|
you may get
a little wet!
The body of water we've entered is the Wisconsin
River. The river originates at the northern border of Wisconsin
and Michigan's Upper Peninsula and flows diagonally across the state
of Wisconsin for 430 miles before emptying into the Mississippi
River. This portion of the river is lined by unique cliffs which
gave Wisconsin Dells its name. The potsdam sandstone cliffs were
originally referred to by French Canadian fur traders in the early
1800s as the "dalles," a French Canadian word meaning
"a slab or tile-like rock."
Many unusual shapes have been formed in the rock
as a result of million of years of glacial melting and erosion.
The first major rock formations on the tour are known as pulpit
rock and the baby grand piano. These names may seem unusual at first,
but they'll make sense after you hear the story behind them ...
Back in the early 1800s, a traveling preacher
used to come through here. He stood on top of the cliff and used
it as a pulpit, preaching to the Native Americans that would gather
below in their birch canoes. Well, after awhile the Native Americans
got a little bored, so the preacher went into town to hire a musician
to liven up the ceremony. All he could find was a barroom piano
player, so they brought out his baby grand piano and put it on top
of the cliff. Everything was going well, until one Sunday when the
piano player fell asleep -- during the preacher's sermon. The preacher
noticed he was sleeping and gave him a little shove to wake him
up. The piano player was so startled that he thought he was in the
saloon and began to play the WILDEST music you'd ever hear. The
preacher got so upset that he began jumping up and down on Pulpit
Rock. He was quite a heavy man and he broke that entire slab of
rock away . . . do you believe this story?
Look at the picture above for proof. You see,
the preacher was so upset that he pushed the piano player off the
left side of the cliff and then turned to the baby grand piano,
gave it one mighty shove -- and there it is today -- with the left
leg propped up against the rock and the keyboard facing the sky.
The baby grand still rests right where he threw it off.
|
