Winneshiek County is located in northeastern Iowa in the second tier of counties west of the Mississippi River and bordering the state of Minnesota on the north. The location is shown on the accompanying sketch map. The county lies partly in the Iowan drift soil area and partly in the Mississippi loess and, hence, the soils are partly of loessial and partly of glacial origin. The larger part of the county, almost two-thirds of the total area, is covered by loess soils.