Tomorrow River Rest Stop Area

A visit to the river reveals the extent of the blouders in this part of the till deposits. The bed of the river had numerous bolders. During average water levels, you may wade the stream as it is less then three feet deep over most of this stretch. The cutbank on the opposite site is where the channel is the deepest and the water the fastest. Actually, this is a nice stream to study sand transportation and things that live in the water. Standing in the river in this area, you can see sand grains rolling along the bottom as well as a number of small grains acting as though they were jumping along, a process known as saltation. You can see the effects of the currents being forced around boulders. Then take a walk upstream along the river bank. While there, note the rise of the land across the river; this is a meander core of an abandoned meander, which brings us to another interested part of the history of the river.

Several thousand years ago, the river flowed in a different channel. The meander core was once part of that old channel system. Across the railroad tracks (almost directly opposite the park) is a 'wind' gap, a dry former stream course through a ridge. The earlier route of the stream may have been to the north, once it was out of the gap. At the present present time, drainage to the north goes to the Little Wolf River. This is the result of capture by headward erosion of what is known as Sannes Creek which drains into Peterson Creek. Sedimentation in the flat area to the north may have forced the river to head south for a short time before the hardward erosion of the growing Tomorrow River initiated the abandonment of the "gap" flowage.