FOREST CONDITIONS IN WESTERN 



WISCONSIN. 



BY 



DR. L. H. PAMMEL, 



BOTANIST, 1O\VA STATE COLLEGE OF AGRICULTURE AND MKCHANIC ARTS. 



WESTERN Wisconsin was once a 

 heavily timbered section of the 

 state, consisting of hardwoods and 

 conifers. The region embraced in this 

 article contains the following tributaries 

 of the Mississippi : the Black and La 

 Crosse rivers, and also the Kickapoo, 

 which flows into the Wisconsin, the 

 latter finding its way into the Mississippi 

 below Prairie du Chien. The territory 

 in this section of Wisconsin immediately 

 contiguous to the Mississippi River is 

 intersected by many smaller creeks. The 

 valleys here have in a large part been 

 cleared of their timber and converted 

 into farms. There is comparatively 

 little level land in the smaller valleys, 

 but in the larger ones there is a greater 

 proportion of land suitable for agricul- 

 tural purposes. The soil in these val- 

 leys consists largely of a yellow loam, 

 originally with a few inches of humus. 

 The bottom lands consist of an alluvial 

 material of greater fertility. Near the 

 shore lines of the present flood plain of 

 the larger streams there are considerable 

 expanses of a light, sandy soil. The 

 flood plain of the Mississippi, La Crosse, 

 and Black rivers consists of a few inches 

 of surface drift underlaid with sand. 

 The amount of sand and drift, however, 

 is variable in the smaller streams. 



The region alluded to in this article 

 is included mainly in the driftless area. 

 During the Cambrian age there was a 

 great accumulation of sandstone, and 

 great deposits of this material may be 

 seen as outcrops along the Mississippi 

 River, but further in the interior, along 

 the Kickapoo, the valleys are narrow 

 and the sandstone outcrops are less con- 

 spicuous. The hills are not so high and 

 the valleys are narrower. Overtopping 

 the sandstone is a layer of magnesian 

 limestone, varying in thickness from 30 



to 70 feet. The soil overlying the lime- 

 stone consists of a yellow claj^ mixed 

 with humus on the surface. The soil 

 has had an important influence in the 

 growth and kind of forest trees occur- 

 ring in the region. 



EARLY HISTORY. 



During the early days timber covered 

 all of the valleys and hillsides except 

 the dry upper slopes, and was uni- 

 formly thick on the north slopes. On 

 the east slopes the timber was thinner, 

 owing to frequent fires ; consequently 

 this timber was of poor quality. The 

 north slope consisted mainly of red oak, 

 white oak, hickory, basswood, and 

 birch. Beginning along in the late 50*8 

 till in late 70' s, much of the timber of 

 the lower fertile slopes was removed and 

 the land brought under cultivation. 

 This land produced splendid crops of 

 wheat, so long as the humus remained 

 in the soil. After the removal of the 

 humus by washing, the soil no longer 

 produced remunerative crops, and it 

 became necessary to change from the 

 cultivation of grain to that of grass, 

 largely because of the washings. 



Later, clearings were started on the 

 ridges. These contained a heavy 

 growth of white and red oak, some 

 hickory and basswood. The wood 

 could not be sold, and in clearing the 

 farmers cut the trees and burned them. 

 Later wood was more in demand, when 

 it was cut into ties or sold as cord wood. 

 In the 80' s good red oak or white oak 

 ties sold from 18 to 25 cents, the best 

 white and red oak wood from $2.50 to 

 $3.00 a cord. The grain were the chief 

 crops on these denuded lands. As a re- 

 sult of the removal of the timber and 

 cultivation of the slopes, great gullies 

 were washed, so that grain culture was 



