Looky Looky What Came In The Mail!!!!

My good friend IntenseGuy got this book for me while he was in Florida. Before he left, he asked if there was anything he could get me while he was down there. Besides warm weather, I asked for a Manatee. I've always wanted to see them, and having one for a pet would be AWESOME! Ok, so it would have to be a baby. And it would probably only fit in my bathtub for about 2 weeks before I'd have to give it up. But at least I would have one for 2 weeks, right??? I know you'd all be jealous!


Following are a couple rest stop signs next to a closed trail that I really, really hoped would be open. I remember walking up this trail with my sister years ago on our way to MN. Instead I had to just get pictures of the two signs. And it was so cold, that my camera only let me take the two pictures, then it shut off. I was trying to get a picture of the trail itself. I trudged through three inches of snow, in my sneakers, to get these pictures.

For Tori, the signs say: 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 logging ended in 1905, more than fifty sawmills had been in operation in Jackson County. Accurate records kept over a period of forty years reveal that enough lumber was sawed to have built a plank road nine feet wide and four inches thick around the world. Iron Ore was smelted in Black River Falls in 1856 and again in 1886, but the old process proved too expensive and was abandoned. The Jackson County Iron Company, a subsidiary of Inland Steel, built a modern processing plant in 1969 that ship 2800 tons of taconite pellets every day of the year to it's blast furnaces in Indiana. The mine buildings and open pit mine are visible from the overlook on top of this scenic Bell Mound.

(Note, the blast furnaces in Indiana that are referenced are no longer Inland Steel. That company was bought by Mittal Steel, which then merged with Arcelor Steel, and became ArcelorMittal. And I believe they only have one blast furnace working these days.)

Black River Forest Fire: On the dry, windy afternoon of April 27, 1977 (hey, my birthday), 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 reclaimed naturally by oak and aspen which sprout vigorously after a fire. A small portion of the area was planted with pine, a more valuable tree species. This area has become prime wildlife habitat supporting tremendous deer and small game populations. In 50 years all visual reminders of the Black River Falls fire will be gone.

I don't remember if my sister or I ever took any pictures from the top of the overlook. But if I ever find them, I'm sure they will be a sight to see.