The tale of the 1849 discovery of Eagle Cave is a tall one, but apparently true. According to legend, Peter Kinder was bear hunting along the Wisconsin River between Blue River and Muscoda when he shot a 600-pound bruin. Kinder and a friend named Murphy then trailed the wounded beast back to what is now Eagle Cave.

With ropes and lanterns, Kinder and Murphy lowered themselves into the cave and killed the bear. When they hauled it out, legend has it that eagles were circling above, hence the name.

On a recent tour with Boscobel’s Keegan Campbell, who will be studying geology as a freshman at UW-Madison in the fall, we encountered a female deer and her two fawns bounding down the trail and into the forest. Located about midway between Blue River and Muscoda, Eagle Cave is located on a promontory that is heavily wooded and filled with wildlife, as well as human campers.

Eagle Cave is Wisconsin’s largest onyx cave...

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For the complete article, please see the July 13, 2017 issue of the Boscobel Dial.