Mexico weekly ledger., 1911-10-19
SOIL SURVEY OF AUDRAIN
HAS BEEN MADE BY STATE !
EXPERIMENT STATION

EXPERIMENT. 5lAlIUN
The experiment station of the De
partment OF Agriculture of the State
University recently made soil sur
~ ~ % At-,iii ain county This re
port will be issued shortly in bulle-
tin form. but we will publish the
greater part of it in a few articles
before the report Is off the press,
All farmers in Audrain will be great
ly interested in the survey. The
first will deal with general intro
duction of conditions.
Topography.
The upland region ~of Northeast
Missouri as whole, regardless OF
the stream valleys which have been
cut into it, presents a topography pc
culiarly its own. It's fundamental feat
ures Is smooth plain, the southern
part of which slopes very gently to
the north, the northwestern part to
the southeast, and the eastern part
to the west, thus forming broad
shallow trough the southern part of
which has a north and south trend
Audrain county extends across the
southern part of this trough.
In detail. the topography of the
county is of three principal types
the smooth. almost perfectly flat
prairie, the undulating bordering
prairies which were slightly erod-
ed, and the hilly broken type with
sharp. steep slopes. which border
the lower level valleys,
The main body of the flat prairie
lies between the main drainage sys-
TENS. while arms extend out from it
between the stream tributaries. In
the eastern part of the county the
main divide separates the drainage
OF Salt River on the north and west
from that OF Cuivre on the south
and east 1t enters the county at
Vandalia near the northeast corner
and follows the line of the Chicago
and Alton railroad to a point about
five miles southwest of Laddonia,
when 1t turns to the south and west,
crossing the Wabash railroad about
half way between Mexico and Mar
tinsburg 1t then extends almost due
south until it passes out Of the coun-
ty. In the western part of the
county several long finger-llke areas
OF this level prairie extend north and
east between the tributaries of Salt
River.
Between these strips of level poor
ly drained upland are broader areas
of gently undulating prairie extend
ing on each side of the shallow
streams which drain them. The hill
topography is confined to few
comparatively small eroded areas
along Salt River in the central and
north central parts of the county and
to other small areas along Loutre
and Cuivre in the southeastern part.
The central and northern parts Of
the county are drained by Salt Riv-
er, the upper tributaries Of which in
Audrain county follow the northward
slope of the Northeast Missouri Bas-
in, while the southeastern portion is
drained by Ouivre, which escapes
from the same basin in a southeaster
ly direction between the east end of
it's northward slope and the west end
Of its westward slope.
Drainage.
Salt River has several tributaries
in the county. Henrys Fork and
Beaver Dam Creek, both of which
rise in the southwestern part of the
county, unite about mile north OF
Mexico to form the North Fork This
stream receives Littleby Creek from
the east and Skull Lick Creek. Fish
Branch, .Youno's Creek, and Long
Branch from the west The ex-
treme western portion of the county
is drained into Elk Fork of Salt
River by Sailing and Judith Creeks,
while a considerable area north OF
Laddonia is drained into Salt River
proper by the east and west branch
es of Lick Creek.
Cuiyre River, with it's two tribu-
tarles, Sandy Greek and Hickory
Greek, drain nearly all of the south
eastern part of the county into the
Mississippi River. A small area
south and west of Martinsburg is
drained into the Missouri River by
Loutre Creek, and another small area
in the extreme southwestern part of
the county is drained into the same
stream by Cedar Creek and by Seven
Mile, a branch of Muddy Greek.
Geology.
The geology of this region is sim
pie and easily understood.
In the central and north central
part of the county along the steep
slopes bordering the valleys of Salt
River, Littleby and Young's Greeks,
rocks outcrop The lowest of these
rocks consist oil alternating beds of
black shale and thtn layers Of lime
stone without ebert or flint. Above
these shale and thin limestone layers
is bed of thicker limestone which
contains ebert nodules and in place
tli,, Iayore pr chart