Sunday, July 30, 2017

Paradise Springs Nature Area in Wisconsins Kettle Moraine South

I found that I've not made a Youtube slide show of The Paradise Springs, so I stand at correcting this. However, while the springs remain, paradise is now temporarily lost A structural failure underneath the more than 100-year-old dam at this historic, state-owned property has mostly drained the pond on June 19, 2015.


The YouTube video can be seen HERE.

These images were taken on October 14, 2014 and serve as a memory for the time being.


Paradise Springs has been owned by many different people. One owner was a millionaire who built a horse track, fishing hole, and an elaborate spring house over beautiful Paradise Springs. 

Paradise Springs is about 5 feet deep and maintains a temperature of about 47 degrees F. year-round. Over 30,000 gallons of water flow from this spring each hour—that’s 500 gallons each minute. Paradise Springs sits in a bowl-shaped depression where the water table reaches the surface.


Most spring houses served a purely functional purpose—to protect the springs and to allow access to the water. This spring house was beautiful as well as functional. Mr. Petit built this spring house in the early 1930s with a wooden-and-copper dome roof and colorful fieldstone walls, no doubt one of the most elaborate spring houses ever built in Wisconsin. Though the roof is gone, the beauty of this spring house remains.




In the early 1900s, Mr. and Mrs. L.D. Nichols stocked this pond with trout. They also had a menagerie of animals which included peacocks, monkeys and pheasants. This pond is still stocked with brook trout for your fishing and visual enjoyment. The wooden cribs you see below the surface provide hiding places for young trout. Brook trout are the only trout species native to the Kettle Moraine and are still found in cold spring water ponds and brooks throughout the region. In October, the trout in this pond spawn lay their eggs near the spring house on the gravel bottom. When spawning, brook trout turn a vibrant pink color and are easier to spot.


The YouTube video can be seen HERE.

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