LA CROSSE, chief city of La Crosse county, Wisconsin, United States, is situated on the east bank of the Mississippi, at the confluence of the Black and La Crosse rivers, 196 miles by rail west-north-west of Milwaukee. La Crosse is the second commercial city and the fourth in the scale of population in the State. An extensive lumbering trade is carried on by means of the Black river. The city contains foundries, machine-shops, sawmills, flour-mills, shipbuilding yards, and manufactories of agricultural implements, beer, and leather. It has 3 English dailies and 5 weekly newspapers (2 English, 2 Norwegian, 1 German), 20 churches, and a public library containinc, 3300 volumes. La Crosse became a city in 1856. The population in 1880 was 14,505.