The rusty-red waters of Brewery Creek stand out in sharp contrast to green trees and cropland just south of the community of Mineral Point where lead and zinc mining and smelting, once an important economic activity, is now all but history. The white area at far left is the Vulcan Quarry (dolomitic limestone), now over a century old and considerably larger than shown in this image. South of the river, residential and commercial areas have grown well beyond Highway 41, the north-south highway which spans the Fox River at right center. Today, Oshkosh is a city of over 50,000 with a diversified industrial base. By 1900, Oshkosh led the world in the production of wood products, and forty-four sawmills lined the banks of the Fox River, using timber floated down the Wolf River from northern Wisconsin’s ‘Pineries’.
From Lake Butte des Morts, the Fox River bisects the city, emptying into Lake Winnebago (bottom), the largest body of water in Wisconsin. Waters from the Upper Fox and Wolf Rivers discharge into those two upper lakes. Most distant is Lake Poygan (with its associated Lake Winneconne). This almost horizontal view to the northwestern horizon reveals much of the city of Oshkosh and the bodies of water which figured into its historical development.
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