Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1898-10-13
THE KICKAPOO VALLEY
Burnett's Notes on Wisconsin's
Finest Scenery.
LITTLE RIVERS WINDING COURSE

ness.
Madison, Wis, Oct. 11.-Rev. William
Haughton, now living in Retreat, Wis
for some years travelled up and down
the Kickapoo valley in Crawford and
Vernon counties breaking the bread of
life. One pleasant day, as was his Gus
tom, he sat down on the river bank
under the trees, to rest, and some poet
ry took form in his mind:
20, favored land! No foot has trod
Through fairer paths than thine,
Where hills uplift their heads to God
And speak His power divine,
Where valleys breathe of peace and
rest,
Fresh as the morning dew,
And Vernon on her own warm breast
Impearls the kickapoo"
I have just been walking up through
this valley. l began at Wauzeka. just
east of Prairie du Chen. Here the
Kickapoo empties into the Wisconsin,
The valley runs northeasterly for eighty
miles. The river is sometimes 100 feet
wide, but not often. The hills rise on
both sides all the way Indeed, they
are often worthy to be called noun
tains.
Above me bend the clustering boughs.
The cliffs around me stand
And heavenward rear their giant brows
In beauty calm and grand.
linger lovingly and long
Beside the waters blue
And yearn to give thy name to song,
O, peaceful Kickapoo.
The waters are peaceful, but not blue.
The fact is, the west has no blue rivers.
Many of the people have never seen
any blue water except in barber shops.
In New England the rivers run strong
and deep, and as a result the water is
blue. out west here the rivers are too
creepy and shallow to take on any color
but that of the bottom. The Kickapoo
is muddy. Twenty years ago it had
twice the volume of water it has now.
So, too, the Wisconsin, superb river
course, is gridironed with mud flats in
both directions. 1t is difficult to get
even the smallest craft down to the
Mississippi. And in some places one
can wade across even the Father of
Waters! To such humiliation have the
remorseless lumbermen brought us.
The Eating None Too Good
l walked up through the valley, KNAPP
sack on my back. 1t is a glorious form
of exercise and the best way to see
the country. There is little railroad
that follows the river up for fifty-onc
miles, with one train a day each way.
1t Is lined with little communities. six
or eight miles apart-groups of from $50
to SOC people each. Soldiers Grove has
500 inhabitants. 1t is the principal
point of the valley. Here lives Alley
Peterson, four times an assemblyman
and railroad commissioner under Rusk
and Hoard. If there be smaller town
that has an electric light plant. | do not
know where 1t is. j. o. Davidson, Re-
publican candidate for secretary of
state, also lives here. Both of them
went to the valley in the early DAYS
and have prospered. There Is, an ex-
cellent hotel here. But as a rule the
kickapoogians fry their steak and boil
their coffee. 1t will never become the
summer resort the valley deserves to
be until there is good eating along the
way. Especially does the tramping
tourist require good living Bayard
Taylor walked through Germany and
was content with his crackers and
cheese. But the average tramper who
has covered twenty-five miles in the
day wants comfortable bath, a good
supper and an attractive bed
bad Men We're Expelled.
For many years the valley bore n
hard name-unjustly the inhabitants
say. 1t was said to be the lair from
which horsetheves made depredations
on Illinois, and where timber thieves
and desperadoes hid themselves. II
must have been a wild country in the
early days, for the thousand mountains
are yet bleak, inaccessible places But
the people drove the bad men out and
Gertrude Frazier, one of the Viola ed
tors, and Rose b. Poff wrote a descrip
tive pamphlet in 1896 designed to dis
sipate the false reports concerning the
valley. | found the people intelligent.
progressive and prosperous. Raising
cattle and sheep is a large part of their
business, and herds and focks dot the
meadows In the basin and the clearings
on the mountain sides. Some grain Is
raised: there are creameries and cheese
factories in the different towns, and the
water power is utilized for many mills
lumber and grist and factories for the
making of excelsior and other arti-
Giles. The farm land on the ridges Is es-
pecially fine. There are few families
that look as If they did not know that
Arpomatox had happened. The win
dCws are stuffed with rags, and the
buildings are storm-rent and the inhab-
itants disappear as the tourist comes in
sight. But one finds these retrogrades
everywhere. They are the exception In
the kickapoo valley. Even these peo-
pie had fat cattle and horses
The Evil of Scandal.
The valley abounds in schoolhouses
and churches. The people are largely
of Norwegian descent. The Masonic
and Odd Fellows orders. the woodmen,
and the G. A. r. are represented. The
women have their temperance societies
and literary ambitions. l dropped into
little Methodist church on Sunday
evening. The pastor an educated
young fellow, was just taking hold OF
his work. There was a goodly attend
snce Of young and old. The new pastor
ard his wife sang duet, he playing the
organ accompaniment about Mothers
Bihle" and Mothers Way" that
brought tears IT, the eye, and then he