The surface features of Wisconsin as a state are neither boldly moun- tainous nor monotonously level, which is the chief reason why those who have lived any length of time within its borders love the land, irre- spective of what they get out of it in a material way. It has all the charm of a varied personality, seldom ponderous or obtrusive.
WISCONSIN'S BOLDEST FEATURE
But Wisconsin has one feature which is strikingly bold, as well as flooded with beauty; that is the deep gash which passes diagonally from Green Bay, the headwaters of Lake Michigan, to the upper waters of the
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2
HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
Mississippi at Prairie du Chien, in the southwestern part of the state. Nature left two miles of slightly elevated limestone as a welt between the equal sections of the deep scar formed by the valleys of the Fox and Wisconsin rivers, and on either side lies Columbia County.
Our former great state geologist, Prof. T. C. Chamberlain, has thus described Wisconsin in a state of nature, with this sole pronounced grove in its surface, of which Columbia County is the very center of all its picturesque charms : "The surface features of Wisconsin are simple and symmetrical in character and present a configuration intermediate between the mountainous on the one hand and a monotonous level on the other. The highest summits in the state rise a little more than 1,200 feet above its lowest surfaces. A few exceptional peaks rise from 400 to 600 feet above their bases, but abrupt elevations of more than 200 or 300 feet are not common. Viewed as a whole, the state may be regarded as occupying a swell of land lying between three notable depressions-Lake Michigan on the east about 578 feet above the mean tide of the ocean, Lake Superior on the north about 600 feet above the sea, and the valley of the Mississippi river whose elevation at the Illi- nois state line is slightly below that of Lake Michigan. From these depressions the surface slopes upward to the summit altitudes of the state. But the rate of ascent is unequal. From Lake Michigan the sur- face rises by a long gentle acclivity westward and northward. A sim- ilar slope ascends from the Mississippi valley to meet this, and their juncture forms a north and south arch extending nearly the entire length of the state. From Lake Superior the surface ascends rapidly to the watershed, which it reaches within thirty miles of the lake.
"Under the waters of Lake Michigan the surface of the land passes below the sea level before the limits of the state are reached. Under Lake Michigan the land surface descends to even greater depths, but probably not within the boundaries of the state. The regularity of the southward slopes is interrupted in a very interesting way by a
remarkable diagonal valley occupied by Green Bay and the Fox and Wisconsin rivers. This is a great grove traversing the state obliquely, and cutting down the central elevation half its height. A line passing across the surface from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi at any other point would arch upward from about 400 to 1,000 feet, according to the location, while along the trough of this valley' it would reach an elevation barely exceeding 200 feet. On the northwest side of this trough the surface rises somewhat gradually, giving at most points much amplitude to the valley, but on the opposite side the slope ascends rapidly to a well marked watershed that stretelies across the state parallel to the valley."
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
. RINNETON
A FRENCH FUR TRADER AND CARRIER
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
NATURAL ROUTE OF INDIANS AND FRENCH DISCOVERERS
This deep grove, interrupted by only a narrow portage separating the water system of the great lakes from that of the great river, was the natural highway for the restless primitive peoples of the land, while Lake Winnebago, and the valleys of the main streams and their tribu- taries, became the gathering places of such powerful tribes as the Foxes and Winnebagoes, hemmed into Southern Wisconsin by the Chippewas toward the northeast and the Sioux toward the southwest.
It was also but natural that the earliest of the French voyageurs should have selected this beautiful route, which to all outward appear- ances would lead to the magnificent waters which were known to lie somewhere in the West, rather than expect to discover anything of importance by way of the swamps and little reedy stream at the lower end of Lake Michigan.
PROTECTION OF THE PORTAGE NECESSARY TO SETTLEMENT
So it was also that when the interior of Wisconsin commenced to be settled by white men, the Government realized that the keynote to their safety was a military oversight of the "portage;" hence the building of Fort Winnebago, in which the Indians saw their doom and protested accordingly. With Fort Howard (Green Bay) at the northeastern ter- miņus of the route, Fort Winnebago at the portage and Fort Crawford (Prairie du Chien) at the southwestern end, the great interior water- way of Wisconsin was comparatively safe. The cutting of the separating belt by the canal, and the control of the turbulent waters of the Wis- consin by means of the "levee system," were more modern works of con- venience and protection which Nature, in that part of the world, forced the American to accomplish.
So we repeat that the history of Columbia County is peculiarly a child of geographical and natural conditions.
THE WISCONSIN RIVER AND THE DELLS
It is in Northwestern Columbia County, with Kilbourn City as its central point, that the Wisconsin River which has been flowing south- ward from the north boundary of the state is deflected eastward by a quartz range and then hemmed in by another coming from the opposite direction. From one-third of a mile in width, the noble stream is sud- denly contracted to one of not more than two hundred feet, and at one point it is not above fifty feet across. Thus forced, it cuts its way
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
through seven miles of sandstone, whose walls rise from the clear, shad- owy waters to a height of from fifteen to eighty feet.
There is probably no equal stretch of water in the world which exhib- its such fantastic and beautiful forms of water erosion, and the hundreds of little glens or gulches which run inland from the river are lined with caves, fern beds and carved sandstone. In most places the walls are so abrupt that it is impossible to land from a rowboat or pleasure steamer.
The Dells (or Dalles) are naturally divided into Upper and Lower, the City of Kilbourn being at the head of the Lower Dells. Down the river from Kilbourn the channel of the Wisconsin is gradually modified until the stream again flows wide and shallow in an unconfined stream. The depth of the gorge is from fifty to one hundred feet.
There is not one visitor to the Dells in a thousand, and probably not ten in a hundred of the old-timers in Columbia county, who can tell exactly where they begin and where they end. A nameless pioneer, who is noted for his precision and pride of "getting things straight," comes to the rescue in the following words: "Section 28, in Township 14 north, of Range 6 east, lies both in Adams and Juneau counties, north of Sauk. The Wisconsin River, which is here the boundary between them, enters the north line of that section, and just at this point begins the Dells-the 'upper jaws' as they are familiarly called. The stream flows in nearly a south course through the middle of section 28 until it crosses into section 33. It continues through the last-named section, passing through the 'lower jaws,' and just at the point in the middle of the river where it crosses its southern line are the corners of Colum- bia, Adams, Juneau and Sauk counties. It flows on across the north line of Section 4, Township 13 north, of Range 6 east, with a course bearing to the eastward, crossing into section 3, but soon turning back into section 4. Here a dam crosses the river.
"Above this point is known as the Upper Dells. From this dam is seen Columbia County and Kilbourn City, town of Newport, on the right; Sauk County, town of Delton, on the left; the river forming thre boundary between the two counties. Below the dam are the Lower Dells. At the point where the river loses its characteristics of a gorge, it is called the Foot of the Dells. Throughout the whole length of the narrow passage from the Upper Jaws to the Foot of the Dells fanciful names have been given to the most striking objects and places."
The Jaws of the Dells are guarded by two immense rocks, High and Romance. Chimney Rock tells its own story. The Dell House, rambling and wild looking, was one of the first frame houses built on the river above Portage, and was used as a tourists' hotel for many years. It stood across the river from the churchlike rock known as Chapel George.
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
Many of the grottoes and caves, into which hoats bore the tourist over winding streams between fantastically carved sandstone, have been obliterated by the construction of the great modern dam at Kilbourn City and the consequent rising of the water level in the Upper Dells.
Where the river hanks suddenly approach within fifty feet of each other is called the Narrows, and in the earlier years this was considered the most dangerous point in the Dells during high water. The first bridge ever built across the Wisconsin was thrown across the Narrows by Schuyler S. Gates in 1850.
The Devil's Elbow is at the entrance to the Narrows where the river makes an almost square turn.
CHIMNEY ROCK AND ROMANCE CLIFF, DELLS OF THE WISCONSIN
To the left is Black Hawk's Cave, the legend being that the old chief made this his hiding place in the days of the Black Hawk War.
Near by is Notch Rock, a square huge bowlder, against which numer- ous lumber rafts have been shattered and lives lost.
Canyons and glens, the Devil's Jug, the Devil's Arm Chair, Steam- boat Rock, and a hundred other evidences of the genius of water as a sculptor are on every hand in this region of the Upper Dells. Steam- boat Rock challenges especial attention. It is an island standing in a curious circular cove, and from some points of view resembles a large steamer, 250 feet long by 100 wide and fifty feet high, except that its perpendicular sides are rugged and covered with pine, oak and thick shrubbery.
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
Stand Rock, one of the most striking attractions of the region, is over sixty feet in height, rising out of a beautiful glen and capped by a smooth sandstone slab about twenty feet square.
Witche's Gulch, at the head of the Upper Dells, extends inland for three-quarters of a mile. Although the rocks tower on either side to a height of perhaps a hundred feet, one can almost touch the walls with outstretched arms. It is dark, gloomy and weird, with its phantom
WITCHE'S GULCH, WISCONSIN DELLS
chambers, fairy grottoes, waterfalls, winding passages and damp ferns and mosses.
The river in its course through the Lower Dells is broader and pre- sents a greater diversity of bluff and bottom, but the side shows are less numerous and wonderful than those enjoyed in the Upper Dells. In some places great shelves, with stalwart young pines growing upon their very edges, overhang the dark waters; elsewhere, perpendicular
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
walls loom up like vast fortifications, and further on the fortress is sup- plemented by bastions, projecting towers and covered archways.
After leaving Kilbourn City, going down the river, the first attrac- tion is Taylor's Glen, which winds around and under the town, and the rocky cliff which marks the exit of one of its tunnels is known as Echo Point. If you have a sweet voice, it is well to be there, throw it out freely and listen for its uncanny repetition.
Farther down the river are all kinds of caves and rocks. Signal Peak stands as a reminder of the times when the Foxes and Winnebagoes built their warning fires upon it, and around the bend are the Sugar Bowl and Ink Stand. The former is complete, but the Ink Stand is split down the side and will admit a small canoe.
Lone Rock, with its Cave of Dark Waters, is majestic and lonesome in appearance, but withal wierdly beautiful. Then there are the Ovens, Hawk's Bill, Cobble Stone Cove, Coldwater Spring, and other seeming freaks of nature which are perfectly natural.
THE "HOW" OF THE DELLS
Many visitors will see and admire these wonderful sculptures with- out stopping to consider how they were produced. As noted by some Illinois professors, who have made a science of observing, "One of the features which deserves especial mention is the peculiar erenate (notched) form of the walls at the banks of the river. This is perhaps best seen in that part of the Dalles known as the Navy Yard. The sandstone is affected by a series of vertical cracks or joints. From weathering the rock along these joints becomes softened, and the running water wears the softened rocks at the joint planes more readily than other parts of its bank and so develops a reentrant at these points. Rain water descending to the river finds and follows the joint planes and thus widens the cracks. As a result of stream and rain and weathering, deep angles are produced, and the projections between are rounded off.
"When this process of weathering at the joints is carried sufficiently far, columns of rocks become isolated and stand out on the river bluffs as Chimneys. At a still later stage of development, decay of the rock along the joint planes may leave a large mass of rock completely iso- lated. Steamboat Rock and Sugar Bowl are examples of islands thus formed."
The walls of standstone weather in a peculiar manner at some points in the Lower Dells. The little ridges stand out because they are harder and resist weathering better than the other parts. This is due, in part at least, to the presence of iron in the more resistent portions, cementing
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
them more firmly. In the process of segregation cementing materials are often distributed unequally.
The effect of differences in hardness on erosion is alsc shown on a larger scale and in other ways. Perhaps the most striking illustration is Stand Rock, which probably is as well known as any feature of the Dells region.
Minor valleys tributary to the Wisconsin, such as Witche's Gulch and Cold Water Canyon deserve mention, both because of their beauty and because they illustrate a type of erosion at an early stage of valley development. In character they are comparable to the larger gorge to which they are tributary. In the downward cutting which far exceeds the side wear in these tributary canyons, the water has excavated large bowl or jug-like forms. They are developed just below the falls, where the water carrying debris, eddies, and the jug or pot-holes are the result. The Devil's Jung and many other similar hollows are thus explained.
In the vicinity of Camp Douglas and over a large area to the west are still other striking topographical forms, which owe their origin to different conditions though they are fashioned by the same forces. Here there are many towers or castle rocks, which rise to heights varying from 75 to 190 feet above the surrounding plain. They are remnants of beds which were once continuons over the low lands above which the hills now rise. The rock of which they are composed is Potsdam sand- stone. The effect of the vertical joints and of horizontal layers of unequal hardness is especially noticeable in the formations of this locality. Rains, winds, frosts and roots are still working to compass the destruction of these picturesque hills, and the sloping walls of sand bordering the "castles" are reminders of the fate which awaits them. These hills are the more conspicuous and instructive since the plain out of which they rise is so flat. Geological experts have pronounced it "one of the best examples of a base-level plain to be found on the continent."
The crests of these hills reach an elevation of between one thousand and one thousand one hundred feet. The Friendship mounds north of Kilbourn City, the castellated hills a few miles northwest of the same place, and Petenwell Peak on the banks of the Wisconsin are further examples of the same class of hills.
THE BARABOO BLUFFS
But Columbia County is not a hilly region, and besides these inter- esting castellated mounds in the extreme northwest, its other marked manifestations of an uprising are chiefly what are known as the Bara-
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HISTORY OF COLUMBIA COUNTY
boo Bluffs. These are two bold east and west ridges-the southern much the bolder and most continuous-extending through Sauk and Western Columbia County for twenty miles and lying within the great band of the Wisconsin River below Portage. Their cores and summits, in some places their entire slopes, are composed of tilted beds of quartz, while their flanks mainly consist of horizontal beds of sandstone. The Baraboo Bluffs mark the valley of the river by that name, a large water- power stream which comes in from Sauk County and flows eastward through the Town of Caledonia to join the Wisconsin in Columbia County.
THROUGH THE "GRAND EDDY" ON A RAFT
Before leaving this most picturesque region of the Wisconsin River we cannot forbear to present this description of the Dells written by a traveler in 1858, when they were a part of the Wild West: "Some- where about two miles (as they measure them here, and that is with a 'woolen string') above Kilbourn City, through a rough and unsettled opening country, is the Dells. I availed myself of a 'lift' on one of the stages that left Kilbourn City in good season in the morning to visit for the first time that truly wonderful place on the largest river in the state. As I neared the stream and came in sight, I was struck with the wild, rough but sublime scenery. The morning was anything but pleas- ant. A regular Scotch mist hovered about the trees, little spirts of rain fed a chilly wind, the country around was dull, not a bird to be seen; the trees were leafless, not even a bud or flower in sight; the drab col- ored bark of the white oaks, with their scraggy tops; the dead looking black or pin oaks, all destitute of foliage, their tops curtained with the gossamer haze of the mist that was borne along on the wind, that chilled the face and somewhat dimmed the eye-all looking dreary; solitude seemed to be reigning. The only relief to the scene before actually reaching the river were the fine handsome tops of the pines that like cones of bright green, here and there, reared their heads tapering off to sharp points in many places, high above the oaks; appearing like so many green spots in the waste.
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