CHAPTER XLIII. 



REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF WOOD COUNTY. 



BY N. H. WINCHELL. 



SITUATION AND AREA. 



Wood county is situated just south of the west end of Lake Erie, its 

 area reaching within five miles of the lake shore. The Maumee River 

 separates it from Lucas county. It is bounded north by Lucas county, 

 east by Ottowa, Sandusky, and Seneca, south by Hancock, and west by 

 Henry and Lucas. With the exception of the north-western corner, 

 which is cut off by the Maumee River, its form is that of a rectangular 

 parallelogram, with an area of about seventeen towns, or six hundred 

 and twelve square miles. 



NATURAL DRAINAGE. 



The Maumee River, which forms its north-western boundary, has but 

 little effect on the drainage of the county. Beaver Creek, which enters 

 it within the limits of the county, receives its waters from Putnam and 

 Henry counties. With this exception, the Maumee receives no mention- 

 able tributaries from Wood county. The Portage, with its tributaries 

 from the south, forms the principal drainage system of the county. It 

 has its source in springs from the Leipsic Ridge, in Putnam county. Its 

 tributaries from the south also take their rise in other counties, and bear 

 a similar relation to the Belmore and Leipsic ridges. The northern and 

 central portions of the cou..ty, between the Portage and the Maumee, are 

 poorly drained. In this area are several extensive tracts known as 

 prairies, which, before artificial drainage was resorted to, were covered 

 most of the year with standing water, and are clothed only with a growth 

 of grasses and sedges. This area occupies the most elevated parts of the 

 county. It is in the form of a plateau, or table-land, which extends 

 nearly across the county from Parnham's Station, in the south-western 

 corner, to the Maumee and Western Reserve Read, in the north-east. 

 The northern portion of this plateau is drained north-eastward through 



