109] FAUNA OP BIG VERMILION RIVER— BAKER li 



the north and the Champaign moraine on the south. In its course it cuts 

 through the Bloomington moraine in several places. The territory drained 

 includes a small part of the Bloomington till plain and a considerable part 

 of the Champaign till plain (Leverett, Illinois Glacial Lobe, plate VI.) 

 As there are no outcroppings of rock in this area the streams have cut well 

 defined, though meandering, channels. The upper, small, creek-like tribu- 

 taries have sunk their beds bat a few feet below the general level of the 

 country, but lower down, the stream, after receiving several large tributa- 

 ries, has cut its bed to a depth of ten or fifteen feet. In Middle Fork and 

 North Fork, and in the Big Vermilion from above Middle Fork to the 

 Wabash, the river has cut deep canyons upwards of 200 feet in depth, 

 which produce some of the most picturesque scenery in the State of Illinois. 

 This river valley varies from half a mile to a mile in width and in one place, 

 about four miles below Danville, it widens to form a large amphitheater 

 two miles wide and a mile long, with cliflfs and hills rising on all sides to a 

 height of over 150 feet. 



Outside of the stream valleys the country is a flat till plain, largely 

 devoted to crop purposes. Ridges, made up of the Champaign and Bloom- 

 ington moraines and their branches, occur and have been largely instru- 

 mental in directing the course of some of the stream drainage. The Salt 

 Fork turns to the north after leaving Urbana, and passes around Yankee 

 ridge (a branch of the Champaign moraine) near the Brownfield woods, 

 and spurs from the Champaign moraine occur in several places on the west 

 and south banks of the Salt Fork, which are relatively high and the stream 

 skirts their bases. 



The bottom of the main stream and its tributaries varies greatly. 

 The small tributaries mostly have mud bottoms. In Spoon River the 

 bottom is of mud in most places and the water is of considerable depth, 

 even in summer (three to four feet maximum in August). In places 

 there are riffles where the water is very shallow (a foot or less) and the bot- 

 tom here is of sand and fine gravel. The Salt Fork below St. Joseph is 

 made up of stretches of stream where riffles with sand and gravel bottom 

 alternate with deeper back water with mud bottom. Near Muncie there 

 are outcrops of rock, a smaU tributary. Stony Creek, flowing over a stony 

 bed. In the Middle Fork, shale rock outcrops in several places, notably 

 below the interurban bridge, where the whole bottom is composed of a 

 sheet of rock with a thin coating of sediment in spots. The same conditions 

 are found in patts of the North Fork and in the Big Vermilion. These 

 varying conditions provide the most favorable environment for the growth 

 of river mussels, a fact made evident by the large naiad fauna found in 

 the stream despite the unfavorable effects of sewage and waste pollution. 



Natural dams occur in a few places in the Salt Fork, caused by the 

 accumulation of debris which has lodged against the trunk of a tree that 



