The Shanagolden plate. Relief from Copernicus GLO-30; rivers and lakes from USGS NHD; watersheds from the USGS Watershed Boundary Dataset; roads and city limits from Census TIGER 2024.
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−9° on Nov. 15, 2014, the coldest reading for this week of the year since 1992. Next is −2° in 2019.
Shanagolden’s center stands about 1,510 ft above sea level. Within three miles the land runs from 1,470 ft to 1,610 ft, a difference of 140 ft: gently rolling country. The highest named summit within 15 miles is Mount Whittlesey, about 1,890 ft, 13 miles north.
Under the town center the state geologic map shows Migmatitic gneiss and amphibolite (Late to Early Archean) (gneiss, amphibolite), from the Paleoarchean, 3.2 to 3.6 billion years old.
The section below crosses 3 rock units mapped at the surface.
Heights every 0.1 mile from the Copernicus GLO-90 surface model; vertical exaggeration about 64×. The colored band under the surface is the rock the state geologic map shows at the surface, not a picture of what lies beneath.
Gneiss, amphibolite. Age: Paleoarchean, 3.2 to 3.6 billion years old. About 15 mi of the line.
Basalt. Age: Paleoproterozoic, 1.6 to 2.5 billion years old. About 6 mi of the line.
Gneiss, amphibolite. Age: Neoarchean, 2.5 to 2.8 billion years old. About 3 mi of the line.
From the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation (Horton and others, 2017), the states’ geologic maps joined at a common scale.
Heights from Copernicus GLO-90 (a surface model: it includes buildings and tree canopy); summits from USGS GNIS; rivers from USGS NHDPlus HR; rock from the USGS State Geologic Map Compilation.
A raindrop that lands in Shanagolden reaches the Gulf of America by way of the Moose, the West Fork Chippewa, the Chippewa and the Mississippi: about 1,970 river miles.
Lakes on the way: Moonshine Lake, Lake Wissota and Holcombe Flowage.
Traced down the USGS NHDPlus V2.1 river network from the Census center point of Shanagolden; river miles along the main stem, rounded.
Shanagolden has a warm-summer humid continental climate. Summer afternoons average 78° in July; winter nights fall to about 2° in January. About 34 inches of rain fall in a normal year.
On November 14 Shanagolden normally reaches 38° and falls to 23°. The record high is 64°, in 1999; the record low 0°, in 2018. The most rain on this date, 1.10 in, fell in 2005.
Normals 1991–2020 and records since 1992 at Park Falls Dnr Headquarters, 16 miles southeast. NOAA, through RCC-ACIS.
