Several days ago, when I was checking to see if our river had enough water to keep flowing west, I noticed a man standing at the top of the boat landing, seemingly looking up and down, perhaps with a cell phone. When I got closer to him he came my way and explained what he was doing. He was flying a drone, taking pictures of our river and its current large sandbars.
He said he lives in Spring Green and the previous day had taken many shots of the river and sandbars in that area and posted them on the Internet in the evening. He was surprised the next morning when he was contacted by a New York news organization seeking his permission to use some of his Wisconsin River pictures.
I thought it was rather interesting that a New York news organization would be interested in our sandbar-laden Wisconsin River. But I was really impressed how quickly the information traveled and was available. The modern ways information travels can be almost mind-boggling for this old man.
We should not be surprised about interesting things that are connected to “our river.” A current issue of “Our Mississippi”, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineer publication about the Mississippi River” carries interesting information about the 1673 expedition of Jacques Marquette, a missionary from France, and Louis Jolliet, a Canadian fur trader. Their trip began in Canada with seven paddlers of European heritage. A Native American joined the explorers along the way.
They didn’t find the “Northwest Passage” they were looking for, but they did travel past what is now Muscoda, Wisconsin and find the Mississippi River.
The Corps account of that trip notes Marquette’s journal describes catfish as a monster with “the head of a tiger, the nose of a wildcat, with whiskers.”
He also documented a bird-like monster, “as large as a calf, with horns like those of a deer, red eyes, a beard like a tiger, a face somewhat like a man’s, a body covered with scales, ending with a long fish’s tail.” Sightings were reported until the 1830s, but never since.”
He said he lives in Spring Green and the previous day had taken many shots of the river and sandbars in that area and posted them on the Internet in the evening. He was surprised the next morning when he was contacted by a New York news organization seeking his permission to use some of his Wisconsin River pictures.
I thought it was rather interesting that a New York news organization would be interested in our sandbar-laden Wisconsin River. But I was really impressed how quickly the information traveled and was available. The modern ways information travels can be almost mind-boggling for this old man.
We should not be surprised about interesting things that are connected to “our river.” A current issue of “Our Mississippi”, a U.S. Army Corps of Engineer publication about the Mississippi River” carries interesting information about the 1673 expedition of Jacques Marquette, a missionary from France, and Louis Jolliet, a Canadian fur trader. Their trip began in Canada with seven paddlers of European heritage. A Native American joined the explorers along the way.
They didn’t find the “Northwest Passage” they were looking for, but they did travel past what is now Muscoda, Wisconsin and find the Mississippi River.
The Corps account of that trip notes Marquette’s journal describes catfish as a monster with “the head of a tiger, the nose of a wildcat, with whiskers.”
He also documented a bird-like monster, “as large as a calf, with horns like those of a deer, red eyes, a beard like a tiger, a face somewhat like a man’s, a body covered with scales, ending with a long fish’s tail.” Sightings were reported until the 1830s, but never since.”
Now, if someone among our Wisconsin River bank-pole fishermen could beach a critter of that description, it would be very interesting – even for the folks in New York City.
