This article is about the Illinois River tributary, beginning in southeastern Wisconsin. For the river in east-central Wisconsin, see Fox River (Green Bay tributary).
The Fox River (Illinois River tributary) is known locally as an excellent fishery with opportunities for Smallmouth Bass, Flathead Catfish, and Walleye. The rivers watershed encompasses 1720 square miles in Illinois and 938 square miles in Wisconsin.
A major dam in Waterford forms a 1,200-acre (4.9km2) navigable waterway which is one of the busiest in southeastern Wisconsin. The river is generally navigable from the Iron Bridge (now a concrete bridge) in Tichigan, Wisconsin (just south of Big Bend) down to the dam. The river connects several small lakes in this section, and one large lake, Tichigan Lake and one smaller lake, Buena Lake. The entire area including connected lakes and the Fox are often referred to as Tichigan Lake.
At the southern end of this section, Foxwood Isle separates the main dam to its west and a spillway to the east.
A small dam is present just a few miles south in downtown Rochester. The river then flows unobstructed through Burlington, where it joins the White River, and on to Wilmot. This is a popular and picturesque day-canoe trip never straying far from the road, but often just out of sight of it.
Flooding is common on this section of the river, especially near Wheatland to the border.
The Fox River watershed encompasses 938 square miles in Wisconsin.[6]
The Fox River has 15 dams, including McHenry Dam, which raises the river slightly to maintain depth in the Chain O'Lakes in northern Illinois, the Montgomery Dam and the Dayton Dam, a hydroelectric dam near Ottawa. In the winter, bald eagles can be found nesting along the banks.
Early in the history of Illinois, the Fox River provided water for the Illinois and Michigan Canal via a feeder canal, allowing the canal to pass over the Fox River on an aqueduct.
The Fox River watershed encompasses 1720 square miles in Illinois.[6]
U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data. The National MapArchived 2012-03-29 at the Wayback Machine, accessed May 13, 2011
"Major Watersheds of Illinois"(PDF). Illinois State Water Survey. Illinois Dept. of Natural Resources. 2001. Archived from the original(PDF) on 2011-07-19. Retrieved 2009-03-29.