454 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 



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water, or at the exact level of Lake Erie, is 2.9 miles above the mouth of 

 Little Kanawha at Parkersburg. The surveys of the New York and 

 Erie Railroad make the elevation of Lake Erie 569 feet, or four feet 

 higher. How this discrepancy is to be explained I do not know, but the 

 results of the earlier survey are, I think, generally accepted. Prof. Ar- 

 nold Guyot gives 565 feet as the elevation, and Col. Chas. Whittlesey, of 

 Cleveland, who has carefully collected the various surveys, gives the 

 same. Col. Chas. Ellet — probably taking his data from the surveys of 

 the Muskingum River Improvement and of the Ohio canals — gives the 

 elevation of the mouth of the Muskingum above tide-water as 571 feet, 

 while the Government surveys'of the Ohio River give it as 569.821 feet, 

 a difference of 1.179 feet. If we accept the figures of the Government 

 survey, and, also, 565 feet as the elevation of the Lake, then the mouth 

 of the Muskingum is 4821 feet above the level of the Lake. 



The surface drainage of the county is very complete. The principal 

 affluents of the Ohio within the county besides the Muskingum are the 

 Little Muskingum River, Duck Creek, and the Little Hocking River. 

 Wolf Creek, which drains a considerable area in the north-west part of 

 the county, is a tributary of the Muskingum, and empties into the latter 

 a little above Beverly. 



The drainage system of the county presents some very interesting facts. 

 The Ohio River, Little Muskingum, Duck Creek, and the Muskingum 

 all converge toward a common center, the last three uniting with the 

 former in Marietta township. The Ohio, which flows in a channel 

 nearly parallel with the Little Muskingum, is deflected north-westerly 

 by the West Virginia hills, and meets the other streams mentioned. 

 The slopes of nearly half a circle find their lowest point at a common 

 centre in Marietta township. . 



The Little Muskingum drains the south-western part of Monroe county, 

 and entering Washington county near the north-east corner of Ludlow 

 township, flows through Ludlow, Independence, Lawrence, Newport, 

 and Marietta townships to the Ohio. Its branches also drain portions of 

 Jolly and Grandview townships. All of Liberty township, except the 

 north-west corner, is drained by Fifteen-Mile Creek, a branch coming in 

 from the north. Duck Creek flows nearly south through Washington 

 county, and drains a comparatively limited area lying in Aurelius, Sa- 

 lem, Fearing, and Marietta townships. The Pawpaw branch extends 

 into the north-west corner of Liberty, and Whipple's Run rises in Fear, 

 ing. There is within the county no western tributary of Duck Creek of 

 any considerable size, the watershed or dividing ridge between the Duck 

 Creek and the Muskingum being generally very near the former stream. 



