THE TOPOGRAPHY AND HYDROGRAPHY OF ILLINOIS liii 



SALT CREEK 



Salt creek is formed by the union of North and South Salt 

 creeks. North Salt creek has its source between two large 

 ridges of the Bloomington morainic system in southeastern 

 McLean county near the source of the Sangamon. It passes 

 southward through the outer ridge and across the undulating 

 plain south of it, to its junction with the south fork. South 

 Salt creek heads on the outer border of the Bloomington moraine, 

 and flows southwestward across a gently undulating plain to a 

 point 5 miles east of Clinton, where the two streams unite to 

 form Salt creek. Above their junction each stream has a 

 length of 25 to 30 miles. The south branch in its first 2 miles 

 has a fall of 50 feet, and below this a fall averaging 10 feet to 

 every three or four miles. The north branch falls 80 feet in its 

 first 4 miles, with a fall below this averaging 10 feet to every two 

 miles. From their junction the united streams pass westward 

 through the Shelby ville moraine, entering the outer border 

 plain at Kenney, eight miles southwest of Clinton. The general 

 course of the creek continues westward to its junction with the 

 Sangamon 50 miles below. It is 92 miles long, draining an 

 area of 1,940 square miles. 



It receives Lake Fork creek from the south about 5 miles 

 above Lincoln, Kickapoo creek from the north about 4 miles 

 below Lincoln, and Sugar creek, also from the north, about 12 

 miles farther down. 



The valley of Salt creek is much broader below the mouth 

 of Lake Fork than above and it seems probable that a larger 

 stream occupied Lake Fork valley prior to the Wisconsin in- 

 vasion than that which occupied Salt creek valley. The latter 

 appears to be almost wholly a post-Wisconsin stream as far 

 down as its junction with Lake Fork. 



Below the junction the stream averages a fall of 10 feet to 

 every three or four miles, but in the lower two miles the bed has 

 a fall of 20 feet. The bed and banks of Salt creek, like those of 

 the Sangamon, are without rock. 



CROOKED CREEK 



Crooked creek is the last western tributary of the Illinois. 

 It rises in Hancock county and flows in an irregular course, 

 southeast, into the Illinois River at a point 14 miles below the 

 mouth of the Sangamon. The stream is about 60 miles long 



