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277 From Parks & Recreation 20, no. 8 (April 1937): 382–89, and no. 9 (May 1937): 451–57. paUL B. Riis Ecological Garden and arboretum at the university of Wisconsin (1937) Man sees in each of the millions of living forms with which the earth is teeming, the action of many of the laws which are operating in himself; and has learned to a great extent his welfare is dependent on these seemingly insignificant relations; that in ways undreamed of a century ago they affect human progress. —Clarence Moores Weed He who knows what sweets and virtues are in the ground, the waters, the plants, the heavens, and how to come at these enchantments , is the rich and royal man. —Ralph Waldo Emerson PaRt i a last CEntuRy idyll Fair and fruitful, Wisconsin ranks high among the best of the agricultural states in the union. Abundantly blessed with fertile soils, productive valleys, matchless lakes, forested ridges, rolling hills and prairies, a land attractively warm with promises, it held out cordial welcome to thrifty pioneers, who were happy to settle amid these pleasant surroundings and till their fruitful soil. Its present day, well-ordered civic and industrial life are eloquent testimonials of splendid achievements , of hopes realized. Well balanced and rich stores of natural resources, resting upon a solid foundation laid in the mist of ages, millions of years ago, abundantly contributed to inevitable success. Nature patiently continued her persistent labors through infinite aeons, gently applying those impelling forces, that culminated in this favored land, Wisconsin, as pioneers found it a hundred years ago. Those curious to pierce the veil of mystery shrouding those years of long ago, seem to glimpse primeval Wisconsin as a small, granite island, steadily emerging from an ancient sea. Mountains lined its shores, which yielded slowly and inexorably to the forces of erosion and a continental icesheet, leveling them and filling the val- 278 REstoRation and manaGEmEnt of thE nativE landsCaPE leys and lowlands with drift. In due time, plant life became established thereon and through its well-known processes, tediously built up the fertile soils of today. Others interpret Wisconsin’s earliest history from its geological records somewhat differently. They point to the presence of a large, central mass of Archaean rocks in the northern part of the state as the foundation, and stumps of former mountains which were gradually reduced by erosion to near-base level. This wearing process finally resulted in a peneplain that contained few hills and upward accents to relieve its flatly undulating surface. Still later, this plain, in turn, became submerged and then elevated through the slow process of sedimentation during the Paleozoic. In this manner Wisconsin assumed the rough outline and ground conformation, which later glacial and erosional action sculptured and refined into its present mature topography . And, lastly, the Wisconsin Drift Sheet came along and carved the Rock River Drainage, in which the Arboretum, the University, Madison and Dane County are situated. Dane County in itself is of much geological interest; its outstanding feature is that of four large lakes of transcending beauty—Mendota, Monona, Wingra and Waubesa. Distinctive morainic character marks the topography much emphasized by typically rounded drift hills. Its streams, marshes, lakes and geological formations clearly reveal the path of glacial forces. Crystaline erratics of gneiss, granite, diorite , red porphyry and felsite, and gneissoid syenite are scattered everywhere. Adjoining counties to the north and west, also, contain superlative examples of erosion and glaciation, as those of Devils Lake, the Baraboo Bluffs, the Wisconsin Dells and the unglaciated Driftless area to the west. The Arboretum and ecological garden have been established on the east, west and south shores of Lake Wingra, a body of water now of about a hundred acres, or one-fourth of its former area; a fact, which in itself may serve as a yardstick of time for the maturity of local drainages. Deep layers of peat, remnants of former extensive tamarack swamps, also marl, have filled this lake to its present level, the orderly progress of ultimate maturity assured in the mass presence of decaying cattail and moontail, further hastened by erosional sedimentation. Originally, Dane County was covered by oak-hickory forests, interspersed with small prairies, with bur-oak savannas or “oak openings” and with tamarack swamps. The “oak openings” marked the transition from prairie to forest, stimulated and facilitated early agriculture; clearings, drainage and their attending fires wrought environmental changes, influencing its present flora and fauna. When the first settlers arrived...

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