HARDIN COUNTY. 353 



Creek Marsh into the Hog Creek valley. The second divide in the same 

 way prevents the northward drainage of the Hog Creek Marsh. Streams 

 rise immediately on the northern- slope of this ridge in Hancock county, 

 and pursue their course uninterruptedly to the Blanchard, in a due 

 northern direction. The northern line of the county runs about on the 

 summit of this ridge. It is a low, gentle swell in the surface, hardly 

 observable in passing over the country. The more southerly divide may 

 be more properly termed a ridge. By reference to another chapter it will 

 be seen that these divides have been traced westward through Allen and 

 Mercer counties, and that they are regarded as glacial morai nes. 



SURFACE FEATURES. 



The surface features of Hardin county are dependent on the condition 

 in which the original Drift was left by the glacier. The soathern part 

 of the county, especially in. the townships of Buck, Roundhead, and 

 Taylor Creek, is occupied with a rolling surface. Tue northern portions 

 of McDonald and Lynn townships are fiat, with a clay soil. The south- 

 eastern part of the county may be denominated flat, or gently undula- 

 ting. Along the north side of the Scioto and the Scioto Marsh, crossing 

 the entire county, there is a tract of more elevated land, sometimes 

 broken by long undulations, and not infrequently rolling or hilly. This 

 strip has a width of from one to three miles. North of it the surface 

 becomes nearly or quite flat, with only isolated and unimportant excep- 

 tions. Three extensive marshes are embraced within Hardin county. 

 Their aggregate area is about forty thousand acres. Some efforts have 

 been made to render them cultivable by artificial drainage, and with a 

 good degree of success. Formerly water covered them the greater part 

 of the year, but now in summer-time a team can be driven across them 

 in various directions with entire safety. It is evident that the valley of 

 the Scioto is the proper, if not the only, channel through which to drain 

 the Scioto Marsh. By lowering its outlet, and constructing a system of 

 tributary ditches, the whole area could could be given a dry and arable 

 soil. Another low valley spreads northward in Cessna township, which 

 might be utilized for the same purpose ; yet its outlet is so near the out- 

 let by way of the Scioto that not much would be gained. There are 

 some indications that formerly a portion of the surplus water of the 

 marsh found escape through this valley into Hog Creek Marsh. The 

 Cranberry Marsh is drained westward into the Blanchard. The Hog 

 Creek Marsh is drained northward into Eagle Creek, and westward by 

 deepening Hog Creek channel, its natural outlet. 



The frequent occurrence of such marshy on the broad watershed be- 

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