Laughery Creek Bridge Dearborn County Indiana

Laughery Creek is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
accessed October 19, 2017 stream that flows through Ripley, Dearborn, and

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

counties in southeastern

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, and is a tributary of the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of Illino ...

History

Laughery Creek was named in memory of

Lochry's Defeat Lochry's Defeat, also known as the Lochry massacre, was a battle fought on August 24, 1781, near present-day Aurora, Indiana, in the United States. The battle was part of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), which began as a conflict b ...

, a Revolutionary War skirmish that occurred at the mouth of the creek, two miles south of present-day

Aurora, Indiana Aurora is a city in Center Township, Dearborn County, Indiana, United States. The population was 3,750 at the 2010 census. Geography Aurora is located at (39.058551, -84.906351). According to the 2010 census, Aurora has a total area of , of wh ...

on August 24, 1781. Colonel Archibald Lochry and his

Pennsylvania Pennsylvania (; ( Pennsylvania Dutch: )), officially the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, is a state spanning the Mid-Atlantic, Northeastern, Appalachian, and Great Lakes regions of the United States. It borders Delaware to its southeast, ...

militiamen A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

, were rafting down the Ohio River to join

George Rogers Clark George Rogers Clark (November 19, 1752 – February 13, 1818) was an American surveyor, soldier, and militia officer from Virginia who became the highest-ranking American patriot military officer on the northwestern frontier during the Ame ...

in an attack on the British garrison at Fort Detroit. After two days of river travel they sighted and shot an

American bison The American bison (''Bison bison'') is a species of bison native to North America. Sometimes colloquially referred to as American buffalo or simply buffalo (a different clade of bovine), it is one of two extant species of bison, alongside the ...

(''Bison bison'') at the mouth of what would come to be called Laughery Creek. While the Pennsylvanians were cooking fresh bison meat for breakfast, they were ambushed by

Joseph Brant Thayendanegea or Joseph Brant (March 1743 – November 24, 1807) was a Mohawk people, Mohawk military and political leader, based in present-day New York (state), New York, who was closely associated with Kingdom of Great Britain, Great B ...

, a

Mohawk Mohawk may refer to: Related to Native Americans *Mohawk people, an indigenous people of North America (Canada and New York) *Mohawk language, the language spoken by the Mohawk people *Mohawk hairstyle, from a hairstyle once thought to have been t ...

military leader allied with the British. Lochry and 40 of his men were killed. The Busching Covered Bridge crosses the creek at Covered Bridge Road, just below the Versailles Lake Dam. This covered bridge was constructed in 1885 by Thomas A. Hardman. The timbers for the superstructure are said to have been cut from the site of the local Baptist church. The 170 foot clear span over Laughery Creek utilizes a modified

Howe truss A Howe truss is a truss bridge consisting of chords, verticals, and diagonals whose vertical members are in tension and whose diagonal members are in compression. The Howe truss was invented by William Howe in 1840, and was widely used as a bridg ...

design and the varying dimensions of the structural members address the changing loads and resulting forces. The

Triple Whipple Bridge The Laughery Creek Bridge is a triple Whipple truss bridge on the border of Dearborn County, Indiana, and Ohio County, Indiana. It crosses Laughery Creek. This bridge was built in 1878. The Wrought Iron Bridge Company, a prolific late 19th-cent ...

, also known as the

Laughery Creek Bridge The Laughery Creek Bridge is a triple Whipple truss bridge on the border of Dearborn County, Indiana, and Ohio County, Indiana. It crosses Laughery Creek. This bridge was built in 1878. The Wrought Iron Bridge Company, a prolific late 19th-centur ...

, spans of Laughery Creek, near the creek's mouth at the Ohio River. The bridge was built in 1878 by the

Wrought Iron Bridge Company The Wrought Iron Bridge Company was a bridge fabrication and construction company based in Canton, Ohio, Canton, Ohio, United States. It specialized in the fabrication of iron truss bridges and was a prolific bridge builder in the late 19th centu ...

Canton, Ohio Canton () is a city in and the county seat of Stark County, Ohio. It is located approximately south of Cleveland and south of Akron in Northeast Ohio. The city lies on the edge of Ohio's extensive Amish country, particularly in Holmes and ...

. Its unusual name relates to its design - it is the last triple-intersection Pratt truss bridge in the United States. Today it is a pedestrian bridge connecting Ohio and Dearborn counties, and is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

Watershed and course

Laughery Creek drains . It begins in northwestern Ripley County southwest of

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader who ...

and flows northeast then southeast to

Versailles The Palace of Versailles ( ; french: Château de Versailles ) is a former royal residence built by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, about west of Paris, France. The palace is owned by the French Republic and since 1995 has been managed, u ...

, where it turns east and serves as the boundary between Dearborn and Ohio Counties. Laughery Creek enters the

south of Aurora, Indiana. In 1954, a large dam was constructed across Laughery Creek at Versailles to form 230-acre Versailles Lake. No fish ladder is present; consequently, the dam acts as an impassable barrier to upstream fish migration. Versailles Lake is contained within

Versailles State Park Versailles State Park (pronounced locally as ''ver-SAYLES'') is an Indiana state park, near the town of Versailles, Indiana in Ripley County. The land was given by the National Park Service for use as a state park to Indiana's Department of Con ...

Ecology and Habitat

provides naturally wooded cover for much of Laughery Creek. Historically the region was unusually dense forest. Dominant tree species include American beech, white ash,

blue ash ''Fraxinus quadrangulata'', the blue ash, is a species of ash native primarily to the Midwestern United States from Oklahoma to Michigan, as well as the Bluegrass region of Kentucky and the Nashville Basin region of Tennessee. Isolated populati ...

sugar maple ''Acer saccharum'', the sugar maple, is a species of flowering plant in the soapberry and lychee family Sapindaceae. It is native to the hardwood forests of eastern Canada and eastern United States. Sugar maple is best known for being the prima ...

chinquapin oak ''Quercus muehlenbergii'', the chinquapin (or chinkapin) oak, is a deciduous species of tree in the white oak group (''Quercus'' sect. ''Quercus''). The species was often called ''Quercus acuminata'' in older literature. ''Quercus muehlenbergii ...

(''Quercus muehlenbergii''),

red oak The genus Oak, ''Quercus'' contains about 500 species, some of which are listed here. The genus, as is the case with many List of the largest genera of flowering plants, large genera, is Taxonomic rank#Ranks in botany, divided into subgenus, subgen ...

shagbark hickory ''Carya ovata'', the shagbark hickory, is a common hickory in the Eastern United States and southeast Canada. It is a large, deciduous tree, growing well over tall, and can live more than 350 years. The tallest measured shagbark, located in Sa ...

tulip tree ''Liriodendron'' () is a genus of two species of characteristically large trees, deciduous over most of their populations, in the magnolia family (Magnoliaceae). These trees are widely known by the common name tulip tree or tuliptree for their ...

Ohio buckeye ''Aesculus glabra'', commonly known as Ohio buckeye,''Aesculus g ...

, and

black walnut ''Juglans nigra'', the eastern American black walnut, is a species of deciduous tree in the walnut family, Juglandaceae, native to North America. It grows mostly in riparian zones, from southern Ontario, west to southeast South Dakota, south t ...

. Rare species in the watershed include the

bobcat The bobcat (''Lynx rufus''), also known as the red lynx, is a medium-sized cat native to North America. It ranges from southern Canada through most of the contiguous United States to Oaxaca in Mexico. It is listed as Least Concern on the IUC ...

(''Lynx rufus''), the

Henslow's sparrow __NOTOC__ Henslow's sparrow (''Centronyx henslowii'') is a passerine bird in the family Passerellidae. It was named by John James Audubon in honor of John Stevens Henslow. It was originally classified in the genus ''Emberiza'' and called ''Hen ...

(''Ammodramus henslowii''), the

northern harrier The northern harrier (''Circus hudsonius''), or ring-tailed hawk, is a bird of prey. It breeds throughout the northern parts of the northern hemisphere in Canada and the northernmost USA. The northern harrier migrates to more southerly areas ...

(''Circus cyaneus''), and the

barn owl The barn owl (''Tyto alba'') is the most widely distributed species of owl in the world and one of the most widespread of all species of birds, being found almost everywhere except for the polar and desert regions, Asia north of the Himalaya ...

(''Tyto alba''). Between 1995 and 1999, the river otter (''Lontra canadensis'') were reestablished in Indiana, the closest being the

Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge is a wildlife refuge operated by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service in southeast Indiana, United States, near Madison, Indiana. The refuge is the largest of Indiana's three National Wildlife Refuges ( M ...

, formerly the Jefferson Proving Grounds in Jefferson County. From there the state endangered river otter has returned to the Laughery Creek watershed. In a 1995 Indiana Department of Natural Resources fish survey, the

bluntnose minnow :''"Bluntnose minnows" is also used for the genus '' Pimephales'' as a whole.'' The bluntnose minnow (''Pimephales notatus)'' is a species of temperate freshwater fish belonging to the genus '' Pimephales'' of the cyprinid family. Its natural geog ...

(''Pimephales notatus'') was the most abundant species collected by number (19%), followed by the

longear sunfish The longear sunfish (''Lepomis megalotis'') is a freshwater fish in the sunfish family, Centrarchidae, of order Perciformes. It is native to the area of eastern North America stretching from the Great Lakes down to northeastern Mexico.Berra, Tim ...

(''Lepomis megalotis'') (14%),

gizzard shad ''Dorosoma'' is a genus that contains five species of shads, within the herring family Clupeidae. The five species are native to the North and/or Central America, and are known from both fresh water and the waters of estuaries and bays. The Ame ...

(''Dorosoma cepedianum'') (12%), and the golden redhorse (''Moxostoma erythrurum'') (11%). The remaining 53 kinds of fish each comprised (6%) or less of the total by number.

Recreation

Much of the creek below Versailles Lake Dam is navigable by canoe and fishing is a major pastime.

Rock bass The rock bass (''Ambloplites rupestris''), also known as the rock perch, goggle-eye, red eye, and black perch, is a freshwater fish native to east-central North America. This red eyed creature is a species of freshwater fish in the sunfish fa ...

(''Ambloplites rupestris''),

spotted bass The spotted bass (''Micropterus punctulatus''), also called spotty, or spots in various fishing communities, is a species of North American freshwater fish belonging to the sunfish family (Centrarchidae) of the order Perciformes. It is noted f ...

(''Micropterus punctulatus''), and smallmouth bass (''Micropterus dolomieu'') provide good fishing possibilities, as well as numerous species of panfish such as the longear sunfish. In spring spawning season,

sauger The sauger (''Sander canadensis'') is a freshwater perciform fish of the family Percidae that resembles its close relative, the walleye. The species is a member of the largest vertebrate order, the Perciformes.Jaeger, Matthew. 2004. Montana's ...

(''Stizostedion canadense'') and

white bass The white bass, silver bass, or sand bass (''Morone chrysops'') is a freshwater fish of the temperate bass family Moronidae. commonly around 12-15 inches long. The species' main color is silver-white to pale green. Its back is dark, with white s ...

(''Morone chrysops'') migrating up from the Ohio River can be caught in Laughery Creek up to the dam at Versailles.

References

External links