Hidden History of the Wisconsin Dells Area

Ross M. Curry

• Publisher: The History Press
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN:
  9781609490317
• eBook ISBN:
  9781614232643
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: North American History
• Index: History

The history of the Wisconsin Dells area is as unique as its glacier-sculpted landscape. It has been a gathering place for tribal councils, a vacation spot for enthralled tourists and a stopping point for the raftsmen who might have had a little too much of the "Devil's Eyewater" brewed by pioneer Robert Allen. Local expert Ross M. Curry has been chronicling the region, from Baraboo to Lyndon, for almost sixty years. Join him for those chapters of the area's story that he himself has witnessed, and then follow him as he hikes back to a time before the Kilbourn Dam, when towns were lit by gaslight, justice might be enforced by duels or "necktie parties" and hardships had to be outlasted by tightknit families with unshakable faith and their own butter churns.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Dells Area Is Home to Many Rock Formations
• Louis Bluff Was an Indian Lookout
• Railroad Tunnels Awe Travelers
• Robert Allen Was Very First Dells Settler
• Louis Dupless Was First Family Man in the Dells
• George Tyler Blood Was First Lyndon Homesteader
• Alanson Holly Settled Here 150 Years Ago
• Don Carlos Barry, First in Reedsburg
• James Babb Builds First Reedsburg House
• David Reed Started the City of Reedsburg
• Wildrick Grave Is Historical Attraction
• Hubbards Were Among First Sauk Settlers
• Oliver Hubbard Settled in 1845
• Henry and Abigail Barringer Were Early Settlers
• Wards Were Early Big Spring Settlers
• Sarah Mahala Ward Landt Best Had Exciting Life
• Bunce Family Endured Civil War Hardships
• Pioneer Wisconsin Family Lived Among Indians
• Susan Bunce Burdick Pioneered in the Dells
• Charles Burdick Led a Hard Life
• Tom Ellison Has Many Area Descendants
• Things Were Different Before Kilbourn Dam
• Lake Delton Has a Long History
• Village of Lake Delton Grew after World War II
• New Highway 12 Opened Up Development
• Area Looked Different in the 1930s
• Farm Families Grew Their Own Food in the Great Depression
• Writer Recalls the Great Depression
• Store-Bought Meat Rare in Depression
• Dells Area Was Once Gang Hideout
• Massive Blackouts Were Once a Fact of Life
• Direct Descendant of Baraboo’s First Family Visits the Dells
• The Pecks Become Madison’s First Settlers
• Rosaline Peck Becomes the First White Woman in Baraboo
• Joe Curry Was Early Settler
• Hackett Family Settled North Freedom
• Colonel Ableman Settled Rock Springs
• Writer Recalls Fond Childhood Visits to Rock Springs
• The Old Kilbourn Co-Op Is Remembered
• Free Street Movies in Lyndon Station Remembered
• Kurth Family Had Large Columbus Brewery
• Biggest Dells-Area Brewery Was a Moonshine Still
• Panic of 1893 Strikes Western Settlers
• About the Author