THE PREGLACIAL DRAINAGE OF OHIO. 17 



erable size, South Fork. This tributary parallels the Muskingum 

 for many miles but flows in the opposite direction. 



It is seen that the present drainage is very much diversified 

 and abnormal. 



GENERAL TOPOGRAPHIC FEATURES. 



The topographic features of the region are quite as varied 

 as its drainage distribution. The present forms, being the 

 resultant of at least two cycles of erosion, which in many ways 

 were quite discordant, show every variety of combination of 

 parts of each cycle. A few miles northwest of Marietta there is 

 a group of very high points in the ridge which separates the 

 headwaters of the East Fork of the Little Hocking and the South 

 Fork of Wolf Creek, from the waters of the Muskingum and 

 Ohio. 



This ridge is the northward continuation of the high ridge 

 in West Virginia which separates the waters of Middle Island 

 Creek from those of the Little Kanawha. On a very high por- 

 tion of this ridge and several miles north of Marietta is located a 

 large Catholic Church which has a tall spire tipped with a gilded 

 cross. This church serves as a convenient land mark for a radius 

 of from twenty to thirty miles. A little south of the church on 

 this same ridge is a high hill, marked on the map (Plate I) 

 Horizon Hill, for from its summit there is an unobstructed view 

 in every direction for many miles. From this elevated point 

 of view the general surface of the region is seen to rise to the 

 north, east and south and to sink to the west, in the direction of 

 down the Ohio and the East Fork of the Little Hocking. 

 With this general surface configuration all the larger streams 

 are in general accord and suggest at once that their direction 

 was largely determined by the slope of the general surface of 

 the upland plain. From this high elevation the deep, narrow 

 valleys that traverse the region are lost in perspective and a 

 very fair picture is obtained of the old features as they existed 

 before the work of the deeper erosion was accomplished. This 

 old land surface was a gently rolling plain. The valleys were 

 very broad Vs in cross section and the ridges and hills were 

 low. The entire relief of the region ranged between 150-200 



