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The Beck's Mill site is located in the south-central portion of Washington County along Skylite Drive. It is located south of Salem and downstream from where Mill Creek enter the Blue River. This is the farthest north of the sites studied, being some 70 river miles from the Ohio River. This site was visited on September 30 at 1:30 PM EDT. The weather was sunny and slightly cool with an air temperature of 68 degrees.
The general area included second growth forest, farmland, fields and a road. The riparian vegetation was mainly water willow and sycamore trees. The stream was partially shaded by riparian canopy. The bank vegetation was rated as excellent and dense understory provided good bank stability.
Upstream and downstream from the riffle, the banks were virtually identical. On the eastern side of the river, the bank was very steep with a corn field on top. The west bank was not as high or steep and consisted of a narrow stand of sycamore trees and small silver maples lining the bank. Beyond this was a soy-bean field.
Physiographically, this site is mixed mesophytic forest that falls into the Esatern Deciduous Forest Biome, Mithchell Karst Plain Section of the Highland Rim Natural Region.
The riffle was 13 feet wide and 20 feet long. It had an average depth of 3.0 inches with a maximum depth of 4.5 inches. The average velocity was 3.0 feet per second with a discharge of 9.75 cubic feet per second.
Upstream from the riffle the river was a wide expanse of pool. Along the east bank the pool was more shallow and was about ankle deep. Along the western bank, the river was channelized and deeper. In places this side was up to 4 feet deep.
Downstream from the riffle the river was swift and shallow. Six to eight inches was the deepest the river was for some distance away from the riffle.
The substrate in the riffle consisted of rubble, cobbles, rocks and sand. Upstream the river bed was mainly sand, silt and rocks, while downstream the river bed consisted of mainly gravel and rocks of varying size.
This site was disturbed on both sides by crops fields. There was also a bridge over the river slightly upstream from the riffle.