Random Lake

About this Map

Unless someone specifically requests a lake, I don’t really have a set plan for which one I’ll map next. You could say my lake mapping process is fairly…random. So, naturally, Random Lake in Sheboygan County was the next lake I chose to map, for no particular reason.

I’m glad I did, because I really like how this map turned out. Random Lake fits nicely on an 11" x 14" page, the colors feel well-balanced, and there’s just a lot of visual interest packed into the map.

The 212-acre lake has a distinctive shape, with broad northern and southern waters connected around a narrow central peninsula. Detailed bathymetric contours show a relatively shallow northern basin and a deeper, more varied southern basin, where depths reach approximately 20 feet. Steeper underwater slopes are especially noticeable in the southwestern portion of the lake, while broader shelves and more gradual depth changes characterize much of the remaining shoreline.

Random Lake is also one of only two lakes in Sheboygan County with a Musky population, the other being Elkhart Lake in the northwestern part of the county. Random Lake has been managed as an “action lake” for Muskellunge, with an emphasis on providing anglers opportunities to catch these impressive fish. The lake is also known for Largemouth Bass, Walleye, and a variety of other species.

The Village of Random Lake occupies much of the western shoreline, so the lake feels very much like the geographic centerpiece of the community rather than a separate recreational destination somewhere outside of town. I mapped individual buildings, village streets, shoreline homes, parks, wooded areas, wetlands, and other local features to capture that relationship between the lake and the village.

Lakeview Park and the public boat landing are shown near the southwestern shore, while Burr Oak Park provides a substantial green space along the southeastern side. Spring Lake lies immediately to the south, and the map also shows the lake’s outlet and the surrounding network of roads and neighborhoods. Toward the east and north, the landscape gradually transitions from the compact village street grid to woods, wetlands, scattered development, and open countryside.

And then there’s the name, because how does a place end up being called Random Lake?

The village developed here beginning around 1870, influenced not only by the lake but also by the arrival of the railroad. According to local historical accounts, the lake’s unusual name may go all the way back to the original land surveys. The story is that surveyors encountered the lake while running a “random survey line” as part of establishing the Public Land Survey System. The lake became Random Lake, and although the developing settlement was originally called Greenleaf, its name was eventually changed to match the much more distinctively named body of water beside it.

So my randomly selected lake turned out to have a name that may itself have originated with a random survey line. As a GIS guy and cartographer, I have to appreciate that.

Between the lake’s unusual shape, Musky fishery, bathymetry, parks, village streets, shoreline development, and the story behind its wonderfully odd name, there turned out to be plenty here to map. What started as a fairly random choice became one of those maps that I simply enjoy looking at, which is really the best outcome I can ask for.