14. Bogus Bluff a Wild Adventure

Another get the king out of the garden

I am going to digress a little bit and go back into my early high school years. I think everyone can remember something about those years. There were the jocks, the cheerleaders, and the rest of us. High school for me was a whole new epic adventure. It was mixed as to fun v-s yikes, what have I gotten into.

In grade school I was in band, and when I got to high school I took ag class plus band. As a sophomore, agriculture class was 4th hour and band was 5th hour. Now lunch hours were 4th hour and 5th hour as well. For a farm boy this was not going to work, as food to me was as important as air. So there really was no choice, and I dropped out of band.

I waited until my junior year to go out in sports, and track was what I did. My brother did basketball because we were allowed only one sport per year, and they had to be opposite of the other so we were home to help with the farm chores. I did pole vaulting plus the 100-yard dash and sometimes the 440. I did okay, but when we went to away meets it was hard to keep up with the guys who had long legs.

For pole vaulting, only for two seasons, I got up to a little over 11 feet. Our coach knew nothing about pole vaulting, so I had to teach myself. He only let me use the steel pole the first year, so I did not get the hang of bending the pole when I was allowed to use it the next year. It did not help that it was rated for 160 lbs and I weighed 140.

I was pretty fit and got the highest points in the school for the physical fitness class. I could do over 20 pull-ups, 100 push-ups, 200 sit-ups, and could snatch a 220 lb barbell. Not too bad for only weighing 140 lbs.

Classes went well unless a close buddy of mine was in the same class and sat close to me. I got somewhat distracted and ended up taking freshman English over due to that. What was I thinking? My second bout with English went fine with no problems. I did, though, become captivated by a story he told us.

Over by Muscoda, off Highway 60, there is a hill called Bogus Bluff. Up towards the top, facing the river, there is a cave called Bogus Bluff Cave. The story goes like this. Back in the “I think” 1930’s there were some counterfeiters using the cave for printing counterfeit money. They found out, or saw it coming, that there was going to be a raid on them, and they dynamited the presses to hide the evidence.

Now for a 16-year-old this was too much to just let slip by without putting on my Indiana Jones hat—before he even was. I talked a buddy into going with me. We headed over there about a half hour away and started walking the hills. We were about to give up when we saw it. The opening was about six feet high and maybe three or four feet wide.

We walked right in, but all of a sudden we had an awakening. We did not think to bring flashlights. We basically went in anyway with our hands on the walls. We eventually turned back and decided we needed to run back home and get a couple of flashlights.

We then returned and went all the way through, passing a small hole on the south side facing the river and a larger tunnel that a ways in was collapsed which appeared to be where the presses were. Was this ever neat. The small tunnel we had been told was an escape route. I crawled in on my belly and worked my way through it. It was a bit tight, but I could make it.

My friend was a bit larger than me and he got stuck in the middle. He could not back out or go ahead. I worked my way ahead and got out. I ran back around and got a hold of his legs and said, “exhale,” and I got him loose. We did not go through that part again.

Over the next couple of years I went back several times, taking other friends to explore it so they could have the experience. During that time period, the latter 1960’s, landowners did not seem to care if you just went on their land. Around here during deer season it was common for hunters to just go wherever, unless the landowner was a hunter.

Whenever I hear someone mention Bogus Bluff Cave, I still stir inside. I mentioned it to one of my grandsons and he also got excited and said he would like to see it, but now there are signs of no trespassing.

It was exciting to believe the story about the cave but history tells a bit of a different one. Here is what the Richland Center Historical Society has to say about it.