260 
IOWA ACADEMY OF SCIENCE 
lation of 12 to 14 feet of earth over the locality probably took 
place mostly soon after its abandonment, and certainly in less than 
30 years. The general relations of these points is shown in Fig. 2. 
The Old Holloway bridge and fence. Before the change of the 
Wabonsie to the west in 1875, the road ran westward from Hollo- 
way's house, near the egress of the creek, toward Bartlett. The 
course of this road is shown on the map, both going to Bartlett, and 
also southward by a crooked course. This is taken from a map first 
published in 1875 and indirectly throws important light on the 
character of the surface of the region at that time. 
About half a mile west of Holloway’s, a bridge was built over a 
channel-like slough. Different parties personally acquainted with 
the facts agree that when built the bridge was 14 feet above the 
ground in the slough. One says that one could drive under it read- 
ily with a wagon, that the posts resting on mud-sills were cut 14 
feet long. When the creek turned west it ran to this point and 
through the slough northward to the north lake which it proceeded 
to fill with water and sediment. The latter was deposited about the 
bridge until it was covered and the surrounding fields filled up sev- 
eral feet. The fence on the west of Holloway’s land was repeatedly 
buried. The third fence was put there in ’83. One spoke of the 
fences as “10-foot” fences, another as “7-board” fences. Probably 
tall posts were put in, so that additional boards were added above 
as the lower ones were buried. 
Returning to the old bridge, in the early ’80’s, possibly ’81, PIol- 
loway tried to close the road across his farm and force the public 
to go around by his north line, which had now become passable. 
In the litigation which ensued, one had to dig several feet to reach 
the top of the buried bridge. Some say it was 6 feet deep, others 
12 or 14. At that point therefore had been a fill of 20 to 30 feet in 
a little over 5 years, and probably of an average of 10 feet over 
many acres. 
Meanwhile, Burson had given up trying to keep his mill and dam 
from washing out and left in ’81. 
A troublesome stream. After the Wabonsie had filled the north- 
west slope of its delta, raising its channel again considerably, it 
pushed on farther west to the channel in the west half of section 
10, and found its way under the railroad bridge about a mile and a 
half south of Bartlett, but this course was so long and crooked 
and the stream carried so much debris that it had great difficulty 
in keeping a channel. It frequently overflowed the region widely. 
In 1896 a ditch was dug through the southeast corner of section 
