Although many things have changed in Trempealeau County since these pioneers wrote their reminiscences, the county today still remains a mostly rural, agrarian setting with an abundance of wildlife, although the wolves and prairie chickens are no longer in attendance.
Created in 1854 mainly thru the maneuvering of George Gale, a one of the county’s premier land speculators, Trempealeau County was put together from land from Jackson and Buffalo Counties. It is bordered on the west by the Mississippi and on the south east by the Black River. Draining this hilly, driftless area terrain are the Pine, Beaver, French, and Trempealeau Rivers. Across the northern portion of the county the Beef/Buffalo river crosses into Buffalo County.
The early settlers found an area of prairie grass, wild blueberry bushes, steep hillsides and deep valleys and very few trees. Yearly wildfires kept the brush down but also kept trees from growing. Once land was cultivated and fenced, the fires ceased and look of the land gradually changed. Today Trempealeau County has a great deal of hardwoods forests and very little of the original prairie habitat still in existence.