WABASH RIVER DRAINAGE BASIN. 533 



course of Eel River. From this point to its mouth the course of the stream 

 is nearly coincident with a broad preglacial line. 



At Worthington there is a minor stream deflection. The preglacial 

 valley of Eel River leads southward, while the present stream passes east- 

 ward into White River through a gap in a line of hills that continues south 

 a few miles in the midst of the broad valley of White River. It is probable 

 that this line of hills is the remnant of a narrow ridge separating the pre- 

 glacial Eel River Valley from the smaller preglacial valley coming in from 

 the northeast. 



Below the junction of these two valleys White River has a valley of 

 irregular width, ranging from 3 miles to fully twice that width. Broad low 

 tracts extend up tributaries several miles. They are conspicuous on the 

 west side, in both Greene and Knox counties, but on the east side they first 

 become conspicuous in Daviess County south of Greene. These lowlands 

 are deeply filled with drift and appear to be the lines occupied by preglacial 

 tributaries. They are now mainly occupied by very small creeks. 



Attention has already been called to some interesting deflections of 

 eastern tributaries of White River in Owen and Greene counties, Indiana, 

 evidently caused by the presence of the ice sheet, deflections which were 

 discovered by Mr. C. E. Siebenthal, of the Indiana survey. Other deflec- 

 tions, also discovered by Siebenthal, appear to be referable in great part to 

 drift filling, occurring as they do within the limits of glaciation. Thus 

 Raccoon Creek makes a slight detour into its old south bluff 1J to 2 miles 

 below Freeman, its former course being indicated by a slight sag or depres- 

 sion lying north of the present stream. A similar though somewhat greater 

 departure is made by Richland Creek near Tulip, about 6 miles above its 

 mouth. A deflection of a different class was noted by Siebenthal in the 

 basin of McCormack's Creek east of Spencer. This basin apparently had 

 subterranean drainage prior to the ice invasion, but was compelled to make 

 a surface channel after the drift deposition. 1 The creek has falls which 

 have cut back a gorge in limestone about 1 mile from White River. The 

 gorge is smaller and the stage of development less advanced than in gorges 

 od .similar-sized streams of northwestern Illinois. But as the rock is some- 

 what harder than that bordering the gorges of northwestern Illinois, no 

 great difference in age need be inferred. 



1 See Twenty-first Ann. Rent. Tmliana Oeol. Survey, 1896. pp. 301, 302. 



