When we
asked someone where we should go to see the city’s fireworks display, they told
us that Grand Dad Bluff would be the best spot. We decided to check it out in
the daytime just to get our bearings and we are glad we did. There is a narrow,
winding 3 mile road up the backside of the bluff to a parking area that could
maybe hold 10 cars. I am pretty sure if we tried this tonight it would have
been a disaster!
But it
was great during the day. Apparently this is the site of the first ever
complete Christian divine worship service in La Crosse – conducted by the
Reverend Father James Lloyd Breck on the morning of June 23, 1850. The city has
erected a very nice park with spectacular overlooks of the Mississippi River
valley. Hovering right over town, the views are to die for!
In the
nearby town of Pickwick we found the Pickwick Mill. Built in 1854-58 by Thomas
Grant and Wilson Davis, it was one of the first commercial business enterprises
in the State of Minnesota. During the civil war era, the mill claims to have
consistently produced 100 barrels of wheat flour to feed the Union army. While
no longer in commercial operation, all the equipment in the mill is in working
order, and we visited all 6 floors of the mill as we listened to the constant
thrum of the massive water wheel that would have provided the power back in the
day. Having recently visited the massive Gold Medal Mill at St. Anthony Falls
built at the turn of the century, it was fun and interesting to see this
precursor to those more state of the art facilities.
We
learned that the massive stone grinding wheels back in those days were
basically puzzles of blocks of stone assembled into a circular ring. Grooves
radiated out from the center of the wheel, which allowed the nearly powdered
flour to sift out after it was ground. The reason that they were puzzles of
blocks is that there were no longer quarries even in the mid-1800’s that could
produce a single stone wheel five feet in diameter and maybe a half foot thick.
This French quarried one piece millstone on display in Pickwick is believed to
be one of the last of its kind in actual use. This stone was likely the bottom
stone of a two stone, stacked grinding process as you can see the grooves for
the flour to flow out.
Just down
the road a bit in Homer Minnesota is the Bunnell House. In 1849, Chief Wapasha
granted permission for Willard Bradley and Matilda Desnoyer Bunnell to build a
homestead on this land. Bradley, naming the town he founded after his home town
in New York, built this 3 story home, using lumber that had been brought in by
steamboat from Iowa. The home has never been painted, and still looks like it
probably did when gazed upon by Chief Wapasha.
Well, I
finally had to decommission my favorite cargo shorts. I bought 3 pair at Kohls
5 years ago – two pair had bitten it over the years, but this last pair seemed
to be hanging in. Sadly, when I put them on this morning and slid my foot into
the leg, I could hear this “rippppppppppppp” sound that was agonizing. Yes,
indeed, I had ripped a gaping hole in one leg. It made me sad, but I moved them
onto a better place.
We did
have a pretty spectacular end to our visit to La Crosse. Apparently there is a
massive fire in Canada just North of us. The smoke in the air from the fire,
while not welcome to Canadians, is resulting in pretty spectacular sunsets in
Minnesota and Wisconsin. We can certainly vouch for that.
Also,
apparently it is the custom of the Goose Island County Park to have
entertainment in the park on the Fourth of July Weekend. A local La Crosse band
came into the picnic shelter and played for over 4 hours. They finished the
night with a very excellent rendition of Deep Purple’s Smoke on the Water. I
was in heaven!
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