La Crosse Wisconsin

King Gambrinus, the patron saint of beer.

There's a garden, what a garden
Only happy faces bloom there
And there's never any room there
For a worry or a gloom there

Oh there's music and there's dancing
And a lot of sweet romancing
When they play the polka
They all get in the swing

Every time they hear that oom-pa-pa
Everybody feels so tra-la-la
They want to throw their cares away
They all go lah-de-ah-de-ay

Then they hear a rumble on the floor, the floor
It's the big surprise they're waiting for
And all the couples form a ring
For miles around you'll hear them sing...

Roll out the barrel,
we'll have a barrel of fun
Roll out the barrel,
we've got the blues on the run
Zing boom tararrel,
ring out a song of good cheer
Now's the time to roll the barrel,
for the gang's all here.
--Lew Brown, Wladimir Timm,
Vasek Zeman and Jaromir Vejvoda

Just the Facts

NOTE: The data that follows derives primarily from the 1990 U.S. census and as such is a decade out of date. Comparative data for the U.S. at large and for the St. Louis metro area are presented to establish perspective. St. Louis was chosen because it is the largest city on the river as well as smack dab in the middle.

• Population
  • La Crosse: 51,003 total, 53.7% female, 46.3% male.
  • United States: 248,709,873 total, 51.3% female, 48.7% male.
  • St. Louis: 2,444,099 total, 52% female, 48% male.
• Age Groups
  • La Crosse: 20.3% under 18 years old, 15.6% over 64 years old, 64.1% in between.
  • United States: 25.5% under 18 years old, 12.5% over 64 years old, 62% in between.
  • St. Louis: 26% under 18 years old, 12.8% over 64 years old, 61.2% in between.
• Race
  • La Crosse: 100% human, 93.7% white, 4.8% asian, .7% black, .4% native american.
  • United States: 100% human, 80% white, 12% black, 8% hispanic.
  • St. Louis: 100% human, 81% white, 17% black, 1% asian, 1% hispanic.
• Education
  • La Crosse: 80.7% high school or better, 21.4% college degree or better.
  • United States: 75% high school or better, 20% college degree or better.
  • St. Louis: 76% high school or better, 21% college degree or better.
• Unemployment
  • La Crosse: 3.2% unemployment (29.4% over 16 listed as "not in the work force").
  • United States: 3% unemployment (34.7% over 16 listed as "not in the work force").
  • St. Louis: 3% unemployment (33.4% over 16 listed as "not in the work force").
• Income
  • La Crosse: $10,898 per capita income, 19.3% below poverty level.
  • United States: $14,420 per capita income, 13% below poverty level.
  • St. Louis: $14,917 per capita income, 10% below poverty level.
• Climate
  • La Crosse:
  • United States:
  • St. Louis:

The above panorama of La Crosse was taken from atop Grandad Bluff; click on the photo for a larger version. La Crosse is Wisconsin's largest city on the banks of the Mississippi. With such an emphasis on tourism in the region generally, it's refreshing to drive into La Crosse and see some real industry -- good old dirty, noisy, hard working industry. It doesn't do a lot for the city's skyline, but it certainly feels reassuring. Somebody in La Crosse is breaking a sweat nine to five, and when their work day is finished, what better to douse a thirst than a cold brew made from Mississippi river water.

I don't have any real figures to back me up, but in outward appearance at least, the folks in La Crosse take their beer seriously. Down here in St. Louis we have a few regional Octoberfest celebrations. The little town of Herman a few miles up the Missouri River throws a respectable weekend party. Still, it's not important enough to us to maintain a permanent Octoberfest fairgrounds with a year-round staff -- they do in La Crosse. Isaac and I were standing (in May) looking at the vacant fairgrounds when a woman came out of a small office that was part of the complex. I said to her, "you folks here in La Crosse are pretty serious about this Octoberfest." She replied with an emphatic, "you bet." USA Today listed the La Crosse Oktoberfest as one of the ten best world-wide which easily makes it the premier party here in the new world. For years home to the G. Heileman brewery, La Crosse is also the home of the world's largest sixpack -- a pilgrimage site for beer drinkers from across the country. The Heileman brewery was recently sold and is now operated by the new City Brewery which is re-painting the sixpack as I write this.

La Crosse is in the center of what is referred to as The Coulee Region. A coulee is a deep ravine or gorge. The coulees in this region are notable -- deeper and larger than those in surrounding areas because the glaciers that covered the continent during the height of this last ice age passed by the area. Glaciers flatten out the landscape; they scrape off the tops of hills and fill in ravines with debris. The Coulee Region surrounding La Crosse escaped this glacial scouring. Geologists also refer to these areas skipped by glacial scouring as "driftless." In other words, a place where there is no drift. Drift is the debris left behind by a glacier. Southeastern Minnesota and west central Wisconsin are a driftless region. What does this mean in practical terms for those of us who can't look at a rock and start outlining where it's been or what it's been doing for the past three million years. The bluffs are higher (over six hundred feet above the river), the ravines are deeper, steeper and more rugged. The visual impact of the landscape is stronger. There are harsher and more jagged lines, deeper cuts and more violent breaks. The glaciers didn't grind off the rough edges. This is one of the most visually beautiful sections of the entire Mississippi River valley. It's easy to see why this region is a premier location for tourism.

La Crosse is situated at the confluence of three rivers: The Mississippi, The La Crosse which flows in from the northest by way of Sparta Wisconsin, and The Black which flows in from the north northeast through the Wisconsin Winnebago Indian Reservation. The Mississippi's flow in this region is periodically arrested by the navigation dams. Each dam creates a pool or artificial lake directly behind the dam. On the other side of the dam the river runs freely until it begins to pool up behind the next dam. La Crosse sits just below lock and dam number seven, and so the river flows unimpeded as it passes downtown La Crosse. However, by the time the river reaches the south end of town it is already backed up by dam pool number eight. Notice on the adjacent map the broad expanse of swamp, small islands, sloughs and twisted channels in the river at the back end of the dam pool. This wetland is prime wildlife habitat which supports birds and waterfowl, many species of fish and other aquatic creatures. This wildlife habitat was created by the dam and is part of the Upper Mississippi National Fish and Wildlife Refuge, one of the most important waterfowl habitats on earth.

Downtown La Crosse is bright and alive. Handsome turn-of-the-century buildings have been carefully maintained and or restored. The sidewalks are full of shoppers and college students sitting at outdoor cafe tables. The streets are full of traffic. I was pleased to see what appeared to be a civic effort to add outdoor art to the city in conjunction with the coming new millennium. The delightful sclupture Fledgling by Michael Martino pictured below is one of many placed around town. With a population slighty over fifty thousand La Crosse is big enough to have some newer suburban developments on the outskirts of the city, but these developments are residential only -- downtown La Crosse is clearly the beating heart of the city.

In the city park you can take a river ride on the Mississippi's only true paddlewheeler, the La Crosse Queen. Unlike other modern excursion boats that place a fake wheel in back just for show, The La Crosse Queen's twin paddle wheels really drive the boat. If you have your own boat you can drive to the south end of town and onto Goose Island which is part of the National Wildlife Refuge. Boating in the sloughs and back channels of the Refuge is a delight.

An activity along the river that Issac and I have pursued diligently is checking out the views of the river valley from the top of the bluffs. The region of the river between the Twin Cities and St. Louis contains the largest and best selection of breathtaking overlooks (with a few notable exceptions). Deciding which view is the best is a really tough job. The view here at La Crosse from the top of Granddad bluff is, to the best of our knowledge, the highest natural overlook on the river (the Gateway Arch in St. Louis is higher). It provides a spectacular panorama of the entire city of La Crosse and is certainly a contender for best overlook on the river.

Another favorite activity of ours is walking across the bridges that cross the river. In many cases this is not possible, but in La Crosse the bridge has a sidewalk, thank heaven. La Crosse is a busy place and the vantage point from the bridge reveals a wealth of interesting goings on about the town and along the river. On our last trip to La Crosse we delighted in watching the tow New Dawn pass under us with a full load heading down river.

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