401 
can be distinctly seen on practically all sides of this hill, coming slightly 
above the 760-foot contour line. 
About one and one-half miles southwest of Ellettsville in the south- 
east corner of Section 8, T. 9 N., R. 2 W., is a sink which has a small 
stream entering it, and draining about one-half square mile of Flatwoods. 
This stream has lowered this corner of Flatwoods considerably below 
the general level. The water that goes into the sink flows out about a 
half mile to the southwest from a couple of large springs which drain 
into Raccoon Creek. 
Perhaps the most interesting opening in the periphery of the basin 
occurs in Section 1, T. 9 N., R. 3 W. This opening leads into a tributary 
of Raccoon Creek, and is at least a third of a mile wide. To the east of 
it is a high hill or ridge attaining a maximum height of 910 feet, and on 
the west another ridge reaches above the 880-contour line. The floor of 
the opening itself is twenty-five feet or more below the silt-line on the 
sides of the hills. This opening is really a connection between Flatwoods 
proper and a continuation of it in the Raccoon Creek Valley. Consideration 
will be given it later. 
There is yet another outlet to the Flatwoods region, which at first 
was very puzzling to the writer. At the western extremity of the basin 
Allistons Branch reaches into it by many deep and narrow tributaries. 
These tributaries are almost invariably headed by seepage springs which 
come out into the sandy material in which the tributaries are cut. The 
basin itself is some higher at this western part. The basin cannot be said 
to have a margin at this western limit; it ends more or less abruptly in 
the tributaries of Allistons Branch. If it ever had a peripheral margin at 
this end it has been effaced by the V-shaped valleys leading into Allistons 
Branch. The writer intends to prove that this western end never had a 
distinct margin, that is, like the so clearly identified ones on the southern 
and northern periphery of the region. 
From the silt line at the foot.of the hills, the slope of the basin is 
generally inward toward the mathematical center. The lowest part of the 
basin (not considering the valley and channel of McCormicks Creek) is 
along the Monroe-Owen County line, between sections 31 and 36, T. i0 
N., and branching off from this along the southern part of section 31 and 
and along the northern part of section 36. This region is very fertile, being 
almost entirely a black loamy soil. The white silt of the bordering 
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