9-NOTES ON THE STREAMS AND FISHES OF CLINTON COUNTY, KENTUCKY, 
WITH A DESCRIPTION OF A NEW DARTER. 
BY PHILIP H. KIRSCH. 
Clinton County is one of tlie smallest counties in Kentucky, having an area of 
only about 206 square miles. It lies between the Cumberland River (to which all of 
its streams are tributary) and the Tennessee State line, and between the counties of 
Wayne on the east and Cumberland on the west. Albany is the county seat. 
The surface is hilly and much broken by the deeply cut valleys of the water 
courses. The central Poplar Mountain range, together with a series of much lower 
elevations, form a watershed extending in a general northwest and southeast direction, 
dividing the county into two nearly equal areas. On the north of this watershed the 
drainage is by means of Indian and Willis creeks directly into the Cumberland River ; 
on the south by means of Spring and Ill-will creeks into Wolf River, thence through 
Obeys River into the Cumberland, at Celina, Tennessee. 
PRINCIPAL STREAMS OF THE NORTHERN WATER SYSTEM. 
Indian Creek rises at the foot of Poplar Mountain, 4 miles northeast of Albany, 
flows 9 miles in a northerly direction, and empties into the Cumberland River in Rus- 
sell County. It receives numerous tributaries and, in connection with Willis Creek, 
drains nearly the whole of the northern half of the county. The bottom lands in the 
upper courses are narrow and densely wooded, while in the middle and lower courses 
they are wider and under cultivation, and are bordered by high sloping bluffs. The chan- 
nels of the tributaries are mostly through solid limestone, covered with loose, irregular 
rock and bowlders which have fallen from the bluffs. The channel of the main stream 
has a bottom of gravel, with occasional limestone shoals. Collections were made from 
the lower course of the main stream, and in the deep gorge below Seventy- Six Palls, 
in the principal western branch. At the latter point the stream has a width of 20 
feet and a vertical fall of 86 feet into a deep gorge, from which the mist rises high into 
the air, presenting varied rainbow tints. The depth of this gorge is nearly 200 feet 
below the bordering hills. The bottom of the channel is composed of slate. Inves- 
tigations made 2 miles above the falls resulted in the collection of only two species, 
Rhinichthys atronasus (Mitchill) and Ameiurus nebulosus (Le Sueur). The latter found 
its way into the stream from Capt. Hurt’s fish pond. 
F. C. B. 1890—19 
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