"From the Lakefront to the French Dog Prairie"

Eastern terminus: Ozaukee County, at the junction with I-43/Highways 32/57 in Grafton

Western terminus: Crawford County, at the Mississippi River Bridge to Iowa in Prairie du Chien

Mileage: about 185 miles

Counties along the way: Ozaukee, Washington, Dodge, Columbia, Sauk, Richland, Crawford

Sample towns along the way: Grafton, Hartford, Columbus, Lodi, Sauk City, Prairie du Sac, Spring Green, Gotham, Wauzeka, Prairie du Chien

Bypass alternates at: Sauk City/Prairie du Chien

Quickie Summary: State “Trunk” Highway 60 is one of Wisconsin's "coast to coast" routes. It runs from just west of the Lake Michigan shore in the well-to-do northern suburbs of Milwaukee to the Iowa state line over the Mighty Mississippi at Prairie du Chien (French for "prairie of the dog", which is not the same as "hair of the dog"). It's a major connector highway from Grafton to Hartford and also serves as a very scenic route along the Wisconsin River from Prairie du Sac to Prairie du Chien. Interestingly enough, between these two towns it's more hills and valleys than open prairie...

The Drive (East to West):

Highway 60 begins at some railroad tracks in Ulao. Never heard of it? Well, it barely exists anymore and is the inland twin to an abandoned port town from the 1800s.

Easy to find; it’s right off the I-43/Highway 32/57 interchange with Highway 60 at the edge of rapidly-growing Grafton. Old and new sit right next to each other, with a huge Colder’s Furniture showroom gallery, a shopping complex anchored by a Target with chain restaurants, and a freeway interchange right next to the old railroad and the junction it spawned. Highway 60 is the beginning of what was to be that turnpike from Port Ulao on Lake Michigan to the Wisconsin River, which eventually runs into Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico. So this would have been major connection.

	Past Highway 60's end, the road continues as County Q two miles east to Lake Michigan, which lurks beyond these trees. The old Port Ulao pier lies below the cliff overlooking the lake.
Highway 60 begins at the railroad and freeway junctions. The railroad, built in 1873, gave rise to Ulao. The Ghost Town tavern is its main historical marker. This view is looking east.
	BREWPUB ALERT Recently opened, Grafton now has a Water Street Brewery, which also has locations in Milwaukee and Delafield. Six beers are brewed on the premises in this nice new building that features an outdoor deck, full restaurant and plenty of beer memorabilia. It's just south of Highway 60 - within sight of the Ghost Town Tavern, actually - along I-43/Highway 32/Highway 57. Not bad place to start or finish for the Highway 60 journey.

Heading west from Highway 60's beginning in Ulao is the booming burg of Grafton (pop.11,380). Originally called "Hamburg" prior to its 1846 charter, Grafton flipped its name to "Manchester" from 1857 to 1862 before changing back. So far, it's stayed "Grafton" ever since. Originally a lumber town, Grafton has hosted a series of industries ever since, including the famous Paramount Records from 1917 to 1932. It was right here where 78 rpm records were pressed and distributed to the nation, allowing artists such as Lawrence Welk, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Tom Dorsey and Louis Armstrong to inspire future music generations and lay the seeds for the R&B and Rock 'N Roll Eras. Between 1929 and 1932 alone, over 1,600 songs were recorded in Grafton at a make-shift studio that was formerly a chair factory; the output accounted for about 1/4 of the so-called "race records" of the era.

	Grafton Veterans Memorial Park overlooks the Milwaukee River, a very picturesque scene as it flows through town and under Highway 60.
Near old sawmills and chair factories, new condos are sprouting up along the Milwaukee River as Grafton's downtown redevelops.

Through Grafton, Highway 60 runs as Washington Street and then heads for an area known as "Five Corners". From this intersection, Highway 181 will take you into Milwaukee; County Highway NN will bring you closer to West Bend; and Covered Bridge Road will take you to - you guessed it - a covered bridge.

	Built in 1876, this is the last remaining covered bridge in Wisconsin. The road jogs around it now, but pedestrians and bicyclists can still use it to cross Cedar Creek. In 2010, it was measured with scanning lasers to help document its history and structure, to help with any future repairs or reconstruction. Read more about it here.
The big question is: does Ryan STILL love Tracy?

	Behind the corner bar at Five Corners lies Wayne's, a 50s-era looking drive-in actually built in 1998. It was converted from a motorcycle repair shop.
On a nice sunny day at Wayne's, Lindsey Lembke of Cedarburg shares Play Dough ice cream with her dog Koda, which totally made Koda's day. If I'd had video of his reaction, it'd be up here.

Heading west on Highway 60 brings you from Ozaukee into Washington County, where as Main Street you run through Jackson (pop. 5,680), one of the fastest-growing communities in the state. U.S. 45 and U.S. 41 cross Highway 60 within a few miles of each other; once past U.S. Highway 41, Highway 60 becomes a multilane highway, going right past the southern end of Slinger (pop. 4,109), which was originally called "Schleisingerville", fer cryin’ out loud. Once an outpost village perched at the edge of Kettle Moraine, Slinger today is booming like Jackson and Hartford, the next stop. To access Slinger's downtown area, just head north at the intersection with Highway 175.

Postcard of Slinger showing today's Highway 175, formerly U.S. 41 (don't worry, it's paved now.) Downtown Slinger is about one mile north of Highway 60.

Pike Lake State Park, dedicated in 1971, offers abundant recreation from fishing to wildlife viewing. Powder Hill offers a nice view of the Pike Lake and the kames, kettles and eskers around it (these are all terms for different landforms of one sort or another.)

HARTFORD
Just past Pike Lake, you enter Hartford (pop. 13,700), of which Highway 60 is the east-west road, named Sumner Street. Hartford is a fast-growing city with a long history that includes being an automotive manufacturing center, the place where Libby's (Libby's Libby's on the label label label...remember that ad?) processed most of its beets for the national market, and where Broan-NuTone LLC got its start in the home ventilation business. Today, it's a global company with headquarters in Hartford. Health care has become a major business in the area too, serving has the headquarters for API Healthcare. Quad/Graphics also maintains a major facility in the area. For fun, Hartford hosts the Annual Hartford Balloon Rally, which includes evening events with glowing balloons and a fireworks show. It's one of Wisconsin's largest balloon events.

The Kissel and Hartford's Auto History
Hartford holds the Wisconsin Automotive Museum, (147 N. Rural Street, 262-673-7999) the largest such museum in the state. Classic and vintage autos dating as far back as 1906 adorn the museum, which also sports a 250-ton locomotive, automobile artifacts, and a massive Lionel train set layout. It also showcases the Kissel, an automobile manufactured in Hartford from 1906 until 1931 (more on the Kissel in a moment.) The museum lies one block off Highway 60, just northwest of where it meets up with Highway 83.

The Kissel Kar Company was founded in Hartford in 1906 when George and William Kissel turned their hobby into a business. They built passenger cars, ambulances, fire trucks, taxicabs and more for 25 years. Among their most popular models were the Gold Bug Speedster (1925) and the White Eagle Speedster (1929), which became internationally famous and coveted by movie stars like Fatty Arbuckle at a time when the "talkies" were just debuting. Aviatrix Amelia Earhart also sported a Kissel, as did actress and stuntwoman Anita King, who became the first women to drive solo across the country in 1915 when she road tripped from California to New York in a Kissel, receiving a hero's welcome upon her arrival. Kissel "kranked" out 4,000 units annually at their peak in 1922, but the Great Depression eventually led to their demise. Kissel shuttered its factory doors along the Rubicon River in 1931, leaving a legacy for Hartford and thousands of highly-prized collectors' items to this day. The Kissel marker is along Highway 60 about one half-mile east of downtown, in a park along the Rubicon River (Here's the Google street view if you want to check it out).

	The Wisconsin Automotive Museum features an exhibition dedicated to the Kenosha-built Nash, and vintage treats like Studebakers, Reos, Pierce-Arrows and the Tucker. It also has automotive artifacts, a 250-ton locomotive and a display area for the Hudson Essex Terraplane.
	To go with the largest auto museum in the state, how about the largest restaurant in the state? The Mineshaft serves over 10,000 guests weekly and features the 5,000 square feet Million Dollar Game Room (that's $200 per square foot.)

The junction of Highways 60 & 83 is the epicenter of Hartford's downtown, and at this epicenter is the largest restaurant in Wisconsin, The Mineshaft. Covering what seems like acres across 5 bars, room for 550 guests at once, a dance floor, a 5,000 square-foot game room area and a stage with performances by bands, The Mineshaft seems like it could have its own zip code. But it shares 53027 with most of the rest of the city.

Still within in Hartford, you enter Dodge County. West of town, it opens up as you graze Neosho, cross Highway 67, and brush past the town of Hustisford (pop. 1,141). Its downtown area lies just off the highway; you can detour into town and see the Rock River as it flows out of the 2,800-acre Lake Sinisssippi (rhymes with ?). A small dam in town at Riverside Park is one location where fish fight like the dickens to get back upstream. Is it for spawning? Who knows, but you can view 7 seconds of watching them fight in vain against the rush of water (you need the "QuickTime" player) right here.

Continuing the journey across Dodge, you cross the Wild Goose State Trail, a 34-mile biking/hiking/snowmobiling/cross country skiing path linking Juneau (Dodge County's county seat) and Fond du Lac. Shortly after that Highway 60 joins up with Highway 26, where you head south briefly before starting up west again, this time in conjunction with Highway 16 for the ride into Columbus.

	Highway 60 snakes along the Rock River between Astico and Columbus.
A couple enjoys the serene wayside along the Rock River just outside Columbus. The Rock eventually flows to the Quad Cities before meeting the Mississippi.

Next up is Columbus (pop. 4,479); Wisconsin is one of 17 U.S. states that has a city named Columbus (hey, he was a popular guy.)

Located on the Crawfish River and straddling Columbia and Dodge Counties, Columbus refers to itself as the "Red Bud City" and boasts the largest antique mall in Wisconsin, a slew of antique shops and specialty stores in the downtown area and an Amtrak station. Columbus has done a great job preserving architecturally significant buildings, with the entire downtown district listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Architectural and photography students come to check out Jaeger's Mill on the Crawfish River, or the Farmers & Merchants Union Bank Building (known as the "Jewel Box"), which was one of the last buildings designed by famed architect Louis Sullivan. Students of history may revel in the Sunday morning toll of the steeple bell from Zion Evangelical Lutheran Church, partially made up of pieces of French canon captured during the Franco-Prussian War and presented as a gift from Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany (no comments were solicited from any area French residents.)

Downtown Columbus features a wide variety of shops and draws a good number of visitors on a nice day. Highway 60 intersects with Highway 73 right downtown. A short jaunt along 73 (aka Park Avenue) brings you past a nice part of town, to the original 1902 Kurth Brewery building (described and pictured below), and a connection with Highway 89.

	Stretches of downtown Columbus feature an array of preserved architecture, shops and yes, a few watering holes.
One of the last buildings designed by famed architect Louis Sullivan, the Farmers & Merchants Union Bank draws attention with its facade. City Hall is kitty corner.

Columbus, like many Wisconsin cities, has a brewing history. Started on Park Avenue (today Highway 73 at the intersection with Highway 89) in 1859, the Kurth Brewery quenched thirsty Columbusinians (or however you'd say it - Columbans, maybe?) for most of the ninety years that followed. Prohibition originally shut it down in 1920, but the Kurth Brewery managed to bounce back for 16 years after it was repealed, churning out items like Banner Beer and Blue Mound Beer throughout the 30s and 40s until it finally closed for good in 1949.

After heading out of Columbus and past the U.S. Highway 151 interchange (the old route still runs through town as a "Business 151" route), Highway 60 branches off Highway 16 and makes a beeline westward. Past North Leeds, essentially just an intersection with Highway 22 and the junction with U.S. Highway 51 (which joins 60 for about two miles) and into Arlington (pop. 522), the hills of the Baraboo Range become visible. On the horizon is Highway 60's western half, where the landscape changes.

	The beeline from Columbus to Lodi includes a two-mile stint with U.S. 51 and and the junction with I-39/90/94 as the hills approach.
Past I-39/90/94, farmers start working at angles on hillier land. This shot is just east of Lodi.

Past I-39/90/94, Highway 60 begins curving around more and more hills as you approach Lodi (pop. 2,929). Lodi's name means "Peaceful Valley" in one of the Native American languages and is one of only three cities in Wisconsin to host its own agricultural fair. Lodi is the home of Tom Wopat, star of stage and screen and known best for being the original Luke Duke on the "Dukes of Hazzard" (one would guess he picked up the Southern accent in the show from elsewhere.) It's also home of "Susie the Duck", a famous waterfowl who returned to Lodi time and time again to raise clutches of eggs. So, you could say two of Lodi's claims to fame are a Duck and a Duke.

(Left) The story of Susie the Duck. New Susies keep coming back every year to hatch eggs in downtown Lodi; (Right) Spring Creek runs through downtown, and nice walkway right off the main street (Highway 113) lets you descend closer to the water and behind some of the downtown buildings to view the area.

Above courtesy of the Lodi Chamber of Commerce

Lodi's downtown runs mainly along Highway 113 (Main Street), which heads south to Madison and north to the Merrimac Ferry and Baraboo. At the Susie the Duck spot, you can buy handfuls of dried corn from vending machines to feed the ducks - one of whom just might be this year's Susie. The annual "Susie the Duck Day" celebration features the plastic duck race, where you can buy a small duck that will, along with thousands of others, get dumped into Spring Creek for a "race" to the finish line. We'll check into what the winner receives. To the left, you can see what thousands of plastic ducks getting dumped into a creek looks like, sans color.

	Native vegetation - and pedestrian-oriented walkways with descriptions telling you about them - makes Ice Age Park a nice stop along Highways 60 and 113 in Lodi.
Highway 60 runs right along the Ice Age Park - and Trail - in Lodi and abuts Spring Creek, which flows into Lake Wisconsin just a few miles away.

Just southwest of Lodi is the Lodi Marsh State Wildlife Area, where the Ice Age Trail runs and both hunters and mosquitos run amok. Highway 60 provides access to the area as it heads west toward the Wisconsin River. The views become ever nicer, with Crystal Lake to the south (the lake straddles the Columbia-Dane County line and hosts a camnpground on a peninsula jutting into it) and more layers of hills to the north. A short junction with Highway 188 provides access to the Wollersheim Winery, about one mile to the south. Yes, you're in wine country.

Over the Wisconsin River into Prairie du Sac (pop. 3,231), you meet up with Highway 78 and begin to follow the river's western bank. This is Eagle Country, where bald eagles - and maybe even some with hair - can be regularly spotted. From this point forward, Highway 60 more or less follows the Wisconsin River all the way to the Mississippi.

Prairie du Sac and Sauk City (pop. 3,019) are essentially twin cities and collectively the area is called Sauk Prairie. Sauk City itself is Wisconsin's oldest incorporated village (1854) and is the site of the first Culver's restaurant ever (1984). Culver's headquarters, meanwhile, is in Prairie du Sac. Don't ever question putting butter on a burger around here.

Highway 60 leaves Highway 78 and joins U.S. Highway 12 briefly out of town before branching off to the west to follow the Wisconsin River...although it stays a mile or two away for much of the ride through the rest of Sauk County. The scenery is great; areas of the road become narrow and twist around with tight curves amidst landforms like Ferry Bluff, portions fo which come right up to the road. The majestic Baraboo Range is often visible to the north while the Lower Wisconsin Scenic Riverway lies to the south.

Between Spring Green and Sauk City, views like this are commonplace on both sides.

The first straightaway you encounter after a while happens when you approach U.S. Highway 14, Highway 23, and Spring Green (pop. 1,444). Home of American Players Theatre, offering Shakespeare in a natural amphitheater, Taliesin, summer home and school of Frank Lloyd Wright, and the ever-famous House On The Rock, Spring Green offers no shortage of things to see. Access to the sights are south on Highway 23, mostly south of the river.

U.S. Highway 14 and Highway 60 both careen westward in a straightaway fashion into Richland County and grazing the north edge of Lone Rock (pop. 949), accessible via Highways 130 and 133. West of Lone Rock, the Pine River Trail follows the highway to Gotham (pronounced "GO-tham". not "Gaaath-um", as I found out.) The Pine River is another one of Wisconsin's great rail-to-trails and runs from Richland Center back towards Spring Green.

	New York City it ain't. But that's alright with the citizens of Wisconsin's own Gotham, who probably prefer peace and quiet to the shriek of the "A" Train and Yankees fans.
However, the revving of motorcycles outside Gotham's Bat Cave is commonly heard.
	The bicycles plying the Pine River Trail are quieter as they approach the Bat Cave "exit" in Gotham. The snowmobiles and ATVs are less so, I'm thinking... Highway 60 crosses the trail ahead, just after leaving U.S. 14.

From Gotham west, Highway 60 is even more serene. You're once again in the twisty, turny territory that rounds the hills and, on occasion, hugs the river's northern coastline. Bogus Bluff, which actually seems pretty valid, is to your north. The road goes through the Lower Wisconsin Scenic Riverway along this stretch and on and off for much of the duration. At the intersection with Highway 80, you can hop over the river and check out Muscoda (pop. 1,408), the "Morel Mushroom Capital of Wisconsin." In fact, Muscoda (once known as "English Prairie" in this historically French part of the state) hosts the Annual Morel Mushroom Festival in May, complete with a mushroom contest (biggest, smallest, most unique, most in cluster, things like that.) The Wisconsin River Canoe Race also takes place in July, where canoers race from as far away as Spring Green, about 21 miles upstream.

West of Gotham, Highway 60 twists past hills (left) and often runs right along the Wisconsin River (right). There's a long way between services on these stretches, go make sure gas, food and internal relief needs are taken care of when chances arise.

Past 80, Highway 60 jogs away from the river for a few miles before another access point across the river at Port Andrew - called Tippisaukee at one time - where County T leapfrogs Coumbe Island in the river to land in Blue River (pop. 429) . The drive continues into Crawford County, where Highway 60 starts heading southwest along the Wisconsin toward the Mississippi. Shortly after crossing the county line, you hook up with U.S. Highway 61, which joins for just under two miles. At Easter Rock, U.S. 61 breaks south over the river into Grant County and Boscobel (pop. 3,047). Boscobel is "Wisconsin's Wild Turkey Hunting Capital", so if you feel like hunting wild turkeys, you're in luck. Boscobel is also the birthplace of the Gideon Bible and the Gideon Society... so the people who got the idea for placing Bibles in hotels and motels all over the country came from here. Boscobel offers up a beautiful downtown lined with a number of well-preserved - or adapted - 19th century buildings; fans of architecture should check it out, several blocks east of U.S. 61. The Rock School (207 Buchanan Street) is another stunner, once shockingly designated for demolition. Boscobel Station, built in 1857, has historically served as a "nerve center" of town and includes a new museum.

	The Wisconsin River at Prairie du Sac features great fishing, scenic terrain and good eagle-watching.
Highway 60 skims past Easter Rock, which makes it clear for northbound U.S. 61 drivers that they probably need to turn rather than try and go straight.

From U.S. 61 and access to Boscobel, Highway 60 continues southwest, wedged between bluffs and the river. Near the mouth of the Kickapoo River, Highway 131 begins at 60 and will take you north along the "crookedest river in the world" and some of the best canoeing in the Midwest. The Kickapoo River State Wildlife Area lies to the northwest as you enter Wauzeka (pop. 768), home of the Kickapoo Indian Caverns, the largest show cave in the Midwest. The next stop - and a brief one, at that - is at Bridgeport (pop. 946). Here, Highway 60 hooks up with U.S. Highway 18, Highway 35, and the Great River Road for the ride into the PDC.

Parts of Highway 60 resemble a slalom course approaching Wauzeka (left); once you join up with U.S. 18 & Highway 35 into Prairie du Chien, it's quite different.

And "the PDC" on the State Trunk Tour is Prairie du Chien (pop. 6,018), Wisconsin's second oldest city (Green Bay is the oldest, in case you were wondering.) The Fox and Sauk tribes were here for hundreds of years prior to French explorers arriving and saying "voila!" Early establishment began in 1673, with the first trading posts developed in 1685 by French explorer Nicholas Perrot. Fur trade, along with Prairie du Chien's natural location near the Wisconsin River and Mississippi River confluence, guaranteed the small settlement would prosper for years to come. Prairie du Chien's history spans five centuries, including the only significant Wisconsin battle in the War of 1812. PDC's first fort, Fort Shelby, was built by Americans built captured by the British in the War. By 1816, it had been replaced with Fort Crawford. The Black Hawk War, which took place in 1832, featured a commanding officer in the form of Colonel Zachary Taylor, who later became 12th President of the United States. A lieutenant during the same time named Jefferson Davis not only married Zachary Taylor's daughter (named Sarah "Knoxie" Taylor, proving cutesy nicknames existed in the 19th century), he later became President of the Confederate States of America. Neither worked out well; the future President Taylor didn't approve and poor Sarah passed away from pneumonia only months after their 1835 marriage; his new country in the 1860s didn't last very long, either.

A statue of French explorer Father Marquette towers above the Wisconsin Welcome Center in Prairie du Chien, facing his university about 160 miles due exactly to the east. The view from the base looking up brings a whole different perspective.

The fur trade may have kept many warm, but it made a few millionaires on top of it. Local resident Hercules Dousman was the first millionaire in Wisconsin, and in 1871 his son H. Louis Dousman built Villa Louis, a National Historic Landmark on St. Feriole Island. The plot of land upon which Villa Louis stands once held Hercules Dousman's original house, as well as Fort Crawford and Fort Shelby. Today it's a museum operated by the Wisconsin Historical Society, the first historic site for the organization.

Did school ever feel like prison? Well, Prairie du Chien has a prison that was once a highly-regarded Jesuit boarding school. Campion Jesuit High School operated from 1880 to 1975 and counts among its alumni the likes of Vicente Fox, Mexican president from 2000 to 2006; George Wendt, Norm of Cheers fame, a number of movies and noted Superfan Bill Swerski; noted sportscaster George Blaha; former Wisconsin governor Patrick Lucey; and politician and prankster Dick Tuck (yes, his real name.) As long as we're name dropping, Pat Bowlen, owner of the Denver Broncos, was born in Prairie du Chien. The difference is, the community owns our NFL team!

A new carp-droppin' tradition. Perhaps the newest tradition in Prairie du Chien deals with New Years' Eve. In 2001, they started lowering a carp via crane to coincide with the ringing in of the new year. Similar to the apple in New York City or the peach in Georgia, residents count down the last minute or two of the year while the carp - a 30-pound female named "Lucky" for the 2010 New Years' - gets lowered via crane from about 110 feet high. Now called the "Droppin' of the Carp", it's certainly one-of-a-kind.

Prairie du Chien contains five National Historic Landmarks and nine sites on the National Register of Historic Places. Wyalusing State Park lies just to the south of the Wisconsin River, and across the Mississippi River in Iowa are more state parks, gambling and the historic town of Marquette, just over the bridge where Highway 60 ends at the Iowa state line, in conjunction with U.S. 18. Of course, being a federal highway, U.S. 18 continues west, eventually ending in Wyoming.

The western end of Highway 60, while technically on the bridge to Iowa, features an official Wisconsin Welcome Center. Stock up on information packets and admire the statue of Father Marquette towering above with a beautiful view of the town.

	Highway 60 ends - or begins, depending on your direction - where U.S. 18 meets the Mississippi on this bridge in this view from the Marquette, Iowa side.
Coming into Wisconsin at Highway 60's western start provides a nice view of the hills and bluffs framing Prairie du Chien.

Overall, Highway 60 is a terrific State Trunk Tour route. Lots of connections, a broad cross-section of the state, a good mixture of towns and scenery makes for a pleasant "Great to Great Drive", as in a Great Lake to the Great River. Watch for related video in the coming months!

Total Mileage: 186 miles
Average MPG in the Ford Escape Hybrid: 32.8 MPG

CONNECTIONS
East Terminus:
Can connect immediately to: I-43, Highway 32, Highway 57
Can connect nearby to: Highway 33, about 4 miles north

West Terminus:
Can connect immediately to: Highway 27, Highway 35, U.S. Highway 18

Upcoming events in places along Highway 60:
Cedarburg, Cedarburg Winter Festival, February 4-5, 2012
Muscoda, Morel Mushroom Festival, May 19-20, 2012
Prairie du Sac, Wisconsin State Cow Chip Throw and Festival, August 31-September 1, 2012

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