State Parks of Wisconsin 



vent further damage. When the Wisconsin Power Company fin- 

 ishes its dam at Kilboum and the level of the w^ater is raised, the 

 present generation in Wisconsin, acting through the Legislature, will 

 have covered forever more of the essential natural beauty of the 

 State than future generations can re-create. Commercial returns to 

 the whole people may perhaps justify this irretrievable loss. If not, 

 somewhere rests a grave responsibility. 



Devil's Lake in Sauk County is, as everyone knows, a most ac- 

 cessible and popular resort, with a great wild forest around it, and 

 fully sufficient in size for State Park purposes. The climate in sum- 

 mer is healthful, if not invigorating. In beauty — barring the rav- 

 ages of the railroad, the quarries, and the scars of commonplace sum- 

 mer cottages — Devil's Lake meets all the requirements of a State 

 Park. The lake itself, half a mile wide and more than a mile in 

 length, is a gem, a characteristic example of Wisconsin's natural pos- 

 sessions. The bluffs rise impressively from the shores of the lake 

 and afford broad and beautiful views of the Baraboo valley, the re- 

 freshing and soul-renewing value of which cannot easily be over-es- 

 timated. The romantic glens, the rock-walled and wooded hol- 

 lows, the secluded creeks in little valleys, all make their contribution 

 to the pleasure of the visitor. Devil's Lake possesses, too, scientific 

 interest — geological, archaeological, botanical — that can scarcely be 

 duplicated in Wisconsin. Indeed, no long description of Devil's 

 Lake is necessary, for it is well known how eminently fitted it is to 



[29] 



