WH Images Added to WHS Website

[Nick Hoffman]

"Black Hawk Bluff, 1896"





"Wisconsin Heights, Sauk City, Wisconsin, 1896"

Images courtesy of the Wisconsin Historical Society, www.wisconsinhistory.org/

Enjoy!
Nicholas Hoffman

[Larry Koschkee]

Nick,

These are spectacular landscape images, especially the bluff indicating the presence of a "goat prairie." To the casual observer or historian the photographs have a remarkable historic significance, however as with many instances all is not what it seems.

The photographer, Charles Newton Brown was one county north or several miles from the actual battle ground when he shot the scenes. Brown photographed a bluff in Westpoint Township, Columbia County. This bluff is in Section 31, T10N R7E and can be observed by travelling east from Prairie du Sac on Hwy 60, thence north on Hwy 188.

Other images of this bluff can be viewed from the website Nick has cited.

www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/Images/WER0814.html

www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/Images/WER0270.html

One final note. When you access the Wisconsin History website click on CURRENT HIGHLIGHTS - The Battle of Wisconsin Heights. The article we give you another example of the erroneus research and statements the Wisconsin Historical Society put forth.

Larry

[Robert Braun]

larrykoschkee said:

Nick,

These are spectacular landscape images, especially the bluff indicating the presence of a "goat prairie." To the casual observer or historian the photographs have a remarkable historic significance, however as with many instances all is not what it seems.

The photographer, Charles Newton Brown was one county north or several miles from the actual battle ground when he shot the scenes. Brown photographed a bluff in Westpoint Township, Columbia County. This bluff is in Section 31, T10N R7E and can be observed by travelling east from Prairie du Sac on Hwy 60, thence north on Hwy 188.

Other images of this bluff can be viewed from the website Nick has cited.

www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/Images/WER0814.html

www.library.wisc.edu/etext/WIReader/Images/WER0270.html

One final note. When you access the Wisconsin History website click on CURRENT HIGHLIGHTS - The Battle of Wisconsin Heights. The article we give you another example of the erroneus research and statements the Wisconsin Historical Society put forth.

Larry

I never cease to be amazed with Larry's command of historical material, and his response regarding WH photographs is one more example!

BTW, I read the WHS' screed on Wisconsin Heights. More selective quotation and psycobabble straight from the 1970s. Thwaites (well... at least Draper) must be rolling in his grave.

Bob.

[richw]

re: goat prairie, if you look at the photo, an amazing amount of the hillside has been MOWED! I don't think you could do that with a Farmall

It also looks like there is a birch on the hill, indicating the area was not regularly burned. Burning was still fairly common in the 1890's, though.

[Larry Koschkee]

I suspect if you were to attempt planting corn on this hillside you would have to utilize a no till planting method --- load the barrel of a shotgun with corn seed and fire away. ;D

Regarding fires -

The hillside face orientation of this eroded piece of paleozoic is west - southwest. Soil is stoney and thin, drying out more easily than other compass directions. With westerly prevailing winds, wildfires or manmade fires approaching the hill would ascend the hill but the low fuel load would snuff it out towards the top leaving the backside of the hill most likely untouched. Topsoil samples on the bare sidehill would be loaded with shrub or grass carbon particles but the opposite side would be relatively free from fire residue.

The opposite side of this hill is not craggy or broken enough to facilitate pine relics. Interesting topography!

[richw]

larrykoschkee said:

With westerly prevailing winds, wildfires or man made fires approaching the hill would ascend the hill but the low fuel load would snuff it out towards the top leaving the backside of the hill most likely untouched.

Well, yes, this is the "model," but farmer-fire management is local, i.e. what they want to burn gets burnt.

The models for earlier fires are all based on Indian burning. These models, although taken very seriously, are based on weak data, at best. Dorney and Dorney give good indirect evidence, while Curtis, Iltis, etc. use either out-of-state examples, or quotes that amount to "the prairies were on fire, so the Indians must have done it."

While I don't dispute that some Native American fire management existed, or that fires escaped from campsites (a la Juliette Kinzie), I think the whole fire business has been overdone, since GLO land survey notes record undergrowth of oaks or heavy brush quite frequently. Furthermore, if the current models are used over longer time periods, they would eliminate savannas entirely, since there would be no regeneration with annual burning.

Please forgive my rant, but I think it is unreasonable to develop models to fit the situation, ignoring that the underlying assumptions are groundless.

[Larry Koschkee]

I respectively disagree that the models for earlier fires are all based on Indian burning. This suggestion does not account for fire established from a natural cause. It has been settled that climate was the overwhelming factor that established the great prairies and savannas of this continent, rather than fire.

Fire evidence is predictable based on period climate conditions, wind direction and landscape obstacles. Black Hawk's "Lookout" is a classic example of a natural fire control model which I described. Are there variables or exceptions ? - sure.

When the 1832 GLO Survey began in what is now Grant County, Wisconsin the climate was wet compared to 5,000 years previous to that date. Natural fires were diminished because of this climate change, the Indians were burning less and Euro-Americans were enacting fire control. This activity allowed underbrush to get a foot hold. Much of this "underbrush" was actually the "grubs" of oak trees that had been stunted by repeatitive fire. Some of the "grubs" were quite old.

Much of the land was not subjected to annual fires, therefore some tree species were able to form groves or stands and gained refuge in watersheds that provided a break. Other tree species such as bur oak and hickory evolved to withstand fire activity and made up the bulk of the savanna landscape. I have not seen studies where a savanna was burned every year to determine mortality and regeneration occurence rate.

Palynology study of the Quaternary Period also prove out the fire control characteristics of a eminence such as Black Hawk's Lookout. Vegetation species contrast dramaticaly on opposite sides of the hill. In addition, the analysis indicates charcoal dominates soil on a south or west facing hillside.

[richw]

Larry,

you state that climate is responsible for savanna. You also mention the mid-Holocene warm period, when prairies were at their maximum extent in North America. You also review the current fire model(s). At the continental scale, these conditions are reasonable for explaining savanna.

However, when we deal with the vegetation cover at the local/landscape level, we must revise our models and add local environmental factors to explain variation from the "norm," or the general/regional picture.

I am quite puzzled as to why Black Hawk's Lookout's vegetation patterns would be explained in terms of fire control, and not of slope/aspect and other non-disturbance environmental gradients, especially since fire-intolerant species are clearly visable in the photo. As for palynology, if you can distinguish one side of a hill from another in the pollen record, you will certainly become a leader in this field, as nobody else can claim such precision.

In comparing the climate of 5k years BP with 1832, are you claiming it was wetter, cooler, or both, as variations in these factors produce vastly different results for some species and environments as compared with others.

Regarding oak grubs, these are limited mainly to black oaks and sandy soils. This is a small portion of the original savanna of this region. The GLO notes, on the other hand, mention poor survivors such as white oaks in the understory. John Curtis states that a fire return interval of greater than 15/16 years is required for oak seedling survival.

Finally, you claim that fires were reduced between 5k bp and 1832 due to:
1. Climate change reducing fire frequency
2. Natives setting fewer fires
3. Europeans suppressing fires

There was savanna in Wisconsin at 5k bp and in 1832. Sure the extent changed, but not dramatically. Since oaks live to perhaps 300 years, and need fire return intervals of greater than 15 years to regenerate, and frequent enough fires to suppress fully developed oak woods, the fire frequencies cannot have changed drastically between 5k bp and 1832. Fire frequencies have changed since the mid-19th century, though, and the resulting forest cover in Wisconsin is proof that climate is not the dominant factor in savanna formation.

As to the Native Americans setting fewer fires, since there are NO data, not even one instance, how can you claim that fire setting diminished over time in Wisconsin?

Lastly, wildfire suppression is often discussed, but the historical record shows that Euro-Americans were troubled with wildfires after Indian removal, and up to the time when the state was settled enough that wildlands themselves were scarce (we are talking of ag-regions south of the Tension Zone). It does not sound, therefore, like fire-suppression was widespread or effective, except as eventual habitat/community suppression due to increased settlement.

[Larry Koschkee]

Rich,

This thread is now going in a academic direction that some may view as extreme on this message board and I see where you are going with it. You are looking for chapter and verse, therefore I am extending an invitation to sit down with you with all the data at my disposal and exchange information. In addition, a former President of THE PRAIRIE ENTHUSIASTS would be a productive addition to our conference.

Best regards,

Larry Koschkee

[richw]

Larry,

sometime we should sit down and chat. May I suggest we include my prospective dissertation committee members Tom Givnish, UW-Botany, Jack Williams, Paleo-climatology and Palynology, Jim Knox, Geomorphology, and in addition, an acquaintance of mine, Bill Cronon, (ecological history)?

[Larry Koschkee]

Rich,

I am more interested in your research and opinions than that of an entourage of UW Staff. The reason I suggested the presence of a colleague as he and I have teamed up for a lot continental research. He has a better grasp of Latin and my strength is the French language. Both permeate a significant portion of our pre-settlement research.