Stevens Spring
Slowing seeping to the surface, a stone’s throw from Nakoma Road and just a short walk south east of the Gorham Springs, is a little springiet area known as Stevens Spring.
Hidden in the shrubs, and attracting little attention; sometimes dry, and sometimes slightly flowing, the slight stream meanders into Stevens Pond, an artificial body dredged in about 1934 by early UW-Madison Arboretum managers to provide wildlife (duck) habitat.
Emerging from Stevens Pond, the stream is known, not surprisingly, as Stevens Stream—named after Wisconsin Supreme Court justice Edmond Ray Stevens (Sachse, 1965). Sachse referred to Stevens as “a great lover of nature.” The little stream then joins Gorham Stream and meanders through the West Marsh on its way to Lake Wingra.
The entire northern edge of the duck pond and Stevens Pond and extending to the site of the Manitou Pond (the City’s newest storm water pond) is a vast groundwater seepage area. In fact, all of the Lake Wingra basin was rich with springs, springlets, and seepage areas.
WingraSprings 