CHAPTER IV. 

 THE WISCONSIN DRIFT BORDER. 



By Frank Leveeett. 

 CORRELATION OF THE BORDER MORAINES. 



The Shelbyville or border morainic system of the Wisconsin drift of the Lake Michigan 

 lobe in Illinois has been described in Monograph XXXVIII as far east as Greencastle, Ind. 

 The Hartwell and Cuba, the outermost moraines of the Wisconsin drift of the Miami and Scioto 

 lobes, respectively, in southwestern Ohio, have been discussed in Monograph XLI as far west 

 as Connersville, Ind. There remains only an interval of about 100 miles, between Greencastle 

 and Connersville, to be taken up in the present report. 



Part of this distance, extending from Connersville west to East White River, is occupied 

 by the moraine of the East White lobe, and the remainder is filled in by a less marked belt which 

 connects near Greencastle with the Shelbyville morainic system. It was noted in the earlier 

 volumes that some uncertainty was felt as to the correlation or equivalence of the outer moraines 

 of Wisconsin drift in the Scioto and Miami lobes of Ohio, with the outer or Shelbyville morainic 

 system of the Illinois lobe, for the reason that throughout much of the interval between Green- 

 castle and Connersville the border of the Wisconsin drift is not marked by a definite ridge. The 

 local names, Hartwell and Cuba, were therefore applied to the outer moraines of the Miami and 

 Scioto lobes, respectively, though there is a strong probability that they are of the same age as 

 the Shelbyville morainic system of the Illinois lobe. 



COURSE AND DISTRIBUTION. 



From Connersville, Ind., which stands in a reentrant angle between the Miami lobe and the 

 East White lobe, the border of the Wisconsin drift leads sbuthwestward to East White River 

 at Elizabethtown, a few miles below Columbus, Ind. In the East White Valley the lobation is 

 slight compared with that of the Miami and Scioto lobes, for on the west it protrudes only 10 

 to 12 miles. The border follows somewhat closely the east side of East White River in a course 

 slightly west of north, to Taylorsville, 8 miles above Columbus, where it turns westward and 

 crosses the north edge of Bartholomew County and the south edge of Johnson County into 

 southeastern Morgan County. Thence it bears north of west across Morgan and Putnam 

 counties to the vicinity of Greencastle, beyond which it runs westward to the Wabash Valley 

 in Parke County, and then south and west across northwestern Vigo County into Illinois. 



TOPOGRAPHY. 



CONTRAST WITH ADJACENT COUNTRY. 

 MORAINE OF THE EAST WHITE LOBE. 



In southwestern Fayette County, where the edge of the moraine of the East White lobe 

 connects with the Hartwell moraine of the Miami lobe, its relief is only 10 to 20 feet above the' 

 silt-covered outer border tract. In northeastern Decatur County, however, for a mile or two 

 in the vicinity of Kingston, it rises 30 feet or more above the outer plain. From Kingston 

 southwestward to Elizabethtown, on upland tracts, a sharp rise of 10 to 20 feet from the outer 

 border district is common. This relief, though slight, makes the border readily discernible. 



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