of the Alaumee Valley. 343 



a is of rest are plainly marked bv the beach lines, of 

 a series is presented near the borders of each of the 



. -iithning their ancient limits. In Jhe Mauniee valley 



: these periods of rest are distinctly recorded, the water 

 i'oing marked at 220, 195, 165 and" 90 to 65 feet, above 



i-rie, along the line of the Air Line branch of the Lake 

 ;<nd Michigan Southern Eaihvay, running west Jrom 

 '. Two of these beach lines have' been traceil for sonif 



"across the country, and their courses are ni;iik<<l 011 



->inpanving^ map. The lower of the two is liic ..i,c ;it 

 L Lake Erie then stretched sixty miles up the val'r\ 

 -ite of the town of Defiance, covering all that (or-' 



Mown as the Black Swamp. The upper b^ach i- 



- of the series, and records a lake level at Adi-ian. T- 

 Rumbus Grove of 220 feet above the ]m->on\. ui L>lu ;. 



i^hos. and of 205 feet at New Haven, six mih- ea:i u. 

 ~A ayne. Toward the latter point the l)eaeh liiK s e^ >u\ eige, 



- from the northeast and southeast; but. inslead t>r uni- 

 ii"'y become parallel, and are continued as the sides of a 



^.■ater-course, through which the Great Lake Lasiu then 



■ ^^^uiged its surplus waters. At New Haven tliis chaimel is 

 'iyt less than a mile and a half broad, and has an averaoe dciith 

 ot 20 feet, with sides and bottom of drift. For twentv-hve 

 miles this character continues, and there is no notable fall. 



ihree miles above Huntington, Indiana, however, the drift l)ot- 

 ^ f '^ ^^Pjaced by a floor of Niagara limestone, and the descent 



westward becomes comparatively quite rapid. At Huntington 

 tbe valley is contracted in width to one mile, and is walled,^ on 

 one side at least, by rock in situ. In the eastern portion of this 

 ancient nver bed the Maumee and its branches have cut chan- 

 nels titteen to twenty-five feet deep, without meeting the under- 

 ^"ig limestone. Most of the inter^^al from Fort Wayne to 

 auntmgton is occupied by a marsh, over which meanders 

 ^mie river, an insignificant stream whose only claim to the title 

 river seems to lie in the magnitude of the deserted channel 

 w nich It is sole occupant. At Huntington the Wabash river 



merges from a narrow clefl of its own carving, and takes pos- 

 session of the broad trough to which it was once but a humble 

 ^ Dutary. The limestone above Huntington is the rocky rim 

 noi f°^ ^^V^ch determined the altitude of the overflow at this 

 \h ''^•^ 1.^^ ■^''^ ^*^^* ^^o^^e *^^^ present level of Lake Erie. 

 ^ ove It the stream must have resembled the Detroit, bearing 

 bot'f ^^ surface, but with enough current to excavate its soft 

 LiJ:f"^.''^«"iewhat deeply where the marsh and prairie of the 

 thp tJ-^^^^ ^^'^ a^e spread ; below, it was more comparable to 

 Corn f ^^^^ at Buffalo, where it rushes over the outcrop of the 

 niierous limestone. At Fort Wayne the St. Joseph and St 



