28 THE PREGLACIAL DRAINAGE OF OHIO. 



observations of elevations and gradients of the old valley floors, 

 and measurements of valley widths and amounts of erosion, 

 which it is not possible to present in a sketch of this kind. 



It will be seen by a glance at the map (Plate I) that the old 

 system coincides with the present drainage along most of the 

 smaller streams. Middle Island Creek and the Little Muskin- 

 gum were the main headwater branches. 



Tributary to Middle Island Creek was a small stream which 

 headed at the New Martinsville col and flowed along the present 

 course of the Ohio as far as Newport. The northward deflection 

 of the old drainage at the mouth of Bull Creek was probably 

 caused by the great strength of the ridge separating the latter 

 from the Little Kanawha basin already referred to. Below the 

 mouth of the Little Muskingum the Duck Creek tributary 

 entered. This was probably smaller than the stream in the 

 present Duck Creek valley. The next tributary was that of a 

 stream which carried the drainage of the section of the Mus- 

 kingum below Lowell and probably much of that of the head- 

 waters of the present Duck Creek. The Little Kanawha was 

 the next stream to enter the main line which followed along the 

 present Ohio. Just at Parkersburg the Little Kanawha is de- 

 flected somewhat to the west of its former line of discharge, the 

 old outlet being blocked with deep clay deposits. Below Park- 

 ersburg the old stream followed the present Ohio as far as the 

 mouth of the Little Hocking. Here it received a branch almost, 

 if not quite, as large as itself. This branch comprised several 

 elements. The first one on the east was composed of the drain- 

 age from the head water region of the present South Fork of 

 Wolf Creek which crossed the old valley floor at Fleming into 

 the present valley of the East Fork of the Little Hocking. The 

 middle element was made up of the Meigs Creek, Olive Creek 

 and Big Run drainage and the section of the Muskingum above 

 Eowell and below the Meigs Creek col. These waters entered 

 the mouth of Wolf Creek and followed down the East Fork 

 reversed and through the old valley at Barlow into the East Fork 

 of Little Hocking. 



The western element included the present basin of Wolf 

 Creek and that section of the Muskingum between the north 





