The Wisconsin River is approximately 430 miles long running from Lac Vieux Desert in northern Wisconsin (on the Wisconsin/Michigan border) to Prairie du Chien where it empties into the Mississippi River. It's basin covers 12,280 sq. miles or 1/5 of the state.
The Wisconsin River has played a vital role literally shaping our state. It was a major avenue for release of glacial melt water when great glaciers covered Wisconsin some 15,000 years ago. The power of melt water flow carved many of the rock features that are well known in the State. Glacial debris was distributed across the landscape forming great broad plains.
As glaciers retreated the river was used as a highway by Native Americans as they made Wisconsin their home. Later Europeans used the same Wisconsin River to explore and then settle the interior of the State. The River allowed transportation of logs down stream as the North Woods was harvested to provide building materials for the great cities of the Midwestern United States.
As the logging era came to an end, the great power of the Wisconsin River was harnessed to provide hydroelectric power and water for a growing paper industry. The River has often been referred as the Hardest Working River. Within the Stevens Point area, there are multiple hydroelectric dams and spillways.
I had been to the above location on many occasions hoping to obtain the right image. After many attempts I was finally successful. The location is a well-known spillway on West River Drive just down stream from Whiting and Stevens Point.
