About two miles east of here, the Wisconsin River has its source in Lac Vieux Desert. In early days, several spellings and meanings were given to the name of the stream. The Algonquian “Wees-konsan” means “the gathering of the waters,” while the Winnebago “Wees-koos-erah” means “river with flowery banks.” With its partner, the Fox River, the Wisconsin provided a super-highway for Indian, explorer, adventurer, missionary, and settler, and was a “main street” for the fur trade. The Wisconsin River travels nearly the entire length of the state and empties into the Mississippi just below Prairie du Chien, about 300 miles from here. Because there are nearly fifty power and storage dams along its route today, the Wisconsin has been called “the hardest working river in America.”