Baker—The Fauna of The Lake Winnebago Region. Ill 
PHYSIOGRAPHY AND GEOLOGY 
A. Description of the Lake 
Lake Winnebago lies in the eastern part of the State of Wis¬ 
consin in latitude 44° N. and between longitude 88° and 89° W. 
It is 33 miles west of Lake Michigan and 30 miles southwest of 
Green Bay. The lake is oriented north and south, which is its 
greatest length, and is about 28 miles (45 km.) in length by 10.4 
miles (16.6 km.) in greatest width. The greatest depth is 20% 
feet (6.38 m). It lies at an elevation of 745 feet above the sea and 
165 feet above Lake Michigan. The lake has a present area of about 
215 square miles, which is about 5.5 per cent greater than its 
original area, the increase being due to the dams in the outlet 
channels which have raised the level of the lake several feet. 
The eastern and western shores of Lake Winnebago differ greatly 
in character. The eastern short presents an almost continuous 
margin broken by no bays or points of notable size. The western 
shore, on the contrary, is made up of a succession of bays and 
points with many shoals extending well into the lake. On the 
eastern side, the land rises rather abruptly forming cliffs or bluffs 
of a more or less bold character. In most places the rise is gradual 
(50 feet) for a quarter of a mile and then abrupt (100-150 feet) 
in a distance of a quarter or half a mile. Elevations of 1,000 feet, 
or 255 feet above the lake, occur at a distance of less than two miles 
from the lake margin. 
The western margin of the lake is very low and lacks entirely the 
bold character of the eastern shore. Elevations of more than six¬ 
teen feet above the lake are not encountered within a distance 
of a mile west of the lake. Marsh areas occur at the south end 
near the City of Fond du Lac. West of the City of Oshkosh, low, 
marshy areas extend westward for a distance of nearly twenty 
miles, where smaller lakes, Butte des Morts, Poygon, and Winne- 
conne, occupy wide areas. 
