Stop 7: Ocooch Mountains
(Boaz Park, Hwy. 171, Boaz)

Continue west on 60/14. Hwys 60 and 14 split in Gotham. In Gotham, turn right on Hwy 14 going north along the Pine River. Continue on Hwy 14 to Richland Center. [Alternate route: In Richland Center, turn north on Hwy 80; travel 8 miles to Pier County Park to see Historical Marker #402 about the Militiamen’s encampment, return to Richland Center and return to Hwy 14] Continue west on Hwy 14 until you reach Hwy 171. Turn left and travel south to Boaz. Marker in parking lot just inside town. Historical Marker #403. Return to Hwy 14 from Hwy 171

Myself and band having no means to descend the Ouisconsin, I started, over a rugged country, to go to the Mississippi, intending to cross it, and return to my nation. Many of our people were compelled to go on foot, for want of horses, which, in consequence of their having had nothing to eat for a long time, caused our march to be very slow.11

Black Hawk feared that if his people floated down the Wisconsin to the Mississippi, war boats from Fort Crawford (at present-day Prairie du Chien) would attack them. He would have been correct. Atkinson had told ships at Fort Crawford to be on alert to Sauk floating on the Wisconsin. So Black Hawk pulled his people from the Wisconsin to travel on the Little Rock River (now the Pine River) at present-day Gotham, Wisconsin. They would continue northwest, through present-day Richland Center and into the hills of the driftless area, at the time called the 'Ocooch Mountains.'

Above: Marker #403, in Boaz Park, Boaz, Wisconsin. Left: Looking towards the 'Ocooch Mountains.'