Wisconsin Rocks—Wisconsin Stories
John H. Broihahn
John H. Broihahn works as an anthropologist and
archaeologist at the State Historical Society of Wisconsin.
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| Fig 1. A Native American spear point made over 10,000 years ago of quartzite from Silver Mound, Jackson County. (Photographic Collection, Office of the State Archaeologist, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, A. Kraushaar, Photographer.) |
We use rocks to build houses, barns, boat docks, and roads. We climb them, carve them, and curse them when they litter our farm fields by the thousands. Wisconsin's first residents quickly recognized which rocks were valuable. Native Americans began mining the quartzite—a sandstone hardened with quartz—at Silver Mound 12,000 years ago. They turned this activity into Wisconsin's first export business, trading the finished tools and pieces of the stone throughout the Midwest (Fig 1). As time passed, they discovered other sources of rock that could be used for tools and weapons and they used rock shelters and caves for homes. They also used the walls of these shelters and caves to paint and carve beautiful images that held, and continue to hold, important cultural and religious meaning (Fig 2).
As Europeans and Americans began to explore what would become Wisconsin, they learned about Wisconsin's rich natural resources from the Native American residents. At first, lead and copper were the focus of attention. Lead and copper mines were opened early in the nineteenth century in the southwestern and northwestern sections of the state. As more people moved into Wisconsin, the information they collected on Wisconsin rocks was quickly applied toward other industries.
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| Fig 2. A Native American Thunderbird rock art carving (or petroglyph) from Juneau County, Wisconsin. (Photographic Collection, Office of the State Archaeologist, State Historical Society of Wisconsin.) |
Iron mines were developed at Mayville, Ironton, Black River Falls, and later in northeastern Wisconsin. People built limekilns across southern and eastern Wisconsin. Larger pieces of limestone were quarried and carefully shaped into building stone as were pieces of sandstone from the central and northern parts of the state. Wisconsin's Lake Superior brownstone—a dark brown sandstone—was shipped across the eastern United States to be used as building stone. The hard granites of central Wisconsin were quarried and shaped at Wausau, Montello, and Red Granite. These were used for building stone and in the manufacture of gravestones and monuments. In other areas, the round cobbles dropped by the glaciers were used to houses, build fireplaces, barns, and other buildings. In many areas, these cobbles occurred in such large numbers that there was nothing left to do except pile them into long fences, or simply toss them into piles at the corners of farm fields (Fig 3). Today, these cobbles are still used to build fireplaces, homes, and the larger glacial cobbles are sought for landscaping.
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| Fig 3. A rock fence built on Washington Island, Door County, Wisconsin in the late nineteenth or early twentieth century. WHi W63, Archives Division, State Historical Society of Wisconsin. |
Rocks and rock formations have played and continue to play important roles in the lives of Wisconsin's residents. The remarkable sandstone cliffs and ridges at Wisconsin Dells have drawn people for thousands of years. Native Americans, who came to the area to live, work, and worship, carved remarkable stories into the rocks. Later, H. H. Bennett captured the unique area on film. The stark rock-covered landscapes of Devil's Lake have also attracted people over the millennium (Fig 4). Rocks have inspired stories of creation and they tell the story of Wisconsin's geologic creation.
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| Fig 4. H. H. Bennett's photograph of the Devil's Doorway rock formation at Devil's Lake State Park, Sauk County, Wisconsin. SHSW WHi 1561, Archives Division State Historical Society of Wisconsin. |
Visit our Learn More and Make the Journey pages to get more information about this topic. Visit the "Wisconsin Stories" H.H. Bennett Web site to view some of Bennett's landscapes.