DEFIANCE COUNTY. 423 



plains, as well as in the streams themselves, are numerous northern 

 bowlders. The valleys of the streams are not terraced.* They consist 

 of a single main descent from the surface of the country to the flood- 

 plain. The chief diversity of surface in the county consists of the 

 ridges that cross the county, which are particularly described under the 

 head of The Drift. Outside the upper ridges in the towns of Milford and 

 Hickville the country is much more rolling, consisting of a gravelly 

 clay, or, occasionally, of gravel, more or less mingled with stones and 

 sand, and has the character of oak openings. 



Soil and Timber.— The prevailing soil is clay. Throughout the most of 

 the county this clay is gravelly and stony. It is slightly undulating in 

 some places, but generally needs artificial drainage. This clay in Mil- 

 ford township loses much of its refractory character, and becomes very 

 gravelly. It is of a yellowish ash color. In other parts of the county it 

 is locally covered with a light beach sand. This is often spread out 

 over many acres or square miles, making a very light soil. The Belmore 

 ridge, crossing the eastern part of the county through Highland, Rich- 

 land, and Adams townships, consists largely of gravel, or of gravel and 

 sand. It is also associated with considerable light, yellow sand, as at 

 Ayersville. This sand, in favorable situations, is converted by the acces- 

 sion of vegetable remains into a rich black loam. This is the case in 

 some places in Farmer and Mark townships, and at Brunersburg, and 

 along the valley of the Tiffin to Evansport. About Defiance a peculiar 

 beeswax soil prevails. It may be seen in its typical characters along the 

 road from Defiance to Brunersburg. It is an exceedingly fine clay, waxy, 

 and difficult of agriculture. It has the same color as the gravelly clay 

 that prevails over the most of the county. ,It comprises the surface of 

 the horizontally stratified fine clay, and is due to the action of the 

 waters of Lake Erie on the glacial Drift at the moment of deposition. 

 Its stratification can be seen in excavations along the road on the north 

 side of the river at Defiance. It is underlain by typical unmodified 

 Drift. It may be called lacustrine clay. It is probably the equivalent 

 of the Saugeen clay of the Canadian geologists, together with that por- 

 tion of the Erie clay that is similarly stratified. In Mark township is 

 an extensive marsh, with one to three feet of muck lying on a level clay 

 surface. The prevailing trees about this marsh are black ash, elm, soft 

 maple, etc. The swamps in Milford, on the outside of the ridge, are 



* To this statement there is one exception. Between Defiance and Independence, 

 where the Maumee crosses the Blanchard moraine, it has a "second bottom," %. e., 

 one in addition to the flood-plain. See under The Drift, in Defiance county. 



