488 PLEISTOCENE OF INDIANA AND MICHIGAN. 



DISTRIBUTARIES NEAR TRENTON. 



EARLY DISTRIBUTARIES. 



Two very distinct distributaries that head on the higher ground about 2 miles southwest of 

 Wyandotte or 3 to 4 miles north of Trenton are probably the oldest on the American side. The 

 first of these begins in northeast sec. 36, in Ecorse Township, and after running for a mile south- 

 west divides and passes around two sides of a knoll, forming an island more than a quarter of 

 a mile long. The headward part of this channel is comparatively narrow and shallow and 

 from its form appears to have been occupied for a relatively brief time. Its width averages 

 from 200 to 300 feet and its depth from 5 to 10 feet. At the north line of Monguagon Township 

 it turns and runs directly south for about a mile into southeastern Brownstown Township, 

 where it turns southeast for another mile and enters the Detroit River about a mile south of 

 Gibraltar; 



For the first 3 miles in Monguagon Township 1 this channel is broader and less sharply 

 denned than it is in its headward part, the plain here being broad and flat. But in the western 

 part of sec. 12 it is joined from the northeast by another distributary, which is better developed 

 and more deeply eroded. The head of this channel opens near the north line of Monguagon 

 Township in the northeast corner of sec. 6 about a quarter of a mile west of the Lake Shore & 

 Michigan Southern Railway. At its head the channel is 12 to 15 feet deep and 50 to 75 feet 

 wide, with steep banks and a narrow fiat floor. It is not occupied in this part by a stream, 

 but is wet and swampy. Within a short distance to the southwest a very small creek appears 

 in it, but is lost in the reeds and has no perceptible flow at ordinary stages. In west sec. 12 

 this channel appears to merge with the channel from the north previously described. Another 

 wide, ill-defined, shallow depression extends from this point southeast through south sec. 12 

 and east sec. 13, but seems to have been abandoned, for the channel which runs directly south 

 is now followed by the small stream which drains both channels from the north. The tract of 

 ground comprised in western sec. 12, southeastern sec. 11, and northeastern sec. 14 is nearly 

 flat and the channels there have low banks and are ill defined. A small creek that comes into 

 northwestern sec. 11 from the higher ground to the northwest shows no features of a distributary 

 until it reaches the low, flat ground in north sec. 14, beyond which, south through Monguagon 

 Township and southeast in Brownstown Township, distributary characters are fairly well 

 developed. 



From these facts it seems certain that this last channel, which lies close to the west fine of 

 Monguagon Township, was not a distributary in its upper part, but received a considerable 

 volume of water while crossing the half mile of flat ground in northeastern sec. 14. Near the 

 middle of sec. 35, Brownstown Township, this channel divides around a low knoll and reunites 

 below in sec. 2. West of this knoll the western branch unites with the second main distributary 

 from the north, and the united channel divides again around a sandy river bar in sees. 1 and 2 

 in the southeastward extension of Brownstown Township. This is a mile west of Gibraltar, a 

 mile south of which the united channels enter Detroit River. A small creek which comes from 

 the northwest through Brownstown Township strikes the divided channel in southwest sec. 35 

 and turns northward in it to join the creek that occupies the western distributary. A very faint 

 distributary branches southwest in western sec. 26, Monguagon Township, and curves around 

 through the eastern part of sees. 27 and 34 of Brownstown, but beyond this its course is uncer- 

 tain. It may run through sees. 2 and 12 to Detroit River hah a mile south of the distributary 

 previously mentioned. In sec. 12 it is very well defined as a long, narrow marsh perhaps 30 

 to 40 rods wide. Another channel which runs through the center of sec. 12 is also well devel- 

 oped. The braided forms which the channels take in this locality are too complex for easy 

 interpretation. 



1 Eeorse and Monguagon townships are irregular in plan, each taking two tiers of sections from the east side of the public-land townships next 

 to the west. In each, therefore, sec. 1 lies next west of sec. 6. 



