68 
SOIL SURVEY OF JACKSON COUNTY 
EROSION IN JACKSON COUNTY 
The most important single problem in soil management in 
western Jackson county is due to the large amounts of steep 
or rolling land. The county is in the so-called residual portion 
of the state where the streams which drain the area have cut 
down their beds through the formerly level elevated plain into 
sandstone rock. These valleys have never been altered or filled 
by action of glaciers which once covered most of the state. The 
valleys were at first mere erosion ditches or small stream beds 
which have been enlarged and deepened during geological ages 
till their beds lie from 200 to over 400 feet below the ridges 
which extend between. The valleys and their tributaries radi- 
ate like the veins of a leaf and the steep slopes which lead 
down from the ridge top to valley bottom make up a consider¬ 
able part of the area of the county. 
Most of the soil on the sloping land is heavy and is included 
in the steep phase of the Knox silt loam. These slopes which 
originally were timbered or brush-covered have been largely 
cleared and cultivated. Because of their unprotected condi¬ 
tion and exposure to the work of surface run-off water 
from higher land, fields on this type of soil are often extensively 
washed and gullied by the storm water and the water from 
melting snow in spring. 
Other soils subject to erosion are the soils of the Boone 
series derived from sandstone and which often occupy lower 
slopes in the valleys. The soils of the Lintonia series which 
lie in narrow benches along the sides of the valley bottoms are 
also subject to severe gullying. The swift flowing water from 
i he ridges and slopes must cross these benches before reaching 
the valley stream and deep ravines, gullies, and ditches are 
developed. Soil erosion is a farm problem not only because 
fields are cut by ditches and gullies which make cultivation 
difficult, but because erosion removes the finest and most fertile 
soil particles first and reduces the fertility and yield of fields 
by removing fine soil and organic matter from the surface. 
The causes of removal of soil from the surface without forma¬ 
tion of gullies generally lie in improper methods of cultivation 
or poor arrangement of fields. Fields where this kind of ero¬ 
sion occurs are often only gently rolling or undulating and the 
rain water does not collect in larger swift-flowing rills or 
