In the early 1920's the frozen Fox River provided entertainment for the people living in the community of Wrightstown. It is believed that one evening, several men were sitting in a tavern and began to bet on who had the fastest horse. They agreed that any horse could race on a dry track made of dirt, but if it could win a race on slippery ice, it was truly a great horse. They decided to make a race track on the frozen Fox River. Then they could race their horses and they would know who had the fastest horse.

A track was cleared on the ice. It began just below the village park and ended past the boat landing. Red flags were used to signal the start of the race. This was a very dangerous sport, but after the first race, it became very popular. Many men brought their horses and entered the races. Horses from stables in other towns and villages were brought to Wrightstown to try to win a race.

The races were repeated every Sunday. Many people lined up along the banks of the Fox River to cheer on their favorite horse. Crowds of up to 3,000 people came from all around. Money was collected and this provided the prize money for the winner of the race.

Source: Roebke, R. From Bridgeprt to Wrightstown. Pulaski,WI: Franciscan Publishers, 1971.

Virgil Muench was a man who thought water pollution was wrong.

When it came to the land and waters of Wisconsin, Virgil Muench acted as though the land was his son and the waters were his daughter. He wanted to protect them.

No one knows just why Virgil Muench cared so much about the environment. It may have been because of the great beer disaster of 1948. This happened in a river near the city of Green Bay. There was a beer company that had a big vat of bad beer. Workers at the company decided to dump some stale beer in the river one night. It was said that they did it when no one was looking because it was against the law to dump beer in the river.

This made Virgil Muench mad. Fighting mad. He called the government agency that was assigned to protect the waters of Wisconsin. "Do something!" he said.

"We will look into it," said the government workers, and they did look. However, Virgil Muench wanted more done than just looking.

Wherever Virgil Muench went, he saw harmful things being dumped in the rivers. There were very few streams or rivers where fish could live. Muench wanted to do something about it. With a group of his friends, he started calling the government whenever it looked like people were breaking the laws about pollution.

The Fox River was a stinking mess of sewage and factory wastes at this time. Fish could not live there much of the time. The waters smelled like a pig sty. People did not want to put their boats into the river because of the mess. Mr. Muench got mad, but people who worked for the government told him: There's nothing we can do about the pollution in the Fox River. The laws are not very strict about pollution, and the factories do not have to stop.

Virgil Muench took action. Then we will have to change the law, he said. So he talked to his friends. They helped elect a senator to go to Madison that same year of 1948, and he worked for change to stop pollution. New laws were passed, and action taken. It took many years of work by engineers and lots of money, but eventually the river got better.

Source: Virgil Muench Collection, State Historical Society of Wisconsin, Madison; Oral history archives of the Fox/Wolf Rivers Environmental History Project.