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Kankakee valley at the point where South Bend now lies 

 through the bed of its largest tributary, which will be described 

 later on. The Kankakee valley extends from a point in 

 Illinois where the present Kankakee river and the Desplaines 

 unite, taking a northeasterly course through Illinois, Indiana 

 and Michigan, to the water shed between the streams flowing 

 into Saginaw Bay and the head waters of the St. Joseph river, 

 which flows southwest through the Kankakee channel to South 

 Bend, where it abruptly turns north and reaches Lake Michigan 

 at St. Joseph. This valley was the great outlet to Lake Huron, 

 as the Wabash valley was the outlet to Lake Erie during 

 glacial times. This great flood plain varies in width from three 

 miles at its narrowest point, which is one mile below South 

 Bend, to about twenty at its broadest part, which is between 

 Porter and Lake on the north and Newton and Jasper counties 

 on the south. The south bank of the valley from about six 

 miles below South Bend, to near its source, is from fifty to one 

 hundred feet high, while the north bank from South Bend to 

 its source, is generally low and shelving. From South Bend 

 to the Illinois line, or from the point where the stream emerges 

 from between the Maumee and Michigan moraines to its con- 

 fluence with the Desplaines, the banks are low, generally not 

 exceeding fifteen or twenty feet in height. On the south side 

 of the old channel will be found quite an extensive sandy 

 flood plain, extending from the border of the Maumee moraine 

 southwestward covering almost the entire surface of Stark 

 county, the northern part of Pulaski, Jasper and Newton 

 counties. On the north the main channel largely borders the 

 Michigan moraines. 



The great width of the stream from South Bend to the 

 eastern part of Illinois was owing to three causes. First — The 

 surface of the country through which this part of the stream 

 flowed was destitute of rugged features, being a comparatively 

 level smooth surface. Second — The stream crossed the arched 

 condition of the bed rock which extends in a northwesterly 

 course across Indiana into Illinois, this rocky ridge produced 

 a well marked rapids, similar to those of the Ohio river near 



