The sinuous channel of Watts Branch in Montgomery County, Maryland, traverses a grassy meadow nearly devoid of trees. The creek has a drainage area of four square miles and the river bank is composed primarily of cohesive silt. Resurveys of cross sections during the five years 1953-1957 have revealed as much as seven feet of lateral erosion. Over the past two years, additional measurements of the amount of erosion around rows of steel pins driven horizontally into the bank have been made at frequent intervals. These observations indicate several combinations of factors primarily responsible for the progressive recession.