289 
GENERAL DESCRIPTION OF THE REGION. 
Most of my observations were made on the west side of the Wabash 
River extending from Battle Ground on the north to the mouth of Indian 
Creek on the south. (For these and other localities a good map to con- 
sult is the map accompanying the report of the soil survey of Tippecanoe 
County in the field operations of the U. S. Bureau of Soils for 1905.) On 
the east side of the river a few observations were made from the mouth 
of Wild Cat Creek, about two miles north of the city, to a spot east of 
Battle Ground, about a half mile south of the mouth of Buck Creek. Only 
one trip was taken on the east side south of Lafayette. It was limited to 
the line of the Wabash Railroad and extended about. three miles below 
the city. 
According to the Bureau of Soils’ report on the soils of Tippecanoe 
County the general altitude of the country is about 750 feet above sea 
level. Back from the Wabash River and its tributaries the country forms 
a nearly level, or at most slightly undulating, plain. Near the river it 
is much more rugged, a relatively steep line of bluffs leading down to the 
valley of the Wabash which is about 100 feet below the general level of 
the upland. Similar conditions prevail along the main tributaries, such 
as Burnett, Wild Cat and Indian Creeks. 
The yalley of the Wabash forms a nearly level tract varying accord- 
ing to location from a half to two miles in width. It is formed of what 
are known as bottom lands, or more specifically “first bottoms” to dis- 
tinguish them from the older bottoms which are no longer covered by the 
overflow from the river. The surface of these first bottom lands is accord- 
ing to the report already mentioned between 10 and 20 feet above low 
water mark. They are “subject to overflow during periods of high 
water.” During the destructive floods of March, 1913, these bottom lands 
were completely submerged. 
The margin of these bottom lands is formed by the line of steep 
bluffs already mentioned as forming the edge of the upland. Locally, 
as is the case in the vicinity of West Lafayette and of Battle Ground, 
these bluffs recede a mile or two back from the river and in the embay- 
ments thus formed “second bottoms” are developed, that is, ‘‘fossil” flood- 
plains or terraces representing an earlier, prehistoric stage of deposition. 
The surface of these “second bottoms” is level or slightly rolling and on 
the side facing the river is marked by a gentle slope rising from forty to 
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