Editing Lake Holcombe, Wisconsin

{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2024}}
:'' '''Lake Holcombe''' is also a popular name for the [[Holcombe Flowage]]''.

{{Infobox settlement
|official_name   = Lake Holcombe, Wisconsin
|settlement_type = [[Town]]
|nickname        =
|motto           =

<!-- Images -->
|image_skyline = Lake_Holcombe_Town_Hall.jpg
|imagesize     =
|image_caption = Town Hall

<!-- Maps -->
|image_map    = WIMap-doton-Lake_Holcombe.png
|mapsize      = 250px
|map_caption  = Location of Lake Holcombe, Wisconsin
|image_map1   =
|mapsize1     =
|map_caption1 =

<!-- Location -->
|subdivision_type  = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
|subdivision_name  = {{flag|United States}}
|subdivision_type1 = [[U.S. state|State]]
|subdivision_name1 = {{flag|Wisconsin}}
|subdivision_type2 = [[List of counties in Wisconsin|County]]
|subdivision_name2 = [[Chippewa County, Wisconsin|Chippewa]]

<!-- Government -->
|government_footnotes =
|government_type      =
|leader_title         =
|leader_name          =
|leader_title1        =
|leader_name1         =
|established_title    =
|established_date     =

<!-- Area -->
|unit_pref        = Imperial
|area_footnotes   =
|area_magnitude   =
|area_total_km2   = 79.3
|area_land_km2    = 69.0
|area_water_km2   = 10.4
|area_total_sq_mi = 
|area_land_sq_mi  = 
|area_water_sq_mi =

<!-- Population -->
|population_as_of         = [[2010 United States Census|2010]]
|population_footnotes     =
|population_total         = 1031
|population_density_km2   = 14.9
|population_density_sq_mi =

<!-- General information -->
|timezone            = [[North American Central Time Zone|Central (CST)]]
|utc_offset          = -6
|timezone_DST        = CDT
|utc_offset_DST      = -5
|elevation_footnotes = <ref name="GR3">{{cite web|url=http://geonames.usgs.gov|access-date=January 31, 2008|title=US Board on Geographic Names|publisher=[[United States Geological Survey]]|date=October 25, 2007}}</ref>
|elevation_m         = 322
|elevation_ft        = 1056
|coordinates         = {{coord|45|14|52|N|91|6|7|W|region:US-WI|display=inline,title}}
|postal_code_type    =
|postal_code         =
|area_code           = [[Area codes 715 and 534|715 & 534]]
|blank_name          = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
|blank_info          = 55-41550<ref name="GR2">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=January 31, 2008|title=U.S. Census website}}</ref>
|blank1_name         = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
|blank1_info         = 1583512<ref name="GR3" />
|blank2_name         = [[Public Land Survey System|PLSS]] township
|blank2_info         = Most of T32N R6W and a bit of T31N R6W
|website             =
|footnotes           =
}}
'''Lake Holcombe''' is a town in [[Chippewa County, Wisconsin|Chippewa County]] in the [[U.S. state]] of [[Wisconsin]]. Its population was 1,031 at the 2010 census.<ref name="Census 2010">{{cite web| url=http://factfinder2.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/G001/0600000US5501741550| title=Geographic Identifiers: 2010 Demographic Profile Data (G001): Lake Holcombe town, Chippewa County, Wisconsin| publisher=U.S. Census Bureau, American Factfinder| access-date=September 17, 2015}}{{dead link|bot=medic|date=April 2020}}{{cbignore|bot=medic}}</ref> The census-designated place of [[Holcombe, Wisconsin|Holcombe]] is located in the town.

==History==

The area that would become Holcombe was first [[Surveying|surveyed]] in 1852 by crews working for the U.S. government. One crew marked all the [[Section (United States land surveying)|section corners]] of the [[survey township|township]], walking through the woods and wading the rivers, measuring with [[Gunter's chain|chain]] and [[Solar compass|compass]].<ref>{{cite web| title=Land Survey Information| url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/SurveyNotes/SurveyInfo.html| publisher=Board of Commissioners of Public Lands| access-date=March 26, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| title=Field Notes for T32N R5W| url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/SurveyNotes/SurveyNotes-idx?type=PLSS&town=T032N&range=R006W| work=Original Field Notes and Plat Maps, 1833-1866| publisher=Board of Commissioners of Public Lands| access-date=March 13, 2013}}</ref> When done, the deputy surveyor filed this general description:
<blockquote>''This Township contains a few(?) small [[Thuja occidentalis|Cedar]] & [[Larix laricina|Tamarac]] Swamp, All unfit for cultivation. The surface is generally level, soil second rate and most of (?) fit for cultivation. The Township is covered with timber mostly [[Eastern White Pine|Pine]], [[Tsuga canadensis|Hemlock]], Tamarac, Cedar and some [[Sugar maple|Sugar]] [[Betula alleghaniensis|Birch]] and Maple. The [[Chippewa River (Wisconsin)|Chippewa River]] runs in a southerly direction through the west part of the Township and Fisher River runs through the South East part Both of the streams have a rapid current and furnish good motive power for [[Watermill|Mills]].''<ref>{{cite web|last=Harrison|first=J. M.|title=Interior Field Notes (1852)|url=http://digicoll.library.wisc.edu/cgi-bin/SurveyNotes/SurveyNotes-idx?type=article&byte=2838360&isize=L&twp=T032NR006W|publisher=Board of Commissioners of Public Lands|access-date=2013-03-13}}</ref></blockquote>

Originally called Little Falls in the 1870s, the community was established by the Union Lumbering Company along the Chippewa River and came to be known as Holcombe years later.<ref name = holc_hx>{{Cite web|url=http://www.lakeholcombe.org/history.html|title = History}}</ref>

The original Little Falls dam was built in 1878 by Elijah Swift and Joseph Viles for the Chippewa River Improvement and Log Driving Company. It was big for the time, a wooden dam {{convert|625|ft}} wide and {{convert|16|ft}} high with 32 floodgates. Its main aim was to provide reliable water for floating logs downstream, even when natural water levels were low. With its gates wide open it could raise the Chippewa {{convert|3|ft}}, {{convert|100|mi|-1}} downstream. Parts of the dam were washed out by floods in 1880 and 1884. After the second washout, a dam-building specialist named Billy "the Beaver" England was brought in. He and his crew rebuilt the dam in the winter of 1884–1885, and it survived the floods for many years after.<ref name=Vogel>{{cite journal| last=Vogel| first=John N.| title=The Round Lake Logging Dam: A Survivor of Wisconsin's Log-driving Days| journal=Wisconsin Magazine of History| date=Spring 1983| volume=66| issue=3| pages=177–178| url=http://content.wisconsinhistory.org/cdm4/document.php?CISOROOT=/wmh&CISOPTR=32773&CISOSHOW=32692| access-date=September 24, 2011}}</ref> The journal of the dam's keeper from 1882 to 1890 still survives, briefly describing log drives and jams and the flood of 1884.<ref>{{cite book| title=Daily Journal 1882-1890 Little Falls Dam (Holcombe)| year=1979| publisher=Chippewa County Historical Society| location=Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin}}</ref> A terrible accident occurred in 1905, when eleven log drivers drowned trying to get to a log jam near the dam.<ref>{{cite book| last=Rosholt| first=Malcolm L.| title=Lumbermen on the Chippewa| year=1982| publisher=Rosholt House| isbn=0-910417-00-8| pages=195–198| url=http://content.mpl.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/mcml/id/3757/rec/2}}</ref> The dam functioned until 1910, when logging operations ceased. It washed out in the 1920s.<ref name = holc_hx />

The current hydroelectric dam was built in 1950 by the Wisconsin-Minnesota Light and Power Company,<ref name = holc_hx /> producing the current [[Holcombe Flowage]]. The flowage is a popular recreation area, and the shores are thick with homes and cottages.

==Geography==
[[File:Holcombe Dam-2.jpg|thumb|160px|left|[[Holcombe Flowage|Holcombe Hydro Dam]]]]
The town of Lake Holcombe is roughly a {{convert|6|mi|0|adj=on}} by 6 mile square, except that the west end is cut off by the [[Chippewa River (Wisconsin)|Chippewa River]], and a few square miles are added in the southwest. The [[Holcombe Flowage]] ("Lake Holcombe") takes up the northern part of the town's western boundary, impounding the Chippewa River itself but also extending east across the northern part of the town where the [[Jump River]] enters. According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the town has a total area of {{convert|79.3|sqkm|order=flip}}, of which {{convert|69.0|sqkm|order=flip}} is land and {{convert|10.4|sqkm|order=flip}}, or 13.07%, is water.<ref name="Census 2010"/>

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
| 1990=	920
| 2000=	1010
| 2010= 1031
|estimate=1080
|estyear=2020
}}
As of the [[census]]<ref name="GR2" /> of 2000, there were 1,010 people, 413 households, and 292 families residing in the town. The [[population density]] was 37.5 people per square mile (14.5/km<sup>2</sup>).  There were 548 housing units at an average density of 20.4 per square mile (7.9/km<sup>2</sup>). The racial makeup of the town was 98.71% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 0.50% [[Native American (U.S. Census)|Native American]], 0.40% [[Asian (U.S. Census)|Asian]], 0.10% from [[Race (United States Census)|other races]], and 0.30% from two or more races. [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race were 0.79% of the population.

There were 413 households, out of which 26.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.0% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 6.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 29.1% were non-families. 24.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.7% h ad someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.40 and the average family size was 2.80.

In the town, the population was spread out, with 23.8% under the age of 18, 5.3% from 18 to 24, 23.7% from 25 to 44, 30.2% from 45 to 64, and 17.0% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 43 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 99.0 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $33,083, and the median income for a family was $37,500. Males had a median income of $26,905 versus $18,750 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the town was $15,900. About 5.5% of families and 10.2% of the population were below the [[poverty line]], including 10.6% of those under age 18 and 9.1% of those age 65 or over.

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==Further reading==
[http://content.mpl.org/cdm/compoundobject/collection/mcml/id/3757/rec/2 "Little Falls Dam"], a section in Malcolm Rosholt's ''Lumbermen on the Chippewa'' beginning at page 179, includes descriptions and photos of the dam and photos of residents from way back.

==External links==
*[http://www.lakeholcombe.org Lake Holcombe Resort and Business Association]

{{Chippewa County, Wisconsin}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Towns in Chippewa County, Wisconsin]]
[[Category:Eau Claire–Chippewa Falls metropolitan area]]
[[Category:Towns in Wisconsin]]