Mindoro Cut

A couple of months ago, I wrote an article for the BMW Owners News about the Mindoro Cut. Although this is about 150 miles from the rally site, I wanted all of the folks riding in from the west to have a little fun on these great roads.

Unfortunately, I really blew it on the directions.

This route is NOT off I-94, but is really off Interstate I-90, just east of LaCrosse Wisconsin.

ARGH!

It's definitely a fun diversion, but now I wonder how many people will actually find it.

sigh. Sorry everyone. I am blaming my proofreader, Brian. Yeah, that's the ticket........ it's Brian's fault.

Not everything can be blamed on Brian!

Just the stuff that happened after he was born.
Hi Sue.

It's still there! I went thru it a week and a half back. Along with Wildcat and various other tasty roads. It was my first 500 mile plus day on the GSA

Last Summer

This was taken on my way to the Great River Road rally last spring

And another one. What these pictures do not show are the twisties that lead up to and away from the cut.

I live in Wisconsin and I would like to say I have done the Mindoro, but I never made the cut.

Good stuff to know!

I'll be rid'in the KLT, towing my custom trailer behind, with wife aboard, too and we'll check it out. Central Ca.here near Yosemite NP.. Wisconsin must have some stuff I've not seen and this sounds really neat, so we're in the "Cut" along the way to the rally. My last time in Wisconsin was coming home from Escanaba Beemer Rally, quite a while back. Looking forward to revisiting Wisconsin. See ya, Happy Trails, Randy13233"Polarbear"

Dynamite would have made the job more efficient.

Was there on SAT

After reading the ON went and found it over the weekend. What a blast!!! Thanks for letting us know about it. What an awsome road.

No prob'. it was easy to find on the map. I often get 90 and 94 confused as they converge here in chgo. so I thought it was my error. It's enough to make me want to attend tha madison rallye instead of going south over the next couple of weeks. to what's likely a warmer location. I guess I'll just have to sleep in my long-johns.
thanx for the heads-up, Sue.

I am *REALLY* looking forward to riding this road!

The Cut

I plan on riding that stretch in the next month as I have clients out in that direction.

If I am not mistaken, I think that road is one of the staples of the WI Sportbiker Association.

Any squids out there who could verify this?

The_Veg said:

I am *REALLY* looking forward to riding this road!

Click to expand...

Wi. Highway 33 is another good one. Although I really like all the coulee roads and alphabets. A rider can really get twisted around and feel like he's in the twighlight zone at times. I hit Bangor Wi. 3 times via 3 different routes before I gave up and bought a map...

Sanders

Sanders said:

Wi. Highway 33 is another good one. Although I really like all the coulee roads and alphabets. A rider can really get twisted around and feel like he's in the twighlight zone at times. I hit Bangor Wi. 3 times via 3 different routes before I gave up and bought a map...

Sanders

Click to expand...

He speaks the truth. Coulee country is awesome riding. The roads have names with coulee or hollow in them. Be careful, some are not paved, or switch suddenly to unpaved.

it says that it is the second largest hand hewn cut in the nation.

that begs the question, whats the first?

Question Un-begged.

Landowner trying to get Mindoro Cut on historic list

By ED HOSKIN / La Crosse Tribune
MINDORO, Wis. - The scenic gorge that cuts through a sandstone ridge between Mindoro and West Salem on Hwy. 108 has long been considered a feat of human toil and ingenuity from a bygone era.

Carved with hand tools and horse-drawn equipment in 1907 and 1908, the Mindoro Cut is one of the oldest and largest hand-hewn cuts in the nation. In a bid to preserve it, an effort is under way to place it on both the Wisconsin Register of Historical Places and the National Register of Historic Places.

"It's so unique," said Joan Dolbier, who owns land around the cut and is working with her husband, John, to get the historical designation. "It's quite a feat. It's mind-boggling to think the work was done by hand by local people.

"The men came from all over," she said. "They worked daily and were paid cash at the end of each day. Some of them came back and some didn't. It was hard work."

The cut was built to improve travel between West Salem and Mindoro. Before its construction, the communities were connected by a pioneer town road about a mile east of the cut, and by another road that ran along the entire ridge from Onalaska to the town of Burns.

At 86 feet long, 74 feet deep and 25 feet wide, the cut was thought for many years to be the second-largest hand-hewn cut in America. However, the largest hand-hewn cut in the nation, in Ohio, was later altered and reduced in size, Dolbier said.

"We probably have the largest one because ours has not changed," she said.

Placing the cut on the both the state and national registers would require greater analysis and an invitation for public input were the Wisconsin Department of Transportation to ever decide to widen the highway. The hill is owned by three people, Dolbier said.

Aside from preservation issues, the cut deserves such recognition as a visitor attraction and as an important piece of local history along the winding highway, Dolbier said. Photographs, detailed maps and a written history of the cut are being put together with the help of Barbara Kooiman of the Mississippi Valley Archeological Center at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse.

"Listing it on the National Register of Historic Places will put the state in a position where they will look at that," Kooiman said. "They need to pay attention to any impact, and they also are required to ask for public input.

"The process causes (an) agency to analyze the situation," she said. "If there's absolutely no alternative, then it could proceed."

Kooiman said she was not aware of any plans to alter the cut, but "the Dolbiers are taking a proactive stance to see that it's protected."

"It's kind of one of those scenic byways that people go out of their way to check out," Kooiman said. "It's a special feature."

A UW-L history student will begin work on a written history of the cut this spring, and the application will be filed shortly after, Kooiman said.

"I've already talked to staff at the state level, and they were very enthusiastic,' she said. "It will get accepted (at the state), I have no doubt, because it meets the criteria of being listed."

Aside from the cut itself, history lines both rock walls in the form of names, initials, dates and rough artwork carved by many visitors over nearly a century.

"It's part of its colorful character, I think," Dolbier said. "There are some old ones. My mother tells me that was the big thing when she was young, and she was born in 1908."

Moss grows in some of the etchings, and snow fills others in winter, giving the rock walls a dab of color.

Ed Hoskin can be reached at ehoskin@lacrossetribune.com or (608) 791-8226.
__________________

mindoro cut video clip and maps

Used to live near the Mindoro cut in Wisconsin.

saw this video on youtube. I didn't put it out there, but a nice video
Don't know if any of you saw this, but for me, it brings back good memories.
That was my short, after work, blow off steam ride, got so I could do it pretty fast. (for me)

video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vcfynINaXIo

Map:


http://www.wisconsinmotorcycling.com/maps/mindoro.html

Last Friday

I had a Birthday holiday last Friday so I took the LT over to find the Cut. Went down HWY 33 through Wildcat Mountain State park and found out there really are switchbacks in WI. Then went too the Cut and took the loop Sue suggested. A lot of fun and some rather technical riding, especially for a new rider. Check it out!!