Township of Little Black

The town has a total area of 35.0 square miles of which, 35.0 square miles is land and 0.03% is water.

The western edge of the six by six mile square that would become Little Black was first surveyed in 1847 by a crew working for the U.S. government. That west edge of the town is on the Fourth Principal Meridian, the first north-south line surveyed up through the forests of Wisconsin, from which towns, sections and forties were later measured. In October 1854 a different crew of surveyors marked all the section corners in the township, walking through the woods and swamps, measuring with chain and compass. When done, the deputy surveyor filed this general description:

This Township contains some swamps, all of which are unfit for cultivation. The north west portion is mostly worthless, being almost all swamp. The land is generally of poor quality, and not good farming land, the soil being poor and the rocks coming to the surface in many places. Most of the Timber is Hemlock but where there is Hardwood the land is fair farming land. There is no Pine of any consequence. The township is well watered with small streams and in the north part of the township there is a large stream of sufficient size for milling purposes, with high banks, rocky bottom and rapid current. There are no improvements in the township.