HANCOCK COUNTY. 359 



soil. On the contrary, it is a tough clay, with very little or no gravel, 

 and almost no noticeable bowlders. The latter may be seen only along 

 the eroded channels of the streams, as at Mt. Blanchard and at Findlay, 

 or on the ridges which cross the county, as on the Van Wert ridge, west 

 of Findlay. In general, that portion of the county north of the Blan- 

 chard is more undulating than that south. Between the Leipsic and 

 Belmore ridges is a low and often marshy belt, known as a swale, while 

 north of the latter ridge the country is altogether low, and often wet 

 with standing water for a number of miles. The ridges which cross the 

 county are simply strips of rolling, gravelly land, somewhat elevated 

 above the adjacent fiat on either side, in which . stratified gravel and 

 sand may often be found within a few feet of the surface. They are sep- 

 arately described in a former chapter. 



The streams of the county are accompanied, as in other counties in 

 north-western Ohio, with a sandy flood-plain rising from three, to ten 

 feet above the summer stage of the water, and sometimes coinciding 

 with the general level of the country, as in some parts of Jackson and 

 Marion townships ; and with a higher terrace, consisting of the exposed 

 section of the Drift as left by the action of the river, and inclosing the 

 river valley. The latter is sometimes thirty or forty rods from the bed 

 of the stream, its height depending on the contour of the original Drift 

 surface and the depth to which the river may have worn its channel. 



The soil of the county is clay, with very little intermixture of gravel, 

 except on the ridges, where it is not infrequently gravelly, or even stony. 

 Between McComb and Lewisville there are one or two strips of black 

 and peaty soil. 



GEOLOGICAL STEUCTUEE. 



The rocks which underlie the county belong to the Niagara and the 

 Waterlime, the former underlying the latter. The Niagara is found in 

 the eastern part of the county, and the Waterlime in the western, the 

 dip of both being toward the west. The line which separates them 

 crosses Delaware township in a northerly direction, east of the Blanch- 

 ard ; enters Jackson township in section 26, and leaves it in section 5 ; 

 rUns one-half mile west of Findlay, whence it follows a course nearly 

 due north out of the county. 



The Niagara has its principal exposures in the Blanchard, at Findlay, 

 and in the township of Marion. It is frequently seen in the bed of Lye 

 Creek, and also in Eagle Creek, near Findlay. The quarry of Messrs. 

 Pressnel and Shirden, at Findlay, which has been in operation nearly 

 eighteen years, still furnishes a great deal of stone, both for foundations, 

 for flagging, and for lime. It lies in courses of three to six inches, is of 



