SUMMARY. 
83 
SUMMARY 
Jackson county is located in the west central part of Wiscon¬ 
sin, and comprises 1,001 square miles or 640,640 acres. It may 
be divided roughly into two distinct topographical and agricul¬ 
tural regions. The western part, west of the Black River, is 
largely a rough rolling country with soil of good quality pre¬ 
dominating and an agriculture which is highly developed, while 
east of the Black River the region is largely an extensive sandy 
plain with many marshes, with the predominating soil of low 
agricultural value and being but slightly improved. 
While the first settlement was made as early as 1818 or 1819, 
there was but little in the way of agricultural development prior 
to 1850. The county was established in 1853, and the village 
of Black River Falls was incorporated in 1866. All of the west¬ 
ern part of the county is now well settled, but in the eastern 
part the region is very sparsely settled. 
Two railway systems traverse the area, and these provide 
transportation facilities for the region, although some portions 
of the county are quite distant from the nearest shipping point. 
From Black River Falls to Madison is 127 miles, and to Chicago 
250 miles, while to Minneapolis it is 152 miles. These distances 
are over the Chicago and Northwestern Line. 
The mean annual temperature is about 43.8 degrees, and the 
mean annual precipitation 31.6 inches. The marshy region in 
the eastern part of the county is much more liable to have sum¬ 
mer frosts than the hilly country to the west. 
In the western part of the county, agriculture is well devel¬ 
oped, and the region is in a prosperous condition, while in the 
eastern part there is but little development, due to the sandy 
and marshy condition of the soils. 
Jackson county lies almost entirely within the unglaciated por¬ 
tion of the state, and the soils have been derived largely from 
the disintegration products of the underlying sandstone and 
shale, and also from the wind blown material known as loess. 
In addition to these sources of origin there are also large tracts 
