Pewit's Nest Near Baraboo--Home of a Recluse--Skillet Falls--Graves of
Napoleon Soldiers
But a trifle over three miles from Baraboo, in the early 40's, a queer
enigmatical character secreted himself in the rocky recesses of Pewit's
Nest. To this wildering abode he unexpectedly came, lived for a time,
and mysteriously disappeared like a phantom or will-o'-the-wisp.
After rumbling over the bridge at the Island Woolen mill, climbing the
curved incline, and passing over the viaduct above the railroad tracks,
the course to Pewit's Nest follows the main highway which turns here to
the right for a half a mile and another half mile to the left. Leaving
the main road, No. 12, the course follows a mile to the right climbing
the terminal moraine and crossing the outwash plain--and still another
half mile to the left the journey brings the visitor to a little rural
school-building by the roadside, the place to abandon the car. Here
Skillet Creek has cut a wide-mouthed valley or pocket, Pewit's Nest
being a quarter of a mile to the left of the main road.
Sward-sided cellar holes are all that remain of a few rude dwellings
built about a primitive mill. At one time the jaws at the mouth of the
Nest supported a great iron shaft, a cumbersome overshot waterwheel
deliberately delivering the contents of the creek, by means of its
buckets, into the pool below. In the process logs were converted into
lumber, a painfully tedious operation.
A Queer Abode
Before building the mill, however, there dwelt in a recess of the solid
sandstone, an ingenious and eccentric character whose presence and
unusual behavior gave the name to the place. In his "Outline Sketches"
W. H. Canfield, local historian, who located on Skillet Creek in 1842,
says the abode of this individual was ten feet above a deep pool of
water, dug out by the fail of the creek over the crest of the resisting
formation. The approach to this nearly secreted habitation was either
through a trap door in the roof, or a trap-door in the floor. If one
entered through the roof it was by clambering down the rocky wall to
the opening, and if through the floor it was by means of a floating
bridge upon the pool, a ladder at its end leading to the trap-door in
the floor. The little shop could not be seen from the mouth of the
canyon, or from the top, or from any direction but one, hence by the
early settlers was dubbed the "Pewee" or "Pewit's Nest."
Here the recluse repaired watches, clocks, guns, and occasionally
farming utensils, even essaying to manufacture the latter in a rude
way. Lathes he had for turning iron and wood, the power for propelling
being provided from an old fashioned centrifugal water wheel, itself as
much of a curiosity as its owner. A large coffee mill, likewise a
grindstone, was arranged to operate by the water that was forever
collecting in the upper valley and pouring through the shady dell. It
is said that this hermit of the hill could tell a lively tale and
dispelled the gloom of loneliness by playing upon a violin. At times,
forsooth, he was persuaded to preach for the Mormon church, although
his activities in this direction were never pronounced. Among his other
accomplishments, he posed as a doctor and prescribed as remedies the
herbs and shrubs growing in the valleys and on the hills about.
His favorite place of abode seems to have been the border of a new
country and when the settlements among the Baraboo Bluffs became too
numerous, he as quietly and mysteriously disappeared from his queer
home at Pewit's Nest as he had come.
[Illustration: SKILLET FALLS]
Skillet Falls
Skillet Falls is located about a mile above where the stream tumbles
into the pool at the head of the peaceful valley and may be reached by
following the creek through woods and fields, or by approaching through
the farmyard of Dwight Welch on Trunk Line 12. This place of interest
was named by Levi Moore from the "Skillets" or water-worn holes in the
sandstone rock, looking much like basins or iron vessels used in
cooking.
Stream With Two Beds
Before the time of the glacial epoch Skillet Creek probably emptied
into the Baraboo River where the city of Baraboo is located, two or
three miles below the present confluence. The moraine material filled a
portion of the bed of the stream and after the ice receded it was
forced to find a new course near where three roads meet, a short
distance above Skillet Falls. The upper portion of Skillet Creek
tumbles down the Baraboo Bluffs over a bed which dates to Potsdam times
while the lower portion is of much more recent origin, something
unusual in the history of streams. This interruption in its career has
resulted in the picturesque waterfalls. From the highway east of
Skillet Creek one has a view of the terminal moraine to the east and of
the highly productive outwash plain.
Marched With Napoleon
Continuing on the highway a mile west of Pewit's Nest one observes a
rural burying ground on the slope of Rock Hill. A little south of the
center in Rock Hill Cemetery sleep two soldiers who marched with
Napoleon in his world-disrupting European conquests. On a marble stone
one reads:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Michael Hirschinger *
* Died *
* March 20, 1853 *
* Age 67 Years *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
The father of former Assemblyman Charles Hirschinger, this soldier's
most thrilling experience was his march to Moscow in the fall of 1812
and his retreat with the great Corsican. Half a million men marched
triumphantly into the beautiful city, only to have it reduced to ashes
in their very presence. This meant the destruction of Napoleon's army.
The soldier often retold the retreat through the Polish snows,
recalling that some of his comrades, after crossing streams, perished
in the snow.
The tomb of Mrs. Hirschinger is near that of her husband.
Near the grave of Michael Hirschinger one reads on a stone about all
that is known of still another Napoleon soldier:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
* Michael Nippert *
* Died *
* May 23, 1864 *
* Age 70 Years, 2 Months *
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
As to his martial deeds but little is recorded. By his side sleeps his
wife.
Napoleon went to St. Helena; Hirschinger and Nippert came to the
Baraboo Hills.
Hirschinger Spring
A mile and a quarter south of the cemetery, where the road bends to
avoid plunging into it, a spring of delicious water bursts from the
hillside and escapes into the quietude of a wooded dale. This obscure
valley is known as Pine Hollow and the tortuous streamlet, which finds
its way for almost a mile through the towering timber of this
delightful retreat, is known as Pine Creek. Ferns, mosses, and certain
varieties of wild flowers hide the gray of the rocks which are piled
high above the stream. The dale is one of great attractiveness to a
loiterer through this unfrequented wood of the Baraboo Hills.