SOIL SURVEY OF JACKSON COUNTY 
WISCONSIN 
CHAPTER I 
DESCRIPTION OF AREA 
Location and boundaries .—Jackson county is located in the 
west central part of Wisconsin, and has an area of approxi¬ 
mately 978 square miles or 625,920 acres. It is bounded on the 
north by Clark and Eau Claire counties, on the east by Wood 
and Juneau, on the south by Monroe and La Crosse, and on the 
west by Trempealeau county. It has an extreme length east 
and west of forty-two miles. The eastern portion of the county 
is only eighteen miles wide, while the western two tiers of 
townships give the county a width of thirty-six miles. 
Topography .—The surface features of the Jackson county 
fall into two very distinct divisions. The approximate boundary 
between the different zones is marked b}" the Black River from 
the southwestern corner of the county to a point three miles 
north of Black River Falls. From this point northward, the 
Chicago and Northwestern Railway Line marks the dividing 
line. The county to the west consists of a series of valleys 
and narrow ridges which give the region a hilly to broken to¬ 
pography. To the east the surface is nearly level. 
Geological History .—In the early geological history of the 
region there w r as a smooth initial surface underlaid by lime¬ 
stone, with sandstone in turn beneath it. The lower Magnesian 
limestone which originally covered this region has practically 
all been removed by erosion, and remnants of the elevated plain¬ 
like surface have been reduced by weathering and erosion to 
very narrow, winding irregular ridges on which the outcroppings 
of sandstone are frequent. In but few cases in the county is 
there any tillable land on the narrow crest of these high ridges. 
