179] FAUNA OF BIG VERMILION RIVER— BAKER 81 



At the junction of the Boneyard with the Salt Fork the waters of the 

 two streams usually formed two distinct bands, the clear water of the latter 

 on the left or north bank and the murky, sewage-laden water of the Bone- 

 yard on the right or south bank, the line in the center of the stream dividing 

 the two waters being clearly marked. (Fig. 21). The waters of these 

 two streams do not fully mingle until they have flowed a distance of 

 several hundred yards. All the way down the Salt Fork, however, as far 

 as the first bridge, the right side is more discolored than the left side, 

 indicating that the sewage-laden waters of the Boneyard and Champaign 

 outlet flow mostly on this side of the stream. 



At the Champaign sewage outlet, about half a mile below the Bone- 

 yard, there is usually a good flow of water from the discharge pipe into an 

 open ditch, which empties into the Salt Fork a short distance away. At 

 the point of entrance of the open ditch, the chocolate-colored water of the 

 Champaign sewage is clearly marked as a dark band extending around the 

 upstream end of a large sludge bank, similar to the one described in Haber- 

 meyer's report in 1917 (Fig. 41). Some fecal matter is generally pre- 

 sent. The water in the Salt Fork at this point is usually less than a foot 

 deep and the bottom is made up of a soft sludge which covers everything in 

 the water. The odor is very bad, almost nauseating. 



Below the Champaign outlet the stream is in very foul condition, as 

 noted in Habermeyer's report. From the outlet to the first bridge, more 

 than a mile down stream, the water is less than a foot deep, in most places 

 but a few inches, and the bottom has much sludge, and putrescent matter 

 covers every object in the water, as well as the shores and all objects on the 

 shores to a height of several feet, indicating former stream levels. Fecal 

 matter, in dark brown masses, as well as partly decomposed organic matter 

 colored green by the presence of blue-green algae and the protozoan 

 Euglena, are usually floating down the stream. The bottom substratum 

 is of sand and gravel, and over this sludge banks have been formed of 

 greater or less thickness. Bars of sand and gravel occur at irregular inter- 

 vals and are covered with masses of putrescent matter forming long, alter- 

 nating streaks of black and green. An oily scum resembling petroleum 

 covers the surface in many places, and the bottom, when disturbed, emits 

 an oily substance which spreads over the surface as an oily scum. This may 

 represent some gas house wastes as well as heavy oil from other places 

 along the Boneyard. The odor in this section of the stream is almost over- 

 powering in many places, being distinctly a privy smell. In one place the 

 observer was compelled to leave the vicinity of the stream, the odor was 

 so strongly nauseating. In places, bubbles of gas may be seen to break at 

 the surface from submerged sludge banks. 



Samples of the bottom sludge and putrescent matter floating in the 

 water were collected just above the bridge, about a mile and a quarter 



