Background Information
The Fox River is a very fast-moving river, which drops a total of 170 ft. between Lake Winnebago and Green Bay. In the days before good roads, railroads, or air travel, rivers provided a convenient way to move people and products across the landscape. However, at the places in the river where there was a drop, rapids prevented boats from continuing on. The boats had to be unloaded, and the cargo and boats portaged, or carried over land past the rapids, and then re-launched.
By the 1840s, Fox Valley settlers already saw a need for a “water highway” to make transportation of goods and people easier. A man named Morgan L. Martin was one of the biggest supporters of building a system of canals and locks on the Fox and Wisconsin Rivers. Martin had come to Wisconsin from New York in 1827, and he believed so strongly in the cause of river improvements that he even donated money to get projects started. In 1846, two years before Wisconsin became a state, the United States Congress lent their support to the river projects. They granted the Wisconsin territory land that was to be sold at $1.25 per acre with the proceeds funding an extensive canal project. When Wisconsin achieved statehood in 1848, Congress turned the project over to the new state board of public works under chief engineer C.R. Alton. Martin continued to front money for the canal, but was now reimbursed with money from land sales.
In 1853, Martin hired a crew of 500 men and formed the Fox and Wisconsin Improvement Company. The City of Kaukauna, platted in 1851, was a community made up of these canal builders, most of whom were of German and Irish descent. Martin encouraged other wealthy men to invest in the project. As construction slowed in 1855 due to a lack of funds, Martin even approached Eastern businessmen to get them to contribute. Finally, the funds were gathered and the canal completed. The Lower Fox River (from Lake Winnebago to DePere) filled with river traffic.
Martin wasn’t the only one interested in making improvements to the river. There was a stiff competition between the cities of Neenah and Menasha to earn the rights to build a canal, as canals meant growth for cities situated along them and economic gain for whoever held the rights to navigation. Curtis Reed won the navigational and canal-building rights for Menasha after he offered to pay the state $5000 if Menasha was the chosen site. His opponent in Neenah, Harvey Jones, decided to go ahead and build his own canal and locks on the Neenah side of the river, ensuring that Neenah wouldn’t be left behind. The Neenah and Menasha canals were completed in the 1850s and both cities developed side by side.
Neenah, known for its flour mills, received grain and exported flour to market. Menasha, famous for wooden wares, took in cut logs and exported washtubs, water pails, bushel and quart measures, washboards, broom and mop handles, clothespins, butter churns, and sap buckets. Because of their location on the Fox River and the canals and locks built there, Neenah and Menasha were poised to become one of Wisconsin’s greatest manufacturing centers by the turn of the century.
In the city of Appleton, river improvements not only aided transportation, but also provided the infrastructure to produce hydroelectricity that powered mills and factories. Even before Appleton had been incorporated as a village, improvement of the river had begun with the construction of a bridge across the Fox. Appleton was selected as the site for Lawrence University because of its natural beauty, accessibility, and the potential to create water power. It seems that the growth of Appleton depended upon the locks and dams, which would harness the river and make it available for creating power.
This became apparent especially in the 1850s and 1860s, when the first paper mills were establishing themselves on the river banks. Water passing through turbines could be used to power the mill’s machinery. In 1882, H.J. Rogers, the owner of the Appleton Pulp and Paper Company, took it a step further. He fitted his paper factory and his new home (625 W. Prospect Ave – now known as the “Hearthstone House”) with recently invented Edison light bulbs. Rogers’ home was the first house in the world to be lit by hydroelectricity.
Canals and locks also facilitated boating for recreation along the Fox River. Once they were finished, sternwheelers (a paddlewheel boat with the paddle in the back) cruised the Fox River and Lake Winnebago. By 1857, 24 steamboats per week passed through Appleton
The building of canals, locks, and dams created transportation networks allowing for the efficient movement of people and goods. These transportation networks allowed for the growth of the Fox Cities through immigration and increased business. The harnessing of the river at dams also created a power source that fueled industries such as papermaking in the Fox Valley. Finally, river improvements made the Fox River and Lake Winnebago more accessible for recreational boaters. The effects of river improvements made in the mid and late 1800s are still visible today although railroads replaced canals as the main transportation routes beginning in the 1860s.
