Powers Bluff

The most striking geological feature at Powers Bluff is the stone outcrops poking out the top of the hill. In some places they rise 25 feet above the forest floor. The bluff is quartzite with a peak of chert. Geologists believe the quartzite to be from the Proterozoic era, 1.6 billion years old, similar in age and composition to Rib Mountain to the northeast and the Baraboo Hills to the south, and much older than the Himalayas. The quartzite is pretty pink, a semi-precious stone, and very hard. The softer materials which once surrounded it have been gradually stripped away by erosion, leaving the bluff. Boulders and pebbles of the unusual chert from Powers Bluff are concentrated in a fan shape with its point at Powers Bluff and spreading to the southeast for 20 km, almost to the west side of Rapids. This indicates that a glacier once moved over the bluff heading southeast, breaking off stones and carrying them for miles. Most of the bluff is covered by mesic forest dominated by sugar maples - some very old and large. Beneath the trees, spring wildflowers begin to bloom around the second week of April, with mayflowers and Dutchman's breeches plentiful, and some spring beauties, trout lilies, and wild oats eventually giving way to trilliums. During summer, ferns and blue cohosh grow in the shade. The maples turn red and yellow around the start of October, and soon the forest floor is blanketed in leaves. Gray squirrels, chipmunks, and white-tailed deer are commonly seen on the bluff. == Human history ==

East of the bluff are five large man-made mounds two to three feet high and twenty-five to thirty feet in diameter. These mounds show that the bluff was visited by American Indians before recorded times, though their identity is unknown. Potawatomis under a spiritual leader named John Young probably settled briefly at Powers Bluff in the 1870s or 1880s. Since the Indian Removal Act of 1830, these people had been kicked around. Some were moved to reservations in Kansas, then drifted back. Other "stray bands" had stayed in Wisconsin. They called their settlement at Powers Bluff Tah-qua-kik. Tah-qua-kik was not an Indian reservation managed by the U.S. government, so the people here were less influenced by Indian schools and overt efforts to Americanize them. Communities like this were important for preserving native culture. The John Arpin Logging Company cut the timber on the bluff in the 1890s. The lumber operation closed in 1904. The heart of the community was at the top of the bluff, on the warm south side of the rock outcrops. Other homes were scattered below on the south slope. The Medicine Society was housed in a canvas-covered longhouse and there was a building for the drums. In 1999 the county planned to expand the ski hill, but Indians objected that it would mean cutting grave marker trees and disturbing burials. In 2012 Wood County added 223 acres to the north side of the park. With that, in 2023 a new plan is being implemented, adding 4.5 miles of mountain bike trails and a new entrance from the north to take pressure off the hilltop, where the village was. == Powers Bluff County Park ==

Powers Bluff County Park was established in 1936 from land given to the county. The park offers inner-tubing and downhill skiing with tows and a warming house on weekends, and cross-country skiing during the winter season. The park occupies an area across the top of the bluff. Parts of the bluff outside the park are privately owned, used for homes and farming. == References ==