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HISTORY OF WOOD COUNTY-
division. The elevation at Port Edwards is 969 feet, at Nekoosa 959 feet,
at Dex-
terville 994 feet, and at Babcock 977 feet.
   The drainage of most of the county is into the Wisconsin River, which
crosses
the eastern part of the area. Nearly all the remainder of the county drains
first
into the Yellow River, which traverses the western part from north to south
and
joins the Wisconsin River at Necedah, in Juneau County, to the south. The
East
Fork of Black River receives drainage water from an area of about two townships
in the west central part of the county. This stream is directly tributary
to the
Mississippi River.
   Dr. Samuel Weidman, of the Wisconsin Geological and Natural History Sur-
vey, who made a general soil survey of north-central Wisconsin, published
with
map in 1906, had the following to say in regard to Wood County:
   "In Wood County, sandstone occurs in isolated patches over the entire
area
of the county, being sparsely distributed over the northern part and fairly
abundant
over the southern portion. The occurrences in the northeastern part are generally
quite small. They are also relatively of slight thickness. Sandstone is abundant
in the southern part of the county. Outcrops of considerable extent occur
along
the Yellow River in the northeast quarter of Section 27 and in the southeast
corner
of Section 35 of Township 25, Range 2 East. It is abundant in low hills in
the
southern part of the townships of fAnsen, Sigel, and Randolph. In the northeast
quarter of Section 30 and the northwest quarter of Section 29 of Rudolph,
the
formation is a fairly hard, firm rock and is used to a considerable extent
for build-
ing purposes. Sandstone is exposed in numerous places along the Wisconsin
River
from Biron's Mill to Nekoosa, overlying the residual clays and crystaline
rocks.
In the broad alluvial plain of southern Wood County only one noteworthy outcrop
of sandstone occurs-the South Mound about six miles southwest of Babcock,
in
the vicinity of the northwest quarter of Section 25, Township 21 north, Range
2 east.
South Mound is probably not more than 50 or 60 feet high, but is a feature
of con-
siderable prominence in the surrounding alluvial plain.
    "There is an abundance of drift along the line of the Wisconsin
Central Railroad
 from Marshfield as far southeast as the village of Sherry, farther east
of which the
 surface deposits are those prevailing in the driftless area. The terminus,
there-
 fore, extends south from Rice Lake through Milladore, crossing the railroad
in the
 vicinity of the village of Sherry, and thence extending southward to the
vicinity
 three miles west of Grand Rapids.
    The border lies approximately across the central parts of the towns of
Milla-
 dore, Sherry, and Sigel, in Wood County. There are no ridges of drift in
this
 vicinity and the border is somewhat obscure. In the vicinity about two miles
 west of Wisconsin Rapids, the border apparently makes a sharp turn to the
west.
 The border in this vicinity is characterized by considerable drift apparent
in the
 form of hills and ridges, the general composition of the drift being typical
moraine.
 These drift ridges are in part, at least, merely drift remnants capping
the sandstone,
 and owe their present form wholly to the work of erosion. Several of these
drift
 covered hills lie in the western half of Section 10, Township 22 north,
Range 5
 east, and immediately west in the northern half of Sections 7, 8, and 9,
in the same
 township. The elongated hills and ridges stand from 20 to 40 feet high,
and are
 covered with sand, pebbles of granite, and various igneous rock, and large
blocks
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