Distributive Relationships of the A gricultural Pattern 110 
Under conditions prevailing before extensive improvements were 
effected (Fig. 18) the drainage of the flood plain was very unsatisfactory, 
and large areas still are uncultivable because of excess waters. Wood 
River meandered on the flood plain for a distance almost three times as 
great as the shortest distance between its point of exit from the bluffs 
and the Mississippi River. During a period of heavy rainfall in the 
upper basin, the flood plain section of the channel was unable to accom- 
modate the water that flowed from the upland, and a large section of 
the adjoining flood plain was inundated. 
On emerging from the bluffs, Cahokia Creek, instead of crossing 
the flood plain directly to the Mississippi only four and one-half miles 
away, flowed southward close to the foot of the bluffs, almost to the 
Present boundary between Madison and St. Clair counties (Fig. 18). 
Thence its course extended in a generally southwesterly direction through 
East St. Louis to the Mississippi. The course which it followed across. 
the flood plain was more than six times longer than the shortest possible 
route. Heavy local precipitation along its lower course, supplemented 
by an outpouring of water from the uplands, occasionally over-taxed the 
Capacity of the channel and the natural reservoir called Horseshoe Lake. 
The ensuing floods inundated farm land and threatened East St. Louis. 
Prairie du Pont Creek had a general course extending almost directly 
from the bluffs toward the Mississippi, but on nearing the river it turned 
southward and meandered on the flood plain for a distance of about 
five miles before emptying into the river. North of the creek the surface 
water moved slowly toward the bluffs where it formed a series of shallow 
lakes and swamps. No natural channel actively drained the water 
southward along the foot of the bluffs, but there was a poorly defined 
movement in that direction. Relatively large areas could not be placed 
under cultivation because of excess water. The upland section of the 
Prairie du Pont Basin is only twice the area of the lowland section, 
whereas the upland section of the Wood River Basin is thirty-nine times 
larger than the lowland section and the upland section of the Cahokia 
Basin is more than three and one-half times larger than its flood plain 
Section. Moreover, lakes and swamps, particularly Pittsburg Lake, were 
effective natural reservoirs in the Prairie du Pont Basin. Consequently, 
local floods there were less threatening than those in the Wood River 
and Cahokia basins. 
A major problem of individual farmers or of groups of farmers living 
©n contiguous farms is to provide supplementary ditches to facilitate 
the movement of water to arterial channels. Effective land utilization 
