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When I was young, “The Old Oaken Bucket” was the title of an already old song about a moss-covered pail that had been made of oak lumber and suspended on the end of a length of rope for the purpose of lifting water out of an ancient open well.

Such a well was usually provided with a roof to keep major forms of contamination out of the drinking water. This was the kind of well that was nearly universally used as a source of drinking water during pioneer days in our country.

Without such sources of water, our civilization would have had difficulty surviving its early days of expansion in rural areas. It must be remembered that such a well had to be hand dug to whatever depth was required to locate a dependable water source. Some of these holes were rather deep and some soils required that the sides of the hole be shored up, lest they cave in. Reliable pumps, drilling equipment and the La Crosse River Trail were all still in the future.

Some quirk in my mental processes almost literally dumped an unexpected thought into my mind when I came across an old book the other day. I had been looking for this one, though not too assiduously, or I would have found it sooner.

This book is titled “Gray’s New Manual of Botany, Seventh Edition” by Robinson and Fernald, A table near the front of the volume stated that it contained information on 4,885 species and varieties of plants growing wild in northeastern North America. Alvin Peterson gave it to me long ago, figuring, I think, that I might start learning how to use the keys in a technical manual. And I did, though I soon discovered that this book had a lot of shortcomings.

Some of the names were outdated, and I soon discovered that some plants I knew were not listed — probably because they had been included within the parameters of the description of another species in the old book and now have a name of their own. So this book became — though I never thought of it that way then — my Old Oaken Bucket.

Yet by that time, I realized that I needed something else. On April 8, 1967, I went to Hoenig’s Book Store in La Crosse and bought myself a brand new copy of “Gray’s Manual of Botany, Eighth Edition” by M. L. Fernald for the princely sum of $17. This one boasts information on 8,340 total species, varieties, forms and hybrids of plants growing unassisted in a somewhat larger segment of northeastern North America than the older volume. I was on my way. (The Old Oaken Bucket had saved my well; I now had my pump — even though I didn’t know it at the time.)

I’ve dragged this manual around with me to many and varied places. Without claiming expertise, I can say I’ve gleaned a whole lot of information from this now battered volume and its predecessor — my pump and my Old Oaken Bucket. It’s been a lot of fun passing some of that information on to a lot of people. Places included are a large nature preserve, four state parks and, of course, along the trail.