Every Lake
WI · depth model
Lake Mendota
Madison's big lake, the most studied lake in the world, with the Capitol on its isthmus.
The layers of this board — each depth is engraved on its step
- 14 ft · first step
- 28 ft
- 42 ft
- 55 ft
- 69 ft
- 83 ft · bottom
83 ftmaximum depth
16.2square miles of water
6depth layers cut
2,670roads engraved on the 12"
8towns named
2.9 lbthe 12" on the wall (≈ 18.2 lb at 30")
The lake
About Lake Mendota
Lake Mendota is the largest of Madison's four lakes, about 9,800 acres and 83 feet deep, with the University of Wisconsin on its south shore. It is probably the most studied lake on earth — the university's Center for Limnology has watched it since the 1880s, and its ice records go back to 1852.
The Memorial Union Terrace, Picnic Point, Governor's Island and the village of Maple Bluff ring the water; the Capitol dome rises from the isthmus between Mendota and Monona.
On the board
- 8 shore towns named, with a star on each
- 2,670 roads engraved around the shore, 26 of them labeled
- 6 depth layers, each step engraved with its depth in feet
- Compass rose, title block with coordinates, max depth and area; keyhole hanger on the back
Why we cut this one
Lake Mendota is one of the lakes people ask us for by name — the kind of shoreline where the house has a name and the dock has a history. This board is cut from the same depth grid the configurator uses for all 104,419 lakes, so the shape is the real one.Turn it in your hands
Live 3D of the actual cut files — drag to orbit, pinch to zoom. Every road you see is engraved on the real thing.
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