Book traces history of Elroy-Sparta Trail

The sale of a new book about the history of the 32-mile Elroy-Sparta State Bicycle Trail will raise money for interpretive signage along Wisconsin's first rail-to-trail conversion. The book is Indomitable Pluck by Karen Parker, publisher of the weekly newspaper The County Line in Ontario, Wisconsin.

Parker drew on hundreds of documents, books, newspaper clippings and the archives of the Chicago and Northwestern Historical Society to write the history of the trail. Subtitled One Railroad, Three Tunnels and America's First Rails-to-Trails Bike Path, the 112-page book contains dozens of illustrations and photos, some available to the public for the first time.

Sparta Herald editor Pat Mulvaney says the book was "painstakingly researched" in part by using his newspaper's archives as far back as 1871.

Parker told the newspaper, "The Elroy-Sparta Bike Trail is an historical treasure with an amazing story that is unfamiliar to those who now bike the trail."

To learn more about the book or order a copy, go to www.indomitablepluck.com or send $25 plus $3 postage and handling to Kickapoo Valley Press, P.O. 7, Ontario, WI 54651. A portion of sales is donated to the Friends of the Elroy-Sparta Bike Trail.