An Esker Group South of Dayton, Ohio 
23 
obtained. ’’12 Other isolated portions are explained similarly by 
residents. 
Such explanations are to be doubted as few if any more than the 
number of Indian relics normal to this section of Ohio are found. 
Even admitting the archaeologic suppositions, the accredited 
Indian work constitutes so little of the region studied, with but 
trifling interference to the general plan, that it may be disregarded. 
That no large portion can be of human construction is apparent 
not alone from the size of the formation, but from the evidence of 
assorted material in numerous cuts. 
Topographic relations. Eskers diflFer in their relations to the 
topography of the area on which they rest, but according to Cham- 
berlin and Salisbury they were probably most frequently made by 
streams flowing about ‘‘parallel to the direction of the ice move- 
ment. The same writers also suppose the most favorable posi- 
tion for their formation to be “near the edge of the ice during the 
time of its maximum extension or retreat. 
II is possible that the topography of the Dayton area offers the 
best explanation, on a sub-glacial hypothesis, for the origin of 
these local eskers. Dayton lies in a large valley (fig. i) formed 
by the junction of the Stillwater and Mad Rivers and Wolf Creek 
with the Great Miami River. The enclosing rock-bearing hills 
rise about 200 feet above the flood plain. The basin is filled with 
a varying depth of debris exceeding in places 200 feet.^^ The max- 
imum width of the valley is about six miles. To the southward 
beyond the junctions the valley narrows to about one-third its 
greatest width. This narrowing is produced principally from 
the eastern side by a rock spur (fig. i), south of which the valley 
again widens but not to its former size. The last rock outcrop 
on this spur was found on its top and several hundred yards from 
the end. The Bluffs extend west-southwest from this spur, the 
two prominences being separated by a gap which permits the egress 
Quotation in “History of Dayton” (1889), p. 10, from J. P. McLean’s work, 
The Mound Builders. 
Loc. cit.. p. ^76. 
p. 374. 
F. Leverett, loc. cit., p. 361. 
