The Geography of the Region about Devil's Lake and the Dalles of the Wisconsin: With Some Notes on Its Surface Geology

In Short

Published in 1900 by the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Survey, this volume serves as an educational and technical field guide to the physical geography around Devil's Lake and the Dalles of the Wisconsin River. Authors Rollin D. Salisbury and Wallace W. Atwood explain how basic earth processes—sedimentation, tectonic pressure, stream erosion, and continental glaciation—sculpted the region’s distinctive bluffs, gorges, and lakes. The work endures because it transforms a specific local landscape into an accessible, clear case study of how fundamental geological forces shape the surface of the Earth over deep time.

The Story

The book opens with a detailed survey of the present-day landscape in central Wisconsin, contrasting the flat sandstone and limestone plains with the towering, resistant quartzite ridges of the Baraboo Range. From this physical orientation, the narrative moves backward into deep geological time to reconstruct how these formations came to exist.

The story begins in the Pre-Cambrian era, when loose sand deposits were buried, compressed, and thermally transformed into dense quartzite. Immense tectonic pressure subsequently folded and fractured these strata, lifting them into mountainous ridges. Ages of relentless rain and running water eroded these ancient heights before a vast sea submerged the area during the Paleozoic era. Waves beat against the quartzite islands, depositing coarse gravel and sand along the shores to form basal conglomerates and horizontal layers of Potsdam sandstone. As the ocean receded, the region was elevated once again into dry land, exposing the buried rocks to fresh cycles of atmospheric weathering and river erosion.

The authors then trace the mechanics of stream development, illustrating how minor rain washes deepen into gullies, ravines, and ultimately broad river valleys. Because soft sandstone erodes far more rapidly than hard quartzite, running water gradually carved away the surrounding rock, leaving the stubborn quartzite ranges standing high in relief. Rivers cut deep, narrow passes—such as the Upper and Lower Narrows of the Baraboo River—straight through these ridges.

The final dramatic shaping of the land occurs during the glacial epoch. As massive sheets of continental ice crept across North America, the Green Bay lobe overran portions of the region. The authors detail how moving ice polished and striated bedrock, crushed boulders into angular fragments, and rearranged the surface drainage. When the ice halted and eventually retreated due to climatic warming, it left behind massive terminal moraines—thick belts of unstratified drift marked by "knobs and kettles." These glacial deposits dammed the ancient river valleys at both ends, trapping water to create Devil's Lake and forcing local streams like Skillett Creek into entirely postglacial, narrow sandstone channels. The volume concludes by synthesizing these combined forces—ancient upheaval, long-term stream incision, and recent glaciation—to account for every cliff, gorge, and lake in the modern landscape.

How It Unfolds

The geography established The text introduces the region's main surface features, highlighting the stark contrast between the gently rolling sandstone plains and the bold, elevated quartzite ridges of the Baraboo Range.

Deep rock origins The account moves into Pre-Cambrian history, detailing how loose sand metamorphosed into hard quartzite through intense heat and pressure, followed by tectonic folding and severe fracturing.

Submergence and sedimentation The ancient quartzite mountains sink beneath a Paleozoic sea, where ocean waves wear away the rock shores to deposit layers of conglomerate, Potsdam sandstone, and limestone over the drowned terrain.

The mechanics of erosion The authors step back to explain general physical principles, demonstrating how rainwater concentrates into gullies to carve out broad valleys and leave resistant rock standing as high ridges.

Glaciers invade the landscape The narrative introduces the ice age, describing how moving continental glaciers abraded the underlying bedrock, planed off transported stones, and shifted course according to local topography.

Moraines and ice-dammed lakes As the climate warms and the ice sheet melts back, it dumps heaps of unsorted drift that form terminal moraines, damming preglacial river valleys to create bodies of water like Baraboo Lake and Devil's Lake.

Stream drainage rerouted The final chapter details how postglacial streams, blocked by glacial debris, were forced to cut new channels and narrow gorges through the sandstone to establish the modern drainage system.

The People

As a non-fiction geological study, the primary "characters" are the dynamic natural forces and distinct rock formations that battle across geological epochs.

• The Baraboo Quartzite acts as the resilient protagonist of the landscape. Originating as humble beach sand, it undergoes dynamic metamorphism under extreme pressure to become an nearly indestructible rock. It resists millions of years of rain, wave action, and ice, standing tall as prominent bluffs and ridges while softer surrounding strata crumble away.
• The Potsdam Sandstone represents the softer, accommodating counterpart to the quartzite. Formed from ocean sediments laid down in the Paleozoic era, these horizontal layers easily yield to running water, allowing streams to carve wide plains and deep, picturesque ravines like Pewit's Nest.
• Running Water operates as an relentless sculptor throughout the narrative. Working continuously through rain run-off, streams, and rivers, it seeks to bring the high land down to a stable base-level. It deepens gullies into valleys and slices through quartzite ranges to form narrow water gaps.
• The Continental Glacier serves as a transformative, disruptive visitor. Creeping down from the north, this massive sheet of ice planes down hills, scratches bedrock, carries massive boulders, and dumps morainic debris that permanently alters river courses and creates new lakes before retreating under a warming climate.

In Its Own Voice

"A river valley therefore is often but a gully grown big."

— Context: Explaining how minor rain washes on a hillside gradually enlarge through head erosion and lateral wear over vast spans of time.

"Within this zone there are spots where the fragments of quartzite are so well rounded as to simulate water-worn pebbles."

— Context: Describing the intense physical dynamic action at the Upper Narrows, where mountain-building movements crushed quartzite into friction conglomerate.

"Devil's lake then occupies an unfilled portion of an old river valley, isolated by great morainic dams from its surface continuations on either hand."

— Context: Summarizing the origin of Devil's Lake as a preglacial river gorge trapped between massive walls of glacial drift.

What It's Really About

Beneath its precise geological descriptions, the book is an inquiry into the immense power of slow, continuous natural processes acting over deep time. It argues that dramatic landscape features—steep bluffs, isolated lakes, and deep river gorges—do not require catastrophic explanations, but are the logical outcome of everyday forces like rain, stream flow, frost, and melting ice. The authors explore how local rock hardness dictates the survival of landforms, showing how hard quartzite endures while softer sandstone yields. Ultimately, the work illustrates the interconnectedness of Earth systems, demonstrating how ancient ocean deposits, tectonic uplift, and recent ice sheets combine to determine the precise path of every modern stream and the depth of every valley.

Why Read It Today

This volume will deeply appeal to field naturalists, local historians, hikers, and anyone fascinated by physical geography and deep time. Salisbury and Atwood write with admirable clarity, eschewing unnecessary jargon in favor of clear, logical demonstrations that allow the reader to see the landscape through an investigator's eyes. Reading it feels like walking through the Wisconsin countryside with an exceptionally observant guide who can look at an isolated boulder or a narrow ravine and read the millions of years of history that placed it there.

The main difficulty for modern readers lies in its technical survey format, detailed locality references, and straightforward scientific prose, which lacks modern narrative drama. However, its historical value as an early example of state-sponsored geological education remains high. What stays with you is a transformed perspective on the natural world: a realization that every hill, lake, and valley is in constant, subtle motion, shaped by natural laws that are actively at work right under our feet.