Prairie du Chien, the second oldest settlement in the state of Wisconsin, is permeated with history. In fact, the past often seems stronger than the present. Being there is like navigating between two dimensions. Just where does the past end? Is it ever really over? Pieces of it can still be seen and touched. It's not altogether an illusion. The stories of those who once lived at Prairie du Chien, gleaned from dusty old volumes and yellowed newspaper clippings, are fascinating. There are beautiful girls and their dashing officers, colorful fur traders, and widows with more money than luck. There are seemingly successful merchants struggling with inner demons and other citizens who managed to become legends in their own lifetimes, some of those being extraordinarily long. The 19th Century was not an easy period in which to exist, especially on a frontier where there were still hostile Indians and lawless neighbors too willing to settle scores with a gun.

Prairie du Chien, the second oldest settlement in the state of Wisconsin, is permeated with history. In fact, the past often seems stronger than the present. Being there is like navigating between two dimensions. Just where does the past end? Is it ever really over? Pieces of it can still be seen and touched. It's not altogether an illusion. The stories of those who once lived at Prairie du Chien, gleaned from dusty old volumes and yellowed newspaper clippings, are fascinating. There are beautiful girls and their dashing officers, colorful fur traders, and widows with more money than luck. There are seemingly successful merchants struggling with inner demons and other citizens who managed to become legends in their own lifetimes, some of those being extraordinarily long. The 19th Century was not an easy period in which to exist, especially on a frontier where there were still hostile Indians and lawless neighbors too willing to settle scores with a gun.

Boys' Life is the official youth magazine for the Boy Scouts of America. Published since 1911, it contains a proven mix of news, nature, sports, history, fiction, science, comics, and Scouting.