[Magdalen] Speaking of unfortunate names

[Cantor03 at aol.com]

In a message dated 6/1/2016 10:45:32 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
jay.weigel at gmail.com writes:

Brud's  mention of Rush City reminded me of the high school near where a
friend  used to live. It used to be the consolidated high school of
Galesville and  Ettrick, Wisconsin, and was known as Gale-Ettrick. It was
around when I was  in high school, even. Sometime in the 1970s it swallowed
up the high school  in nearby Trempealeau and became
Galesville-Ettrick-Trempealeau, or, Lord  forgive us all,
Gale-Ettrick-Tremplo. It was abbreviated and known by  students far and wide
as G.E.T.  High.>>>>>>>>
 
Trempealeau County is named for the cone shaped "mountain," part
of the Mississippi bluff region in the so called "Driftless Area," an  area
never glaciated and therefore characteristically rugged for the Upper
Midwest.  The French stands for "mountain steeped in water."
 
The County is just south of Eau Claire, and when we traveled down
Wis 93, we were always trying to spot the terminal moraine of
the last glaciation about 15,000 years ago.
 
My maternal side family is in this region, centered on Eleva, but
also in Independence and Blair (where I get my lefse).  My  namesake
and godchild, David Pedersen and family have a home on one of the
sharp bluffs near Eleva with a view that could as well be in the
Appalachians.  The difference is that this is rich farm country,  and
the valleys are heavily farmed.  Another of my cousins is one of  a
group of four farmers that shepherd as many as 800 Holsteins.
 
 
David Strang.