The Big Muddy River is located in Illinois. It joins the Mississippi River south of Murphysboro, Illinois. The Big Muddy has been dammed near Benton, Illinois, forming Rend Lake. Jump to: navigation, search State nickname: Land of Lincoln, The Prairie State Other U.S. States Capital Springfield Largest city Chicago Governor Rod Blagojevich (D) Senators Richard Durbin (D) Barack Obama (D) Official language(s) English Area 149,998 km² (25th)  - Land 143,968 km²  - Water 6,030 km² (4. ... Jump to: navigation, search This page is about the river in the United States; there is also a Canadian Mississippi River (Ontario). ... Murphysboro is a city located in Jackson County, Illinois. ... Benton is a city located in Franklin County, Illinois. ...

The Big Muddy has a mud bottom for most of its length. This is probably the source of its name. Some say that the term "knee deep in the Big Muddy", often applied to the Vietnam War, originated here. Jump to: navigation, search The Vietnam War or Second Indochina War was a conflict between the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRVN, or North Vietnam), allied with the National Liberation Front (NLF, or Viet Cong) against the Republic of Vietnam (RVN, or South Vietnam), and its allies—notably the United States...

Geology

The watershed of the Big Muddy was covered by the Illinoian glacier about 100,000 years before present. The Big Muddy basin formed after the retreat of that glacier. Jump to: navigation, search Aletsch glacier, Switzerland This article is about the geographical formation. ...

The Big Muddy was not covered by the Wisconsinan glacier, about 10,000 years before present. However, during the melting of that glacier, the level of the Mississippi River was much higher. Water backed up into the Big Muddy Basin, forming a lake much like the artificial Rend Lake, but covering a larger area. The ancient lake silted in, forming a flat bottom. After the melting of the Wisconsinan glacier, the level of the Mississippi dropped, allowing the lake to drain. A new channel formed within the old lake bed. This channel meandered in the flat bottom of the Wisconsinan-era lake. This is why the Big Muddy tends to be so muddy.

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. Here the outline of the Wisconsinan Era lake bed is evident in what were the northern reaches of the ancient lake, where the lake bed was only a few hundred feet wide. The steep Illinoian hills are suddenly truncated where they meet the flat bottom of the Wisconsinan Era lake bed. Here the tributaries of the Big Muddy are tiny, intermittent streams, meandering though these narrow valleys at the headwaters. Dix is a village located in Jefferson County, Illinois. ...

The Big Muddy basin contains a significant portion of the planet's coal reserves. Most of this is hidden under its deep mud. At a few places the river has eroded the sides of hills, exposing coal deposits. The first coal mine in Illinois is believed to have been opened in 1810 on the banks of the Big Muddy in Jackson County, Illinois. Jackson County is a county located in the state of Illinois. ...

References

Trails & Tails of Illinois, Stu Fliege, 2002