Grandad Bluff

Grandad Bluff (also Granddad Bluff) is a mesa on the east side of La Crosse, Wisconsin. It is the highest point in La Crosse County. Grandad Bluff is approximately 570 feet above the surrounding land.

Bliss Road proves access to the bluff; however, the road was closed due to the recent floods of August 2007, the 2007 Midwest flooding. [ [http://www.lacrossetribune.com/articles/2007/10/19/news/02second.txt La Crosse Tribune - 7.0 : FEMA inspects Bliss Road ] ] There is a park shelter at the top where visitors are able to view La Crosse from a fenced off area atop the bluff. Included at the park is a panorama of La Crosse taken in 2004, with annotations of famous La Crosse landmarks below. Notable locations visible from the bluff include the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse, the Mississippi River, bluffs in Minnesota, and Interstate 90. [ [http://www.cityoflacrosse.org/index.asp?nid=1023 City of La Crosse, WI - Official Website - Grandad Park ] ]

Geology

The landscape has a geomorphically young appearance because of its Pleistocene history. The Mississippi River probably did not occupy this course before the Pleistocene. The bluffs along this portion of the Mississippi River are Prairie du Chien dolostone capping Cambrian sandstone. Grandad Bluff is a classic mesa, as are all the bluffs along the river. [ [http://www.uwsp.edu/geo/projects/geoweb/participants/dutch/geolwisc/geostops/GranddadBluff.HTM Granddad Bluff] ; Steven Dutch, Natural and Applied Sciences, University of Wisconsin - Green Bay; September 9 2005; Retrieved October 26 2007]

History

On June 23, 1850, Father James Lloyd Breck of the Episcopal Church said the first Christian liturgy (Episcopalian liturgy) in La Crosse on top of Grandad Bluff. [ [http://anglicanhistory.org/usa/jlbreck/letters/04.html The Life of the Reverend James Lloyd Breck, D.D ] ] [ [http://www.cityoflacrosse.org/index.asp?nid=1094 City of La Crosse, WI - Official Website - History ] ]

Grandad Bluff was mentioned in Life on the Mississippi by Mark Twain. [ [http://classiclit.about.com/library/bl-etexts/mtwain/bl-mtwain-lifemississippi-59.htm 59 - Life on the Mississippi - Mark Twain (1835-1910) ] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.lacrosselibrary.org/digitalproject/grandadbluff.htm Articles about Grandad Bluff, La Crosse Public Library, La Crosse, Wisconsin]
* [http://csumc.wisc.edu/gallery/album37 Photos of Grandad Bluff]
* [http://www.topozone.com/map.asp?lon=91.2058&lat=43.8125 Topographical Map of Grandad Bluff]