226 Ohio State Academy of Science 



Ridge 6 resembles ridge 7 in breadth, height, and vegetation 

 but the trees are larger. Its southern portion is single but 

 toward the north are two ridges of about the same age which I 

 have designated 6 (1) and 6 (2), the former being the highest of 

 all the ridges, in one place nineteen feet. These will be included 

 in any reference to Ridge 6. Here too cottonwoods predominate 

 over all else. One locust (Robinia pseudacacia) is 37 inches in 

 circumference and about 62 feet tall. White ash is perhaps ten 

 times as- numerous as on Ridge 7, the tallest about 18 feet, but 

 most of therQ less than 12 feet. There are several cedars 10 feet 

 or less in height and a very few trees of other kinds. Most of 

 the cottonwoods are not much more than a foot in diameter but 

 two were found 55 inches in circumference One of these near 

 the big locust was cut and found to have been 64 feet tall and to 

 have 41 or 42 rings about 3 feet above the roots, indicating an 

 age of about 44 years. This Ridge was doubtless formed at the 

 time of the high water 1858-62, probably by the same storms 

 that swept the trees from the bar and moved the bar over onto 

 the marsh. The oldest trees on the bar appear to be of about, 

 the same age as those on Ridge 6. In the valley between 6 (1) 

 and 6 (2) we found clam shells, decayed driftwood and peat such 

 as one finds on the present shore. A few inches below the surface 

 in a thin layer of organic particles such as one finds at the margin 

 of littoral pools we found pieces of coal and cinders. As late as 

 1866 steamers entering Sandusky Bay with coal smoke issuing 

 from their funnels attracted some attention, for most of the 

 steamers burned wood. This shows that Ridge 6 (2) which 

 must have been formed after the coal and cinders had been 

 washed ashore is not much older than 1859. Ridge 6 (1) may 

 have started in 1857 or 1858 and have been completed in 1859 

 while Ridge 6 (2) may have been built by the great storms of 

 1861 and 1862. This part of Cedar Point was surveyed for the 

 War Department by Lieutenant Colonel Graham in 1862. The 

 shore line shown on his chart is farther northeast than it was in 

 1849 when the last surve}^ previous to 1862 was made. In a 

 map illustrating a report on Sandusk}^ Harbor by Colonel T. J. 

 Cram, U. S. Engineer, 1864, taken partly from Graham's survey 

 in 1862 the northeast shore of what I have called the dune section 

 of Cedar Point is marked "wearing away." Doubtless much of 

 the sand removed from that section was built into these ridges. 

 Besides, sand derived from dunes lately demolished on the other 

 side of the channel after being swept into and out of the bay must 

 have found a resting place here. 



Before proceeding to consider the age of the older ridges it. 

 may be well to draw some further inferences regarding these that.. 



