! CHAPTER V. NATURE'S WONDROUS WORK. DEVIL'S LAKE-THE DELLS OF THE WISCONSIN-THE PEEWIT'S NEST-THE UPPER AND LOWER NARROWS-PARPHREY'S GLEN-DORWARD'S GORGE-MIRROR LAKE-THE DEVIL'S POST OFFICE-ECHO ROCK-THE BEE-HIVE-FERN DELL-CONGRESS HALL. DEVIL'S LAKE. "Nestled close down between wild, rocky hills, Devil's Lake lies, like a jewel rare, Dropped from the Ocean's casket there." Strangers coming to this delightful spot for recreation and pleasure or a brief surcease of business cares, are seriously perplexed to know why it is called Devil's Lake. "Blast me heyes," said a discerning English tourist, after returning from a trip on the "Minnewaukan," "hi caan't see hanything that looks like the devil, you know." Nor can any one explain the reason for applying to it so opprobrious a title. When the lake was first discovered by the whites, they called it Spirit Lake, because they were told by the Indians whom they found here that the daughter of one of their chiefs had drowned herself in it on account of a love affair, and that at certain stages of the moon her spirit could be seen floating over its smooth surface. From Spirit Lake, they say, it "degenerated" into Devil's Lake; but the two words are so far from being synonymous that this explanation can scarcely be accepted. There is certainly nothing about the lake or in its vicinity that suggests the devil or his handiwork. On the contrary, there is everything to suggest something nearer heaven; for here nature has toiled with a divine hand. The place is less romantic than picturesque. It is almost devoid of cozy glens and wild nooks arched with moss-covered rocks from which ooze springs of clear, cool water; but there is something sublimely grand in the view obtained from almost any point. It is a perpetual object of interest, full of strange, inspiring beauty; a home for poets and artists; a retreat for lovers and misanthropes. A current of fiction seems to pervade the surcharged atmosphere, and it is not surprising that love-tragedy tales are willingly related to those who will listen, by the few inhabitants thereabouts. It is said—and of course no one will dispute the authority-that in very early times, before white men came to till the lands, there was camped on the lake's shores for awhile, a roving Indian band. The dusky chief of the tribe had a bright-eyed daughter named Ke-she-ahben-o-qua, which in our language means the "early dawn." She is described as having been beautiful as dawn, with a slender form of swaying grace, and dark, sweet eyes, full of love. It was in the queen month of summer, splendid June, when the Indian band lit their camp-fires in the woods just back from a grassy slope near Devil's Lake. And by strange chance a hunter, who had strayed here from vine-wreathed France, strolled, weary and woe-begone, longing for sight of some human face. He discovered the lake, and, well-pleased with so beautiful a picture, wandered down to its shore. But Ke-she-ah-ben-o-qua had preceded him to that wild nook, for she loved the sky and its twin-sister in the water. So when Pierie's eyes caught sight of her, they were magnetized and spell-bound by her wonderful beauty. The shy Indian maiden was startled by the unusual presence of a white hunter, and she vanished among the trees like a scared bird. She was not averse to the stranger's face, and for a long time she pondered the mystery in her heart; but at night she found the pale-faced hunter in her father's tent, smoking the pipe of peace. A blush of recognition and a downward glance of the sweet eyes Ke-she-ahben-o-qua gave in return for Pierie's admiring look. From this their acquaintance grew and ripened into love. For months the French hunter camped with the Indian braves, and when the F corn was ripe and rustled on its stalks, and the moon hung full in the sky, Pierie went to the Chieftain to ask of him his daughter; and Windago, a young brave who had jealously watched Pierie and loved Ke-she-ah-ben-o-qua from afar off, went also. The old Chief gave a strange reply. Actuated by pride only, he led the rival lovers to the side of Devil's Lake, and pointed to a pine tree, high up in the crags of the opposite shore, in the topmost branches of which he had seen an eagle seek her nest. He said, "The chosen suitor shall be he who can first bring to me from yonder tree, an unfledged eaglet." Windago and Pierie were in their canoes and across the lake in a trice. They were pretty nearly even in scaling the almost insurmountable rocks to the base of the tree, but here Pierie gained upon Windago, and climbed the tree first. He went up, up, and-O! victory-clasped the eaglet in his hand. But fierce Windago, seeing his adversary triumph, threw a glance of wicked hate upward, and gave the branch of the tree whereon Pierie's foot rested, a wrench that sent poor Pierie headlong, bleeding and lifeless on the rocks below. A wild cry, in falling, like the cry of a broken heart, the pale French hunter gave. And Ke-she-ah-ben-o-qua. Ah! she saw it all from the opposite shore of the sweet little lake, and, with a wail of despair, threw herself into the water, and her spirit went to meet her lover's on the Shadowy Plain. It is said that on moonlight nights, the shades of the lovers may be seen floating over the water. So it was named at first Spirit Lake. "Woe to the warrior, maid or child, That meets the specter, weird and wild, Notwithstanding the persistency of these ever-present "spirits" in flitting from rock to rock and hill-top to hill-top and skipping over the water at all hours of the night, regardless of the weather, Devil's Lake has become a favorite summer resort for large numbers of people from almost every clime. Its popularity is increasing from year to year, and its convenient location-situated on one of the principal railway lines running northwest from the great city of Chicago, the entrepot of America-brings it within easy access. Visitors, to the number of seventy or eighty, can find first-class hotel accommodations at the Cliff House-a structure built in Swiss style, with ample wings and verandahs, and surrounded by groves and walks, both natural and artificial-now under the management of W. B. Pearl, an experienced landlord. At the south end of the lake N. C. Kirk has erected a row of summer cottages with all the appurtenances to housekeeping. Each cottage will accommodate six or eight persons, and, as an evidence of their popularity, they are in constant use during the summer months usually devoted to quiet vacations by "city folk." Bathing, boating and fishing occupy the time of the pleasure seeker, either of these recreative pursuits being conducive to good health and amiable dispositions. In 1868, a small steamboat, the "Capitola," was placed on the lake, but it soon proved to be too small a craft for the accommodation of visitors, and, in 1873, Capt. Thompson, who has an eye to the comfort of every one, built a larger boat, the "Minnewaukan," capable of conveying 150 passengers. A trip around the lake on the "Minnewaukan" is one of the most pleasant features in the long list of pleasant things with which the visitor meets. The particular points of interest about the lake can be better seen and more thoroughly appreciated by a pedestrian tour over the bluffs; though the most striking objects are pointed out from the deck of the "Minnewaukan." The curiosities of the east bluff, aside from the magnificent view, are the Devil's Doorway and Elephant Rock. The Doorway is situated over 400 feet above the lake's level, and is in the form of two well-defined columns of bowlder stone standing side by side, and reaching probably forty feet above the base. The top stone of each column appears to have fallen at the same moment, and, meeting each other over the aperture between, formed an arch or lintel. It is Elephant's Rock is a large sandstone bowlder, some fourteen feet long and eight feet high. In form, it represents an elephant lying upon one side, with well-shaped head and ear. said that Capt. Thompson appropriated the ivory tusks, and that a Chicago traveling man secured the trunk. There are many other fantastically shaped rocks on the east bluff, which a well-developed imagination might form into various things, from a dry-goods box to a locomo tive. The especial features of the west bluff are the Turk's Head and Cleopatra's Needle, the latter being about fifty feet high, and standing out from the face of the bluff-wall in an attitude of perpendicular security. The Needle can scarcely be called an obelisk, which literaliy means a high, slender monument of one stone. The Supreme Architect has used many stones in the masonry of the Needle. Therefore it would not be a convenient article to transport, and when transported would be very difficult to reconstruct. Should Chicago become ambitious for an obelisk to perpetuate the memory of a wicked woman, as did Gotham, she may go elsewhere than Sauk County for it. The Turk's Head is a rocky promontory which stands a short distance north of the Needle. The rocks comprising it appear to have been piled one upon the other, or left there when the bottom of the adjacent territory "dropped out." At a distance the huge mass has the outline appearance of the turbaned head of a Turk. The facial complexion is also of the Ottoman hue. The tall pines in front so obstruct the view that we are left in the dark as to whether this particular Turk occupies a sitting posture and smokes the serene nargile. After all, it may be only the head of a Turk severed from the offending body by a God-fearing Russian, or a gory-handed Circassian. The impressions left upon the minds of those who visit Devil's Lake are naturally very marked. The awe-inspiring hills, with great quartzite bowlders clinging to their sides, and massive piles of sandstone heaped high above the soil-level of the adjacent peaks, are silent though eloquent witnesses of Nature's wonderful work. By what process did the result we see come about? Let us consult the scientific mind. James H. Eaton, A. M., in a report on the geology of this region says: Running east and west through the center of Sauk County are two parallel ridges, with an average elevation of 400 to 500 feet and a base of two to four miles. The distance between them is three to four miles. The Baraboo River runs in this valley, and empties east into the Wisconsin. A north-and-south valley cuts half-way through the end of the southern ridge, and trends east toward the valley of the Wisconsin. In the north end of this valley lies Devil's Lake. The ridges are compact, crystalline sandstone, without cement, or quartzite. The predominant colors are pink and red, often banded with straight or contorted parallel lines of lighter or darker colors. In some places, the rock is a homogeneous white quartz with distinct and well-formed crystals. Both the nature of the rock and its position give evidence that it is metamorphic Potsdam sandstone. The rock presents all gradations, from the simple sandstone to the perfectly crystallized quartz. The Potsdam sandstone consists of small, round grains of quartz, and is very loosely cemented. It can easily be crumbled with the fingers. Pieces of the quartzite may be obtained in all stages, from this friable sandstone to that where the grains are apparent and the rock is less friable, to that where the homogeneousness is here nearly approached, but the small grains can still be seen, and finally to the perfect homogeneous quartz. No sharp geographical line of demarkation between the sandstone and quartzite, and no gradation in any direction, is observed. The homogeneousness of the colored quartzite is not as perfect as it appears. Whenever a surface has been subjected to the weather, the small grains come to view again. The bandings of the quartzite are very similar to those in the undisturbed sandstone. These bands sometimes consist of layers of fine grains of sand. of the great blocks of quartzite, which have fallen down the sides of the valley, are most beautifully covered with regular ripple-marks. They must have been first made in the moving sands. The layers are nearly as perfect as in the sandstone, and have a dip equal to the inclination of the ridges. The dip on either side can be seen best from the opposite side. The anticlinal ridge on the east side of the lake is removed by the valley, which trends to the east, and on the west by another valley, which comes down to the lake. Vertical joints also lead to the conclusion that the ridge has been formed by the upheaval of the horizontal layers of sandstone. The layers were not traced north and south to determine whether they are continuous horizontally. Both the nature of the rock and its position forbid the idea of aqueous fusion or active volcanic agency. The change must have taken place by the purely wet way of partial solution and crys tallization, or by a low degree of heat, working for a long series of years, through the moisture in the sandstone, probably aided by the pressure which lifted the ridges, If the latter, the change and elevation of the rock took place at the same time, and both effects were produced with extreme slowness. The ridge must have been raised before the glacial epoch. Abundant proofs of the movement of glaciers over the rock since it has been metamorphosed have been discovered. In many places on the elevated portions, smoothly polished surfaces of quartz of great extent have been exposed by removing the soil. Before the glacial epoch, there seem to be no data for fixing the time of the elevating and metamorphic action. There has, therefore, been ample time for metamorphic action of the most extreme slowness. Dr. Lapman has advanced the view that the Baraboo River once ran through this valley on its way to the Wisconsin, and was turned from its former course into its present one by glacial drift. If this view is correct, as the facts seem to warrant, this valley may have been made at any time from the Lower Silurian up to the glacial period. It is not necessary to introduce any great convulsion. The regularity of the layers would forbid any sudden and violent upheaval and cracking of the rock. The slowly-acting agencies of the atmosphere and of water can have thrown down the great mass of debris which lies on the south of the valley. The valley is about half a mile wide. The ridges slope up from two hundred to three hundred feet, as steep as the large blocks will lie upon each other, and the remaining height is a perpendicular wall cut by vertical fissures into most fantastic shapes, with natural fortifications and castles, turrets and towers, making one of the most charming bits of landscape in our State. A word in evidence that the Baraboo River formerly ran through the valley and was turned aside by the glacier drift: The surface of the lake is thirty feet above the court house at Baraboo, and one hundred and sixty feet above the Wisconsin River to the south. The lake is more than thirty feet deep, and has a bottom of sand. There is, therefore, a sufficient descent. The valley is a natural course for the river, and running water would have given it some of the features of its present form. In the valley, both north and south of the lake, there is an abundance of drift. In a few hours, a large variety of northern rocks was collected granite, syenite and Lake Superior rocks. They, with sand, have filled up a deeper valley to such a height that the river finds a new course to the Wisconsin. There is another point of great interest in this region, which does not appear to be easy of solution. On the top of the ridge, and in lines running north and south, are conglomerated bowlders. These are local, and do not extend far to the south of the southern ridge. They consist of rounded, water-worn pebbles, and large bowlders of quartzite imbedded in friable sandstone. Some of these conglomerated bowlders weigh many tons. They are evidently deposited at a very little distance from the place of their origin. Evidently, in this immediate neighborhood, pieces of quartzite have been for a long time subjected to running water, and have formed themselves in a bed of sand, which has been hardened, and some moving cause has carried them into their present position. The place and time and agencies which have produced these effects demand a more careful and close study. There are also signs of a secondary metamorphic action in some of the quartzite. A number of specimens were obtained, which were homogeneous, but contained large numbers of rounded pebbles, of the same quartzite, or of white quartz, firmly imbedded in them. It is the opinion also of the State Geologist that this valley has been at some time the passage of a large stream. The large size of the valley, he thinks, suggests that it may have been the passage of the Wisconsin River, which at the close of the glacial period found its ancient channel obstructed by the great drift heaps that are now to be seen in it. If this is a correct view, he says, the river (the Wisconsin) must have had a passage through what is now known as the Lower Narrows of the Baraboo, "a much wider channel than is needed by that small stream." The Narrows spoken of by the State Geologist bear a close resemblance to some parts of the Dells of the Wisconsin, and this gorge, like the Dells, was in all probability cut through by |