406 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



In the townships of Wayne and Goshen, on the summit of the great 

 watershed, the drainage is so imperfect that considerable territory is in 

 the condition of swamp or wet prairie, on which stand several inches, or 

 feet, of water during the wet months* of the year. These areas are 

 mainly without forest, and have a peaty soil. They are in the eastern 

 part of the county, and are drained southward into the Miami River. 



The soil of the county is essentially clay. Various local circumstances 

 have caused accidental qualities to greatly modify it. Along the river 

 bottoms, the rich, sandy loam resulting from the annual wash of the 

 streams upon the Drift banks adjoining, has always been prized for the 

 quickness of its crops and the ease of tillage. In places poorly drained 

 there is an accumulation of animal and vegetable debris which, under- 

 going slow decay, adds considerable ammonia and phosphorus to the 

 original Drift soil The farms on the ridges, particularly the St. John's 

 Ridge, are characterized by a gravelly clay soil. In short, wherever the 

 drainage is rapid, so as to carry away the finer constituents of the Drift 

 soil, there is found a greater amount of gravel. Stones and bowlders 

 very rarely disturb the plow in Auglaize county. Wherever they occur 

 they seem to have been washed from the materials of the Drift by rapid 

 drainage. 



The streams have a flood-plain, and a single bench, or terrace, worn 

 out of the drift deposit. The height of these at any point depends on 

 the swiftness of the current, the amount of set-back in the water, and 

 the undulations in the original Drift surface. The flood-plain usually is 

 from three to six feet above the summer stage of the water, but it some- 

 times rises to ten or twelve. The Drift banks of the Auglaize and the 

 St. Mary's rivers are usually about twelve feet above the summer stage 

 of the water. Where they cross the ridges the exposed section is much 

 more, sometimes reaching twenty-five or thirty feet. 



GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE. 



There is but a single exposure of the underlying rock within the 

 county. Hence but little is known of the details of its geological struc- 

 ture. In general, however, judging from the known formation of sur- 

 rounding counties, the Niagara limestone must underlie the townships 

 of Wayne, Goshen, Clay, Pusheta, Washington, Jackson, German, and 

 St. Mary's, the boundary line between it and the Waterlime passing 

 south- westwardly through the township of Union, and north-westwardly ■ 

 through Noble, and about a mile south of Wapakoneta. The remainder 

 of the county is underlain by the Waterlime formation. The only ex- 

 posures of this stone within the limits of the county are in the bed of the 



