When we came into the Wyalusing State Park yesterday, these goats were at the entrance but we couldn't figure out why. Today, when we checked in at the office, we asked and were told that these are rent-a-goats that the State Park is using to chow down invasive species of plants.
These goats looked healthy and friendly. As we were leaving the park, two men were erecting new fencing in a section adjacent to this one. I asked if they were moving the goats to another location and he said, " yes." I told him they were nice looking goats and seemed to be doing a good job of eating the unwanted plants. He said, "Yes, they are a good weed eating machine, plus they are so darn cute." You could tell he really liked these goats.
This is the truck from the farm where the rent-a-goats came from.
Dating from 1673, when Jacques Marquette and Louis Joliet reached this site, at the confluence of the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers, Prairie du Chien is the oldest community on the Upper Mississippi River and the 2nd oldest town in Wisconsin. Prairie du Chien became a flourishing fur market soon after the French explorers' visit, attracting Native Americans from the remote upper reaches of the Mississippi and Wisconsin rivers, as well as traders and settlers. From 1685 to 1831 four forts were built and occupied at various times by French, British and American forces.
Our first stop this morning was at Fort Crawford Museum and the hospital building that remains from the fort that was built in1829-33.
Hospital ward room where Civil War soldiers were treated.
The layout of the fort where only the hospital wing - the building on the right - remains. The first Fort Crawford was built on a mound on an island adjacent to Prairie du Chien. It was a four-sided enclosure made of squared logs with blockhouses at two opposing corners.
By the end of the 18th century French from the Illinois Country and French and English speaking Canadians had begun to build their homes on the prairie. Prairie du Chien was a bustling community. Traders, voyageurs, and merchants from Montreal paddled up and down the waterways bringing goods for the spring fur trade and returning with canoes filled with bales of furs. Trading with the Native American forged strong ties. These relationships were so strong that when the War of 1812 broke out between the US and Great Britain, almost all the residents of the upper Mississippi, white and Native American, remained loyal to Great Britain.
At the close of the War of 1812, the US retained possession of the upper Mississippi, but Congress decided to erect a chain of forts along the Fox-Wisconsin-Mississippi waterway. Fort Crawford is noted because of the important people who served here. Col. Zachary Taylor was in charge of building the Fort and commanded troops during the Black Hawk War. Jefferson Davis, who attended West Point, was stationed at Fort Crawford and married Zachary Taylor's daughter. Dr. William Beaumont was Post Surgeon, and while stationed at Fort Crawford he conducted experiments on the human digestive system.
For some reason, there are historical surgical dioramas at the Fort. These five miniature scenes were created for the American College of Surgeon's display at the Chicago World's Fair in 1933-34. The dioramas were displayed at Chicago's Museum of Science and Industry continuously until 1961 when they were donated to the Medical Museum in Prairie du Chien. The dioramas are depictions of some notable events in American Surgery during the 1800's and early 1900s.
A native of Appleton, WI, Dr. Benjamin Murphy was perhaps the most brilliant surgeon of the first decade of this century. Dr. William Mayo called him "the surgical genius of our generation". His interest were broad and restricted to no special field of surgery. He pioneered in many fields of medical endeavor and was a great teacher.
Before 1846, the use of anesthesia (ether) was unknown in the U.S., so patients undergoing major operations must have suffered untold agonies. Dr. Philip Syng Physick, "the father of American surgery", is here depicted amputating a leg in the first clinical amphitheater in America - the Pennsylvania Hospital in Philadelphia. Note that doctors wore ordinary street clothes, and the absence of nurses.
This diorama shows William Beaumont, M.D. (1785-1853) studying the digestive process of the stomach of Alexis St. Martin, shot at Fort Mackinac in 1825. The wound never healed and this provided an opportunity to conduct careful experiments, many of which were at Fort Crawford where Beaumont was stationed.
Not a diorama, this is a reconstructed pharmacy of the 1890's - for anyone who might be interested in pharmacies.
In Danville, Kentucky, in 1809, the famous frontier doctor, Ephriam McDowell, performed the first successful operation for the removal of an ovarian tumor. Using crude instruments and without benefit of anesthesia, he operated to save the patient's life despite threats of bodily harm by her friends and neighbors. The patient, a Mrs. Crawford, lived for 34 years after the operation.
R. J. Marion Sims, who received his medical degree in Philadelphia in 1835, pioneered in the special medical and surgical needs of women. He had a brilliant career in the field, inventing new instruments, new techniques, and carried his new ideas to Europe, where he taught physicians.
Finally, things get better when medical history was made in October 1846, when Dr. John Collins Warren, a noted Boston surgeon, performed the first operation in the U.S. on a patient who had been anesthetized by ether. The patient was Gilbert Abbot suffering from a tumor of the jaw. The ether was administered by Dr. William Morton, who had previously used it to prevent pain in the extraction of teeth.
The exterior of the Fort Crawford Medical Museum.
Window from the cell where Black Hawk was held after he surrendered at Fort Crawford to end the Black Hawk Wars.
Next to the Medical Museum was another Museum sponsored by the Historical Society of Prarie du Chien. There was this diorama that depicted the coming of the Milwaukee and Mississippi Railroad on April 15, 1857, which was an important event for Prarie du Chien. The town became an important transshipment point between river-boats and railroads.
This is "Flashlight Peavine" or "Sweet Pea" for short. More than 100 years old, Sweet Pea originally was owned by a harness shop operator. During the 1899's and early 1900's it was common to see large wooden horses placed outside of harness shops exhibiting the latest in saddles, horse collars, and other "horse trappings" for sale. A well-trained, healthy horse was a necessity for the country doctor. During a period when families were separated by huge stretches of land and roads were primitive, the doctor riding on horseback to reach his patients was a familiar sight. Later, when roads improved, carriages were added. After a long day of visiting patients, the doctor would sleep in the carriage whiled his trustworthy horse faithful guided him home.
Bill, more arrowheads from the Prarie du Chien area.
After visiting these museums we went over to Feriole Island to visit the Villa Louis which is owned and operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society. Villa Louis was the 19th-century home of the Dousman family, who made a fortune in the fur trade and through timely investments in land steamboats and railroads. Four buildings in the mansion complex are open, exhibiting a collection of Victorian decorative arts original to the property. Restoration has replicated many original wallpapers, textiles and decorative treatments reflecting the design of William Morris and the British Arts and Craft Movement.
This is the Visitor Center at Villa Louis which is built on stilts to protect it from flooding.
Out tour guide, Mary, showed us the high watermark of the Mississippi River.
The exterior of the house. Unfortunately, as in so many other historic houses, photographs are not permitted. We really enjoyed the tour and learning the history of the family.
We took the Fire Point Trail to view a representative sample of the mounds in the Park. Pictured above are simple, probably early, rounded mounds.
This is a panorama shot of a complex mound - which doesn't show up at all in the picture.
We will be visiting other mounds, so maybe in the future I'll be able to show more defined mounds.
The mounds are located high up on the bluffs. We were able to get this great picture of the Mississippi River.
Crossing a stream into our campground, we use this bridge that has the Great River Road symbol on the four corners.
Love those goats and the medical museum! Judy S.
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