GROUP OF SOILS LACKING GOOD DRAINAGE. 
51 
WABASH LOAM 
This soil is also of alluvial origin, and being situated in the 
valley bottoms bordering the streams, and subject to more or 
less overflow, the texture of the soil is not very uniform. 
The surface soil of these bottoms is generally a dark brown, 
drab or black loam or silt loam with a generally heavy mottled 
clay loam subsoil which, however, may have sandy layers in it. 
The surface soil also may be strewn with sand, gravel, stones, 
etc., and sandy layers may be encountered at any depth within 
the soil section. 
The Wabash loam is found in a number of valley bottoms 
scattered through the west half of the county. The soil type 
is not extensive, as it comprises narrow strips of bottom land 
only. Very little of the land is under cultivation, most of it being 
generally too low and wet. It is, however, almost entirely used 
for pasture as the soil occurs on the bottoms of the narrow val¬ 
leys whose slopes are also often used for pasture. 
WABASH SILT LOAM 
The Wabash silt loam consists of alluvial deposits, chiefly 
along the upland streams. The areas are quite narrow, varying 
from strips too small to map up to areas one-halt mile or so 
wide. Because of its stream deposition in narrow bands and 
the meandering of the streams, it is not very uniform. Gener¬ 
ally it consists of a grayish or light-brown silt loam to about 
eighteen inches, below which as far as the auger will reach 
occurs a black, mucky, silty loam. In certain places, however, 
these conditions may be reversed. 
A variation from the general black or drab color of this soil 
is found along the Trempealeau River bottom near Taylor. 
There the surface soil is reddish-brown or chocolate colored due 
to large amounts of iron in it. There is a quite general layer 
of spongy bog iron ore lying at from three to eighteen inches 
beneath the surface soil in this latter area. This hard, chunky, 
or gravelly layer is six to eight inches thick, and is underlaid 
by sand or mottled or reddish sandy clay loam. 
The Wabash silt loam is widely distributed in the valley bot¬ 
toms of the west half of the county. This soil because of its low 
position is not generally under cultivation. 
