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Baraboo

1911 Encyclopedia Britannica

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a city and the county-seat of Sauk county, Wisconsin, U.S.A., about 37 m. N.W. of Madison, on the Baraboo river, a tributary of the Wisconsin. Pop. (1890) 4605; (1900) 575 1, of whom 732 were foreign-born; (1905, state census) 5 8 35. The city is served by the Chicago & North-Western railway, which maintains here an engine house and extensive machine shops, and of which it is a division headquarters. Baraboo has an attractive situation on a series of hills about 1000 ft. above sea-level. In the vicinity are Devil's Lake (3 m. S.) and the famous Dells of the Wisconsin river (near Kilbourn, about 12 m. N.), two summer resorts with picturesque scenery. The principal public buildings are the court-house (in a small public park), the public library and a high school. Dairying and the growing of small fruits are important industries in the surrounding region; and there is a large nursery here. Stone quarried in the vicinity is exported, and the city is near the centre of the Sauk county iron range. Among the manufactures are woollen goods, towels, canned fruit and vegetables, dairy products, beer, and circus wagons (the city is the headquarters of the Ringling and the Gollmar circuses). The first permanent settlement here was made in 1839. Baraboo was named in honour of Jean Baribault, an early French trapper, and was chartered as a city in 1882.