US-18 in southwestern Wisconsin

Recently I had a weekend to myself so I decided to explore the original route of US Highway 18 from Verona to Prairie du Chien. 18 is one of the original 1926 US Highways and while modern 18 is 4 lanes from Madison to Dodgeville its earlier alignments are pretty easy to find. I started my trip at the eastern end (terminus, in road lingo) of Verona Avenue.

The northeast edge of Verona now houses a supermarket, some restaurants and other business development, but years ago it was the site of the Dane County Hospital and Home. The buildings are long gone but the cemetery has been preserved and a marker has been placed.

Many headstones are still missing. They were removed in the 1940s and '50s, apparently for maintenance purposes, but some have since been recovered.

I apologize for the flash reflection. Volunteers have spent many hours restoring the cemetery and raising funds for this ongoing project.

West of Verona is Mount Horeb, which bills itself as the Troll Capital of the World. Here's just one of the many that line Business 18, known locally as the "Trollway".

Mayor Troll, perhaps?

West of Mount Horeb, much of old 18 is now County Trunk Highway ID and continues on to Blue Mounds. From what I can tell, Cave of the Mounds Road off of ID was an early/original alignment and it makes sense because the road leads to...well, duh.

According to my mom I may have visited here when I was very young, but I have no memory of it.

Next is Barneveld and Memorial Park. It has a nice play area and a good shelter but is named for a very tragic event: the June 8, 1984 tornado that almost completely destroyed the town and claimed 9 lives.

Reading this plaque can be a very moving experience.

After Barneveld it was time to jump on the 4-lane until I reached Ridgeway. 18 used to be Main Street through town but after the new road went in the west end of the old road got the barrier that says, "Nope, not anymore."

Modern 18 zooms by on the left.

Just east of Dodgeville I found my first true artifact: a short segment of what appears to be very vintage concrete! However, there wasn't a road sign and the pavement led directly to a house so I decided to simply take a photo from the road and be on my way.

The expansion joints and winged shoulders are strong arguments for this being a stretch of road that dates back to the very early days of the highway.

At Dodgeville, 18 reverts back to 2 lanes and much of it still follows its original route. The western trailhead of the Military Ridge Trail is just east of town on CTH-YZ.

For you camera buffs, I took this photo with a Rolleiflex T loaded with expired Kodak Portra 400 film. I used a vintage handheld GE meter to find the exposure.

In Fennimore it goes past the Fennimore Railroad Museum and its marker recognizing the long gone narrow gauge railways.

Another Rollei photo.

The wayside is the precursor to the modern rest area and there are still some scattered throughout Wisconsin. They offer facilities and usually a few picnic tables where weary travelers can enjoy their olive loaf sandwiches and Hills Brothers coffee (which is in a plaid Thermos, of course).

You just know Grandma's 1953 Studebaker is parked off to the left.

This was as fancy as the facilities usually got. Some current waysides have had their toilets decommissioned and now function just as places to take a break. But if no one's around there are always the trees...

Mount Ida isn't much more than a wide spot in the road but it still contains a remnant of old 18. Once again, though, it has all the hallmarks of being on private property so I kept my distance.

Shot from the shoulder of current 18. The segment's actually connected to CTH-K, which technically makes that part of K a piece of old 18 as well. There wasn't a good place to pull over and get a shot from that end.

I knew that if I was going to hit gravel it was likely to happen in this part of the state. This is west of Mount Hope, where Doc Brooks Road and Enke Road were part of 18 for what I suspect was a fairly short time. The 2 roads meet at 90 degrees and since they don't appear to have ever been paved I think they were bypassed early on.

Looking west on Enke Road. I was driving my wife's car but since she was in Hawaii she couldn't stop me from taking it on gravel. I think I might've even called and taunted her.

By this time I was getting close to the Wisconsin River and the Bridgeport area. First up was the Bridgeport Boat Landing. Maps show it as being a likely segment of 18 and the faded double yellow line and bridgehunter.com pretty much confirm it.

It's an access road for a boat landing and a parking lot but the weathered stripes hint at a time when it was much more important.

This is Bridgeport Lane on the other side of the river. It's a narrow road and doesn't seem like much, but it aligns fairly well with the boat landing road.

Possibly an abutment for a long-ago bridge?

After Bridgeport 18 expands into 4 lanes and enters Prairie du Chien, which was my target all along. More specifically, Pete's Hamburger Stand. Pete's has been around since 1909 although not always in this location and I don't know if it's always been a seasonal operation. Regardless, it draws the customers!

Isn't that Beetle just adorable? Notice how there are 2 lines; Pete's has 2 windows for ordering but just 1 person doing the cooking.

Pete's starts by cooking down an enormous mound of raw onions on the flattop and when they've reduced enough the burgers go on. And when the onions are exhausted everyone in line gets to wait 15-20 minutes while the process is repeated. I ordered "2 without" and hoofed it over to the Post Office steps to eat.

Pete's doesn't offer a thin "smashburger" but more of what's now often referred to as a "pub burger".

It was a good burger. It wasn't heavily seasoned but tasted good and it didn't take me long to finish them. Pete's doesn't offer cheese, possibly because it would slow down the process that's been fine-tuned over many years. And while I definitely prefer cheese on my burgers I didn't miss it.

Sorry for the bite shot but I couldn't cut it in half because I'd forgotten my machete at home. And I hadn't invited Danny Trejo along.

So at this point I'd made my way to Prairie du Chien and gotten my burgers, which had been my goal all along. But I still had one more little bit of old 18 to cover from downtown to St. Feriole Island and the Mississippi River. This is a shot from the west end of Blackhawk Avenue, where at one time a bridge continued on. But where did it continue on to?

It was a warm day and a number of boats were out on the river.

This US Fish & Wildlife Service map provides some interesting information. The Sturgeon Slough Hiking Trail is shown in yellow and red; notice how Section 2 aligns rather nicely with Blackhawk Avenue.

Here's a snippet of a 1938 map of Crawford County, Wisconsin.

And finally, bridgehunter.com confirms the location.

Even though I'd forgotten to bring along any bug spray I just had to check out the trail. I went to the east as far as I could but eventually ran into a barricade, and I was not of the inclination to fight my way through the brush.

Again, I should've invited Danny Trejo. I'll bet there were ticks the size of golf balls just waiting for me to press on.

I walked the trail from end to end and at times I did come across some small chunks of asphalt, especially near the viewing platform at the west end. Even though it's been 50 years since the bridge was demolished it's still a little hard to believe that this narrow, overgrown path was once part of a US highway.

That was pretty much the end of my trip. I went back to 18 but after a long day I was more than happy to take the current route home.