244 



History of the AVea Creek in Tippecanoe County, Indiana, 

 "William A. McBeth. 



The Wea. Creek has two principal forlvs, liiiown as Big- Wea and Little 

 "Wea. These both rise near the south line of Tippecanoe County and flow 

 roughly parallel with each other five or six miles apart, first to the north- 

 east through nearly half their course, then bending to the noi'thwest, they 

 gradually approach each other and unite. 



The course below the junction continues northwest to the Wabash. 

 The Big Wea receives a tributary which joins the main stream near the 

 elbow-like bend, coming from the southeast near the south line of the 

 county. 



These branches all rise in marshy meadows or prairies now generally 

 drained. These marshy tracts are usumIIv long, naiTow sags or shallow 

 valleys extending across the divide. 



Streams flowing to the south and southwest rise near the heads of the 

 Wen Creeks. In the map of Tippecanoe County, on page 238, it will be 

 noticed that Shawnee Creek rises near the source of Little Wea Creek, 

 Coal Creek .near the head of Big Wea Creek and a tributary of Sugar Creek 

 neai' the source of the east fork of Big Wea Creek. 



The upper course of Little Wea Creek follows a valley with gently 

 sloping sides twenty to thirty feet in depth and one-fourth of a mile wide. 

 Just below wliere it is crossed by the Chicago, Indianapolis & Louisville 

 Railroad, near its abrupt bend, this valley widens out and comes to an end. 

 For two or three miles the creek floAvs through a flat prairie with a channel 

 just large enough to carry its flood waters. This channel is forty or fifty 

 feet wide and five or six feet deep. For two or three miles above its junc- 

 tion with the Big Wea Creek it again follows a valley of about the same 

 width as its upper valley but having much steeper bluffs and a more level 

 bottom. 



The upper seven or eight miles of the Big AVea Creek flows in a channel 

 three or four feet deep and ten to twenty feet wide, over the smooth, gent'y 

 sloping prairie. Near Romney it flows from the smooth prairie into a valley 

 one-fourth of a mile wide and twenty to thirty feet deep. The tributary 

 from the southeast joining the Big Wea near its abrupt bend has its upper 

 course without a notable valley, but enters one of considei-able size near its 

 mouth. After the main stream bends to the northwest, its valley within 



