66                  HISTORY OF CLAY COUNTY

a mile of the Owen county line, at the Old Hill, within two miles of the
Vigo county line, and as it flows out of the county it touches within half
a mile of the Greene county line. It divides the county into two very
irregular and unequal sections, two-sevenths of the territory lying on the
east and five-sevenths on the west side of the stream. In other words,
the area on the east is to that on the west as 1 to 2 1/2 In its circuit from
the Rhodes Bluff to the point of its crossing the Owen county line,a
course of ninety miles, it forms a remarkable triangular-shaped bend, pre-
senting numerous equally remarkable horse-shoe crooks all along its
course. The distance direct between these two points, which are sub-
stantially on the same meridian, is but twelve miles.
    Eel river has but comparatively little fall in its course through the
county, and is, therefore, a sluggish stream. Assuming the elevation
of the sources of the stream in Boone county to be 950 feet above sea
level and that of the mouth of the river at 533 feet, approximating the
entire course of the stream at three hundred miles, the fall would be
four hundred and seventeen feet, or, practically, seventeen inches to the
mile. From the sluggishness of the stream three things are readily
deducible: 1. That it affords facilities for navigation. If there be any
doubt that Eel river ranked among the navigable streams of the state in
the estimation of the pioneer legislator, it may be removed by the citation
of the fact that in 1829 the general assembly passed an act empowering
the board of justices for Clay county to remove obstructions from the
channel of the stream as far up as Croy’s mill for purposes of naviga-
tion. 2. That its water privileges for manufacturing purpose are but
meager. There have been flouring-mills and sawmills operated along its
course, but at times, in both the wet and the dry season of the year, the
stage of the water s such as to render them inoperative. 3. That it
readily overflows and inundates the low lands bordering upon it, which
is both an advantage and a disadvantage. While it contributes to the
fertility and productiveness of the soil, it is detrimental to health and to
crops. The river bottom proper, which varies in width from a half mile
to three miles, has been inundated frequently to a depth varying from a
few inches to five or six feet. Naturally, this overflow accumulates a
great deal of drift, which tends to the channel as the water recedes. As
the sequence, in the early history of the county, there were big drifts in the
course of the stream, notably, the Rizley Drift, the Greenwell Drift. and
the Inman Drift, so named, respectively, from their locations near the resi-
dences of Samuel Rizley, Warren Greenwell and Charles Inman. The Riz-
1ev Drift was two miles west of Poland, near the old Parker Ferry the
Greenwell Drift, two miles below the present Evansville & Indianapolis
Railroad bridge, and the Inman Drift below New Brunswick. Of the three,
that near the Greenwell place was of the largest proportions and most for-
midable, for the reason that it was in the "great bend” of the stream, said
by pioneers to have been as much as two miles in length, its formation dat-
ing back to a very early day in the history of the county. As a passway for
crossing the river this drift served a good purpose at the time of the
construction of the Wabash & Erie canal, when it was utilized as a bridge
by the laying of a temporary road—way across it. The stone for the
building of the Birch Creek aqueduct for the crossing of the Side-Cut
was quarried on the Cooprider place, at Middlebury, and hauled across
the bottom. As there were then no bridges nor ferries, this could not