Hurricane Creek|Creek Bottom at Sartoris Place in The Unvanquished (Location)

In the local vernacular, "creek bottom" refers to the land along the sides of a creek; it is typically densely overgrown. At Sartoris the creek runs through the woods beyond the plantation’s pasture (142), near enough to be convenient but far enough away from the main house that it can serve as a suitable place to hide livestock from Union forces. Early in the war, once Yankee troops begin moving toward Yoknapatawpha, John Sartoris, Bayard, Ringo Joby and Loosh build the stock or mule pen: "where you could not have found it unless you had known where to look, and you could not have seen it until you came to the new sap-sweating, axe-ended rails woven through and into the jungle growth itself" (11). Later, Joby, Ringo and Bayard make the pen larger to hide the mules confiscated from the Union army by Granny, Ringo and Ab Snopes: "the pen would be almost two acres larger now" (119). When the Union soldiers arrive to recover the stolen mules, they tear down some of the fence around the pen and the lieutenant gives Granny a $10 voucher for the damaged property. After the soldiers leave, Granny orders Joby to "put those rails back up" (91). After the war, the creek bottom becomes the site for harvesting cypress and oak trees to mill into lumber to rebuild the house; referred to as "the sawmill," (192) "the mill" (197) and "the log-yard" (195), the site contains a "bandsaw" powered by a "blind-folded mule going round and round in the sawdust" (195).