Battle Creek Falls

From the junction of Highways 36 and 172 in the town of Mineral, take Highway 36 west for 1.6 miles then turn right (north) onto Viola-Mineral Road, then immediately turn left onto National Forest Road 140A. Battle Creek Falls will be found about 3/4 of a mile down Road 140A on the left side.Battle Creek Falls is a modest little fall of 16 feet where its namesake creek intersects a small ledge of horizontally stratified bedrock that is strangely topped with dozens of large, round boulders that cause the creek to split into several channels as it plunges over the ledge. During the high flow months of the year, the falls spread to cover the whole breadth of the ledge, but come the summer months (when we surveyed the falls) the water splits into four or five distinct channels as it falls. Adjacent to the base of the falls is the remnants of an old powerhouse, though one has to wonder exactly how much energy a waterfall of such small stature would have been capable of generating (it is possible that there may have been a small dam further upstream at one point).