Touch History

July, 2013
Sculptor's Corner--Mastodon Hunter


Some time ago when I was first starting to plan this sculpture park I wondered
how long ago people started coming to this confluence region. One day there was an
article in the local newspaper about some mastodon bones that a couple of farm boys
had discovered in a field near Boaz, Wisconsin, after an especially hard rain. They found
that the bones had a spear point in between the ribs of the mastodon. That huge
mastodon is now on display at the Life Sciences Building at the University of Wisconsin
in Madison. These elephant-like animals roamed this region around 12,000 years ago.
I learned from the Archeology Center at the University of Wisconsin, at La Crosse that these
animals were in this confluence region at a later time than the woolly mammoths who were in
eastern Wisconsin. Then I learned that someone from Prairie du Chien had found mastodon bones
in a nearby sandpit and has them in his private collection. I found a picture of what a mastodon
hunter might look like and used that for my clay maquette showing a mastodon hunter looking at a
mastodon tusk. When I go up on the bluffs looking down on our rivers' confluence I imagine
seeing mastodon roaming around down there and try to imagine how someone might hunt them
with only a spear.

--Florence Bird



Hidden Treasures -- Crawford County High Point


Huser Park Wayside. one of the highest points in Crawford County, is located 22 miles from
downtown Prairie du Chien.
Take Highway 18 south out of town, then turn left (east) onto Highway 60. Drive through
Wauzeka to Highway 131, just across a small bridge. You can only turn one direction onto 131,
left (north). Go to the top of the hill and you will find Huser Park Wayside on the right. It is a
place where you seem to see forever and and ever.
To get even a higher view of the area, climb up the 10 steps on the wooden lookout.
Why is there no picture of this hidden treasure? Because the stunning 360 degree
panoramic view can't be duplicated except in person.


Editor's Corner

The other day, someone asked, "How's that statue of
Marianne Labuche coming?" The answer: "Very slowly."
On the first Sunday in May, about 100 people gathered
in the Sculpture Park to stroll among actors role-playing the
statues already in the park and some of the statues yet to
arrive. The organizers of the event and the actors gave a lot of
their time and effort to raise a grand total of $349.54. But
$150 of that total came from just two contributions, including
$50 from a group that spotted the goings-on during their tour at
the Villa Louis and came over to investigate.
Not really enough to reconfigure the line on this graph,
because this was the only money that has been contributed
since the last newsletter arrived at your house.
Summer is a time for family reunions. If you happen to be a descendant of Marianne
Labuche, you'd be able to reunite with her in the Sculpture Park, but only after a bit more
than $80,000 is raised. Because Aunt Marianne had 13 children, there are probably at least
100 relatives now alive. A few have already given a little or, in one case, a lot, but if 100
more came up with $35 each, we'd have enough to pay the foundry to make the maquette,
the small bronze model.
If you're related to Prairie du Chien just by your current or former history, the
Sculpture Park is a great place to take visitors who don't know the area, because the statues
can provide dramatic illustrations of a long and important historical record. The more statues
we can place in the park, the more stories you'll have to share with your visitors.
The original questioner was a Labuche descendent, and very proud of it, but not
proud enough to have given a dime. The person who answered the question at the top of this
column should have added a question of his own: "What are you willing to donate?"
Unfortunately, it will take more than pride to bring Marianne Labuche to the Mississippi River
Sculpture Park.
Whether you're a descendant, a resident of Prairie du Chien, or someone who
admires Florence Bird's art and would like to see more of it on St. Feriole Island, make out a
check to Mississippi River Sculpture Park, and send it to:
Mississippi River Sculpture Park
PO Box 395
Prairie du Chien, WI 53821

--Marilyn Leys

Emma Big Bear Event in Marquette, Iowa

This photo of Emma Big Bear was taken in 1958 on the McGregor waterfront by Joan
Liffering Zug Bourret, and is used by permission.


When the Mississippi River Sculpture Park dedicated the fifth statue in the park,
a number of the visitors remembered meeting Emma Big Bear on the front porch of her
house when they were just little children. The Ho-Chunk woman was an instantly
recognizable figure and a familiar town character in and around Marquette, Iowa, selling
her hand-made baskets, beaded trinkets, and ginseng root. She died on August 21,
1968, just shy of her 100th birthday.
For visitors to the Sculpture Park who would like to learn more about this woman's life,
presentations and demonstrations will be going on across the river in Marquette on what would
have been Emma Big Bear's 144th birthday, Friday, July 5.
From noon to 4 p.m. at the birthday celebration, there will be plenty of birthday cake for
all. There will be basket-making and basket-repairing demonstrations, local stories and personal
memories of Emma Big Bear, conversations with a costumed reenactor sitting on the front porch of
her last home in Marquette, next door to the Eagles Landing Winery at 127 North St., and Emma
Big Bear and other Native American artifacts, and paintings on display. Spencer Lonetree, of the
Winnebago Nation, will present Winnebago/Ho-Chunk history and culture, as well as family
stories of Emma Big Bear. Framed prints of Emma Big Bear, some signed and numbered by
Florence Bird, will also be available.
In addition to organizing the birthday event, the Emma Big Bear Foundation developed the
"Emma Big Bear Trail", a free self-guided tour of some people and places touched by Emma in the
Marquette, McGregor, and Prairie du Chien areas. If you miss the birthday party, complimentary
copies of this brochure may be picked up at the winery, the McGregor - Marquette Chamber of
Commerce office, and other locations shown on the EBBF's website.
Emma's 144th birthday party is free and open to everyone. For more information,
contact the foundation at information@EmmaBigBearFoundation.org or contact Roger Halvorson
at Eagles Landing Winery at 563-873-2509.




Mississippi River Sculpture Park
PO Box 395
Prairie du Chien, WI 53821
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