Abandoned Channels 97 



glacial rivei's flowing from the northeast to the valley of the Ohio or 

 the ocean." 



Phinney' in describing the upper part of the glacial valley, which 

 extends from near Selma, Delaware County, to the main glacial valley 

 in which Buck Creek and Blue River now flow, says: 



"Just west of Selma where crossed by the Bee Line Railroad it 

 was deep enough and treacherous enough to swallow up their embank- 

 ment when first built. This channel extends southwestward across the 

 valley of White River and to the east of New Burlington into Henry 

 County. Near the county line the channel, now called prairie, is filled 

 up sufficiently to cause the water of Prairie Creek to flow northward to 

 White River." 



Arthur E. Taylor in A Soil Survey of Randolph, Wayne, Henry, 

 Rush, Fayette, Union and Franklin Counties'^ in describing the Buck 

 Creek-Blue River Valley, says: 



"A very interesting problem in stream piracy was noted by the 

 writer in the northern part of Prairie Township (Henry County), but 

 time did not permit him to work it out in detail. * * * Blue River 

 once entered Henry County two and a half miles east of Luray and 

 drained a considerable area in southern Delaware County. Subsequently 

 Buck Creek, with a lower channel, kept working its head back towards 

 Blue River, and finally, at a point one mile south of the Delaware line, 

 captured it, conveying the water in a northwesterly direction to the 

 White River. Blue River was left as a small creek which was entirely 

 too small to keep the old river channel open. * * * ^ marshy con- 

 dition began to develop, and a large amount of vegetation accumulated 

 in the presence of water, which is seen today in the muck beds and 

 the dark Wabash silt loam and Wabash loam soils that cover the surface." 



The continuity of the Buck Creek-Blue River Valley is not due to 

 stream pii*acy. The whole valley gives evidence of having been exca- 

 vated by a large stream flowing southward. The only piracy is that of 

 the channel. 



In many moraines are shallow gaps which served as spillways for 

 the water from the melting ice, but the floors of these gaps are far 

 above the level of the bordering plains on the outer and inner sides of 

 the morainic ridges. These four abandoned channels are unusual in 

 that their floors have been excavated down to the level of the bordering 

 plains. It seems that they served as glacial channels for a con- 

 siderable time after the ice had retreated from the inner slope of the 

 Mt. Summit Moraine. 



The large terraces along East White River in Henry and lower 

 counties and along the streams of the Whitewater system, as well as 

 the extensive gravel plains in Wayne County are a measure of the 

 enormous volumes of glacial floods that poured through these channels. 



- Phinney, Henry County and Portions of Randolph. Wayne, and Delaware: 15th 

 Anu. Kept., Tnd. Dopt. Geolo.uy and Natural Hist. 



" Taylor, A. E., ;34th Ann. Rcpt., Ind. Dept. of Geolosy and Natural Resources, i)p. 



74, 75. 



7—25870 



