Boulder Junction

History

In 1903, the Milwaukee Railroad laid tracks to the area that became known as Boulder Junction. While the railroad served the booming logging industry, it also attracted outdoors enthusiasts who came to fish and hunt. Electricity arrived in 1925. The town of Boulder Junction was incorporated in 1927. Phone service began in 1930. Also in the 1930s, wide-scale replanting began of the trees that had been harvested from the land during the logging boom of the previous decades.

Geography

The Town of Boulder Junction is located in central Vilas County. The area encompasses the basin of the Trout and Manitowish Rivers, which flow eventually into the Flambeau River. Much of the town is covered by the Northern Highland-American Legion State Forest, whose headquarters can be found on the east shore of Trout Lake. According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of 100.4 square miles (260.0 km2), of which 81.9 square miles (212.2 km2) is land and 18.5 square miles (47.8 km2) (18.40%) is water. Most of the water consists of smaller and medium-sized lakes, and most of the land is forested in tree typical of the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence forest band. The census-designated place of Boulder Junction is located in the town.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• Black-capped Chickadee

  Poecile atricapillus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  3,652
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  3,463
• Red-breasted Nuthatch

  Sitta canadensis Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  2,966
• American Goldfinch

  Spinus tristis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  2,499
• White-breasted Nuthatch

  Sitta carolinensis Latham, 1790 · Aves
  2,451
• Common Loon

  Gavia immer (Brunnich, 1764) · Aves
  2,432
• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  2,381
• Red-eyed Vireo

  Vireo olivaceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  2,359

Most recent

• M 2.5 — 2024-01-07
  3 km NE of Mole Lake, Wisconsin