mileage
137 LA CROSSE station, 601 St. Andrew Street. Elevation approximately 650. La Crosse was incorporated
as a city in 1856, but its history dates further. The first Europeans to see the site of La Crosse were French fur traders who
traveled the Mississippi River in the late 17th century. There is no written record, however, of any visit to the site until
1805, when Lt. Zebulon Pike mounted an expedition up the Mississippi River for the United States. The first white settlement
at La Crosse occurred in 1841. That year, a New York native named Nathan Myrick moved to the village at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin
to work in the fur trade. Myrick was disappointed to find that, because many fur traders were already well-entrenched there,
there were no openings for him in the trade. As a result, he decided to establish a trading post upriver at the then still unsettled
site of Prairie La Crosse. In 1841, he built a temporary trading post on Barron Island (now called Pettibone Park), which lies
just west of La Crosse's present downtown. The following year, Myrick relocated the post to the mainland prairie, partnering
with H.J.B. Miller to run the outfit.
A small Mormon community settled at La
Crosse in 1844, building several dozen cabins a few miles south of Myrick's post. Although these settlers relocated away from
the Midwest after just a year, the land they occupied near La Crosse continues to bear the name Mormon Coulee.
La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border, and the educational institutions in the city have recently led it toward
becoming a regional technology and medical hub. La Crosse is also the home of Myrick Park Zoo, the Hixon House and Museum, and
is the home of the La Crosse Queen paddlewheeler, which offers 90-minute guided tours of the Mississippi River.
138.5 Pass through
Grand Crossing, where our CP Railroad line crosses the former Burlington Route, which hosted such well-known name trains as NP’s North
Coast Ltd and the Mainstreeter.
139.5 Cross the La Crosse River, which we will be following almost all the way to Tomah.
140 Pass through the community of Medary, named after Samuel Medary, an early citizen who later became Governor of Kansas. The rocks
in the bluffs adjacent to the railroad and highway are Upper Cambrian sandstones, including the Tunnel City Sandstone and the yellowish
Jordan Sandstone.
143.5 Pass beneath Interstate 90. Bluffs on the north (left if eastbound) are Upper Cambrian sandstones.
147 Pass through West Salem, which was the boyhood home of novelist Hamlin Garlin (1860-1940). This village was platted in 1856,
and was originally going to be named Rupert; however, Minister Elder Card wanted it to be named Salem, which means “peace.” However, due to the existence of another Wisconsin town named “Salem,” in Kenosha County, the word “West” was added to the name of
the village.
West Salem is a farm trade village, and known for its 1 million
pounds of butter/year creamery. West Salem is also the home of the Hamlin Garland Homestead and the Palmer-Gullickson Octagon
House, an 8-sided Victorian house built in 1856.
149 The bluffs in the distance to the south (right if eastbound)
are capped by limestones and dolomites of the Ordovician-aged Prairie du Chien Group.
151.5 Pass through Bangor. The first settler
in this town was John Wheldon, who was born in Bangor, Wales. Wheldon moved to Wisconsin from New York State in 1853, after
reading a newspaper article in which this area was referred to as a “Garden of Eden.”
155 Pass through Rockland,
named after a large rock which was found in the south end of the town, which was surrounded by flat land in every direction.
155.5 Enter
MONROE County, named after President James Monroe.
158 Cross Little La Crosse River.
160 We are
passing through a relatively flat area, in which no bluffs of Cambrian sandstone are visible near the railroad. The bedrock
in the area is still Cambrian, but it has been smoothed by erosion in these flatter areas and built over. We are still in the
Driftless Section, so there is not a significant covering of glacial deposits in this area.
161-162 Pass through Sparta, the
county seat of Monroe County. Sparta proclaims itself as “the bicycling capital of the world,” and is located at the west end
of the Elroy-Sparta bike trail The city was named by the wife of one of the pioneering founders of the town, after the city
in Greece.
Sparta was the home of Astronaut Deke Slayton, one of the
original 7 Mercury astronauts, and is honored at the Deke Slayton Memorial Space and Bike Museum. It is also the home of the
annual Sparta Butterfest, as well as the annual Amber Inn Shank Festival (“Shankfest”), in which liquors from times past are sampled,
and. activities mostly involve rolling dice, calling shots, buying shots, and drinking shots.
164 Approximately one
mile north of the railroad (left if eastbound) is the small town of Angelo, named after its first settler.
166-169 On the right
(eastbound) is the U.S. Army’s Camp McCoy, Wisconsin’s only U.S. Army installation. The post has been in virtually constant
use since it was first formed as the "Sparta Maneuver Tract" on 14,000 acres in 1909. At first the tract was made up of two
camps, Camp Emory Upton and Camp Robinson. These were separated by a line of the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad
that ran across the land from east to west. In 1910, the army renamed the entire tract "Camp Bruce E. McCoy" for Robert Bruce
McCoy, a retired major general, who first proposed the area as a training ground and bought part of the property on which the fort
stands. In 1926 the name of the post was shortened to "Camp McCoy."
During
World War II, Camp McCoy was used as a training facility for units from across the United States that were preparing to enter combat. The post was also used as a Prisoner Of War (POW) camp during the conflict. The camp was briefly deactivated following World
War II, but with the advent of the Korean War in 1950, it was once again used for training. In 1973, the Army reactivated Camp
McCoy as a permanent training center.
174-175 Pass through a short tunnel, which is cut into the Upper Cambrian Tunnel City Formation. Enter Tunnel City, which was first settled in 1850 as a stagecoach stop on the “Blue Ridge Road.” The station supplied fresh
horses for the trek up the western hills. The railroad came later and built lines to the top of the ridge, at which point passengers
would get off and walk to another train on the other side. Freight was carried by a team of horses. Eventually the hill
was tunneled, in 1861, with picks and hammers. During the construction of the tunnel, several devastating landslides took place.
177.5 Lake Tomah is visible on the right (eastbound).
178.5 :41 TOMAH station, North Superior Avenue & Washington Street. Elevation
approximately 965. Tomah was named after Menominee Indian Chief Thomas Carron, who was known as “Tomah” by the Early French
traders in the area. Chief Tomah was born in Green Bay, but spent much time in the Tomah area, and at one time, he is said to
have held a tribal conference in the area. Tomah was well liked by both Indians and white men.
The city of Tomah was founded in 1855 and incorporated as a city in 1883. Tomah is well known as the boyhood home of Frank King,
the creator of the “Gasoline Alley” comic strip. King is honored on a sign on the Chamber of Commerce building, which is visible
from the AMTRAK station. Tomah is also the home of the annual Wisconsin Dairyland Grand National Tractor Pull.
180.5 Pass beneath
Interstate 90. On the left (eastbound) is the junction of Interstate 90 and 94.
183 Low bluffs of Cambrian-aged
sandstones are visible on the right (eastbound).
184.5 Oakdale is visible on the left (eastbound). This village was so named
because of the abundance of oak trees in the northern part of the township. The town and township were originally called Leroy,
but that name was dropped due to the confusion with mail addressed to Leroy and to another town, named Elroy.
188 As we pass through Mill Bluff State Park, the bedrock hill to the north of the railroad is Mill Bluff, and the hill to the south is
Round Bluff. These spires are composed mostly of Cambrian-aged Tunnel City Formation. We are still in the Driftless Section,
and at one time in the geologic past, this area was a continuous sheet of layered windblown sand dunes, many of the layers of which
were (and still are) cross-bedded. These sandstones were deposited in braided river channels during the Cambrian Era, and the
cross-beds were formed by shifting sand bars within the cross-bedded streams, The modern Platte River in Nebraska is an example
of a modern cross-bedded stream.
188.5 Enter JUNEAU County, named after Solomon Juneau, an early French trader.
191 Camp Douglas, named after an 1864 sawmill which was built here to supply wood for railroad locomotives. This sawmill was established
by Amp Chamberlin, James Douglas, and Douglas’ daughter Ann Eliza. One mile to the west was another sawmill and camp operated
by a Mr. Temple. To distinguish between the 2 camps, one camp was named Camp Douglas and the other Camp Temple.
On the north (left if eastbound) is Volk Field CRTC (Combat Readiness Training Center), formerly known as Volk Field Air National
Guard Base. The origin of Volk Field CRTC can be traced back to 1888 when the State Adjutant General, General Chandler Chapman,
purchased a site for a rifle range and offered it to the state for a camp. In 1889, the State Legislature authorized the Governor
to purchase land near the site for a permanent campground and rifle range for the Wisconsin National Guard.
The site was named Camp Williams in 1927 in honor of Lt Col Charles R. Williams, the Chief Quartermaster of the post from 1917 until
his death in 1926. Camp Williams grew slowly following the World War I, but with the increasing development of the airplane,
it was all but inevitable that an airstrip would be built, and in 1935 and 1936, the first hard-surface runways were constructed. In 1954, the federal government leased the field from the State of Wisconsin for use as a permanent field training site. In
1957, the Wisconsin Legislature officially designated the facility a Permanent Field Training Site and named it in memory of 1st Lt.
Jerome A. Volk, the first Wisconsin National Guard pilot killed in combat in the Korean conflict.
In 1989 the site was re-designated a Combat Readiness Training Center (CRTC). The 128th Air Control Squadron, Air Combat Maneuvering
Instrumentation system (ACMI), Air Base Operability and Ability to Survive and Operate (ATSO) training missions were added in 1991.
Just east of Camp Douglas, on the north (left if eastbound), are Target Bluff and Castle Rock, two more pinnacles composed of cross-bedded
Cambrian-aged Tunnel City Group.
193 Pass through Orange Mill. We are approaching the eastern edge of the Driftless
Section. The flat topography north of the railroad (left if eastbound) is the beginning of a large flat area which was once
occupied by Glacial Lake Wisconsin. This lake formed during the latest stage of the Pleistocene Ice Age, known as the Wisconsin substage. At that time, the Green Bay ice lobe pushed into central Wisconsin from the north and northeast, and as it entered the area, it dammed
the pre-glacial Wisconsin River. The resulting lake, which developed upstream of and behind the natural ice dam, likely remained
for several thousand years, and eventually drained to the northwest through the East Fork of the Black River, and eventually into
the ancient Mississippi River.. The ancient glacial lake was filled with fine sands and silts washed down from the receding
Pleistocene glacial moraines.
193.5 Cross Little Lemonweir River.
195 The Twin Bluffs, visible to the southwest (right
if eastbound), are again composed of Cambrian-aged Tunnel City Formation.
196-197 Pass through New Lisbon, which was originally called
Mill Haven. It was likely named in 1868, after Lisbon, Ohio, the home of some of the early settlers. Prior to occupation
by the white man, the present site of New Lisbon was a winter stopping place for the Winnebago Indians, on their way to the northland
to hunt. The encampment was known as “Wa-du-Shuda” by the Indians, which means “we leave canoe here.”
In the 1880’s, Paleontologist Cooper Curdice discovered an unusual Cambrian-aged fossil around New Lisbon. The fossil was a
sluglike animal known as Climactichnites, which left strange tire-like tracks 5 or 6 inches wide. Other than in Wisconsin, this
fossil has only been found elsewhere in New York, Ontario, Quebec, and Missouri.
199 We are continuing to traverse
the flat lake plain of Glacial Lake Wisconsin (see MP 193 above).
200 Mauston-New Lisbon Union Airport is visible
on the right (eastbound). We are still traversing the edge of Glacial Lake Wisconsin; however, the bluffs to the southwest (right
if eastbound) are composed of Cambrian-aged sandstones.
203 Decorah Lake, an impoundment of the Lemonweir River,
is visible on the left (eastbound).
203-204 Pass through Mauston. This community began as a trading post in the Indian village
of To-ko-nee. A dam and sawmill were constructed later, and General M.M. Maughs, from Galena, Illinois, became the sawmill proprietor. The village was originally known as Maughs Mills, but, when the village was platted in 1854, the name became Maughstown, and was later
shortened to Mauston. Mauston is the county seat of Juneau County.
205 Cross Onemile Creek, which enters the
Lemonweir River on the left (eastbound). Onemile Bluff, visible on the south (right if eastbound), is another Cambrian-aged
bedrock bluff.
207 We are continuing to traverse the southwestern shore of Glacial Lake Wisconsin. We are
near the edge of the glacial lake; therefore, we are continuing to see bluffs and spires of Cambrian-aged sandstones south of the
railroad (right if eastbound).
209.5 On the right (eastbound) are Round Bluff, and behind Round Bluff, Sheep Pasture Bluff, which are
some of the last prominent spires and bluffs of Cambrian sandstone we will see in the Driftless Section.
214.5 Pass through Lyndon
Station. Again we are still traversing Glacial Lake Wisconsin. The hills of the Driftless Section are still visible on
the right (eastbound).
218 Cross Gilmore Creek, a tributary of the Wisconsin River. A short distance to the
southwest is the Dells Raceway Park, formerly known as Dells Motor Speedway. It is a 1/3 mile asphalt track that is used for
stock car racing. The track has hosted American Speed Association, Mid-American Stock Car Series, and Wisconsin Challenge Series
races. The track, which opened in 1958, sits on 38 acres of land. The track closed during the middle of the 2006 season,
then it was purchased during the following off-season by a group of three investors, including NASCAR driver Frank Kreyer. It
reopened in 2007.
220.5 Pass beneath Interstate 94. There are several Dells area campgrounds in this area, and you cans till
see occasional outcrops of Cambrian sandstone in railroad cuts an adjacent road cuts.
221 On the left (eastbound)
is a branch of the Wisconsin River in the “Upper Dells.” Just south of the railroad is Rocky Arbor State Park, where the structure
of the Wisconsin Dells can be seen especially well. The Dells consist of two major areas, the Upper Dells, and the Lower Dells. Bedrock in both areas is the same crossbedded Cambrian sandstone we have been observing for some time now. The Dells were formed
approximately 14,00 years ago, when Glacial Lake Wisconsin, which had been dammed by the Johnstown Moraine of the Green Bay Lobe of
the Wisconsin glacial advance(see MP 225 below), was suddenly and catastrophically drained. The force of water passing through
the relatively weak sandstones cut a complex and intricate boxwork of deep vertical-walled canyons through the area. After the
Dells were cut, the large volume of meltwater flowed rapidly down through the Wisconsin River valley.
222 Enter SAUK
County, named after the Saukie Indians who lived in the area. The Indian word “Sauk” means either “something sprouting up” or
“yellow earth” (red earth was the symbol of the Fox Indians). Some legends claim that the Saukies painted themselves with yellow
ochre.
223 Cross Wisconsin River. This is the heart of “The Dells,” and a scenic canyon is visible to the northeast
(left if eastbound). You will likely see a couple sightseeing boats anchored fairly close to the railroad bridge. These
Cambrian sandstones are cross-bedded, and, as discussed above (see MP 221 above), formed when Glacial Lake Wisconsin was drained near
the end of the Pleistocene Ice Age.
Just beyond the river, we will be crossing
U.S. 16, where a view of the downtown Dells tourist area can be had, along with its peculiar and eclectic tourist attractions.
And just past the U.S. 16 bridge, we enter COLUMBIA County, and arrive at the WISCONSIN DELLS station, Superior & La Crosse Streets. Elevation approximately 890 ft. Columbia County is named after Christopher Columbus, and also after the Columbia River of the
Pacific Northwest. The county was originally going to be named York County.
Wisconsin Dells was originally named Kilbourn City, after Byron Kilbourne. Before the establishment of Kilbourn City, the region
around the dells of the Wisconsin River was primarily a lumbering area until 1851, when the La Crosse and Milwaukee Railroad was chartered,
with Kilbourn as its President. The railroad made plans to bridge the Wisconsin River near the river's dells, and a boomtown
named Newport sprang up at the expected site of the bridge in 1853. The population of this new city quickly swelled to over 2,000,
but when the railroad finally came through the area in 1857, it took nearly everyone by surprise by crossing the river a mile upstream
from the site of Newport. As a result, Newport was rapidly turned into a ghost town as the settlers flocked to the new city
at the site of the railroad bridge, Kilbourn City. Gradually, tourism became a large part of Kilbourn City. To make it
easier for tourists to identify Kilbourn City with the natural landscape for which it was famous, the name of the city was changed
to Wisconsin Dells in 1931. As the 20th century progressed, new attractions began to draw even more tourists.