CHAPTER XIY. 



SHELBY COUNTY. 



Shelby county is bounded on the north by Christian, Macon and 

 Moultrie, on the east by Moultrie, Coles and Cumberland, on the south 

 by Effingham and Fayette, and on the west by Montgomery and Chris- 

 tian. It embraces an area of about 755 square miles, about two-thirds 

 of which is prairie land. Its surface is agreeably diversified by mounds, 

 hills, valleys and plains. 



Streams. — The principal streams are the Little Wabash river in the 

 south-east, and the Kaskaskia and its tributaries in the central and 

 western portions of the county. 



Topography. — The hills skirting the "Okaw" or Kaskaskia river are 

 generally 60 to 70 feet high, but 4 miles north east of Shelbyville they 

 attain a hight of 130 feet. For the distance of a half mile to a mile 

 from the river the country is somewhat broken. The growth on these 

 hills consists for the most part of white oak with some black oak and 

 hickory. The bottoms vary in width from a quarter of a mile in the 

 northern to three-quarters in the southern part, and are generally from 

 14 to 16 feet above the ordinary stage of water in the rivers, with some- 

 times a second bottom a few feet higher. During wet seasons the river 

 often extends over the first bottom several feet in depth. Near the 

 margin of the stream are found birch and willows, on the lower bottoms 

 elm, maple and sycamore, and on the higher bottoms sometimes sugar 

 tree and bur oak. Other trees occurring here are ash, pin oak, coff.-e 

 tree and honey locust. Where the bottoms are low and the soil very 

 sandy mixed with river drift, Vernonia fasciculata is the most abundant 

 plant. 



The south-east portion of the county is flat, between the streams. 

 The timbered part of townships 9 and 10 consists mostly of flat post 

 oak ridges, with thin light ash soil changing locally to better land 

 with an abundant growth of hickory ; and at the edge of the prairie 

 pin oak and laurel oak, with hazel undergrowth. Along the hillsides 

 white oak predominates. The hills near Green creek attain a hight of 

 about 40 feet; on Little Wabash generally 25 to 30 feet. Passing 



