As the Air Force likes to say, what you don't know won't hurt you - it will kill you. In this case the ridge exists because it's capped with resistant Prairie du Chien dolomite. It took the townsfolk two years to finish the job.
Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University
of Wisconsin - Green Bay
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In 1907, the townsfolk of the village of Mindoro decided to create a short cut to LaCrosse. |
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The idea was simple: create a short access to the
LaCrosse valley by cutting through the soft sandstone on the ridge.
Nobody seems to have asked "If the sandstone is so soft, why is there a
ridge?" As the Air Force likes to say, what you don't know won't hurt you - it will kill you. In this case the ridge exists because it's capped with resistant Prairie du Chien dolomite. It took the townsfolk two years to finish the job. |
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Left and below: on the way to Mindoro Cut from the south. |
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Distant view of the cut (small notch on ridge). |
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View of the cut from the south |
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Views of the cut. The dolomite-sandstone contact is obvious. The sandstone is Cambrian, the dolomite is Ordovician. |
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Mindoro cut from the north |
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Looking south toward Mindoro. The cut is hidden behind the foreground hill on the left. |
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Created 23 August 2004, Last Update 09 September 2005
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