Galloway Creek Part 1 of 2

Not so much of a history tale as it is a brief timeline. This post is in two short parts because it seemed it should be this way. It started out because of a posting on the efforts being done to 'clean up' Galloway Creek in Menomonie. I wondered how it got its name and there seemed no reference to it. I also thought of the many times these cleanup projects have been done/started and what happened in between. So, I thought I'd venture into the research and here is how it came together. I hope it will provoke some thought, maybe some discussion but most of all an awareness and appreciation for the third largest waterway in Menomonie.

Galloway Creek, Menomonie Part 1:

Anyone who has lived or spent any quality time in our fair section of Wisconsin is quite aware that the people of Dunn County enjoy keeping secrets! There is indeed solid foundation for our quiet whispers and recorded history to be tucked away. Many of those unspoken words and hidden secrets lie in the beauty that exists just slightly off the roads that pass through here. To discover those locally revered treasures, one must spend some time amongst the drift-less hills, valleys and rich flatland that mark the diversity of our region. These ‘secrets’ are often the result of a selfish desire to keep them unspoiled and private enough to keep the locals entertained yet able to share with friends or special visitors.

Here in Dunn County, Menomonie is the central hub of discovery. Our hidden treasures can be found in literature and student reminiscence of retreats from the rigors of study. The name Menomonie has many explanations regarding our Native American moniker and for those who may be reading it from afar, the word comes from the Algonquin language indicating peoples who harvest and subsist on rice (rice eaters). Menomonie surrounds a once small pond where the natives harvested the wild rice to feed their tribes. This small pond became one of the most influential waterways in the American expansion west through the prairie lands.

Knapp, Stout and Company, Company was the largest lumbering operation in the world. They produced enough lumber from the Wisconsin woods to build cities, towns, wagons and bridges to populate the tree barren, but rich soil America needed in order to grow westward. Menomonie was the small town on the ricing pond that most of this lumber passed through. Here in Menomonie, there are three main waterways which exist from our beginning.

The Red Cedar River flows south and slightly west from the once rich timberland to our north. Wilson Creek accumulates waters from the many tributary streams to our north and west and was the original site of the main lumber processing plants. The wood used to make so many of the roofing shakes that covered the buildings in the westward expansion was processed in a massive shingle mill that straddled Wilson Creek. Wilson Creek joins the Red Cedar Waterway near the southern tip of Lake Menomin. Lake Menomin has swallowed up the ricing pond and added near 30 feet of depth since its origin.

The landscape has changed in many ways since our early beginnings. Once proud hills that stood their defense against the great glacial tide have been reduced to treeless mounds of leftover sandstone. Stone left behind by the frac mines of oil shale industry, a glass plant and the Dunnville Stone building blocks that stand testament to our resources and pride. Lake Menomin held the timbers which had been floated downstream and awaited their turn with the mill sawyer. Wilson creek helped bring the timber south and fed the board mill as well as feeding the endless appetite of the shingle mill standing over her. There remains one last waterway here, another ‘secret’ if you will, Galloway Creek.

Galloway Creek extends over two- and one-half miles through Menomonie traversing a winding course from the southeast corner of town to the rapid drop of old “Brewery Hill’ where it feeds the Red Cedar River across from Riverside Park on the west side of town. Here is where our ‘Dunn County secrets’ has a far less romantic curve. Secrets can be fun and enticing, alluring if you will. A whispered secret of a beautiful place gives it a certain value. Galloway Creek is not such a place and in the eyes of many, a shameful example of a neglected and abused resource in the very midst of town.