Big Muddy River Big Muddy River The Big Muddy River is a river in southern Illinois. It joins the Mississippi River just south of Grand Tower. The Big Muddy has been dammed near Benton, forming Rend Lake. The Big Muddy has a mud bottom for most of its length. The Big Muddy drains a watershed. In 1995, water quality was assessed as "fair" to "good". Pollution sources include agricultural practices, mining and municipalities. The watershed of the Big Muddy was covered by the Illinoian Glacier about 300,000 to 132,000 years before present. The Big Muddy basin formed after the retreat of that glacier.
Fox River (Illinois River tributary) Fox River (Illinois River tributary) The Fox River is a tributary of the Illinois River, flowing from southeastern Wisconsin to Ottawa, Illinois in the United States. The Wisconsin section was known as the Pishtaka River in the 19th century. There are two other "Fox Rivers" in southern Illinois: the Fox River (Little Wabash tributary) and a smaller "Fox River" that joins the Wabash River near New Harmony, Indiana. The Fox River rises in the Halbach Swamp, southeast of the community of Colgate, Wisconsin and flows past Brookfield, Waukesha, Big Bend, Waterford, Rochester, Burlington, Wheatland, Silver Lake and Wilmot, for a