Cashton Record - An Independent Wisconsin Newspaper... Serving The Cashton Area For Over 120 Years!

The first known use of the word Ocooch Mountains was around 1819, when Edwin James documented his journey from the east to the Rocky Mountains. James wrote, “The only hills worthy of particular notice, not only in this variety, but in the whole section under consideration, are the Ocooch and Smokey mountains, which are broad and elevated ridges rather than mountains.”

But James was only then referring to the southern portion of the region, near Baraboo. And if people now think of the Oc...