Mid west Wisconsin but applicable everywhere

[Lex]

I currently live in Florida but would like to tell you about my junior and senior years in highschool. In 1978 and 1979 I attended Black River Falls Highschool. The town is located near the intersection of several larger roads including US 94 and 52.

As a somewhat "different" young man I preferred fishing or just walking down the river to drinking Old Style and trying to get into girls pants. (well most of the time:P) At any rate I found alot of old items in and about the riverbanks. Some really large wagon wheels, various old furniture (In pieces usually) and lots of bottles.

Well my interest really perked up when my uncle bought a metal detector. Near the public pool he found a flying eagle cent and a standing liberty half dollar among some newer coins. He told me that the reason that they were there was because it was below the dam...?? He was a smart cookie....Answering my question without telling me what I wanted to know got me to researching the whole truth.

I went to the local library and started ready about the history of the town. Believe it or not that little town had a very active past. But the real truth of being below the dam was ther in the library in books and in pictures.

In 1911 the Black River flooded with the dams both up and downstream bursting from the pressure. Almost the entire town was washed away in the flood. Looking at the topographical maps you can see exactly how bad the flood was. The land looks like a giant bulldozer swept through leaving a huge channel through the area.

Looking at the map you can also see where the items that were washed away should have been deposited on the curves of the river bank.....And that is where I was finding most of the old wheels and bottles!

Easy to understand that every river floods now and then. And easy to see that the items washed away will end up on the outer part of a turn in the river.

Now the part that always makes me think about going back and having a look......The bank was in part of the town that washed away...and guess what was never "reportedly" recovered...Yep the bank safe was supposed to have been lost in the flood and never officially recovered.

You can find out more in the Black River Falls Library. It is on the right side of the road as you are going up the hill. You can't miss it

I would be willing to bet that your local library has plenty of these leads as well.

Lex

 

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[Gypsy Heart]

Good Story Lex...I was just reading today where riverboats were burned near Black River Falls. It is very rich in early history. A great place for MD's.

 

[Lex]

Well since I got a nice post I will relay another one from the same area.
One day I was walking the creek just east of the pizza factory in Black River and came across a set of two really big and heavy duty wooden wagon wheels.
Now this is Wisconsin in early winter. The water is extremely cold and there is about 6-8 inches of snow on the ground. The water had not frozen yet but there was a little ice at the creek edges where the water is moving slow.
The wheels where just too much of a temptation. Even though it was so cold I jumped down into the water and wrestled the best looking wheel to the bank. I rolled it up the bank toward the road to find that I was directly behind the new car lot. (There was only one car lot back then don't know if that is still the case.)
At any rate I rolled that big wagon wheel home and set it up behind my aunt and uncles business. My uncle was an Electrition that dabbled in other things. One of them was a furniture refinishing place next door to the house. I figured that I could refinish the wheel.
First I will discribe this wheel. I was about 6' tall at the time and this came up to my chest easily. The circle was probably 5 inches wide and had a metal band all the way around it about 1/4" thick. The hub was about 10-12" across with another metal band on the inside. Yes it was very, very heavy! I distinctly remember the snow packing onto the wet metal while trying to roll it up the hill and struggling to pick it back up when it fell. The wood being wet and waterlogged was just icing on the wieght cake.
So here is this wheel leaning against the back of my Uncle's furniture place with snow building up on it. (Yes it decided to snow later that day.)
Well the weather got worse and the creek was frozen by the next weekend so I didn't even bother going for the other wheel figuring that I would get it during summer vacation.
Well I did finally go back but the creek the following summer but the second wheel was pretty mangled. I tried to pick it up and roll it up the hill but it started coming apart even before it was out of the water. So I dropped it back down into the water. Now all wet from the splash I decided I might as well wade to the other side and follow the railroad tracks back home. Not five feet from the wheel was a reddish ball on the bottom of the creek. I picked it up to find a very heavy ball about 5 inches across. Welp I took that home with me instead of the wagon wheel.
When I showed it to my uncle he said that it looked like a large ball bearing or something and maybe it rolled down from the railroad tracks. I set it outside the window on the ledge just above the wagon wheel.
A couple weeks later my uncle asked me if he could have the wagon wheel. I wish I could say that I had given it to him...I will never be able to repay him for the care he gave me and my brother. No excuse. I left it there to rot when I went into the military. At any rate his request made me go look closer at my finds. the wheel was starting to come apart and the ball was crusted with a thick layer of rust. I hit the ball against the window lege and the crust just fell off revealing a black metal ball about 4 inches around. I put it back onto the ledge and headed out to go fishing.
A few months later I enlisted in the Air Force.....After 6 months of training in Texas I got my orders to Germany. But before going overseas I was allowed two weeks leave back home. November in Wisconsin was just as cold and snowy as I remembered.
At any rate during my short stay I was told about an old story of a military troop losing a cannon in the creek around Black River in the 1800s......I am thinking that the wheels where from the cannon and the ball was a cannon ball. I could be putting more into this than I should. But if my suspicions are right, that cannon may still be in that creek behind the old car dealership in Black River Falls.
For those that are interested using google earth it was around 44 degrees 17' 24 by 90 degree 50' 20.

Let me know what you find