Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1894-09-19
BIRTH OF DEVILS LAKE.
Origin of the Picturesque and Ro-
mantle Little Body of Wa
ter in Sank County.

Baraboo, Wis, Sept. S.--A study of the
great glacial period of the worlds his
tory has always been an interesting one,
and the work of Prof. Salisbury and
party has thrown new light upon what the
ice wrought liz the vicinity of Baraboo.
-Four weeks ago Prof. Salisbury of the
Chicago university, Prof. D. Nicholson
Of Lawrence university, Appleton; Prof.
William Neal, State university of Utah,
and ten students from the Chicago uni
versity began their work here.
1t is stated by biologists that much of
the northern part of the United States
was once covered with a huge glacier
that came down from the north and de,
strOyed much before it. This occurred
from 5000 to 10000 years ago, and at that
time the geographical north pole is sup
posed to have been in the vicinity of Lab
rador Or Hudson's bay. It is held that
millions of years ago that all of this section
of the country was covered by the sea,
and that when the waters subsidized that
the limestone rocks remained The rains
fell and rivers were formed and these
washed away the limestone, and deep
valleys were worn into the sandstone
and quartzite or other rocks beneath.
To illustrate what was done it will be
interesting to take Devils lake as an eX-
ample. Prof. Salisbury said that it was
not formed by the majesty whose name
it bears. There was never volcanic &C.
ton there, but the surroundings of this
remarkable bit of Wisconsin scenery were
much in quiet way. Long ago the Wis
consin river washed deep gorge into the
quartzite range where the lake now lies.
At that time the Baraboo river flowed
into the Wisconsin near this city, instead
of at Portage. as it now does. The val
ley cut into the solid rock was much
deeper than it now is. The, glacial period
came on, the squirrel ceased to chatter
in the trees, the birds We're driven south
ward and the fish i'll the rivers ceased to
be- The ice flowed into the Wisconsin
valley and piled into great heap at the
north and south ends of the lake.
When the ice came down it brought
along dirt and stone, and when the ice
melted these were left upon the surface
of the land. At the two ends of the lake
the drift remained in such quantities
river was forced to seek new bed many
miles to the east. In this way the lake
was formed and the quartzite hills that
almost surround it were once the river
banks.
These biologists determined for the first
time the extent Of the ice advance in
this region. The ice came from the north
of east and its edge was two miles west
of BarabOO. West of that to the Missis-
sippi river there is no drift
When the ice extended across the river
west Of the city it created dam to the
river. ABOVE ulIe udni there was II ldISe
lake reaching some miles up the stream,
and the brickyard at Ableman is now
using the clay deposited at that time as
mud
In the vicinity of julius Stanke's farm,
east of this city, another old lake bottom
was discovered by the party. The bot
tom of a third lake was found seven or
eight miles east of Baraboo. The party
also learned that the beautiful little gorge
on Skillett's creek just above Pewit's
nest owes its existence to the ice.
The party has gone to the Dells and
will end their research in the vicinity of
Madison.