CHAPTER XIII. 



\ 



GRUNDY COUNTY. 



Grundy county is bounded on the north by Kendall, on the east by Will and 

 Kankakee, on the south by Livingston, and on the west by LaSalle. It in- 

 cludes twelve townships, or about 420 square miles, forming a rectangle of 

 twenty-four miles long and about seventeen and a half miles widef Of this, 

 about two-thirds is slightly rolling prairie, and the balance mostly well tim- 

 bered creek banks and river bottoms. 



The Illinois river divides the county near the middle of its northern half, 

 running in a W. S. W. course, with but little variation. Its principal affluent 

 on the south is Mazon creek, which drains fully one third of Grundy, and por- 

 tions of Livingston, Kankakee and Will counties. Its principal water supply 

 is from surface drainage but few springs being found along its course. From 

 this character, one would readily predicate the truth, that a very wet season 

 often causes it to overflow its banks, though twenty feet or more in hight, while 

 a dry one leaves its bed bare, except where deep pools have formed. The sum- 

 mer of 1867, dryer than a score of its predecessors, gave me an unusually fine 

 chance for the exploration of this stream, as well as all others included in this 

 season's work. 



A few miles west of the Mazon is the Waupecan, draining a comparatively 

 small extent of country; but, in an ordinary season, carrying nearly as much 

 water, the product of several strong springs on the lower part of its course 

 some of them from the Drift, others from the sandstones and shales of the 

 Coal Measures, which here show a small outcrop. Still farther to the westward, 

 are Billy run, Hog run and Armstrong run, which are simply prairie drains, and 

 show no outcrop of rock. Nettle creek, on the north side of the river, is prin- 

 cipally of the same character ; but in the lower part of its course, there are a 

 few springs, and two or three outcrops of the shales and sandstones which over- 

 ly the lower coal. Finally, in the northeast corner of the county, is the Au- 

 Sable creek, with a comparatively large amount of water, partly derived from 

 springs, and partly from drainage of this and part of Kendall county. 



