The Driftless Area of Wisconsin is a distinctive geological region of about 10,000 square miles in the state’s southwestern corner, with La Crosse on its western edge, marked by narrow steep valleys, spring-fed streams, craggy forested bluffs, and remnants of oak savanna and prairie. Its defining feature is that it was not covered by the thick ice sheets that advanced out of Canada many times over the past 2.6 million years; during the last glacial period about 30,000 years ago, ice was diverted by the highlands of north central Wisconsin and bypassed the southwest, leaving an unglaciated landscape unlike surrounding regions. Instead of hills smoothed and valleys filled with glacial drift, the area retained its rugged ridge-and-valley topography. The land here consists of Paleozoic dolomite over softer sandstone, and erosion by water and wind has created dramatic outcroppings, undercuts, sinkholes, caves, and springs. From Grandad Bluff, an immense plateau cut by many narrow valleys is visible; these local valleys are called coulees, from the French word couler, to flow, and that term later gave rise to the name Coulee Region for the greater La Crosse area. The larger Mississippi River Valley was likely formed by drainage from enormous glacial lakes at the end of an earlier glacial period, and along this stretch the bluffs rise an average of 600 feet above the river, with Grandad Bluff, at nearly 700 feet and 1,202 feet above sea level, among the highest. The area’s spring-fed streams support healthy trout populations, but its rugged terrain and deeply incised rivers mean it has no natural lakes or ponds. Its dramatic scenery has long attracted artists and visitors, while its rolling and often steep terrain also posed challenges for farmers, leading in the early 1930s to soil conservation studies and an erosion-control project on Grandad Bluff using strip-cropping, terracing, contour plowing, and grazing across 160 acres.

Photo: Ruth VanSteenwyk