Vernon County, Wisconsin - Chapter 1: Area, Position and Surface Features, 1884

Chapter 1: Area, Position and Surface Features

Before entering upon a consideration of the history of Vernon county, past and present, it is a matter of importance to understand its area and geographical position; also its general surface features. We begin witli its

Vernon is properly considered one of the large counties of Wisconsin, it having a total area of nearly 815 square miles, or, to be more specific, it contains 521,5^2.61 acres of land. From east to west, in its longest distance, it measures forty-eight miles; from north to south, twenty-one miles. It embraces eighteen whole congressional townships; four half townships; and four fractional townships, all included in twenty-one towns: Greenwood, Hillsborough, F"ore8t, Lincoln, Stark, Whitestown, Clinton, Webnter, Liberty, Kickapoo, Franklin, Viroqua,

Geographical Position

The county has a position lying immediately on the Mississippi river, north of Crawford and Richland counties, and south of Monroe and La Cros.se counties. It lies west of the counties of Richland, Sauk and Juneau. Its most southei-ly limits are sixty-three miles in a straight line north of the northern boundary line of the State of Illinois; its most easterly limits are in a straight line west, 126 miles from Lake Michigan; its most northerly limits are in a straight line south, 198 miles from Lake Superior. West of the town of Wheatland and a small part of the town of Genoa, is (across the Mississippi river) the State of Iowa; but west of the residue of the last mentioned town, and that of Bergen is (across the Mississippi) the State of Minnesota. If the boundary line between these two States were extended across the Mississippi, it would strike about the center of section 21, in the town of Genoa.

General Surface Fbatuees

Some of the islands in the Mississippi, along the west side of the town of Bergen, are in Vernon county. What is known as "raft channel," in the upper half of that part of the stieani which washes the western side of the county, is the true Mississippi - the dividing line between Wi-consin and Minnesota. This extends down to the southwest corner of Bergen. Coon slough leaves the true Mississippi on section 19, in Bergen, and extends south to its southern line, where it again unites with the parent stream. Steamers, in low stages of water, usually take the slough in preference to the main or "raft" channel. The Mississippi, on an average, along the whole western limits of the county, is about three-fourths of a mile in width; and from blug to blufif on each side of tiie river, containing the basin proper of the river, is about five miles. The base of the blufifs proper, of the Mississippi, extends down to within one-third of a mile of the water's edge, on an average. These blufEs are indented by ravines, the outlets of water courses; the principal of the latter are the Chipmunk creek. Coon river. Spring creek. Bad Ax river and Battle creek. Chipmunk creek rises on section 4, town of Hamburg, runs westerly and empties i to Coon slough, on section 3, in Bergen. It is a small stream and is fed by springs. Coon river rises in the town of Christiana on section 21, flows northeasterly, westerly and southwesterly until it empties into Coon slough, on section -32, in Bergen. The stream is rapid and is fed by springs. It afifords water privileges for the running of several mills. There is also one flouring mill on Chipmunk. The next streani south is the Bad Ax river with northern and southern tributaries. The north branch of th

Bad Ax rises on section 31, town of Christiana; the south branch rises in the town of Franklin; the two unite on section 12, in the town of Genoa, forming the Bad Ax proper, which thence flows westerly into the Mississippi on section 16, in Genoa. Battle creek rises on section 2, town of Wheatland, runs southwesterly and flows into Winnebago slough. Sloughs are arms of the main river; some have currents while others arc simply formed of back water. The term coolie is still used in this vicinity for valley.

There are ridges all nearly of the same altitude extending back from the Mississippi between the various streams before mentioned, having a southern and northern slope to them. On the south side of the South Bad Ax was originally an undulating prairie, named by the early sett'ers of 'he county, and still called, West Prairie. This is in the town of Sterling. The residue of the western half of the county was formerly, for the most part, timbered, and had a heavy growth of white and red oak, interspersed with oak grub-lands, except along the streams where burr oak and the different varieties of elm and maple prevailed. There is also in the towns of Coon and Chris ian:), and extending into Viroqua, and part of Jefferson, an open country known as Coon Prairie.

The towns of Christiana, Viroqua and Franklin form the water-shed between the streams flowing into the Mississippi and those emptying into the Kickapoo and its west branch. The east central part of the county is drained by the Kickapoo and its two branches. 'J'his includes the towns of Clinton, Webster, Liberty, Kickapoo, Whitestown and Stark and portions of Forest, Uuior, Christiana, Viroqua and Franklin. The general course of the west branch of the Kickapoo is nearly south, while that of the east branch is southwesterly. They unite in the town of Kickapoo, on section o.3 ; thence, the main stream flows southwesterly until it crosses into the county of Crawford, on section 18. There are numerous creeks all having a southeast course, flowing into th

Kickapoo and the west branch, from the eastern side of the towns of Christiana, Viroqua and Franklin, and the western side of the town of Kickapoo. Geographically tlien, it may be said, in general terms, that the dividing ridge, or table land, runTiing north and south through the county, is situated about twenty milef' east of the Mississippi, and from six to eight miles west of the west branch of Kickapoo and the Kickapoo proper, having an altitude above the Mississippi, of about 1,000 feet. Audit may be liere remarked, that all the waters which drain Vernon county either flow directly into the Mississippi, or tind their way thither through the Wisconsin.

From either side of the ridge between the east and west branches, spurs put off but of no very great extent. 15oth the branches head in Monroe county. IJetween the east branch and the head waters of the Baraboo, there is a table land known as the dividing ridge as it divides the waters of the Kickapoo from those of the Baraboo and Lcnionweir. The whole of the town of Hillsborough and the northern portion of Greenwood are drained by the Baraboo ; while the southern portion of the town last mentioned is drained by Pine river, as well as tlio southeast portion of the town of Union. A large part of the town of Forest, the whole of Wliitestown and Stark, and the eastern portion of Clinton and Webster are drained by the east branch or main Kickapoo, as it may be termed, as it carries more water than the west branch. It forms a drainage also for the east side of Liberty and the northeast part of the town of Kickapoo. The east sides of the towns of Christiana and Viroqua, and the west sides of Clinton, Webster and Liberty, are drained into the west branch ; while the parent stream drains in Vernon county, only the southwest portion of the town of Kickapoo and the northeast corner of Franklin.

the elm ; also with other less numerous varieties. At an early day the Kickapoo proper and the east branch were bordered on either side within the limits of the county by a heavy pine forest, but these have disappeared by the hands of man.

On the whole, it may be said that the surface of Vernon county along the water courses is rather broken and bluffy ; elsewhere, undulating and favorable for tillage. The three prairies, Coon prairie. Round prairie and West prairie, early attracted the attention of the pioneer and emigrant, and invited occupancy and cultivation in the first general settlement of we tern Wisconsin. The surface of these prairie.? and that of the valleys throughout the county form a soil especially valuable for agriculture. It is rich in the elements of vegetable life and favorably constituted for the production ot all the cereals and grasses adapted to this climate. In other portions the grasses grow luxuriantly.

All the western slope of the county is a deep clay subsoil except on the prairies, covered with black loam from four to eight inches in thickness. The prairies are of a deep vegetable loam, black in color extending to the depth of a number of feet.

Mississippi River

But the great and distinctive feature of the county of Vernon is the Mississippi river, which washes the whole of its western boundary, and nearly the whole of the western boundary of the State. This river (Indian Miclie Sepe, Great Water, or Great River,) is the principal one of North America ; and including its chief branch, the Missouri, the longest in the world. It rises in the high lands of Minnesota, in a cluster of small lakes, and near ti.e sources of the Red River of the North and the rivers which flow into Lake Superior. Its sources are 1680 feet above the Gulf of Mexico, into which it enters. It ranks after the Amazon as the mightiest stream on the world's surface. It drains a superficial area oi' one-seventh part of North America, and con - stitutes with its numerous affluents and feeders Olio of the grandest riparian systems known to to exist. From north to south it embraces a length of 4,400 miles, inclnded between the 29th and 48th parallels of north latitude, and drains a basin computed at l,2-26,000 square miles.

The actual rise of the Mississippi is in Lake Itasca, Minnesota, flowing thence south-southeast as far as the point of junction of the States of Missouri, Illinois and Kentucky, where it is joined by the Ohio - having previously received the waters of the Missouri a few miles above St. Louis. Its upper course is broken in many places by considerable cataracts, such as the falls of St. Anthony. Its next great arm below the Ohio is the Arkansas, next the Red river, which unites with it in Louisiana. Besides these main arteries, it receives the Wisconsin, Iowa, Des Moines, Illinois, Wliite, St. Francis and Washita rivers, and finally emerges into the Gulf of Mexico, 120 miles below New Orleans, by a delta of several mouths, three of which - the northeast pass, the main or southeast pass, and the southwest pass, are the principal ones. 'J"'he last 300 miles of its course intersects a country so low and level, that embankments called levees have been constructed to protect the lands on either side from freshets and inundations.

The Mississippi is navigable from its mouth to the Falls of St. Anthony, 2,200 miles, and by smaller boats above the Falls ; or by the Missouri, 3,950 miles, and has many navigable branches, the chief of which are the Red River :i40 miles from its mouth; the Yazoo, 534 miles; the Arkansas, 700 miles ; the Ohio, 1,053 ; the Missouri, 1,253. The Mississippi thus furnishes an inland means of water communication such as no other country in the world can parallel. The navigation of this great stream is, however, impeded in many parts by contrary currents, and by obstacles in the shape of large trees, the trunks of which are imbedded far below the water's surface. 'I"he river forms a portion of the boundaries of ten States, having the southern part of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas and most of Louisiana on the west bank; and Wisconsin, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Mississippi on tiie east. The chief towns situated on its banks are New Orleans, Natchez, Vicksburg, Memphis, St. Louis, Quincy, Keokuk, Galena, St. Paul and Minneapolis.

The upper Mississippi, above the junction of the Missouri, flows through a picturesque and beautiful country. The great lower valley is 500 miles long, and from thirty to fifty miles wide. The delta, through which flows its numerous bayous, is 150 miles wide. The alluvial plain through which the river winds has an area of 31,200 square miles; and the delta, 14,000 square miles, much of which, except a few bluffs, is protected by levees. The descent of the plain is 320 feet, or eight inches per mile. The river at high water is higher than the plain, and the banks higher than the swamps of the interior. The great floods rise forty feet above low water at the head of the plain, and twenty feet at New Orleans, and for the whole distance the river averages 3,000 feet wide, and is from seventy-five to 120 deep. There is no apparent increase from the largest branches ; and it is estimated that forty per cent of the floods are lost in the great marshes. Thousands of acres of land upon its banks are annually carried away by the current, with their growth of timber. Such, in brief, is the wonderful river which washes the whole western boundary of Vernon county.

The Baraboo River

The Baraboo river rises in the northeastein part of Vernon county, and in the southeastern part of Monroe county, runs in a general southeast course through Sauk county, where it breaks into the valley between the two east and west ranges, through a narrow gorge in the northern range. Turning then east, it runs along the middle of the valley, between the two ranges for about fifteen miles, and then breaking northward, through the north range, follows its northern side in an easterly direction to the Wisconsin river, into wliich it empties on section 28, township 12, range 9 east, in the town of Caledonia, Columbia county. The Baraboo is a stream of considerable size, and yields a number of very excellent water-po* ers.

The Kickapoo River

The Kickapoo rises in Monroe county, that is, its main or east branch ; which is frequently termed the Kickapoo proper. It runs a southwest course after entering Vernon county, through the towns of Whitestown, Stark, touching Webster, and then after crossing into Richland, in which county it flows in a south course, returns to Vernon, in the town of Liberty, and at a point on section 33, in the town of Kickapoo, receives the west branch. The river afterward takes a southwesterly course, leaving Vernon county on section IG, in the town last mentioned. The river runs through Crawford county, in a southerly dinction and empties into the Wisconsin, on section 17, in the town of Wauzeka, just below the village of the same name.