Shoal Creek is a watercourse in the U.S. state of

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

. It rises near

Harvel, Illinois Harvel is a village in Christian and Montgomery counties in the U.S. state of Illinois. The population was 178 at the 2020 census. Geography Harvel is located at (39.355804, -89.531317). According to the 2021 census gazetteer files, Harvel has ...

and, flowing southward through Lake Lou Yaeger, discharges into the

Kaskaskia River The Kaskaskia River is a tributary of the Mississippi River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 13, 2011 in central and southern Illinois in the Un ...

near Okawville. It drains parts of Montgomery County, Bond County, and

Clinton County Clinton County may refer to: *Counties named for George Clinton, first and third Governor of New York, and later the fourth Vice President of the United States: **Clinton County, New York ** Clinton County, Ohio *Counties named for DeWitt Clinton, ...

. Shoal Creek is named for the many

shoal In oceanography, geomorphology, and geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body of water to near the surface. It ...

s and

sandbar In oceanography, geomorphology, and Earth science, geoscience, a shoal is a natural submerged ridge, bank (geography), bank, or bar that consists of, or is covered by, sand or other unconsolidated material and rises from the bed of a body o ...

s strewn along its bed. These features prevented the creek from being much used by Native Americans or Euro-American pioneers for travel or commerce. The creek is heavily used in modern times, however, for recreation, flood control, and piped water supply. Until 2019 the creek's water was also used for electrical power generation. Going from north to south, Lake Lou Yaeger and Lake Glenn Shoals, both impoundments of various forks of Shoal Creek, are used by many boaters and fisherfolk; a third Shoal Creek lake, Coffeen Lake, is the site of the

Coffeen Power Station Coffeen Power Station was a 915 megawatt (megawatt, MW) Fossil fuel power station#Coal, coal power plant located south of Coffeen, Illinois, near Coffeen Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area in Montgomery County, Illinois, Montgomery County, Illinois ...

, an inactive 900-MW

Dynegy Dynegy Inc. is an electric company based in Houston, Texas, in the United States. It owns and operates a number of power stations in the U.S., all of which are natural gas-fueled or coal-fueled. Dynegy was acquired by Vistra Corp on April 9, 2 ...

electric generating plant; and a fourth lake,

Governor Bond Lake Governor Bond Lake is a reservoir in Bond County, Illinois, United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It co ...

, serves the town of

Greenville, Illinois : Greenville is a city in Bond County, Illinois, United States, east of St. Louis. The population as of the 2020 census was 7,083, up from 7,000 at the 2010 census. It is the county seat of Bond County. Greenville is part of the St. Louis M ...

References

Rivers of Bond County, Illinois Rivers of Clinton County, Illinois Rivers of Montgomery County, Illinois Rivers of Illinois {{Illinois-river-stub