Sarah Nigbor

I do a lot of driving, which gives me a lot of time to think, leading me to ponder random questions. One question that came to mind recently was how certain Pierce County places got their names. I also love history, so these kinds of questions get my wheels turning.

Some are pretty self-explanatory. River Falls is named after the falls and tumbling waters of the Kinnickinnic River. I always found it fascinating that the town was named Greenwood Falls and Kinnickinnic before they finally settled on River Falls, to avoid confusion since all three names were being used. Plus there was already a village called Greenwood in Clark County. The word Kinnickinnic comes from the Ojibwe word giniginige, which means “what is mixed,” referring to a smoking blend that combined native plants and tobacco.

Other names are less obvious. For example, the Rush River. I thought it might be called that because the water “rushes” in some places. I was wrong. It was apparently named for the abundance of wild plants and tall, grass-like reeds (bulrushes) that grew along its banks and marshes.

Here are some other Pierce County names I researched:

Eau Galle: According to the Dunn County Historical Society, French explorers named the river

la Rivière au Galet, or "river of the gravely/pebbly banks." Over time, the spelling changed to “galle,”causing historian Henry Gannett to publish in a 1905 book that the river was named after “bitter water.”

Martell: Martell is named after early French settler Joseph Martell. The town at one time or another was also called Rising Sun, Sunrise, Roach’s Huddle or Ratville, according to the Pierce County Historical Association. I think I prefer Martell to Roach’s Huddle or Ratville.

Ono: Ono holds a special place in my heart, because my mother and uncles were confirmed at Ono Methodist Church at the corner of County Road CC and Highway 10. According to online records, a post office was established at Ono in 1868 along a mail route from Spring Valley to Maiden Rock. Local resident M.C. Holt named it Ono after a city in the book of Nehemiah in the Bible. At one time, it included two general stores, a blacksmith shop, a creamery and cheese factory, a tinner’s shop, the church (which still stands) and horse sheds for travelers.

Mines Creek: Mines Creek in Spring Valley was named after the historic iron ore mining operations established in the area during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Geologists discovered rich iron ore deposits in the surrounding bluffs and valleys; by the 1890s, the Spring Valley Iron & Ore Company had set up a commercial blast furnace and mining complexes. Because several significant iron mines (such as the Gilman Mine) were located in the hills just west of the village near this specific waterway, the adjacent stream was designated as Mines Creek.

Diamond Bluff: Diamond Bluff apparently got its name because of the many diamond-shaped stones found in the huge bluff behind the settlement. The bluff was a guide for pilots on the river. Also interesting, about a mile and a half out of Diamond Bluff, a cluster of Indian mounds (75-100) covers 304 acres and were unexcavated for many years. 

Lost Creek: According to the Wisconsin DNR, Lost Creek in the town of El Paso got its name “from the way it seemingly disappears and reappears as it winds through the rugged terrain of Pierce County. Early settlers noted that the stream’s flow often hid underground—a common characteristic of the area's geological formations in the Driftless Area.”

Trimbelle: The Trimbelle River, a narrow, winding river that makes its way from the town of Martell through River Falls, Trimbelle, Trenton and Diamond Bouff townships, was compared to a trim “belle” or “lady” in the old days, according to Pierce County Partners in Tourism.

Cherma: Cherma (or Korna) was a Bohemian settlement southeast of River Falls, named after the village of Dolni Cermna in the modern-day Czech Republic. The families formed a Catholic congregation called St. Martin’s in 1892 along present-day 690^th Avenue n the town of River Falls. While the church burned shortly after the last mass in 1987, the cemetery is still there.

I’m sure there are many, many other names I can research. But this is a good start.