Door Peninsula
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The Door Peninsula is a
peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on a ...
in eastern
Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...
, separating the southern part of the Green Bay from
Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
. The peninsula includes northern Kewaunee County, northeastern Brown County, and the mainland portion of Door County. It is on the western side of the
Niagara Escarpment The Niagara Escarpment is a long escarpment, or cuesta, in Canada and the United States that runs predominantly east–west from New York through Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, and into Illinois. The escarpment is most famous as the cliff ove ...
. Well known for its cherry and apple orchards, the Door Peninsula is a popular tourism destination. With the 1881 completion of the Sturgeon Bay Ship Canal, the northern half of the peninsula became an island. Limestone outcroppings of the
Niagara Escarpment The Niagara Escarpment is a long escarpment, or cuesta, in Canada and the United States that runs predominantly east–west from New York through Ontario, Michigan, Wisconsin, and into Illinois. The escarpment is most famous as the cliff ove ...
are visible on both shores of the peninsula, but are larger and more prominent on the Green Bay side as seen at the Bayshore Blufflands. Progressions of dunes have created much of the rest of the shoreline, especially on the east side. Flora along the shore demonstrate plant
succession Succession is the act or process of following in order or sequence. Governance and politics *Order of succession, in politics, the ascension to power by one ruler, official, or monarch after the death, resignation, or removal from office of ...
during periods of low lake levels. The middle of the peninsula is mostly flat. Beyond the peninsula's northern tip is a series of islands, the largest of which is Washington Island. The partially submerged ridge extends farther north, becoming the Garden Peninsula in
Upper Michigan The Upper Peninsula of Michigan – also known as Upper Michigan or colloquially the U.P. – is the northern and more elevated of the two major landmasses that make up the U.S. state of Michigan; it is separated from the Lower Peninsula by ...
.


History


Archaeology

Paleo-Indian artifacts have been found at two sites in the town of Union and two sites in the city of Sturgeon Bay. The Cardy and Salisbury Steak sites are located about a mile from each other in the south side of the city,Late Paleo-Indian Period Lithic Economies, Mobility, and Group Organization in Wisconsin
by Ethan Adam Epstein, Ph.D. Thesis, University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, December 2016, location of the Cardy and Salisbury Steak sites: page 168 (page 182 of the pdf); use of the Boss Tavern and Heyrman I sites: page 161-2 (page 175-176 of the pdf); microwear analysis: page 169 (page 183 of the pdf); less mobility at Heyrman I site than the Boss Tavern site: pages 164 and 170 (pages 178 and 184 of the pdf); mobility of those at the Salisbury Steak site: page 168 (page 182 of the pdf); different travel routes: page 163 (page 177 of the pdf); Salisbury Steak site: page 168 (page 182 of the pdf); Door Peninsula stone carried elsewhere: pages 172–174 (pages 186–188 of the pdf)
and the Heyrman I and Boss Tavern (or Fabry Creek) sites are a quarter-mile from each other along Highway 57 in the town of Union. It is thought that the Boss Tavern site was used as a base camp, while the Heyrman I site was used as a workshop area for producing stone tools and possibly also as a very brief campsite. Both sites were occupied multiple times by Paleo-Indians. A microwear analysis of the scraping tools found at the Boss Tavern site found that the tools had been used for butchering, skinning, and working with dry hides, and for scraping and smoothing wood. One scraping tool resembled an
adze An adze (; alternative spelling: adz) is an ancient and versatile cutting tool similar to an axe but with the cutting edge perpendicular to the handle rather than parallel. Adzes have been used since the Stone Age. They are used for smoothing ...
and was used to support the hypothesis that Paleo-Indians built watercraft. A layer of sand was found at the Boss Tavern site, indicating it was a beach when lake levels were higher than they are today. The tools and waste chips at the Heyrman I site suggest that the Paleo-Indians there may have been less mobile than those who resided at the Boss Tavern site. Additionally, they appear less mobile the Paleo-Indians at the Cardy Site, which used mostly used Moline chert from Illinois, and the group at the Salisbury Steak site, which used chert and sandstone from a variety of sources. One possible explanation for why the two sites in the town of Union featured more local stone material than the Cardy site could be from their occupants using different travel routes. The Niagara Escarpment was a local source of material to make stone tools, and because the bluffs of the escarpment stretch across the western side of the peninsula, Paleo-Indians traveling on the Green Bay side would have come across it. It has been suggested that those living at the Cardy Site may have instead traveled on the east side of the peninsula away from the bluffs. They could have arrived at the Cardy Site from an area to the east of Lake Winnebago where other Moline chert artifacts have been found. The Salisbury Steak site was used as a stone tool workshop, and appears to have been occupied later than the other three sites. The stone materials found at the site come from only a single occupation, and include local material, sandstone coming from the south or west, and
chert Chert () is a hard, fine-grained sedimentary rock composed of microcrystalline or cryptocrystalline quartz, the mineral form of silicon dioxide (SiO2). Chert is characteristically of biological origin, but may also occur inorganically as a ...
from the
Hudson Bay Lowlands The Hudson Bay Lowlands is a vast wetland located between the Canadian Shield and southern shores of Hudson Bay and James Bay. Most of the area lies within the province of Ontario, with smaller portions reaching into Manitoba and Quebec. Many ...
in Canada. How they acquired Canadian stone is unknown, but they could have found it in a glacial deposit, traded for it, or migrated from the far north. As of 2007, seven Clovis points have been found in Door County, and four Gainey points were found at the Cardy Site.Life During The End Of The Ice Age: The Cardy site could inform archaeologists about how humans dealt with a challenging environment.
, ''American Archaeology Vol. 14'', No. 3, Fall 2010
The relationship between Gainey points and the more ubiquitous Clovis points is being researched, but there are some similarities. Careful study of certain Paleo-Indian artifacts from western Wisconsin suggests that they were made in the Door Peninsula and carried across the state. Paleo-Indian stone tools from made from stone sourced from the Door Peninsula or its immediate vicinity have been found as far west as in Trempealeau,
La Crosse La Crosse is a city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of La Crosse County. Positioned alongside the Mississippi River, La Crosse is the largest city on Wisconsin's western border. La Crosse's population as of the 2020 census ...
,
Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...
, and
Jackson Jackson may refer to: People and fictional characters * Jackson (name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the surname or given name Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Qu ...
, and Monroe counties and as far south as Dane County. Archaeological evidence shows habitation of the peninsula and its islands by several different Native American groups. Artifacts from an ancient village site at Nicolet Bay Beach date to about 400 BC. This site was occupied by various cultures until about 1300 AD. In 246 B.C (±25 years), a dog was buried in a Native American burial site on Washington Island.


Etymology

The name of the peninsula and the county comes from the name of a route between Green Bay and Lake Michigan. Humans, whether Native Americans, early explorers, or American ship captains, have been well aware of the dangerous water passage that lies between the Door Peninsula and Washington Island, connecting the bay to the rest of Lake Michigan. It was named by the Native Americans and translated into French as ''
Porte des Morts Porte des Morts, also known as Porte des Mortes, the Door of Death, and Death's Door is a strait linking Lake Michigan and Green Bay between the northern tip of the Door Peninsula and the southernmost of the Potawatomi Islands. At its narrowe ...
'': in English, "Death's Door". The earliest known written reference to this comes from a 1728 mention of "Cap a la Mort" ("Cape of Death") in French. The Menominee name for the peninsula was "Kenatao", meaning "cape".


Potawatomi and Menominee

Before and during the 19th century, various Native Americans occupied the Door Peninsula and nearby islands. 17th-century French explorers made contact with various tribes in the area. In 1634, the Jean Nicolet expedition landed at Rock Island. This is considered the first visit by a European to what is now Wisconsin.A Guide to Significant Wildlife Habitat and Natural Areas Of Door County, Wisconsin
March, 2003, by the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources Sturgeon Bay Service Center, p. 128, p. 52, p. 23, p. 127 and pp. 52, 83, 85, and 99 (note: pagination in the pdf is one page past the numerical pagination)
There are competing claims to the landing site of
French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
explorer Jean Nicolet in 1634, who was searching for a water route through
North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...
to
Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...
: Horseshoe Island, which is part of Peninsula State Park, and Red Banks, which is about 7 miles north of what is now Green Bay. Nicolet is remembered in Wisconsin lore for having mistaken the
Ho-Chunk The Ho-Chunk, also known as Hoocągra or Winnebago (referred to as ''Hotúŋe'' in the neighboring indigenous Iowa-Otoe language), are a Siouan-speaking Native American people whose historic territory includes parts of Wisconsin, Minnesota, Iow ...
Indians for Asians and celebrating, believing he had reached the
Far East The ''Far East'' was a European term to refer to the geographical regions that includes East and Southeast Asia as well as the Russian Far East to a lesser extent. South Asia is sometimes also included for economic and cultural reasons. The t ...
. Nicolet had heard long before coming that the people living along these shores were called Winnebago ("the people from the stinking water") and, perhaps erroneously, "the People of the Sea". He concluded that this name meant they were from or living near the
Pacific Ocean The Pacific Ocean is the largest and deepest of Earth's five oceanic divisions. It extends from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Southern Ocean (or, depending on definition, to Antarctica) in the south, and is bounded by the conti ...
with its aromatic salt air and that they would be a direct link to the people of
China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by population, most populous country, with a Population of China, population exceeding 1.4 billion, slig ...
, if not from China. In 1665,
Pierre-Esprit Radisson Pierre-Esprit Radisson (1636/1640–1710) was a French fur trader and explorer in New France. He is often linked to his brother-in-law Médard des Groseilliers. The decision of Radisson and Groseilliers to enter the English service led to the fo ...
and
Médard des Groseilliers Médard Chouart des Groseilliers (1618–1696) was a French explorer and fur trader in Canada. He is often paired with his brother-in-law Pierre-Esprit Radisson, who was about 20 years younger. The pair worked together in fur trading and explor ...
spent the winter with the
Potawatomi The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...
. Explaining his travels, Radisson reported that
We embarked ourselves on the delightfullest lake of the world. I tooke notice of their Cottages & of the journeys of our navigation, for because that the country was so pleasant, so beautifull & fruitfull that it grieved me to see that the world could not discover such inticing countrys to live in. This I say because that the Europeans fight for a rock in the sea against one another, or for a sterill land and horrid country, that the people sent heere or there by the changement of the aire ingenders sicknesse and dies thereof. Contrarywise those kingdoms are so delicious & under so temperat a climat, plentifull of all things, the earth bringing foorth its fruit twice a yeare, the people live long & lusty & wise in their way. What conquest would that bee att litle or no cost; what laborinth of pleasure should millions of people have, instead that millions complaine of misery & poverty! What should not men reape out of the love of God in converting the souls heere, is more to be gained to heaven then what is by differences of nothing there, should not be so many dangers committed under the pretence of religion! Why so many thoesoever are hid from us by our owne faults, by our negligence, covetousnesse, & unbeliefe. It's true, I confesse, that the accesse is difficult, but must say that we are like the Cockscombs of Paris, when first they begin to have wings, imagining that the larks will fall in their mouths roasted; but we ought o rememberthat vertue is not acquired without labour & taking great paines.
In 1669, Claude-Jean Allouez also wintered with the
Potawatomi The Potawatomi , also spelled Pottawatomi and Pottawatomie (among many variations), are a Native American people of the western Great Lakes region, upper Mississippi River and Great Plains. They traditionally speak the Potawatomi language, a m ...
. He mentioned an area called "la Portage des Eturgeons." In 1673,
Jacques Marquette Jacques Marquette S.J. (June 1, 1637 – May 18, 1675), sometimes known as Père Marquette or James Marquette, was a French Jesuit missionary who founded Michigan's first European settlement, Sault Sainte Marie, and later founded Saint Ign ...
and
Louis Jolliet Louis Jolliet (September 21, 1645after May 1700) was a French-Canadian explorer known for his discoveries in North America. In 1673, Jolliet and Jacques Marquette, a Jesuit Catholic priest and missionary, were the first non-Natives to explore and ...
stayed in the area about three months as part of their exploration.Door County Comprehensive Plan 2030. Chapter 3 – Historical and Cultural Resources. Volume II, Resource Report.
Table 3.1: Timeline of Historic Events in Door County, pp. 19–20 (pp. 4–5 of the pdf)
In 1679, the party led by La Salle purchased food from a village of Potawatomi in what is now Robert La Salle County Park. During the 1670s
Louis André Louis André (28 March 1838, Nuits-Saint-Georges, Côte-d'Or – 18 March 1913) was France's Minister of War from 1900 until 1904. Loyal to the secularist Third Republic, he was anti-Catholic, militantly anticlerical, a Freemason and was i ...
ministered to about 500 Native Americans at Rowleys Bay, where he erected a cross. The cross stood until about 1870. Around 1690, Nicolas Perrot visited the Potawatomi on Washington Island. In 1720,
Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix Pierre François Xavier de Charlevoix, S.J. ( la, Petrus Franciscus-Xaverius de Charlevoix; 24 or 29 October 1682 – 1 February 1761) was a French Jesuit priest, traveller, and historian, often considered the first historian of New France. He ha ...
visited the area with eight experienced
voyageurs The voyageurs (; ) were 18th and 19th century French Canadians who engaged in the transporting of furs via canoe during the peak of the North American fur trade. The emblematic meaning of the term applies to places (New France, including th ...
. Six
Jesuit , image = Ihs-logo.svg , image_size = 175px , caption = ChristogramOfficial seal of the Jesuits , abbreviation = SJ , nickname = Jesuits , formation = , founders ...
rings marked with letters or symbols and turquoise colored glass
trade beads Trade beads are beads that were used as a medium of barter within and amongst communities. They are considered to be one of the earliest forms of trade between members of the human race. It has also been surmised that bead trading was one of t ...
were found on Rock Island in remains left by Potowatomi,
Odawa The Odawa (also Ottawa or Odaawaa ), said to mean "traders", are an Indigenous American ethnic group who primarily inhabit land in the Eastern Woodlands region, commonly known as the northeastern United States and southeastern Canada. They h ...
, and
Huron Huron may refer to: People * Wyandot people (or Wendat), indigenous to North America * Wyandot language, spoken by them * Huron-Wendat Nation, a Huron-Wendat First Nation with a community in Wendake, Quebec * Nottawaseppi Huron Band of Potawato ...
- Peton-Odawa Native Americans during the 17th and 18th centuries. The remains of four Native American buildings were documented at the Rock Island II Site during 1969–1973 excavations. By the end of French rule over the area in 1763, the Potawatomi had begun a move to the Detroit area, leaving the large communities in Wisconsin. Later, some Potawatomi moved back from Michigan to northern Wisconsin. Some but not all Potawatomi later left northern Wisconsin for northern Indiana and central Illinois.Edmunds, R. David (1988). ''The Potawatomis: Keepers of the Fire''. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press (Civilization of the American Indian Series); In 1815, Captain Talbot Chambers was falsely reported to have died fighting Blackhawk Indians on Chambers Island; the island was named for him in 1816. In the spring 1833, Odawa on Detroit Island were baptized during an eight day visit by Frederic Baraga. During an attack in 1835, one of two fishermen squatting on Detroit Island was shot and killed along with one or more Native Americans. The other fisherman was rescued by a passing boat.''Exploring Door County'' by Craig Charles, NorthWord Press, Minoqua, Wisconsin, 1990, pages 178 (Detroit Island) and 158 (surfing) From the 1840s to the 1880s, the Clark brothers operated a fishing camp at Whitefish Bay that employed 30 to 40 fishermen. Additionally, 200–300 Potawatomi extracted fish oil from the fish waste at the camp. The
Menominee The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...
ceded their claim to the Door Peninsula to the United States in the 1831 Treaty of Washington. As a result of this treaty, settlers could purchase land, but many fishermen still chose to live as squatters. At the same time, the more decentralized Potawatomi were divested of their land without compensation. Some Potawatomi as late as 1845 made sure to visit and gamble with the Menominee shortly after the periodic annuity payments were issued.Chapter o
The Migrations: 1835–1845
in ''Place of refuge for all time'' by James A. Clifton, University of Ottawa Press, 1975, pages 65, 73, and 86–87 (pages 2, 10, and 23–24 of the pdf)
Many emigrated to Canada because of multiple factors. One factor was invitations from Native Americans already in Canada for the Potawatomi to join them. Another was British policies to invite and encourage as much Indian emigration from the United States as possible. Even prior to their final emigration, many Potowatomis had periodically migrated into Canada to receive compensation related to their service on the British side during the
War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It be ...
and to pledge their continued loyalty. Another factor was a desire to avoid the harsh terms of the
1833 Treaty of Chicago The 1833 Treaty of Chicago struck an agreement between the United States government that required the Chippewa Odawa, and Potawatomi tribes cede to the United States government their of land (including reservations) in Illinois, the Wisco ...
, which compensated the Wisconsin Potowatomi with less than what was paid to Potowatomi from the Chicago area. Although not all Potawatomi participated in the Treaty of Chicago, it was federal policy that any who did not relocate westward as the treaty stipulated would not be compensated for their land. Additionally, some preferred the climate of the Great Lakes area over that of the Plains, and American governmental policy for the area beginning in 1837 tended towards forced rather than voluntary Indian removal. Moving to Canada became a way to stay in the Great Lakes area without risking removal. Potawatomi leader
Simon Kahquados Simon Kahquados, born Kakanisaiga, (May 18, 1851 – November 27, 1930) was a leader of the Potawatomi people in Wisconsin, United States, and played a pivotal role in creating the federally recognized Forest County Potawatomi Community. Biogra ...
traveled to Washington, D.C. multiple times in an attempt to get the land back. In 1906, Congress passed a law to establish a census of all Potawatomi formerly living in Wisconsin and Michigan as a first step toward compensation. The 1907 "Wooster" roll, named after the clerk who compiled it, documented 457 Potawatomi living in Wisconsin and Michigan and 1423 in Ontario. Instead of returning the land, a meager monthly payment was issued. Although Kahquados was unsuccessful, he increased public awareness of Potawatomi history. In 1931, 15,000 people attended his burial in Peninsula State Park.


County border adjustments

In 1818,
Michilimackinac Michilimackinac ( ) is derived from an Ottawa Ojibwe name for present-day Mackinac Island and the region around the Straits of Mackinac between Lake Huron and Lake Michigan.. Early settlers of North America applied the term to the entire region ...
and Brown counties were formed by the Michigan territorial legislature. The border between the two ran through the peninsula at Sturgeon Bay. What is now the southern part of Door County was in Brown County, while the northern part was in Michilimackinac County. In 1836, the northern part of Door County was taken from Michilimackinac County and added to Brown County as part of an overall border adjustment limiting Michilimackinac to areas within the soon-to-be-reduced
Michigan Territory The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan. Detroit ...
. When Door County was separated off from Brown County in 1851, it included what is now Kewaunee County. Kewaunee County was separated off of Door County in 1852. Although the Door– Marinette county lines within the Wisconsin part of Green Bay were assigned to the "center of the main channel of Green Bay," not all maps drew the positions of the islands and the main channel of Green Bay correctly. In particular, some once incorrectly considered Green Island in what is now the town of Peshtigo in Marinette County to be in the town of Egg Harbor in Door County. In 1923, Michigan claimed ownership of
Plum A plum is a fruit of some species in ''Prunus'' subg. ''Prunus'.'' Dried plums are called prunes. History Plums may have been one of the first fruits domesticated by humans. Three of the most abundantly cultivated species are not found ...
,
Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...
,
Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...
, Hog, and Rock islands in Door County, although it did not take possession of them. In 1926, the Supreme Court dismissed Michigan's claim. In doing so, the court mistakenly appeared to award islands north of Rock Island in Delta County to Wisconsin (and by extension to Door County). Door County never assumed jurisdiction over these Michigan islands, and the matter was fixed again before the Supreme Court in the 1936 ''
Wisconsin v. Michigan Two Supreme Court cases, ''Wisconsin v. Michigan'', 295 U.S. 455 (1935) and ''Wisconsin v. Michigan'', 297 U.S. 547 (1936), settled a territorial dispute between Wisconsin and Michigan. Background The 1836 boundary description between Wiscons ...
'' decision, which left governance of the islands in Door and Delta counties as they had been before the litigation. The more tourism-dominated northern part of the peninsula was acculturated from the professional and business classes of the tourists, while the more agriculture-dominated southern remained more rural in character. Due to economic, ethnic, and cultural differences between the northern and southern parts of the present-day Door County, arguments are sometimes started about the most appropriate place to draw the Door–Kewaunee line.Drawing Lines: Door County's Geographic Rivalries
Myles Dannhausen Jr., ''Door County Living'' – July 1st, 2011


Geography


Caves and sinkholes

A
pit cave A pit cave, shaft cave or vertical cave—or often simply called a pit (in the US) and pothole or pot (in the UK); jama in South Slavic languages scientific and colloquial vocabulary (borrowed since early research in the Western Balkan Dinaric ...
containing the skeletal remains of both present-day and pre-Columbian animals opens at the southern base of Brussels Hill. It is the deepest known pit cave and the fourth-longest known cave of any sort in Wisconsin. It was discovered by excavating three
sinkhole A sinkhole is a depression or hole in the ground caused by some form of collapse of the surface layer. The term is sometimes used to refer to doline, enclosed depressions that are locally also known as ''vrtače'' and shakeholes, and to openi ...
s in an extensive project. Hundreds of sinkholes in Door County have been found and marked on an electronic map.Web-Map of Door County, Wisconsin ... For All Seasons!
Door County Land Information Office, Accessed September 7th, 2019
Most sinkholes on the peninsula are formed by gradual
subsidence Subsidence is a general term for downward vertical movement of the Earth's surface, which can be caused by both natural processes and human activities. Subsidence involves little or no horizontal movement, which distinguishes it from slope mov ...
of material into the hole rather than a sudden collapse. Some are regularly filled by tilling or natural erosion, only to subside more due to
meltwater Meltwater is water released by the melting of snow or ice, including glacial ice, tabular icebergs and ice shelves over oceans. Meltwater is often found in the ablation zone of glaciers, where the rate of snow cover is reducing. Meltwater ca ...
or heavy rain.p. 23 (p. 27 of the pdf) of Effects of Geological Processes on Environmental Quality, Door Peninsula, Wisconsin by Ronald D. Stiegliz i
The Silurian Dolomite Aquifer of the Door Peninsula: Facies, Sequence Stratigraphy, Porosity, and Hydrogeology: Field Trip Guidebook (Revised Version)
for the 1996 Fall Field Conference of the Great Lakes Section of the SEPM, Green Bay, Wisconsin and Pre-meeting field trip for the 1997 Meeting of the North-Central Section of the GSA, Madison Wisconsin
Many caves are found in the escarpment. One of them, Horseshoe Bay Cave, is Wisconsin's second-longest and contains a 45-foot-high underground waterfall. Horseshoe Bay Cave is home to rare invertebrates. Several tiny caves at Peninsula State Park are open and accessible to the public. Eagle Cave is larger but opens midway up the scarp face. Only one cave not formed by karst or lakeshore erosion has been discovered in Door County. It opens in the basement of a nursing home in Sturgeon Bay.


High points


Door County


= Structures on high points

= * A tower on Brussels Hill is owned by the Wisconsin Public Service Corporation. * Boyer Bluff Lighthouse is an 80 foot (24 meters) tall skeleton towerBoyer Bluff (Wisconsin)
''United States Lighthouse Society''
on , elevation 722 ft (220 meters) * "The Mountain" at Mountain Park in Washington Island is the highest point on the island and has a lookout tower. *
Eagle Bluff Lighthouse The Eagle Bluff Light, also known as Eagle Bluff lighthouse, or simply Eagle Bluff, is a lighthouse located near Ephraim in Peninsula State Park in Door County, Wisconsin. Construction was authorized in 1866, but the lighthouse was not actually bu ...
on Eagle Bluff , elevation 597 ft (182 meters) * Pottawatomie Light on Pottawatomie Point on Rock Island. * A wind turbine project on the escarpment was completed in 1999. At the time the 30.5-acre (12.3-ha) Rosiere Wind Farm was the largest in the eastern
United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...
.


= Other high points

= * Deathdoor Bluff , elevation 728 ft (222 meters) * Ellison Bluff , elevation 587 ft (179 meters) * Mount Lowe , elevation 728 ft (222 meters) * Sister Bluffs , elevation 581 ft (177 meters) * Svens Bluff , elevation 633 ft (193 meters) * Table Bluff , elevation 623 ft (190 meters) * Certain other high points are currently unnamed


Kewaunee County

* Cherneyville Hill, elevation 1,014 ft (309 meters) * Dhuey Hill, elevation 912 ft (278 meters) * Montpelier Hills, elevation 951 ft (290 meters)


Waters

Sturgeon Bay and Little Sturgeon are considered
biodiversity hotspot A biodiversity hotspot is a biogeographic region with significant levels of biodiversity that is threatened by human habitation. Norman Myers wrote about the concept in two articles in ''The Environmentalist'' in 1988 and 1990, after which the c ...
s because they support a large number of different fish species. North of the peninsula, warm water from Green Bay flows into Lake Michigan on the surface, while at the same time, cold lakewater enters Green Bay deep underneath. This is a major reason why oxygen levels in the bay are often too low. In the Lower Green Bay, a counterclockwise circulation of water along the surface of the bay is thought to carry cleaner water south along the western shore, and nutrient-rich water from the Fox River north along the eastern shore. This circulation is thought to begin south of the mouth of the Oconto River on the west side. It changes direction at Pensaukee, north of Long Tail Point and continues northward to Sturgeon Bay. The position of Long Tail Point marks the east-west division between the two masses of water.
Walleye The walleye (''Sander vitreus'', synonym ''Stizostedion vitreum''), also called the yellow pike or yellow pickerel, is a freshwater perciform fish native to most of Canada and to the Northern United States. It is a North American close relat ...
found in the Sturgeon Bay and Little Sturgeon area had 87% more PCBs than walleye from the western side of Green Bay at the mouth of the Oconto River. This fits what is known about the distribution of PCBs which spread from industries in the Fox River Valley.


Dry valleys and obsequent versus resequent streams

Dry valleys are in the western and central areas of the peninsula. Some carry water during the spring snow melt to a larger drainage or stream, but several have been found which appear unrelated to current drainage patterns. They may have been formed from melting glaciers or drainage patterns prior to the glaciers. Small obsequent streams flow from near the crest of the escarpment into Green Bay, and small resequent streams flow down the longer slope into Lake Michigan. The Kewaunee River, the
Ahnapee River The Ahnapee River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed December 19, 2011 river on the Door Peninsula in eastern Wisconsin in the United States. It rises in Door Count ...
, Lilly Bay Creek and streams in the towns of Forestville and
Clay Banks Clay is a type of fine-grained natural soil material containing clay minerals (hydrous aluminium phyllosilicates, e.g. kaolin, Al2 Si2 O5( OH)4). Clays develop plasticity when wet, due to a molecular film of water surrounding the clay parti ...
are all resequent streams.


Spawning

Spawning areas and other fish habitat areas adjacent to the islands north of the Door Peninsula were mapped in 1978. Lake whitefish spawn in Moonlight Bay. From 1962 to 1965, 39 smallmouth bass nests were observed in a variety of county waters. Water depth varied from 17 inches to at least five feet and possibly deeper. 27 of the nests were made on gravel or rubble, 8 were made on sand, and 4 were made on bedrock with overlaying gravel. Adult fish were observed on 14 of the nests and eggs were seen in 19 of the nests. During part of the study carp were seen stirring up the water in Little Sturgeon Bay. This kept the water extremely turbid during the entire smallmouth bass spawning period which prevented any smallmouth eggs from hatching.
Brown trout The brown trout (''Salmo trutta'') is a European species of salmonid fish that has been widely introduced into suitable environments globally. It includes purely freshwater populations, referred to as the riverine ecotype, ''Salmo trutta'' morp ...
were first planted in the Wisconsin side of Lake Michigan in 1966. They now spawn in Lake Michigan tributaries on the Door Peninsula. Fall runs are often limited by tributary flow. When low flow prevents runs into streams, spawning occurs along rocky lakeshores. Adults often lay eggs around docks and harbors along the peninsula, and most bays in the area have populations of brown trout.


=Reefs and shoals in Door County waters

= :* Dunlap Reef :* Fisherman Shoal :* Four Foot Shoal :* Hanover Shoal :* Horseshoe Reefs :* Larsons Reef :* Middle Shoal :* Monument Shoal :* Nine Foot Shoal :* Outer Shoal :* Sherwood Point Shoal :* Sister Shoals :* Waverly Shoal


Salmon

Beginning in 1964, first coho and then Chinook salmon were stocked in Lake Michigan. New Chinook fingerling stocking in the spring and egg and milt collection from late September to early November primarily takes place at the Strawberry Creek Chinook Facility in southern Door County. The facility is a public attraction during stocking and collection times. In recent years there has been concern that the alewife population will not support the salmon population, especially as the Chinook population has already collapsed in Lake Huron. Chinook salmon are sought after by tourists enjoying chartered fishing trips. Several state record salmon have been caught out of Door County waters on the
Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...
side. In 1994 the state record Chinook was taken; it weighed 44 pounds, 15 ounces, and was 47.5 inches long. In 2016 the Wisconsin state record for pinook (a hybrid of the pink and Chinook salmons) was set at a weight of 9 pounds, 1.6 ounces, and 27.87 inches.Wisconsin Record Fish List
July 2021, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources'' (The records are current as of July 2021.)
In 2018, Kewaunee County ranked first in the state with 26,557
Chinook salmon The Chinook salmon (''Oncorhynchus tshawytscha'') is the largest and most valuable species of Pacific salmon in North America, as well as the largest in the genus '' Oncorhynchus''. Its common name is derived from the Chinookan peoples. Other ...
caught. Door County ranked second with 14,268 fish caught.


Other fish

Round gobies eat mussels off the rocky shoreline, and in turn are eaten by lake trout, smallmouth bass, burbot, walleye, lake whitefish, and yellow perch. In 2014 the state speargun record for the invasive
round goby The round goby (''Neogobius melanostomus'') is a fish. Defined as a euryhaline bottom-dwelling goby of the family Gobiidae, it is native to Central Eurasia, including the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea. Round gobies have established large no ...
was taken by out of Door County waters on the Lake Michigan side. It weighed 5.0 ounces and was 8.25 inches long. Tagging studies have shown whitefish migrating from
Big Bay de Noc Big Bay de Noc is a bay in the Upper Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. The bay, which opens into Lake Michigan's Green Bay, is enclosed by Delta County. The Garden Peninsula is on the east side of the bay and the Stonington Peninsula i ...
which has less food to the plentiful waters off the peninsula. On five occasions from May through June 2017, researchers attempted to catch larval fish at the mouth of Sugar Creek using traps with green glowsticks as lures. They only caught white suckers, with the traps catching the most suckers per hour from May 15–22. Smallmouth bass in county waters off the Green Bay side have been found to migrate more than those off the Lake Michigan side or near Washington Island. In 2021, an outbreak of Largemouth Bass Virus among smallmouth bass occurred in county waters on the Green Bay side. From 2007–2010, two smallmouth bass within Sturgeon Bay were found to be infected with viral hemorrhagic septicemia. Each of the two bass were infected with a different variant. Both variants have only been found in the upper, but not middle or lower Great Lakes.


Fishing

Remains of
sturgeon Sturgeon is the common name for the 27 species of fish belonging to the family Acipenseridae. The earliest sturgeon fossils date to the Late Cretaceous, and are descended from other, earlier acipenseriform fish, which date back to the Early ...
, catfish, sucker, smallmouth bass,
white bass The white bass, silver bass, or sand bass (''Morone chrysops'') is a freshwater fish of the temperate bass family Moronidae. commonly around 12-15 inches long. The species' main color is silver-white to pale green. Its back is dark, with white s ...
, walleye, and
drum The drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments. In the Hornbostel-Sachs classification system, it is a membranophone. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a ...
left behind by Native Americans were found near North Bay in the 1960s. In 1965, strong restrictions from the Wisconsin DNR forced some commercial fishermen to change careers. Prior to that, fish were flown out to Midwestern metro areas the same day they were caught. Today, lake whitefish and
yellow perch The yellow perch (''Perca flavescens''), commonly referred to as perch, striped perch, American perch, American river perch or preacher is a freshwater perciform fish native to much of North America. The yellow perch was described in 1814 by Sam ...
are caught commercially, and
lake whitefish The lake whitefish (''Coregonus clupeaformis'') is a species of freshwater whitefish from North America. Lake whitefish are found throughout much of Canada and parts of the northern United States, including all of the Great Lakes. The lake white ...
are also caught commercially by ice fishing. In 2019, anglers spent an estimated 181,342 hours fishing off the eastern shore of Door County, 222,088 hours fishing off the eastern shore of Kewaunee County, and 1,113,129 hours fishing in the entirety of Green Bay. The figures document a decrease from 1990, when anglers spent an estimated 406,998 hours fishing off the eastern shore of Door County, 279,385 hours fishing off the eastern shore of Kewaunee County, and 1,245,291 hours fishing in the entirety of Green Bay.


Surfing

Lake Michigan shoreline is used for
lake surfing Lake surfing is surfing on any lake with sufficient surface area for wind to produce waves. As with ocean surfing, ideal wave conditions are when the wind switches offshore. However, when this occurs over a lake the waves generated by previous ons ...
. One guidebook names the shore off Cave Point County Park as the best surfing area. Another water sport is
windsurfing Windsurfing is a wind propelled water sport that is a combination of sailing and surfing. It is also referred to as "sailboarding" and "boardsailing", and emerged in the late 1960s from the aerospace and surf culture of California. Windsurfing ga ...
.


Astronaut photography

Astronauts on missions using every space shuttle and living in three different space stations have photographed the peninsula. In 2014, a photo of ice stringers in the waters north of the peninsula was featured as the
NASA Earth Observatory NASA Earth Observatory is an online publishing outlet for NASA which was created in 1999. It is the principal source of satellite imagery and other scientific information pertaining to the climate and the environment which are being provided by NA ...
Image of the Day.Ice stringers, Lake Michigan
''Earth Observatory'', Image of the Day for March 10, 2014


Climate


Rare snails

From 1996 to 2001, researchers identified 69 species of snails in Door County, the most out of the 22 counties in the study. Most of these were found on rock outcrop habitats. Ranking second was Brown County with 62 species. 48 species were found in Kewaunee County, ranking eighth.
Slugs Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial molluscs, terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced ...
were found in all three counties. Peninsula State Park is home to the northernmost known population of ''Strobilops aenea''. The species ''
Vertigo hubrichti ''Vertigo hubrichti'', common name Hubricht's vertigo, is a species of minute land snail, a terrestrial pulmonate gastropod mollusk or micromollusk in the family Vertiginidae Vertiginidae, common name the whorl snails, is a family of mi ...
'' and ''Vertigo morsei'' are endemic to the upper Midwest. These two species had the highest occurrence frequencies along the Door and Garden Peninsulas. Door County is also home to several uncommon species from the genus ''
Oxychilus ''Oxychilus'' is a genus of small air-breathing land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropods in the subfamily Oxychilinae of the family Oxychilidae, the glass snails. Synonyms * ''Aplostoma'' Moquin-Tandon, 1855 * ''Cretozonites'' Kobelt, 1890 ...
'', which is non-native and introduced from Europe. One was found near a vacation home and may have been introduced by landscape plantings. Within Door County, Brussels Hill, North Kangaroo Lake, Rock Island and the scarp face with its cool algific habitat supports populations of rare snails. Out of 63 locations in Door County where snails were found, the most species (28) were located on a cliff in Rock Island.Terrestrial gastropod richness of carbonate cliff and associated habitats in the Great Lakes region of North America
by J. C. Nekola, ''Malacologia 41''(1), 2000, p. 246 (p. 16 of the pdf) (Archived December 21, 2018)


See also

* Door Peninsula chipmunk * Peshtigo Fire * Wisconsin Ledge AVA


Explanatory notes


References

{{Authority control Lake Michigan Landforms of Brown County, Wisconsin Landforms of Door County, Wisconsin Landforms of Kewaunee County, Wisconsin Niagara Escarpment Peninsulas of Wisconsin Ramsar sites in the United States