A Woodland Walk
A few rods to the southeast from the cottages, over a stile or two and across a ravine, runs a road through the deep woods. Here one finds a delightful walk of a little less than a mile, traversing the arboreal slope, the sandy river bed, and a weathered rock which, at flood-time, is an island in the stream. From a projecting point one obtains a view of the Sugar Bowl, the Inkstand, and other delights of the Lower Dells.
Just south of the wooded road, at no great distance from the cottages, a bald hill lifts itself above the surrounding landscape, richly rewarding one if he decides to gain its treeless crest.
BRIDGE ACROSS DELL CREEK
Although Newport was a noisy, busy place, crowded with adventurers seeking the gold at the foot of the elusive rainbow, stirred with martial music as the soldiers of the sixties drilled on the Vanderpool green and departed for southern conflict fields, alive with the rivermen who came and went with the departing of each vernal season, the past gives an emphasis to the stilness that broods over it today.
No wonder summer cottagers seek the quiet here. The lingering associations, the pleasant pathways, the changing river, with summer clouds floating across the sky are fascinations not to be painted in words.
COLDWATER CANYON
(Upper Dells.)
SUGAR BOWL
(Lower Dells.)
[CHAPTER VI]
Mirror Lake, Retreat of a Circusman—Earlier Bed of Dell Creek—Congress Hall Near Village
At the edge of the village of Delton, ten miles north of Baraboo, on Trunk Line 12, Dell Creek once flowed unhampered through a narrow canyon of unusual beauty. When a dam was thrown across the slender stream, a lovely lake, whose placid bosom mirrors daily the changing verdure of its banks, was created, some three miles in length. Boatmen make regular trips on the lake, always before nightfall as the narrow course requires expert piloting. So quiet are the waters that every detail of sky and shore and passing craft are reflected therein; often there is not a ripple, not a cat's paw to mar the mirror. The banks, which are high and rocky, are covered with a dense growth of pine, cedar, hemlock and many other varieties of timber. Underneath is a wonderful carpet of ferns and wild flowers from the meshes of which occasional rabbit or squirrel emerges, or the drumming of a partridge is heard, to divert the attention.
Many cottages are hidden among the trees, but a few being visible from the water's edge. Most of them have an outlook over the lake but are not easily discerned through the wealth of foliage. Occasionally one is seen perched on an outstanding rock, thereby gaining a charming view of the lake. The resinous atmosphere created by the heavy growth of pine is particularly refreshing to the city dwellers who come to this lake in increasing numbers, season after season. The slopes of the lake are the home of the trailing arbutis whose delicate pink blossoms, half hidden, half exposed, are eagerly sought by visitors in early spring.
Of cultivated land one sees but little, and that in the hazy distance. The axe has remained at a respectful distance from the shore, leaving the slopes native clad.
The best fishing grounds are where the lake throws an arm to the left, as one ascends the wild watery defile. Usually one may see disciples of Walton grasping their rods, indifferent to the torrid sun or drenching rain. The patient anglers cast their lines right and left, frequently luring an unsuspecting bass or smaller fry from the undisturbed depths.
Before glacial ice covered a great portion of Wisconsin, Dell Creek probably flowed in a southeasternly direction through a gap in the north range of the Baraboo Bluffs and emptied into the Baraboo River at Baraboo. Its old bed being filled, in a manner similar to the Wisconsin River at the Dells, it was forced to seek a new course and cut a canyon through the sandstone formation.