Redinger Ditch is a creek in northern

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

that starts near

Argos Argos most often refers to: * Argos, Peloponnese, a city in Argolis, Greece * Argus (Greek myth), several characters in Greek mythology * Argos (retailer), a catalogue retailer in the United Kingdom Argos or ARGOS may also refer to: Businesses ...

and joins the

Tippecanoe River The Tippecanoe River ( ) is a gentle, U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed May 19, 2011 river in the Central Corn Belt Plains ecoregion in northern Indiana. It flows from Cro ...

in Talma. Other than those two towns, it is also near

Walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

, Tiosa, Tippecanoe, Old Tip Town, Mentone, and Richland Center.http://www.anyplaceamerica.com/topography_maps/indiana/ marshall_county/redinger_ditch/10256 It is approximately 770 feet above sea level. Its approximate coordinates are .

Physical nature

It begins near Argos in south central Marshall County as a very shallow, narrow stream. As it flows along under Indiana State Road 110, it remains extremely shallow, though it widens slightly. As it reaches the

, it straightens out some and begins to greatly vary in size. On the upstream side of Fulton County Road 650 North,Indiana Department of Natural Resources it is about 7 feet across and 1 foot deep. Just on the other side, it is roughly 12 feet across and 3 feet deep. Just roughly 30 feet downstream from this, there's an island about 4 feet across with about 2 feet of whitewater on either side, and on one side the bank's vertical for about a foot. 10 feet later, it joins the Tippecanoe River. A number of arrowheads and other such

Indian Indian or Indians may refer to: Associated with India * of or related to India ** Indian people ** Indian diaspora ** Languages of India ** Indian English, a dialect of the English language ** Indian cuisine Associated with indigenous peoples o ...

artifacts have been found in and nearby the creek, probably from the Potawatamie tribe. The regular flooding of the creek produces very fertile soil, providing nutrition for a large amount of plants, including

water mint ''Mentha aquatica'' (water mint; syn. ''Mentha hirsuta'' Huds.Euro+Med Plantbase Project''Mentha aquatica'') is a perennial flowering plant in the mint family, Lamiaceae. It grows in moist places and is native to much of Europe, northwest Africa ...

sycamore Sycamore is a name which has been applied to several types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms. The name derives from the Ancient Greek () meaning . Species of otherwise unrelated trees known as sycamore: * ''Acer pseudoplatanus'', a ...

trees, and

stinging nettles ''Urtica dioica'', often known as common nettle, burn nettle, stinging nettle (although not all plants of this species sting) or nettle leaf, or just a nettle or stinger, is a herbaceous perennial flowering plant in the family Urticaceae. Orig ...

, among hundreds of others.

Ecology

As a tributary to the Tippecanoe River, rated by the United States Department of Natural Resources as one of the top ten ecologically diverse and important rivers in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

,Outdoor Indiana Magazine it naturally has a wide variety of plant and animal life. These include varieties of mussels, seaweed, minnows, and

algae Algae ( , ; : alga ) is an informal term for any organisms of a large and diverse group of photosynthesis, photosynthetic organisms that are not plants, and includes species from multiple distinct clades. Such organisms range from unicellular ...

, despite the fact that many areas have a very sandy bottom. The area nearby the creek where it is highly fertile due to yearly flooding has hundreds of species of various trees, bushes, and grasses, and this attracts many animals to the area. As with the rest of the Tippecanoe watershed, there are problems with the

zebra mussel The zebra mussel (''Dreissena polymorpha'') is a small freshwater mussel, an Aquatic animal, aquatic bivalve mollusk in the family Dreissenidae. The species originates from the lakes of southern Russia and Ukraine, but has been accidentally Intro ...

, a highly invasive species, though since the creek is not very urbanized, this is not much of a problem.

References

{{authority control Landforms of Fulton County, Indiana Landforms of Marshall County, Indiana Rivers of Indiana

Physical nature

Ecology

See also

References