BLANCHARD OR DEFIANCE MORAINE. 589 



and consists of gentle swells rising 10 to 15 feet in a distance of 30 to 40 

 rods. The wliole surface is, however, gently undulating and presents a 

 decided contrast to the flat tracts bordering the moraine on the north and on 

 the south. For 3 or 4 miles the moraine is low and its expression feeble. 

 It then assumes the form of a sharp main ridge, standing 20 to 30 feet above 

 the plain south of it, on which there are numerous k)w swells 10 feet or less 

 in height and an occasional larger one 15 to 20 feet in height; basins also 

 are not infrequent. The breadth of the ridge, including slopes, is scarcely 

 a mile. This sharply ridged ]jhase continues to the vicinity of Repu.bhc, 

 where the moraine expands to a width of 2 or 3 miles, and curves from a 

 course north of west to one nearly southwest. In this broad portion there 

 are ridges forming the southern border of the moraine, north from which 

 are loosely connected knolls and low short ridges of drift forming a rolling 

 or billowy surface. The oscillations are in places 25 or 30 feet in 300 to 

 400 yards. The widening of the moraine here has the form of a slight spur. 



At the curving portion of the moraine, south of Republic, there is a 

 double ridge, each member of which trends east-northeast to west-south- 

 west, but only the inner one- continues far to the southwest. This ridge 

 leads down to the Sandusky Valley, following the northwest side of Honey 

 Ureek to Melmore, where it crosses the stream and passes southwestward 

 to the Sandusky River. On this slope, between the creek and river, it 

 presents only low swells, seldom exceeding 5 feet in height, and occasional 

 shallow basins. There is a well-defined ridge trending east-northeast to 

 west-southwest, lying near the Melmore and Mexico road in sections 33 

 and 32, Eden Township, which constitutes the outer border of the moraine. 

 North of it for a mile or more is an undulating tract, points on which rise 

 slightly above the level of the outer ridge. 



West of the Sandusky River the moraine has stronger expression than 

 it has on the east side of that stream, its highest points, where crossed by 

 the Tiffin and McCutcheonville road, standing 40 to 50 feet above the 

 village of McCutcheonville and about 75 feet above the river. It consists 

 here of a series of short ridges with east-to-west trend and numerous 

 knolls 10 to 15 feet high covering 3 to 5 acres or more each. There are a 

 few basins on its outer slope. 



From the Sandusky River westward, past Findlay to western Hancock 

 County, there is a nearly continuous ridge, on whose crest and slopes are 



