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Cataract, Wisconsin

11 topographic sheets cover this place, the earliest surveyed in 1928 and the latest in 1985. It stands in Little Falls town. It lies in ZIP code area 54656. It stands on Rathbone Creek. The Survey maps it on the Cataract quadrangle. 220 people lived here at the 2020 count. It stands 850 feet above sea level.

Cataract within Monroe County

Population over time

2 figures

Cataract grew from 186 to 220 between 2010 and 2020. These are the recorded population figures Wikidata holds for this place, reached through the Geographic Names Information System number this page is keyed on rather than by name, so they belong to this place and not to another of the same name. Most are census counts, but not all are: an early figure may be a founding or settlement estimate, and an estimate published within five years of a census is left out. The change column is computed, and is left blank where more than 20 years separate a figure from the one before it, because a gap that long is not a change between two counts.

YearPeople Change
2010186
2020220+34 (+18%)

Topographic sheets covering this place

7 surveys from 11 printed sheets

Matched by testing this settlement's coordinate against the published boundary of every sheet in the United States Geological Survey's historical collection. Each opens the scanned sheet at the Survey.

In the county-history sources

1,217 words on this township

History of Monroe County, Wisconsin, Past and Present : Including an Account of the Cities, Towns and Villages of the County [microform], published 1912 names this settlement in its chapter on Little Falls Town. These are the passages that mention it, exactly as the scans read.

There is no record of the organization of the town of Little Falls in the proceedings of the county board of this county. It seems that at the time of the organization of this county the territory comprised in the towai of Little Falls and wdiat was then known as the town of Eaton on the east of it was supposed to be in Jackson county, and these two towns were originally orgaiiizi'il iiiid their tirsl nicetiiigs held as a part of that county, l)ut subsequently the mistake was discovered and the chairman of the town board of Little Falls appeared at the annual session of the county board of iMonroe county in November, 1856, claiming a seat as a member of that body. Objection Avas raised to this, but the reason for it does not appear upon the record. After some discussion and consideration of tlic; matter the board tinally voted to give the supervisor from the town of Little Falls a seat with all the rights of a member, and AV. \V. Benton wa.s duly sworn in as the first member of the county board from the town of Little Falls on Xovemlx-r 11, 1856. Settlers canie into the town early and ])egan developing its farm and timber lands and water i)owers. Perhaps the oldest settlor in point of time was AVilliam Printz. who came in 1852, being some two years before the county itself Avas organized, and the {)oint near Cataract Avas, in fact, one of the first localities in Avhich settlers ])egan to take up land. He Avas folloAved by Thomas Richards in 1854, and the other pioneers in order in Avhieh they came Averc George Walters, 1855: ^Ir. Ilovey, 1855, Avho kept a store; Bert :MatheAvs, 1856; :\[. P. Matteson, 1856; C. AV. Johnson. 1857; John ir. Brackett, 1864.

Passage source: History of Monroe County, Wisconsin, Past and Present : Including an Account of the Cities, Towns and Villages of the County [microform], published 1912.

Most of the town is now well developed and the village of Cataract has become quite a little settlement, situated as it is near a good Avater power and is a convenient trading point for the farmers living in the vicinity. The town has furnished from its citizens several men who have acquired prominence in the county affairs, among Avhom may be named the Seantletons, father and son ; a\Iyron Brackett, who for a number of years was a member of the county board and later served as supervisor of assessment until the office was abolished ; A. J. Carnahan, who now resides at Sparta, but who was elected as sheriff while a resident of the town ; Hugh Gallagher, who was chairman during the railroad agitation, when the now defunct Sparta-Melrose railroad was cutting a good deal of figure, and many others who have helped manage the affairs of their town and county.

Passage source: History of Monroe County, Wisconsin, Past and Present : Including an Account of the Cities, Towns and Villages of the County [microform], published 1912.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Little Falls Town - it names this place 2 more 2 times.

Fires near this place

97 since 1992

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 97 fires within 5 miles of Cataract between 1992 and 2020, burning about 273 acres in total. 5 started naturally. 3 were recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Debris and open burning37
Equipment and vehicle use21
Missing data/not specified/undetermined13
Recreation and ceremony8
Other causes5
Natural5
Arson/incendiarism3
Misuse of fire by a minor3
Smoking2

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
4 September 2007Recreation and ceremonyunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
2 September 2003Misuse of fire by a minorunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
12 September 1998Recreation and ceremony3.0 acresWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
31 August 1998Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
8 July 2005Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
2 July 2017Missing data/not specified/undeterminedunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesALPHA FIRE
11 July 1995Equipment and vehicle useunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural Resourcesnot named
9 June 2012Smokingunder an acreWisconsin Department of Natural ResourcesHWY 27 FIRE

Settlements close enough to share some of these fires:

Every fire recorded in Monroe County

Storms near this place

28 since 1994

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Cataract in 28 storm reports between 1994 and 2024: 17 thunderstorm wind, 7 hail, 2 tornado, 1 flash flood. No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
June 1998Thunderstorm WindCataract$167,000no account filed
June 2000Tornado (F1)Cataract$100,000no account filed
July 2011Thunderstorm WindCataract$50,000A barn was shifted about 10 inches off its foundation, a large hay shed had the roof and three walls ripped off and farm trailers were moved or flipped by the strong winds at a dairy farm. Also, numerous trees were blown down along Amber Road.
April 1994Thunderstorm WindCataract$50,000no account filed
April 1994Tornado (F1)Cataract$50,000no account filed
June 2007HailCataract$25,000no account filed
August 2014Thunderstorm WindCataract$20,000A barn was blown down north of Cataract.
April 1997Thunderstorm WindCataract$6,000no account filed
September 2011Thunderstorm WindCataract$5,000An estimated 60 mph wind gust blew down several large trees along County Road I four miles east of Cataract.
August 2007Thunderstorm WindCataract$2,500Power lines and trees down.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindCataract$2,000An estimated 60 mph wind gust occurred in Cataract that blew down some trees.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindCataract$2,000Trees were blown down south of Cataract.
July 2015Thunderstorm WindCataract$2,000Numerous trees were blown down southeast of Cataract.
August 2014Thunderstorm WindCataract$2,000Large trees and branches were blown down northeast of Cataract.
July 2008Thunderstorm WindCataract$2,000Trees were blown down.
June 2004Thunderstorm WindCataract$1,200no account filed
August 1996Thunderstorm WindCataract$500no account filed
May 2024Thunderstorm WindCataract-The public reported tree damage in Cataract.
April 2022HailCataract-Quarter sized hail fell northeast of Cataract.
August 2020Heavy RainCataract-Northeast of Cataract, 7.30 inches of rain fell.
June 2014Flash FloodCataract-Runoff from heavy rain caused water to go over several roads near Cataract including County Highways B and Q along with State Highway 162.
July 2017HailCataract-no account filed
July 2015HailCataract-no account filed
March 2007HailCataract-no account filed
August 2007Thunderstorm WindCataract-no account filed
June 2001HailCataract-no account filed
May 1998HailCataract-no account filed
August 1998Thunderstorm WindCataract-no account filed

Every storm recorded in Monroe County

Nearest settlements

The eight closest, with where each one stands in the county. Distances are straight-line, computed from the Geographic Names Information System coordinates.

Map PlaceDistance Sheets
Four Corners3.9 miles11
Angelo8.8 miles14
Sparta10.0 miles14
Scotts Junction (historical)12.5 miles12
Spring Bank Park13.0 miles14
Farmers Valley13.9 miles12
Leon14.5 miles14
Tunnel City15.7 miles14

Elsewhere

Matched on this settlement's Geographic Names Information System number rather than its name, so it cannot be a different place of the same name in another state.

Wikipedia article on CataractAn encyclopaedic summary. Its text is share-alike, so it is linked here rather than copied.
Wikidata item Q5051458The structured record the population and elevation above come from. Public domain (CC0).

Provenance

This settlement is recorded in the Geographic Names Information System as feature 1562802. The sheet list is computed by point-in-boundary test against the United States Geological Survey's historical topographic inventory. Both are works of the United States government and carry no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.

Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.

Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.