The second leg of the trip was finished. The night’s bivouac was the Kozy Rest Motel. It was in the northwest corner of Montello, about a quarter of a mile up the road from the Buffalo Lake boat landing. The motel was just past the state’s largest tree - a cottonwood - with an immense circumference of 23.2 feet, and towering height of 132 feet.1 It stood alone next to the courthouse. I could imagine many years ago, on another hot, sunny June day, young John Muir standing in its shade, left hand on its rough, ancient bark, waiting for his father to emerge from business in the courthouse.
Mary Jean, the proprietor of the Kozy Rest, was off with a sister helping their elderly parents. Knowing that I was coming, she taped the key to my room, unit #1, to the office door. The room was at the near end of the long, low-slung building, where the row of rental rooms intersected with Mary Jean’s home and office. I parked the baidarka in the angle, crosswise from beyond my door to the side wall of the office.
The room was tiny, with barely space to walk around the bed. A closet-sized bath held toilet, sink and shower. But it was clean, and the bed was firm enough. I went through what would become my the late-afternoon ritual of carrying in gear, showering, and washing out the clothing. Then, in fresh clothes and map in hand, I headed for downtown Montello.
Montello, a small city of about 1,400 people, is the seat of Marquette County. It sits atop a deep deposit of mahogany-red granite.2 A polished slab of this Montello granite marks the boyhood home of John Muir.3 Also used for both General U.S. Grant’s and General Robert E Lee‘s tombs, Montello’s granite is the hardest in the world. Designated the Wisconsin state rock in 1971, it had been quarried from the center of downtown Montello since 1879, employing up to 200 men at times. The deepest pit reached the depth of 150 feet. But the quarry closed in 1960.4 The pits are now filled with water, which pumps circulate to the top of the 45-foot-tall rock spire still standing sentinel in the middle of the pits. The water tumbles down again in four separate waterfalls.
I asked a native where I could get good ice cream, where I could find a good book, and where the townspeople ate dinner. He sent me down to the B&B Candy Store for the ice cream. He said that around the corner from the candy store was Buffalo Books. (Susan of Endeavor had also recommended Buffalo Books.) As to dinner, he suggested his own place: The Granite Falls Supper Club.
The ice cream shop replicated an old-fashioned candy store. Jar after jar of colorful candy covered wooden tables. Glass-fronted counters lined the walls, full of additional sweets. I ordered one scoop of caramel-chocolate ice cream and another of New York cherry. The young owner broke off a conversation to serve me. A woman, perhaps a local realtor, was asking her questions about the building. But every time she asked a question, a new customer walked up. It took 15 minutes for the realtor to get her few questions answered. Oddly, as soon as the realtor left, the stream of customers dried up. Strange how that works.
I then went around the corner to check out the book store. It was small and homey, with little, cloth-covered reading table with lamp and chairs. Next to many books on the shelves were hand-written recommendations by the proprietor. I enjoyed reading the reviews, and bought a small book of poetry. As I left, I was sorry to see a "For Sale" sign next to the front door.
With a bit more time to kill before dinner, I walked back to the abandoned quarry. The spray of the waterfalls cooled the warm air, and the tumbling water splashed and murmured soothingly. I sat on a block of red granite. A swan living in the quarry waddled over to the fence separating us and preened while I sat in the sun taking in the town.
A little after five, I strolled over to the Granite Falls Supper Club. Five is early for dinner on a week night in Montello, and I had the dining room to myself until the dessert course, when a few patrons wandered in.
While getting a drink, I asked the owner why it was called a “supper club”, for there seems to be a supper club in almost every small Wisconsin city. He answered that designation arose during Prohibition. Ostensibly operating as a private club with food and entertainment, it could serve liquor without much hassle from the police, and thus became the local speak-easy. And since the customers drank primarily in the evening, the club only opened at supper time. Today the Granite Falls Supper Club made no pretense of being a private club and offered no entertainment beyond piped-in music, yet the “club“ moniker, the hours, the drinking, and the food continued.
With that enlightenment and a good meal, I headed back to the Kozy Rest to watch a little TV and get to sleep early.
1. Montello Now. The History of Montello. Accessed October 15, 2011.
2. Wistravel.com. Wisconsin Cities: Montello Wisconsin. Accessed November 5, 2011. http://www.wistravel.com/cities_in_wisconsin/montello_wisconsin/.
3. The Historical Marker Database. Montello Granite. November 15, 2007. Accessed September 5, 2011. http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=3556.
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