Big Muddy River Wisconsinan-era lake. This is why the Big Muddy tends to be so muddy. The Big Muddy joins the Mississippi River in Jackson County near the La Rue-Pine Hills Ecological Area and less than south of Grand Tower Island. The Pine Hills are bluffs overlooking the Big Muddy as it flows through La Rue swamp. During the melting of the Wisconsinan glacier, the Mississippi River flood plain was filled with rushing meltwater in summer. During the winter the flow of meltwater was cut off, and the floodplain was a wide stretch of exposed mud. Winter winds created dust storms that covered
Vermilion River (Illinois River) these as a single river that flowed in two directions. It is also possible that, in early settlement times, these rivers formed a canoe route between the Illinois River and Wabash River, with a portage through the marshes near Roberts. This may explain why the two rivers have the same name. The north-flowing Vermilion flows in a northerly direction from its origin in Livingston and Ford counties in north central Illinois, eventually emptying into the Illinois River, near Oglesby. Perhaps it is best known for its stretch of whitewater between Lowell and Oglesby, Illinois, which is one of few found