PEN PICTURES OF EARLY DAYS IN WESTERN WISCONSIN. By S. W.
BROWN. Copyright, 1900, La Crosse, Wisconsin.
FROM CHAPTER II, pp. 37-38.
Such was Neoshone, as the Indians who frequently camped there called
it when the first white man stood on the bank of the river and watched
the rushing waters flow swiftly by. They had borne the red man in his
canoe, and around this very spot the Winnebago hunter had secured fine
strings of ducks, and for generations had trapped for mink and
gathered in abundance the fish that swarmed in every eddy and pool.
The hill at the north was crowned with a beautiful grove of young oak
trees, and, standing on its slope, the early pioneer beheld before his
eyes a magnificent panorama. In the distance the everlasting hills
seemed to stand guard round and about it as did the walls of the
Jewish capitol encircle its sacred precincts.
Valley, hillside, prairie, and plain, stretched away from the
spectator's feet in varying lines and curves, while down the center
rolled the grand old river. It seemed like a second Canaan, waiting
for the coming of the chosen people, its soil ready to be waked by the
share of the settler's plow, when crops would come forth as if touched
by the magician's wand.