CHAPTER XLUITI. 
_ REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF HANCOCK COUNTY. 
BY N. H. WiNCHELL. 
SITUATION AND AREA. 
Hancock county is situated within the Lake Hrie valley. Its county 
seat, Findlay, is forty-two miles almost due south from Toledo. It is 
bounded north by Wood county, east by Seneca and Wyandot, south by 
Hardin, and west by Allen and Putnam. It contains nearly fifteen 
towns. 
NATURAL DRAINAGE. 
The Blanchard is the principal stream of the county. Entering it 
from the south, after flowing fifteen miles in a northward direction it 
turns at a right angle westward, and continues in that direction till it 
passes into Putnam county, reeetving tributaries only from the south. 
Among these may be named Lye Creek, Eagle Creek, and Ottawa Creek. 
In the northern part of the county different branches of the Portage 
also take rise, flowing first toward the west and then toward the north. 
These are all small streams, although the Blanchard, which is subject to 
sudden and sometimes devastating increase of waters, was declared by 
the early surveys navigable as far as Fort Findlay. 
SURFACE FEATURES. 
The country in general may be denominated flat. This is particularly 
the fact in the townships of Delaware, Madison, Hagle (except the south- 
ern portion), Jackson, Amanda, Big Lick, and Marion. These townships 
also contain vast tracts of the ancient forest. They are poorly drained, 
both naturally and artificially, and in many extensive areas the surface 
is under water for several months in spring and early summer. While 
the remainder of the county is diversified with a little undulation of 
surface, 1t also contains some very flat tracts. Rarely, however, are these 
flat tracts, even in the townships specified, covered with a black or peaty 
