The Winnebago Pool is a collective name for a group of interconnected

lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much lar ...

s 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 ...

. The terminal point of this watershed is

Lake Winnebago Lake Winnebago ( mez, Wenepekōw Nepēhsæh, oj, Wiinibiigoo-zaaga'igan, one, kanyataláheleˀ) is a shallow freshwater lake in the north central United States, located in east central Wisconsin. At 137,700 acres it is the largest lake entire ...

itself, which has a surface elevation of 746 feet. Besides Lake Winnebago, the Winnebago Pool includes Big Lake Butte des Morts,

Lake Poygan Lake Poygan, located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin near the village of Winneconne, is an expansive widening of the Wolf River totaling over 14,000 acres (57 km²). Lake Poygan is part of the Winnebago Pool or Wolf Chain, a series of interc ...

and

Lake Winneconne Lake Poygan, located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin near the village of Winneconne, is an expansive widening of the Wolf River totaling over 14,000 acres (57 km²). Lake Poygan is part of the Winnebago Pool or Wolf Chain, a series of interc ...

. After the waters reach Lake Winnebago, they exit through the

Lower Fox River The Fox River is a river in eastern Wisconsin in the Great Lakes region of the United States. It is the principal tributary of the Bay of Green Bay, and via the Bay, the largest tributary of Lake Michigan. The well-known city of Green Ba ...

and over the next 39 miles, the river drops over 150 feet to reach the lower water level of Green Bay. The lakes of the Winnebago pool combine to encompass over and account for nearly 17% of the total surface water area in Wisconsin (not counting the

Great Lakes The Great Lakes, also called the Great Lakes of North America, are a series of large interconnected freshwater lakes in the mid-east region of North America that connect to the Atlantic Ocean via the Saint Lawrence River. There are five la ...

). The primary feed waters of the Winnebago Pool are the Wolf River, Upper Fox River and Fond du Lac River. Lakes Winnebago and Big Lake Butte des Morts (along with Little Lake Butte des Morts to the northeast) served as part of the Fox-Wisconsin Waterway. The

Butte des Morts Butte Des Morts (in French, hill of the dead) is a region of northeastern Wisconsin, in Winnebago County, containing two known lakes: Little Lake Butte des Morts, and Lake Butte des Morts. Little Lake Butte des Morts lies between the Menasha region ...

region is part of the Winnebago Pool.

References

Lakes of Wisconsin {{Wisconsin-geo-stub