The Madison Heritage Series

Sometime between 14,000 and 20,000 years ago, during the Ice Age, an enormous northern glacier invaded Wisconsin. Standing here then, you would have been encased in a solid ocean of ice 160 stories tall.

The glacier bulldozed this area's jagged rock-towers and outcroppings, and filled deep valleys with the debris. Finally, temperatures warmed and transformed the ice into a vast lake dotted by islands. Trees grew on its banks.

The slow but constant movement and eventual melting of the glacier smoothed the rugged earth and sculpted new features, including the type of hill, known as a drumlin, on which you're standing. In fact, the glacial age created an entire landscape of distinctive landforms—moraines, kettles and more.

You can explore the story of Wisconsin's rich glacial heritage on the Ice Age National Scenic Trail, which passes through western Dane County.

Sidebar:

In this area, a glacier towered as high as five Capitol buildings—1,600 feet. This colossal sea of ice wasthickest near Hudson Bay, Canada, and tapered to nothing just 10 miles southwest of here. Eventually it melted, leaving behind Glacial Lake Yahara, which was 12 feet higher and twice as large as Madison's present-day lakes. Over the next 6,000 years, Lake Yahara shrank to form smaller bodies of water, including lakes Mendota, Monona and Wingra in Madison.

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Wisconsin State Capitol
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