Recreational and Commercial Uses
Recreational
Uses
The Fox River has many different recreational uses. There is
also a very long scenic biking path that goes from Crystal Lake
to Aurora. It is one of the most commonly used bike trails in
the state of Illinois. There are also many forest preserves and
nature preserves in the Chain O' Lakes area near the Fox River.
The Fox watershed is used for boating, fishing, water skiing, hunting, sailing, any many other things. Towns have races on the Fox River with canoes, motorboats, sailboats, or cayaks. Once a year there is even a rubber ducky race!
The Fox River is a very good spot to go camping. The Fox River
valley in the 
summer
is a great place to go golfing. The Fox River is used for swimming
too, although it is not exactly the healthiest place to swim.
In the winter you can go skating and there are even a couple
of ski areas near the watershed. Eventually the river might not
be healthy enough to do all of these things if it keeps becoming
polluted.
Commercial Uses
There are many commercial uses for the Fox River. It is used
for electricity, because of all of the dams built on the river.
The Fox River is a
source of drinking water for hundreds of thousands of people.
The water has to go through many cleaning plants in order to
be drinkable. This is another reason why so many towns were built
near the Fox River. Railroad tracks started springing up near
the Fox River for importing and exporting the goods made in the
nearby towns. It is great for farming, because the many floods
of the past have made the ground near the river very fertile.
It is also home to two large floating riverboat casinos today.