White Clay Spring

White Clay Spring

White Clay Spring in Wingra Woods of UW-Madison Arboretum.

White Clay Spring is so-called because of the color of the up-welling sandy-clay soil. The white clay comes from a thick deposit of white marl covered by the shallow waters of Lake Wingra.  According to Robert A. Birmingham,  the white marl was considered medicinal by the Ho-Chunk.   “The springs and the white marl were important in the beliefs of Native Americans and bestowed great spiritual and symbolic importance on the springs.” (Birmingham, R.A. 2010.  pp 147-148 “Spirits of Earth, The Effigy Mound Landscape of Madison and the Four Lakes.” The University of Wisconsin Press, Madison, WI)

White Clay springs has a flow rate ranging from 11 gals/min. to over 170 gals/min since monitoring began in 2006.   Like many of the springs in Madison, White Clay is clogged with water cress, a non-native aquatic plant which may be altering the water chemistry and affecting the fauna and other flora of the spring.