Glacial phenomena, etc. 



TirK observations, upon which the followino^ remarks are 

 eiiu''l\- based, were made during the summers of 1869 and 1870 

 for the Ohio aeological Survey, and are here pubhshed, with 

 ponuission, in advance of the official report. 



I. The Maumee occupies a broad shallow vallej with easy 

 >\^ 'I us and without definite boundaries. It is the wcstwar. 1 i)r(> 

 ■-::-: ti.m of the trough occupied by Lake Erie, and includes 

 ".n'v waters at least of the Wabash river as well as the 

 :isin of the Maumee. The highest point along the axis 

 :i!ley is at Fort Wayne, one hundred miles from Lake 

 lid is but 185 feet above the present level of that lake, so 

 — uie descent cf the Maumee eastward is less than two feet 

 per uule; the sides of the valley rise with a slope near! v as 

 moderate to an altitude of 300 to 400 feet above the median 

 line. So nearly does it approximate to a plain that the conse- 

 quences of the earth's sphericity are not cancelled, and an 

 observer on onp sirl^ ia prevented from seeing the opposite by 

 ntervening land. 



covered by a sheet of drift, that masks 



ii^ minor irregularities and contributes to the general impression 



Of a^plam. Where the drift has been freshly removed by the 



|\asa (jf waves or currents, the surface of the underlying" rock 



> Miown to be planed, striated, and ftirrowed by glacial action. 



ii"' general bearing of the striae, subject to local deflection 



''"111 details of contour, is parallel to that of the valley. At 



-'maiisky City, and on Kelley's, Soufh Bass, and West Sister 



f'^t^ ^s S. 80° W.; at Fremont and Genoa, east of Toledo, 



^" - - o Y' ; at various points in Lucas county, west of Toledo, 



. ao ^^. ^^^^ ^^i^^g ^^^ Auglaize river near Defiance, S.W. 



• '"'I- <outh the bearing is still more southerly, being S. 35° 



'-^^a, p., and S. 15° W. at Middlepoint near Van Wert. 



iJiotion to which this system of striae is due was south- 



i— lip the valley of the Maumee as it now lies,— and 



'''opposite direction, is attested by some flint nodules 



; ; '"'led m limestones of the Waterlime Group on West Sister 



nVr 1 '^? ^* Monclova near Toledo. By reason of their supe- 



th' .J^^^'^^^^^S' t^iey w-ere able to resist, better than the limestone, 



^nrf^'^"^^ « action, and they project boldly from the planed 



;!;|f^'ces, protecting and maintaining each upon its west or lee 



m, ^ ^^ain or ridge of undisturbed Hmestone. 

 Cl'iv f° Q^^^-'^^S ^rift is in chief part a blue clay— the Erie 

 beds f William Logan— containing irregular, lenticular 



01 sand and gravel, and abundant, but unequally dis- 



