Macoupin Creek

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Macoupin Creek is a tributary of the Illinois River, which it joins near Hardin, Illinois.

The name "Macoupin" is said to be a Native American word for "white potato". The potato, however, was not cultivated in North America in pre-Columbian times. This could be a reference to "arrowhead", a plant with an edible root that grows in wetlands in Illinois. Another possibility is the American Lotus, which also has a root that was used as a food source by Native Americans.

Macoupin Creek has been channelized near its junction with the Illinois River. A straight channel cuts through old oxbows on a direct path to the Illinois. The old channel meanders through the Illinois bottoms for about five miles before joining the River to the south of Hardin. The two channels thus form an island, called "Macoupin Island", across the Illinois from Hardin.

The old channel of Macoupin Creek forms the boundary between Greene and Jersey Counties near the Illinois River. The actual boundary is ambiguous because of the shifting creek.

Macoupin Creek is about 70 miles in length. The lower 23 miles runs in a narrow valley, less than a mile wide, between steep bluffs up to 180 feet high. The bottom of the valley is flat, and has little or no gradient in the downstream direction. The modern channel runs in a straight line, with little evidence of old oxbows. This portion of Macoupin Creek therefore appears to be a drainage ditch that was dug through a swamp or marsh, that had no well-defined natural channel. This squares with old accounts that this area was a wetland, with natural lakes, and vast amounts of growing macoupin.