| Wisconsin (Jackson County), Alma Center — Silver Mound |
| | This large, isolated hill is a famous site where prehistoric Indians gathered to quarry a particularly attractive quartzite for the manufacture of chipped stone tools. Several aboriginal quarries are scattered along the rimrock of this mound. Thousands of tons of waste rock from these pits indicate that quarrying was carried on selectively over many centuries.
Fields surrounding this mound are littered with quartzite fragments and flakes which accumulated during the process of making . . . — Map (db m3195) |
| Wisconsin (Jackson County), Black River Falls — Black River Falls Forest Fire |
| | On the dry, windy afternoon of April 27, 1977, a forest fire started south of Black River Falls. The fire quickly became a raging crown fire, traveling through the tops of the dense pine forest. This mound, directly in the path of the fire, was burned in just a few minutes time. In the 12 hours it took for the fire to run its course, 14 homes and 17,590 acres of forest land had burned, the village of Millston was spared because of a last minute wind shift.
Most of this area has since been . . . — Map (db m3321) |
| Wisconsin (Jackson County), Black River Falls — Black River Valley |
| | White pine trees were growing here when Columbus made his voyage to America. In 1819 the first attempts to saw lumber were unsuccessful, but in 1839 Jacob Spaulding founded Black River Falls by erecting the first permanent sawmill and settlement on the Black River.
This valley contained the largest pine trees, some of them up to six feet across at ground level, and the most pine trees per township in the state.
Before . . . — Map (db m3322) |
| Wisconsin (Jackson County), Black River Falls — Highground Veterans Memorial |
| | Wisconsin Vietnam veterans provided leadership for the establishment of a memorial dedicated to the men and women of the state who served in America's 20th century conflicts. In 1985, the Wisconsin Vietnam Veterans Memorial Project acquired property near Neillsville, northeast of here. The site contains a strikingly beautiful elevated panoramic vista overlooking 500,000 acres of countryside. The site was soon dubbed "The Highground" by the veterans.
During 1987, the veterans . . . — Map (db m3309) |
| Wisconsin (Jackson County), Black River Falls — Martin W. Torkelson — (1878 – 1963) |
| |
Martin Torkelson, born in Jackson County, served the State of Wisconsin for more than fifty years. He was a pioneer in the development for both land and air transportation.
After graduating from the University of Wisconsin in 1904, Torkelson worked for the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, which was the forerunner of the State Highway Commission. His recommendations to the legislature in 1917 led to Wisconsin's being the first state to set up a numbering system for its . . . — Map (db m3477) |
| Wisconsin (Jackson County), Black River Falls — 66 — Mitchell Red Cloud, Jr. — (1925–1950) |
| | Corporal Mitchell Red Cloud was posthumously awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for his courageous action in battle between U.S. troops and Chinese Communists near Chonghyon, Korea, Nov. 5, 1950. Red Cloud’s Company was entrenched beside Hill 123. Early in the morning a large enemy force bore down upon them. Red Cloud shouted a warning and started shooting. In the exchange fire, he was critically wounded, but dragged himself up and, supporting himself by a tree, continued firing and gave . . . — Map (db m1865) |
| Wisconsin (Jackson County), Black River Falls — 195 — The Passenger Pigeon |
| | Huge flocks of passenger pigeons once roamed North America. Larger than the mourning dove which it resembled, the passenger pigeon derived its name from an Indian word meaning "wanderer" or one who moves from place to place. Flying at a normal speed of sixty miles per hour, the pigeon moved hundreds of miles in migration and 50-100 miles a day during the nesting season, searching for food.
The largest nesting on record anywhere occurred in this area in 1871. The nesting ground . . . — Map (db m3307) |
| Wisconsin (Jackson County), Lyndon Station — 87 — Hop Raising |
| | “Keep hopping, hoeing and hoping” said an editorial in 1867 when hops were selling for 50¢ a pound, pickers by the thousands worked in the fields, merchants were selling silks, laces, paisley shawls and grand pianos, and farmers were building new and larger homes and driving carriages drawn by “blooded” horses. Introduced to Wisconsin in 1852 by Jesse Cottington, hop culture reached its peak in 1866–67 when this area was called “the greatest primary hop . . . — Map (db m3848) |
| Wisconsin (Jackson County), Millston — 204 — Sphagnum Moss — Wisconsin’s Invisible Industry |
| | Marshy sections of Jackson, Monroe, Wood and Clark counties produce large quantities of Sphagnum moss, providing a major but little known state resource. The ability of Sphagnum to hold 20 times its weight in water makes it invaluable for keeping plants and nursery stock alive in shipment. It is also used in hydroponic gardening, for air shipment of flowers, and because it is sterile it is used in surgical dressings and in seed germination to prevent fungus attack in seeds. Sphagnum replaces . . . — Map (db m3424) |
| Wisconsin (Jackson County), Millston — 203 — Winnebago Indians |
| | Winnebago Indians call themselves “Hochunkgra.” A Siouan people, they once occupied the southern half of Wisconsin and the northern counties of Illinois. The Black Hawk War of 1832 and a series of treaties forced the Winnebago out of their homeland, and they were removed to reservations in Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and finally to a portion of the Omaha Reservation in Nebraska.
With each removal, small bands of Winnebago returned to Wisconsin, with the largest settlement . . . — Map (db m3425) |
| Wisconsin (Jackson County), Shamrock — Shamrock |
| | Irish, English, Scotch pioneers settled in this valley about 1850. Their collective struggles and sharing built this rural community, originally called Kelly’s Corner.
1853 - Union Cemetery
1856 - Sawmill - H. B. Mills
1860 - St. Columbkille Catholic Mission Church and Cemetery
1864 - Log Schoolhouse - Melissa Printz, teacher
1873 - Union Church - Salmeron Smith, preacher
1874 - General Store - Roscoe Pratt
1879 - Blacksmith Shop - Augustus Woodworth
1881 - Post Office - David . . . — Map (db m3485) |
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