Rolling Town

Rolling Town

In Rolling Township the soil is somewhat heavier, less rolling and has fewer stone sand and is a better agricultural soil than Gloucester sandy loam elsewhere. Gloucester sandy loam in Upham Township is more gravelly than usual and the texture is variable within short distances. In places it is a loam or a gravelly loam while again it may be a fine sandy loam or gravelly sand. In the extreme northwestern corner of Langlade County, in township 34, range 9, and in the extreme southeastern part, in township 32, range 14 east, and township 31, range 14 east, Gloucester sandy loam is more stony, gravelly and rougher than usual and has a lower grade of agricultural value. In some places it is a gravelly sand. Excavations and well records show that the subsoil of sand and gravel extends to bedrock, and that the huge boulders occur to a depth of 20 to 30 feet.

The surface of the Gloucester sandy loam varies from rolling to rough and hilly. Over the greater part of this type of soil the surface is not too steep for cultivation, but there are exceptions to this where the topography is so broken and the slopes so steep that cultivated crops probably could not be produced with profit. In the vicinity of Edith and Rose Lakes, townships 32, range 14 east, and in the northwestern part of the county, township 34, range 9, except in sections 17 and 18, the surface is very rough and the land has not a high agricultural value.

The surface frequently appears as a series of parallel ridges varying in elevation from 15 to 40 feet above the intervening valleys and occurring from 20 rods to a quarter of a mile apart. These slopes are sometimes very steep and in a general outline they have an appearance of eskers, but the material is not stratified.

The material composing the Gloucester sandy loam consists of glacial debris deposited over crystalline rock by the ice sheet. The supply of organic matter in this soil is low. There is a probability that little of the material forming this soil has come from the immediate region and it therefore has the same relation to the underlying rock that a residual soil would have.

Gloucester sand, of minor importance, is found in the townships of Elcho and Ainsworth in small tracts. It is a light brown surface soil extending to about eight inches. The material is loose, has an acid condition and contains but little organic material. The subsoil is a yellow medium sand. Fine gravel occurs over the surface occasionally and in the deep subsoil. Few stones appear on the surface and none hinder cultivation. No limestone material is present as the material composing this type of soil consists of glacial debris not transported from any great distance. Farm crops do not yield as much on this soil as on silt loam and fine sandy loam, potatoes doing the best.

Gloucester Stony Sand Along Wolf River

Gloucester stony sand is found in small patches in northern Langlade County along the Wolf River. This is a loose, incoherent sand of medium texture at a surface depth of 8 to 10 inches. The amount of organic matter is very small. The subsoil is lighter as depth becomes greater. It is yellow in color. Stones are plentiful on the surface and boulders frequently appear. Kames and eskers make up a great portion of the surface, which is very irregular and rough.

The material of which Gloucester stondy sand consists is glacial debris deposited as kames, eskers and probably as lateral and recessional moraines. The gravel, stones and boulders are largely of crystalline rock. No trace of limestone can be found and the soil and subsoil are acidic. It is of little value for agricultural purposes, but is well adapted for forestration.

The Spencer silt loam, a most important and extensive soil type, is confined to the western part of Langlade County where it occurs as one continuous tract in Summit, Vilas, Ackley and the western part of Peck and Upham Townships.

The surface of this type of soil to an average depth of 10 inches consists of a light brown or grayish silt loam with a reddish shade and contains a small amount of organic matter. The percentage of silt is very high and the soil has a smooth feel characteristic of silt loam. This soil is heavy and compact because of the high clay content and at places approaches a silty clay loam in texture. The subsoil consists of a yellowish brown, buff or grayish silt loam which is heavier with depth and grades into a silty loam at 16 to 20 inches. Below this depth and at times above it the material is mottled with yellow, brown, bluish and reddish brown, indicating poor internal drainage. The lower subsoil below 24 and 30 inches has a reddish brown color. There are but little stones on the surface. The amount of organic material is greater in the depressions. The depth to bedrock ranges from 4 to 50 feet. The surface generally is undulating and gently rolling. Elevation differences between highest and lowest points do not exceed over forty feet. Slopes are long and gentle. There are some places where the surface is wet most of the time, but the natural surface drainage is fairly good.

This soil is formed from the weathered product of the ground-up rock left upon the surface early in the Glacial Period. It has been derived almost entirely from the old ingneous rocks which make up the underlying formation through this part of the county. The soil has some of the characteristics of a residual soil. The small number of stones and boulders present is due to their disintegration and breaking up into soil during the long period that has elapsed since the old drift formation was deposited. This drift has been eroded and washed by streams and rains for so long a period that depressions in the surface have been largely drained or have been filled by wash from adjoining slopes. There are seldom any peat bogs, swamps or lakes in this section of the county. All the region is excellent for crops.

The level phase of Spencer silt loam is found in Ackley Township. In texture the soil is a silt loam, but it has a lower position and poorer drainage. The organic material is great. Drainage is not very good as the surface is so level and the texture of the soil so heavy that natural drainage is deficient. The most important consideration in the improvement of this soil is drainage after which the level phase is good for agricultural purposes.

Merrimac silt loam is an important soil from the standpoint of productivity and agricultural development. The most extensive tract in Langlade County is found in the southwestern part where there is an unbroken area covering approximately 150 square miles. Antigo, Deerbrook, Bryant, Elcho and Ormsby are all located in this tract. The surface of this soil is light brown or grayish brown, friable silt loam, which extends to an average depth of 12 inches. The content of the silt is high, organic material is very small, but the soil as a whole is in an acid condition. The subsoil is yellowish brown and at a depth of 22 to 30 inches it grades into beds of stratified sand and gravel. West of Antigo the silt covering in some places is five feet while in other places east of Antigo, particularly, gravel and sand sometimes are turned up by the plow.

This soil is lighter east of Antigo than that west of the city. Where this type of soil is best developed there are few stones and but little gravel. However, on a small area two miles north of Ormsby, stones are thickly embedded in the soil. This surface is level or gently undulating and usually has a very gentle slope toward the water course along which it occurs. Streams that have cut through these areas have their channels 5 to 20 feet below the general level of the adjacent land. Flood plains along such streams are from a few rods to a quarter of a mile in width. East of Antigo and also north is a prairie-like plain in which the elevation differences do not exceed 6 to 10 feet in distances of several miles. This country is commonly called "The Antigo Flats" and is very productive. The gravel and sand generally comes close enough to the surface in this part of the county to make for good drainage. The Merrimac silt loam is composed of alluvial material and is the result of outwash plains and stream terraces by streams issuing from the ice sheet during the gracial period. Beds of stratified sand and gravel below the surface extend to a considerable depth, known to be as high as 58 feet at Antigo. The underlying rock is granite and the gravel found in this section is usually from granite and other crystalline rocks. The fine surface soil is the result of the grinding action of the glacial ice formation and the action of water, weather and wind upon glacial debris. Stones and boulders were carried in by floating ice or by the advance of an ice sheet after the stratified material was first deposited. The area of this type of soil about Antigo is the largest in the state and is some of the finest agricultural land in the state.

Merrimac sandy loam, a type of soil of minor importance, is found in Langlade County northeast of Antigo in a narrow belt of 7 or 8 square miles. The surface soil is sandy loam to a depth of one foot. The subsoil is loose and coarser with depth. This soil warms up early in the spring and general farming produces fair yields from it. The parent material from which the type of soil was derived consists largely of crystalline rock with a small quantity of material from limestone.

Peat is found in small tracts through Langlade County and consists of vegetable matter in various stages of decomposition. Muck, consisting of well decomposed matter with which there is incorporated an appreciable amount of mineral matter, is also found in the county in small areas.

Antigo is 922 feet above Lake Michigan and 1,483 feet above sea level. Summit Lake is 1,697 feet above sea level and is officially the highest body of water in Wisconsin. There is a small body of water just north of Summit Lake declared to be much higher than Summit Lake. Rib Hill, Marathon County, highest land point in Wisconsin, is 1,940 feet above sea level. Koepenick, Upham Township, Langlade County, is 1,683 feet above sea level.