Baraboo, Dells, and Devil's Lake RegionCole, Harry Ellsworth
History
Baraboo, Dells, and Devil's Lake Region
Cole, Harry Ellsworth
Baraboo (Wis.); Dells of the Wisconsin (Wis.); Devil's Lake (Wis.); Sauk County (Wis.)
Where the Corner Drug Store is located at the southeast corner of Oak
and Third Streets, once stood a frame building fronting the first-named
thoroughfare. On the second floor of the old structure A. N. Kellogg
published a newspaper and during the Civil war he found it necessary,
the typesetter having shouldered arms, to have his paper printed on one
side at Madison. The idea developed into the "patent insides" for
newspapers. Mr. Kellogg's name became familiar in every rural newspaper
office in the land, and he garnered a fine fortune as his reward. His
business was absorbed by larger interests several years ago and the
name is no longer known in the newspaper world.
CHAPTER III
Devil's Lake State Park--Geology of the Baraboo Hills--The Glacial
Epoch--Scenic Wonders
Devil's Lake is one of the outstanding places of beauty and wonder in
this region of unusual charm and interest. The placid body of water,
with talused slopes and encroaching moraines, is the central object in
Devil's Lake State Park, a tract of land containing more than a
thousand acres. Few of the visitors who come into this region escape
the lure of this wonderful playground.
The Park is reached by traversing three miles of concrete road from
Baraboo, the beautiful highway made possible by a bequest of $40,000 by
the late W. W. Warner of Madison, an early resident of Baraboo. The
contract for building the road was awarded in 1919, the work to be
completed in that year and 1920.
An Iron Mine
Soon after leaving the city, about a quarter of a mile to the right,
may be seen a stack of iron ore at the abandoned Cahoon Mine. The mine
was opened in 1911 and closed in 1919 after more than a million dollars
had been expended. The Baraboo Valley from end to end has been pierced
with the diamond drill and iron ore has been found beneath the surface
in all the region, often at a depth of 400 feet. Two abandoned mines
may be seen southwest of North Freedom and flowing wells here and there
tell of the millions expended by various companies in a vain effort to
make mother earth yield her riches.
Entering the Park
Just before entering the Park one's attention is called to the view on
the left extending to the Lower Narrows of the Baraboo River and to the
Caledonia Hills beyond. Within the Park unique is the vista through the
arboreal avenue, rugged rocks on the right and a wooded slope on the
left.
The first glimpse of the lake is caught from the terminal moraine, the
ridge of land left between the bluffs when the ice was present during
the glacial epoch centuries ago. On top of this ridge, toward the
railroad track, where the road begins to descend, lies an effigy Indian
mound.
Geological Wonder of the World
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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