MUSKINGUM DRAINAGE SYSTEM. 155 



THE OLD WESTWARD OUTLET. 



Tig-ht has shown that the g-reater part of the Muskingum drainage 

 system was formerly connected with the Scioto system by a broad valley 

 leading from Dresden (a few miles above Zanesville) westward past Newark 

 to the Licking reservoir and thence into the Scioto Basin near Circleville.^ 

 The present southward course past Zanesville is through a much narrower 

 valley than the old line leading westward to the Scioto Basin, and the rock 

 floor is markedly higher along the present course of the Muskingum than 

 along the old course. 



Along the old line of discharge there is, for about 10 miles, an open 

 valley, 1 to IJ miles in width, leading westward from Dresden past Frazers- 

 burg. This open valley is now drained by a small stream, Wahatomaka 

 Creek, which entei'S it from the north near Frazersburg. The old outlet of 

 the Muskingum continues broad and open as far west as the eastern border 

 of Licking County, where it becomes obstructed by a great accumulation 

 of drift, which fills the valley to a height of 150 feet or more above the 

 level of the broad bottom on the east. This drift filling obstructs the 

 valley in this manner for only a couple of miles, and even there but half 

 fills it, for the blufi^s rise about 300 feet above the broad bottom just men- 

 tioned. At Hanover an open valley sets in, which extends westward to 

 Newark and thence southwestward along the South Fork of Licking River 

 to the vicinity of the Licking reservoir, where it is so filled with drift as 

 to render its further course difficult to determine. A series of gas borings, 

 however, indicate that it passes southward about to Hadley Junction and 

 there turns westward, passing near Canal Winchester and Groveport and 

 coming to the Scioto River about midway between Columbus and Circle- 

 ville, where it seems to have joined the old Kanawha system. 



The course or choice of courses for the old Kanawha from this point 

 has already been discussed (p. 103). It should be stated, however, that 

 Tight inclines to favor the northwestward course across the rim of the 

 Scioto Basin into the old Wabash system rather than the northward course 

 along the axis of the Scioto Basin to the Lake Erie Basin. 



The old line of discharge from the Muskingum into the Scioto Basin 

 was excavated to a level much below the broad bottoms above described. 



'Bull. Denisou Univ., Vol. VIII, Pt. II, 1894, pp. .35-61. 



