Brill River is the outlet stream of Long Lake, originally named Kino Lake in Ojibwe, and later Little Bear Lake. Logging dams built in the 19th century combined a series of smaller lakes into one. Long Lake marks a portion of the boundary or contact zone between the Superior and Chippewa Lobes. Glacial meltwaters from both the Superior and Chippewa Lobes flowed down this valley, first laying down the outwash plain, and later, during recurring flood events over the centuries, scoured the outwash plains and carved deep river channels. The ancestral Brill River downcut, or eroded, through this outwash deposit an impressive 85 feet at its northern end, just south of Long Lake.
The Long Lake Tunnel Channel: Five miles to the north, at the head of the outwash plain, we find Long Lake. To the west of the lake was the Superior Lobe, and to the east, the Chippewa Lobe. As the ice sheet began to melt, a large river flowing under the ice and between the two ice lobes, carved out a channel where the lake exists today. Glacial scientists call these channels, formed under the ice, and the lake that fills them, tunnel channel lakes.
The Brill River of today is the most recent channel of numerous channels that have flowed down this glacial valley since the glacier started melting some 18,000 years ago. It is a primary headwater tributary of the Red Cedar River. The Red Cedar flows southward, about 70 miles as the crow flies, to its confluence with the Chippewa River, which then flows into the Mississippi. The Brill River is very short, as rivers go, being only eight miles long from Long Lake to the Red Cedar River. Prior to the Long Lake Dam the river extended another 11 miles upstream.
The Brill River, meandering across the glacial floodplain, flows toward the viewer from Long Lake in the distance in this early spring photo. The open snow-covered fields will soon be worked for planting. The confluence with the Red Cedar River is just off the photo to the lower right. The Trail is at mid-left, diagonally crossing the Brill River valley, and entering Brill at upper mid-right.
The Brill Train Wreck: In 1910, five rail cars carrying kerosene were derailed here along the Brill River with some cars going directly into the river. Townspeople from Brill came out with containers to salvage the kerosene. Today, such an oil spill would create an environmental emergency and require a massive and immediate clean-up project. A commemorative rock with a petroglyph by artist Brian Schaap depicting a train in the river marks this site.
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Ice Age National Scenic Trail (IAT): The Ice Age Trail, a 1,100 plus-mile footpath across Wisconsin, traces the terminal edge of the last great Wisconsin glacier of the Ice Age. The glacial features found along its length offer an educational showplace of worldwide significance illustrating how the massive glaciers shaped the landscape. That, the beauty found along its entire length, and the unique opportunities for outdoor recreation, led to its establishment in 1980. The Ice Age Trail, managed by the National Park Service, is one of just eleven trails with such a designation in the nation.
Rail & Trail History: The 14.5-mile route of the Ice Age Trail between Haugen and Birchwood is on or next to three abandoned railroad corridors: 1) the main Spooner-Altoona Line of the Omaha; 2) the Omaha's Tuscobia Line; and, 3) the Soo Line Railroad's Blueberry Line. When the Tuscobia was abandoned in 1965, Hulda Hilfiker, who owned and operated a cheese factory south of Haugen with her husband Ernest, organized a group of citizens and urged then Governor Warren Knowles to give . . ." .. approval for a very worthwhile project. . . to be used as a scenic and historic trail, which could be enjoyed by nature-loving hikers, horse-back riders, snow-sledders and bicyclists, and would be a definite asset to the area." The State of Wisconsin acquired the 74-mile rail corridor, from Haugen to Park Falls, in November, 1966 for $20,000.
Tuscobia - The Name: The term 'Tuscobia' has a somewhat uncertain origin. Earlier spellings from the 1888 and 1903 Barron County Platbooks include tescobial and tescobia. The Ojibwa language uses the root 'tess'or 'tessa' as part of a larger word or phrase, all pertaining to being level' or 'flat.' This relates well to the terrain of the outwash plain here and the accepted meaning of Tuscobia: 'a flat or level place'.
Superior Lobe Chapter of the Ice Age Trail Alliance: The local Superior Lobe Chapter of the Ice Age Trail Alliance is an all-volunteer organization whose members are dedicated to maintaining, promoting, building, signing, protecting, and hiking along this trail segment.
Trail Management: Management of the trail is shared by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, the U.S. National Park Service, and the Ice Age Trail Alliance, Inc. For a fuller explanation of the roles and responsibilities, see www.iceagetrail.org.
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Sources: The Intperetive Guide to the Tuscobia Segment of the Ice Age Trail from the Superior Lobe of the Ice Age Trail. Permission to use content and pictures from the interpretive guide from Sue Greenway, IATA Superior Lobe Chapter President.
Permission for this earthcache has been granted by Roy Kenast at the WI DNR.
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To complete the earthcache, you must send answers to these to the cache owner:
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Comparing north and south of the bridge - how is the landscape different? Why might this be?
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Which glacial lobe(s) fed this ancient glacial river valley?
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What is the difference in elevation from Waypoint 1 (the river) to Waypoint 2 (the east bank of the river) - the depth the current river has cut into the glacial outwash plain?
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Which direction is the river flowing? Is this the same direction that the glacial meltwaters flowed?
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Take a photo at the river (optional)!