Abandoned Towns

Former town · nothing left · Grant County, Wisconsin

Sinnipee

A Mississippi River lead port of 1838 across from Dubuque, emptied by malaria within two years and later drowned by a dam.

42°34′31″N 90°39′25″W
Nothing left

Nothing is left of Sinnipee's buildings. The river landing went under the pool of Lock and Dam No. 11 in the 1930s, and historian Clifford Krainik wrote in 2001 that only the bluff and unmarked graves remain. A video posted February 10, 2026 shows woods, the frozen creek and the railroad by the river; its creator says a cemetery up on the bluff is the last trace.

The label

Why Sinnipee is called a ghost town

Sinnipee, often spelled Sinipee, has been written up as a ghost town for decades. William F. Stark's 1977 book Ghost Towns of Wisconsin has a chapter on it, Wikipedia files it under Wisconsin's ghost towns and puts it on its list of ghost towns in Wisconsin, and ghost town directories carry it. The story earns the label: a river port laid out with great hopes, a stone hotel, steamboats calling, and then nearly everyone gone in two years. But nothing of the town stands. The buildings were taken apart or moved after 1840, the hotel burned in 1904, and the low ground went under water when the Mississippi was dammed below it.

History

Sinnipee then

Payton Vaughan, from North Carolina, settled at the mouth of Sinnipee Creek before 1832 and ran a cable ferry across the Mississippi. Lead from the mines inland needed a landing, and in the summer of 1838 a group of 23 Mineral Point investors bought Vaughan's river frontage for $12,000. Krainik calls them the Louisiana Company; Wikipedia says the Sinnipee Company founded the town in 1835. Part of the deal was a two-story hotel of local stone, the Stone House. The company hired John Plumbe Jr., a 28-year-old engineer, to survey the town and sell lots, and about 20 buildings went up between late summer 1838 and spring 1839. Steamboats called on schedule. In December 1838 the townspeople met at the Stone House to back Plumbe's plan for a railroad from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi. Plumbe later went east to push for a railroad to the Pacific.

Then the river rose. A spring flood left stagnant pools, and fever, called the ague, swept the town; most people fell ill and many died. Krainik dates the flood to 1839, Wikipedia to 1840, and one account to 1833. By early 1840 all but two families had left. Buildings were taken apart for lumber or dragged over the ice to Dubuque, and by 1859 one building was left in the business district. Local lore says Zachary Taylor and Jefferson Davis stayed at the Stone House; Krainik calls that improbable, since both had left the region before Sinnipee existed. The hotel burned in 1904, and its stone went into a dam. Lock and Dam No. 11, begun in 1934 and opened in 1937, raised the river over the old landing.

Before 1832. Payton Vaughan settles at the creek mouth and runs a ferry.

1838. Mineral Point investors buy the frontage for $12,000; John Plumbe Jr. surveys the town. About 20 buildings go up by spring 1839.

Dec 14, 1838. A meeting at the Stone House backs Plumbe's railroad from Lake Michigan to the Mississippi.

1839 or 1840. A flood and an epidemic of fever. By early 1840 all but two families are gone.

1859. One building is left in the business district.

1904. The Stone House burns. Its walls later go into a dam.

1934–1937. Lock and Dam No. 11 is built below the site. Krainik and Wikipedia date the flooding to 1934; the lock is finished in 1936 and the system opens on September 14, 1937.

2001. Krainik writes that only the bluff and unmarked graves remain.

2026. A visit video shows woods, the frozen creek and the railroad, and no buildings.

Today

What is there now

Lock and Dam No. 11 from Eagle Point Park in Dubuque, October 2011. Its pool covers the low ground where Sinnipee stood, about 2.5 miles upstream on the Wisconsin shore
Lock and Dam No. 11 from Eagle Point Park in Dubuque, October 2011. Its pool covers the low ground where Sinnipee stood, about 2.5 miles upstream on the Wisconsin shore · Photo: Dirk Hansen, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0

The town stood at river level by the mouth of Sinnipee Creek on the Wisconsin shore, at the foot of the bluff, about four miles north and east of downtown Dubuque across the river. The railroad runs along the shore below the bluff. A visit video posted February 10, 2026 shows a snowy woods track, the railroad, the frozen creek and the river; the creator says nothing is left but woods and river, that a cemetery up on the bluff is the last trace of the town, and that he could not find the hotel ruins. The video does not show the cemetery. Sinnipee Cemetery is marked on the 1956 topographic sheet on the bluff top, where our map point (Wikipedia's coordinates for the town) falls. Krainik wrote in 2001 that its graves are unmarked, and we found no source on whether visitors may go there. One reader of a ghost town website says a stone foundation survives beside the bluff; another found nothing, though he had heard the hotel's foundation was still there. The same undated listing describes the land around as farms, rural homes and an archery club. The route planner's last half mile runs on an unnamed service road and track past the end of Bluff Road, and we found no source saying they are public, so ask before going on.

The old maps show the change. The 1900 Lancaster sheet draws the Mississippi with its channels and islands before the dam. The 1956 Dubuque North sheet marks Sinnipee Creek, the railroad along the shore and Sinnipee Cemetery on the bluff, with the Upper Mississippi fish refuge on the widened river. The 1984 sheet shows Lock and Dam No. 11 just downstream at Dubuque.

Historic maps

Sinnipee on USGS maps, 1900–1984

Crops from the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection, centered on the map point. Each sheet shows what surveyors mapped that year; compare them with today's topo and aerial on this page.

USGS topographic map around Sinnipee, 1900
Lancaster sheet, 1900, 1:125,000 · U.S. Geological Survey, public domain · catalog record

Map & directions

Getting there

Dubuque is across the river. The route crosses the Mississippi on US 61/151 into Wisconsin, then follows county roads to Bluff Road above the creek. From Madison, US 18/151 runs southwest to the same roads.

USGS topographic map of the Mississippi between Dubuque and the mouth of Sinnipee Creek, with routes drawn on it

Base map: USGS The National Map (public domain). Routes: OSRM on © OpenStreetMap contributors data (ODbL). Times assume dry roads.

From downtown Dubuque8.7 miabout 24 min
  1. From Central Avenue, take East 6th Street, White Street and East 11th Street to the ramp.0.7 mi
  2. Take US 61/151 north across the Mississippi into Wisconsin.3.7 mi
  3. Take the exit and turn left on Badger Road.0.8 mi
  4. Turn left on Sandy Hook Road.0.7 mi
  5. At the end of the road turn right on Bluff Road and follow it to its end.2.1 mi
  6. The planner continues on an unnamed service road and track toward the river; we don't know that they are public.0.6 mi
Google Maps directionsApple MapsOpenStreetMap

Directions go to the end of Bluff Road, where the drive ends, not to the townsite.

Road and visiting notes

  • Bluff Road is the last named public road. The last 0.6 mile toward the river is on an unnamed service road and track of unknown status, and a video posted in February 2026 shows a farm gate on the creator's walk in.
  • We found no source on access to the cemetery on the bluff.
  • The railroad along the shore is active; stay off the tracks.

Photos

Sinnipee in photos

Questions

Common questions

Is Sinnipee a ghost town?

It is a lost town rather than a ghost town you can walk through. It emptied by 1840, its buildings were removed, and the river landing was flooded by Lock and Dam No. 11 in the 1930s. Unmarked graves on the bluff are the last trace (Krainik, 2001).

Can you visit the site?

Bluff Road, above the creek, is the last named public road. The last stretch toward the river and the cemetery on the bluff are on land whose status we could not confirm, so ask before going on, and stay off the active railroad.

Where was Sinnipee?

At the mouth of Sinnipee Creek on the Wisconsin shore of the Mississippi, in the Town of Jamestown, Grant County, about four miles north and east of downtown Dubuque.

Did presidents stay at the Sinnipee hotel?

That is local lore. Zachary Taylor and Jefferson Davis are said to have stayed at the Stone House, but historian Clifford Krainik calls it improbable: both had left the region before the town was built.

Nearby

Ghost towns and sites near Sinnipee

Straight-line distance to other mapped sites in our Wisconsin index.

Sources

Sources and credits

  1. Wikipedia, "Sinnipee, Wisconsin", retrieved October 2026: coordinates, the Town of Jamestown, Payton Vaughan before 1832, the Sinnipee Company in 1835, the 1839 hotel and its guests, the 1840 flood and fever, one building by 1859, the 1934 flooding by Lock and Dam No. 11; its further reading, the "Sinipee" chapter of William F. Stark's Ghost Towns of Wisconsin (1977), pages 9 to 15.
  2. Clifford Krainik, "Sinipee: Atlantis on the Mississippi!", Julien's Journal, August 2001 (reprinted with permission): the 1838 Louisiana Company and its 23 investors, the $12,000 purchase, John Plumbe Jr., the 20 buildings and 200 people, steamboats, the December 14, 1838 railroad meeting, the 1839 flood and ague, the hotel fire of 1904, the doubtful presidential guests, only the bluff and unmarked graves left.
  3. ghosttowns.com, "Sinipee": the conflicting, undated reader accounts of the flood date and a foundation by the bluff, the buildings moved, the farms, homes and archery club around the site.
  4. Wikipedia, "Lock and Dam No. 11", retrieved October 2026: construction from 1934, the lock in 1936, the dam in 1937, the lock finished in August 1936 and the dam in May 1937, operation from September 14, 1937.
  5. Midwest Small Town, "Ghost Town of SINNIPEE - Wisconsin's Lost Railroad Dream", YouTube, posted February 10, 2026 (not embedded: the creator walks past a gate on a track of unknown status and onto the active railroad): woods, the frozen creek and the railroad at the site; the creator's statements that a cemetery on the bluff is the last trace and that he found no hotel ruins.
  6. Elevation: USGS 3D Elevation Program point query. Routes: OSRM on OpenStreetMap data, October 2026.

Photo and map credits