CHAPTER IV. 



BROWN COUNTY. 



This county embraces a superficial area of only about eight and a half town- 

 ships, or three hundred and six square miles, and is bounded, on the north, 

 by Schuyler county ; on the east, by Crooked creek and the Illinois river ; on 

 the south, by Pike ; and on the west, by Adams county. The county is well 

 watered by the two streams already mentioned as forming its eastern boundary, 

 and by McGee's creek, which traverses the southern part of the county, giving 

 a complete surface drainage to its entire area. The general surface level of 

 the uplands, ranges from one hundred to two hundred and fifty feet above the 

 level of the principal streams, and a large portion of it was originally covered 

 with a heavy growth of timber. The upland prairies are small, and mostly 

 confined to the middle and western portions of the county. The bottom lands 

 on the eastern border of the county, are mostly prairie, with belts of timber 

 immediately adjacent to the water courses. 



The uplands are generally rolling, and in the vicinity of the streams, the 

 surface is cut into sharp ridges, separated by narrow valleys. The best soils 

 upon the uplands, are those underlaid by the Loess, and are characterized by a 

 heavy growth of the common varieties of oak and hickory, elm, sugar maple, 

 black walnut, linden, wild cherry, honey locust, etc., and are restricted to the 

 vicinity of the Illinois river bluffs. In their productive qualities, these lands 

 are fully equal to the best prairie soils. Further west, on the tributaries of 

 Crooked creek and McGee's creek, the timber is mainly oak and hickory, in- 

 cluding two or three varieties of each, and the soil is generally a heavy clay 

 loam, derived mainly from the brown clays of the Drift formation. The prairie 

 soil is usually a dark chocolate clay loam, highly charged with humus, espe- 

 cially on the level portions, where the annual accumulations of animal and 

 vegetable matters have been retained, and in its productive qualities, it ranks 

 next to the timbered soils of the Loess. It rests upon a subsoil of argillaceous 

 loam, which is also rich in the phosphates and carbonates essential to the 

 growth of vegetation, and will furnish the essential elements to replenish the 

 surface soil, when it becomes exhausted by a lona; continued and injudicious 

 system of cultivation. 



