Baraboo weekly news. [volume] (Baraboo, Wis.) 1912-197?, 1920-01-29
Part III
Devils Lake

Devils Lake is one OF the outstand-
ing places OF beauty and wonder III
thia region of unusual charm and IN
teregt. The placid body OF water
with talused slopes and encroacnlng
r,oraines. ia the central object IN
Devips Lake State Park, a tract OF
band containing more than thousand
acres, Few OF the visitors who come
into this region escape the lure OK
this wonderful playground.
The Park is reached by travers1ng
three miles of concrete road from
Baraboo, the beautiful highway made
poasible by a beQuest OF $4,000 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 COM
pIeted in that year and 1920.
An iron Mine
Soon after leaving the city, about
a quarter of a mile to the r1gnt,
nay be seen stack Of iron ore at the
abandoned Cahoon Mine. The mine
was opened in 1911 and closed in 1913
after more than a million dollars
had been expended The Baraboo
Valley from end to end has been
Dierced with the diamond drill and
iron ore has been found beneath the
aurface in all the region, often at
depth of 400 feet. Two abandoned
mines may be seen southwest OF
North Freedom and flowing wells
here and there tell Of the millions ex-
pended by various companies in a
vain effort to make mother earth
yield her riches.
Entering the Park
Just before entering the Park one
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 dur
ing the glacial epoch centuries ago.
On top of this ridge, toward the rail-
road track, where the road begins to
descend, lies an effigy Indian mound.
Geological Wonder of the World
Geologically Devils Lake is one OF
the wonders of the world. At the
dawn Of the earth's history there we're
no rivers or lakes or bluffs in the
Baraboo region, the ocean Or an in
land sea covering all the land At the
bottom Of the sea we're the Archean
or igneous rocks, the oldest formation
known to geology. Upon these rocks
the sand was piled mile deep, the
sand at later time being changed in
to sandstone and still later metomor-
phosed into the hard quartzite which
towers high in the bluffs. Resting
upon the beds of sand were deposits
OF clay which changed to slate, lime
stone which became dolomite, and
iron which remained in it's elemental
state.
movement of the earth and there ap-
peared peaks as lofty as those in the
Alps or Rockies. The once horizontal
beds Of sand, clay, limestone and iron
were upifted and folded in
the process, the layers at the lake
being inclined about fifteen degrees as
seen along the East Bluff. The .Bara-
boo Bluffs are among the oldest form
cd things on the globe-older than
tho Rockies or Alleghenies, older
than a pound of coal on the earth,
older than any tree or bird or beast
that ever lived.
There was long period of erosion
and river cut a gorge through the
Range where the lake is now located.
In Paleozoic times the sea returned
again, the tops of the bluffs stood as is
lands above the waves, the loose rocks
were rounded on the shore, and sand
stone almost filled the gorge where there
was once a river. The animal life
then consisted Of trilObites, oyster
like organisms, and other low forms.
The sea reiterated and river once
more carried away the material which
filed the gap in the bluffs. Because
the hills of this region were once
buried and again exposed to view,
they are sometimes called the "Bara-
boo FOSSIL"
The Glacial Epoch
Next came the glacial epoch, when
the advancing ice from the northeast
came into the Baraboo region; this
was long time after the sea retreat
ed the last time possibly period of
100000 or 100000 years. Into this
gorge where probably once flowed the
stream we now know as the Wiscon-
sin River, the ice advanced to the
terminal moraine. where the visitor
descends just before reaching the
take. At the same time an
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