General Description of Lake Erie. 365 



About forty miles S.W. from this, an extensive morass, 

 (35 — 40 miles from the lake) pours its waters into the Cuyahoga 

 of Cleaveland (L. E.) and the Tuscawara of Ohio. It is 404 

 feet above Lake Erie, and has steep hills on its north (Survey, 

 p. 76). But the greatest depression is in a cranberry marsh 

 about 64 miles to the S.W. of Warren, south of, and near, the 

 village of Mecca. It is 337 feet above Lake Erie, and about 

 30 miles direct from it (p. 80.) These marshes are not always 

 occasioned by their situation, but often arise from the imper- 

 vious nature of their substratum, or subsoil, to their being on a 

 dead level, or confined by embankments. 



The point of separation of the rivers Maumee and Miami 

 (of Ohio) three miles north of Fort Loramie, 98 miles direct 

 from Lake Erie, is 399 feet above that lake ; and another de- 

 pression, 11 feet lower, has been found, not far from this place. 



From Fort Loramie northward and westward, I have no 

 information respecting the course of the dividing ridge. It 

 must necessarily be distant from the west end of the lake, as 

 the St. Joseph, a large branch of the Maumee, overspreads 

 that region for 60 miles toward Lake Michigan. The back 

 country between the Maumee and River Detroit, is very low ; 

 it is a dense forest interspersed with morass. All the streams 

 which are north of, and near, the mouth of the Detroit dis- 

 charge into it, except the River Raisin, whose source is remote 

 in the west. Between the streams tributary to the lake and 

 those of the Detroit, there is of course an elevation, but it is 

 imperceptible to the eye, the land being almost all a swamp. 



I now proceed to describe the shores and islands of Lake 

 Erie, with a few very general notices of its rivers. 



The margin of the lake is composed of various materials, 

 attaining various but moderate elevation. 



From the Detroit River, near its head, to Long Point, 

 (about 215 miles) the north shore consists wholly of clay, 

 gravel, and sand-banks ; the first being lowest, where I have 

 seen them together. Sometimes, as at 16 miles east from the 

 above river, and between Points Pele and Landguard, they are 

 in scarps 100 and 200 feet high, sinking, however, rapidly in 

 the rear. In most cases the height is by no means so great, 

 and at the most prominent points, such as Point Pele, is 



OCT.— DEC, 1 828. 2 C 



