Please join the Rock River Archaeological Society for their upcoming program:

In this presentation, Carl will discuss the fascinating history of Lake Horicon.

In 1846, pioneers built a dam on the Rock River below the Great Marsh of the Winnebago (now the Horicon Marsh), raising water levels and flooding 51 square miles of marshland. This created one of the world's largest man-made lakes at the time. This engineering triumph powered Horicon's booming mills, factories, and steamboat navigation—launching the 1858 Captain Judd steamer and the 90-ton steamer Michael Winter in 1859—while transforming the quiet marsh into a vibrant commercial hub for logging, produce shipping, fishing and hunting, and excursions that thrived for two decades.

By the 1860s, upstream flooding and downstream water shortages fueled legal battles that reached the Wisconsin Supreme Court, ordering the dam's removal; dismantled log by log in 1868-69, the lake receded, reverting the landscape to marsh despite failed agricultural drainage attempts, ultimately becoming the Horicon National Wildlife Refuge and Horicon Marsh State Wildlife Area.

Carl Reinemann is a public historian, writer, and technologist whose work centers on Horicon, Wisconsin, and the Horicon Marsh, alongside a long-running interest in radio, satellites, and weather imagery. He researches and interprets local history through archival newspapers, photographs, government records, fieldwork, and public storytelling on social media and the “Historical Horicon Wisconsin” platforms.

He studied environmental science at Wright State University, graduated from the Ohio Peace Officer Academy, and later pursued additional coursework in archaeology, environmental education, and parks and recreation management. He spent 25 years in law enforcement, from park ranger to chief of police.