Champaign County Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Champaign county has a total area of 2,584 km˛ (998 mi˛). 2,582 km˛ (997 mi˛) of it is land and 2 km˛ (1 mi˛) of it (0.07%) is water.
Because Champaign County landscape is situated on a large and very flat plateau, it had virtually no natural drainage, so that much of the County consisted of wetlands until drainage ditches were built and swamp lands were reclaimed, beginning in the 1870s. This was an example of an upland marsh, which resulted in a high incidence of malaria before the late nineteenth century.
The topography of Champaign County was
formed by the Wisconsin Glacier about 10,000 years before the present. Lobes of
ice from what is now Lake Michigan crossed the county, creating a deep pile of
glacial soil in Champaign County, up
to 300 feet thick, topped by numerous moraines forming small, flat watersheds
with no outlets.
The water supply of Champaign County is a
prevalent factor in the county. Champaign County is situated on the divide
between the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Rivers flow out of Champaign County to
the east, west, and south. The Kaskaskia River has its origin to the northwest
of Champaign, draining the western side of that City. The Kaskaskia flows toward
the southwest, joining the Mississippi south of St. Louis, Missouri.
The Embarras River, on the other hand, drains the south-central portion of the
Champaign-Urbana Metropolitan Area, originating in southeastern Champaign and
flowing through the experimental fields on the southern part of the campus of
the University of Illinois. The Embarras is tributary to the Wabash River and
Ohio River systems. The northeast corner of Champaign, the central portion of
the University campus, and the northern part of Urbana are drained by the
Boneyard Creek, which flows into the Saline Ditch, a tributary of the Vermilion
and Wabash Rivers.
Source: A Standard History of Champaign County, Illinois, by J. R. Stewart, published by The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago And New York, 1918.