Bios transcribed by Kay R. & History by Jan Cortez
Natural Features
Winnebago County is the central gem of the rich Fox River Valley, bounded north by Waupaca and Outagamie Counties, east by Lake Winnebago, south by Fond du Lac, and west by Green Lake and Waushara. It contains an area of 270,000 acres - about 450 square miles - and is the most important section in that great highway, along which flows the lumber wealth of the north to golden grain fields of the south and southwest. Its soil is varied and fertile, all the grains and fruits of the West floursihing. The sub-soil is clay, upon which rests every variety, from a rich loam to clay and sand. By the decomposition of the lime rock, which prevails in the geological formation, the subsoil is made strong and enduring. Sandstone is also found, and in the northeastern portion of the county good brick clay abounds. Originally, about forty percent of its surface was covered with timber, the oak openings being found on the north side of the Fox River and the prairie land to the south. Winnebago County lies in the natural watercourse between the Great Lakes and the Father of Waters, and, for 200 years before the improvement of the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers, the noted French and English Traders, military leaders, and Jesuit missionaries and explorers made that highway and its vicinity historical ground. The artificial improvement during the middle of the nineteenth century was but the natural outgrowth of natural advantages, which had been patent to the the pioneers of Northwestern civilization for over two hundred years. Lake Winnebago, which forms so important a link in this grand, natural watercourse from Green Bay to Portage, is the largest body of fresh water in the State, and hems in the entire county from the east. It is twenty eight miles in length from north to south, and its greatest width from east to west is ten miles - area 212 square miles. It is navigable in most parts. Along its eastern border a wall of rocks extends some fifteen miles, dipping, in some places, hundreds of feet below the surface. Before the advent of railroads, Lake Winnebago was the binding power between all the settlements which were grouping themselves around its shores, and was a great resevoir of wealth, in which was sometimes gathered the product of thousands of acres of the pine lands of the north. The Wolf River, which flows from the north through Shawano and Waupaca Counties, is the means of bringing Winnebago County into communication with the lumber districts of the north. Lake Poygan, on this river, in the northwestern part of the county, and Grand Butte des Morts in the central portion on the Fox, and Rush Lake, its outlet in the southwest, with the streams which flow into these rivers and lakes, form a complete water communication, not only with all sections of the State, but with every portion of the County. It was on the shores of these lakes that the Indians had their clearings, planting grounds and villages, and on them now are located the cities and villages with their good harbors, net-work of railroads, and enterprising population, which has given to the county its rank of second in importance among the manufacturing districts of Wisconsin.
Teh greatest altitude of Winnebago County is 117 feet above the level of the Fox River. From the prevalence of lakes and streams, water is easily obtained. The county presents three geological features, blue and lower magnesium limestone, and a superficial Potsdam sandstone. The limestone mostly prevails in the southeast, southwest and northeast. The surface of the country is generally rolling.
