SOIL SURVEY OF PORTER COUNTY, INDIANA. 



By. T. M. BUSHNELL, of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, In Charge, and 

 WENDELL BARRETT, of the Indiana Department of Geology. — Area In- 

 spected by W. E. McLENDON. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE AREA. 



Porter County, Ind., is located in the northwestern corner of the 

 State, about 40 miles from Chicago. It is bounded on the west by 

 Lake County, on the south by Jasper County, from which it is sepa- 

 rated by the Kankakee River, on the east by Laporte County, and 

 on the north by Lake Mchigan. 



The county has an area of 415 square miles, or 265,600 acres. It 

 is roughly rectangular in shape, with a uniform width east and west 

 of 15 miles and a maximum length of about 34 miles, the northern 

 and southern boundaries being irregular. 



Porter County has three main physio- 

 graphic divisions: (1) the plain of glacial 

 Lake Chicago, (2) the Valparaiso morainic 

 system and associated till plains, and t3) 

 the out wash plain and lake plain of the 

 Kankakee Basin. 



The glacial Lake Chicago plain adjoins 

 Lake Mchigan. It is about 2 miles wide at 

 the eastern boundary of the county, and 8 J 

 miles wide where it crosses the western 

 boundary. Bays of this lake extended up 

 Salt Creek Valley nearly to the Pennsylva- 

 nia Railroad, and eastward along the Cal- 

 umet River to Laporte County. 



The Valparaiso morainic system traverses 

 the county in a northeast and southwest direction. It has a width 

 of 14 miles on the western and about 10 miles on the eastern county 

 hne. 



The remainder of the county, comprising the southeastern part, 

 belongs to the Kankakee Basin. 



In general, the topography of the Lake Chicago Plain is level, but 

 the surface configuration is locally varied by wind action. Along 

 the lake front there is a continuous strip of sand dunes, which in 



Fig. 1.— Sketch map showing loca- 

 tion of the Porter County area, 

 Indiana. 



