Sandusky Bay and Cedar Point 237. 



its junction with the Sandusky River south of Johnson's Island 

 ■and to within a mile and a quarter of the present mouth of Mill 

 Creek. The islands of the Put-in-Bay group were still part of 

 the mainland. Until about a thousand years ago the Indians 

 might have walked from Sandusky to Kelley's Island at any 

 season, having merely to swim across one or two streams and 

 wade through some marsh. East of Johnson's Island the river 

 may then have been as wide as the Portage west of Port Clinton 

 is now. 



Before America was discovered the shore of Lake Erie was 

 where Cedar Point is now, and at the time of the discovery was 

 not far from Ridge 2 between the two lagoons. By this time 

 Sandusky River valley had probably become wide enough south 

 of Johnson's Island to form quite a bay, which, however, 

 extended less than two miles west of the island, though slack 

 water and marsh continued several miles farther. 



When Jamestown was founded Pipe Creek and the streams 

 beyond still entered the lake and not the bay. The land was as 

 yet continuous from Cedar Point to Sandusky. West of the 

 Bay Bridge was considerable marsh but little or no open bay. 



In the eighteenth century the bay was known to French 

 traders. A French map of "Louisiana and the Course of the 

 Mississippi" dated 1718 was exhibited by the government at 

 St. Louis in 1904. It shows Lac Sandouske. Other maps made 

 in the eighteenth century also call it a lake. They show a nar- 

 row opening into it from Lake Erie. The American Gazeteer, 

 1797, says: " Sandusky Lake or Bay at the south-western side of 

 Lake Erie is a gulf shaped like a shoe, and entered from the lake 

 by a very short and narrow strait." None of the maps of the 

 eighteenth century give the outlines with any approximation to 

 accuracy. The first actual survey of the region south and east 

 of the bay appears to have been made by Almon Ruggles in 

 1807. Map VIII shows a part of this survey, but Johnson's 

 Island and the Peninsula, although shown on the map, had 

 evidently not been surveyed. 



Within the memory of Captain Freyensee and others still 

 living bulrushes grew in all the water between Johnson's Island 

 and the Peninsula and in some other parts of the bay where for 

 many years has been open water. 



Looking Forward. 



One can never be quite certain as to future events. It 

 looks as if the peninsula that separates Biemiller's cove from the 

 bay, part of which has been land for thousands of years, would 

 disappear in our own time. Now that the top of the clay has 



