Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1909-02-24
SCENERY oNrHE WINDING MCKAPOo
Really Beautiful Laid 0u by Fallen An
geI-PAilroad is a Nonder

The celestial surveyor who laid out
the kickapoo river at the behest of the
Creator, must have been a crooked
fellow. He went down to .perdition,
long ago, with the other fallen angels, "
no doubt If he were as crooked as his
work, neither he. nor this monumental
job of his. could lie straight in bed
For there is no place known where the
kickapoo straightens out like an honest
man.
Whenever we travel up the tortuous
valley of the Kickapoo, we wonder how
it ever came 70 he so. Why it could
not come straight down from the north,
and make its descent in beautiful wa
terfalls, rather than in crooks and
twists that make ones backache to be-
hold, is one of the things we cannot
understand.
Once upon time, millions of years
ago, this whole country hereabouts was
a great plain. Then there was ITO val
ley of the Wisconsin, no crooked gorge
of the Kickapoo. There were streams,
no doubt, but they had not cut the val
leys that we now see on every hand.
1t was a great plain, almost level, and
was even with the tops of the present
bills. Then the streams began to cut
and gulley; and the more they cut the
swifter became their currents, and the
deeper became their beds. The soil
was carried into the low places down
stream, for TIE valley of the middle and
lower Mississippi river was once many
feet below it's present level. That great
basin has been filled. millions of acres.
from the wash of the country on the
upper Mississippi and it's tributaries.
And the Wisconsin and Kickapoo rivers
have contributed their full share to the
''filling" But why not? For the SOIL
sand and disintegrated rock from
wide area have gone into the great bot
tom down stream.
But next to waterfalls, the curves of
the Kickapoo, or like streams, are
about the most beautiful things in ma
ture. In places the Kickapoo presents
as handsome views as may be found in
America. This is especially true
little above Wauzeka, where the hills
are high and the valleys narrow. In
places great butts of rock jut out and
overhang the bottoms threateningly.
Then there are coves into which the
sun has never shcSe, pockets il which
one might hide from all the world,
caves and caverns-a THOUSAND forma-
tions that appeal to the sense of the
wonders of nature.
The scenery is enough 70 repay one
for the trip up and down the wild
stream. In summer the beauty is in
spring, for every hill and vale is robed
in all the veried colors of nature in leaf
and bloom. But in winter, the barren
bluffs show off better the marvels of
| formation.
Well we remember our first trip over
the Kickapoo railway. That road is
next door to a natural wonder. How
trains manage to go up and down it
and not fall overheard is miraculous.
On our recent trip to Steuben we were
told that few days before the trucks
under one end of a stock car jumped
the track and ran for half mile on the
cross ties, and nobody aboard knew it.
The conditions was discovered by ac-
cident Those aboard the train could
not distinguish between the sensation
of riding on the rails or humping on the
! ties But, while that was good story,
it may have been made out of whole
cloth. We have been over the line sew
eral times and have not filed clam
with the accident insurance company,
nor have we been seriously scared.
The caution with which train crews
drive cattle off the track, stopping the
cars to do it, gives to one a blessed
feeling of security,
| The scenery of the Kickapoc valley
is not enough exploited. 1t is feature
worth advertising Boscobel Dial.