Big Muddy River Southern Illinois with "loess", fine grained, wind born deposits. At the edge of the floodplain, dunes, called "loess hills", formed. The Pine Hills are loess hills standing several hundred feet above the floodplain. Prior to the construction of Rend Lake, much of the ancient lake bed was swamp: a forested area that was covered by water through most of the winter, and during wet summers. When the Big Muddy flooded, the water covered the flat bottom of the ancient lake bed for miles either direction from the meandering channel. The upper reaches of the Big Muddy are near Dix, Illinois.
Indian Creek (Fox River tributary) County. A lake and State Recreation Area named for Chief Shabbona, is located in the community of Shabbona, which was also named for the Indian chief. Paw Paw Creek is a short tributary of Indian Creek that runs in a southeasterly direction near Paw Paw, Illinois. Indian Creek (Fox River tributary) Indian Creek, also known as Big Indian Creek, is a tributary of the Fox River in Lee, LaSalle, and DeKalb counties in Illinois. Indian Creek rises north of Paw Paw, Illinois, near Shabbona Grove and joins the Fox River near Wedron. The stream meanders across parts of Lee, LaSalle