CHAPTER XLII. 
REPORT ON THE GEOLOGY OF WOOD COUNTY. 
BY N. H. WINCHELL. 
SITUATION AND ARBA. 
Wood county is situated just south of the west end of Lake Erie, its 
area reaching within five miles of the lake shore. The Maumee River 
separates it from Lucas county. It is bounded north by Lucas county, 
east by Ottowa, Sandusky, and Seneca, south by Hancock, and west by 
Henry and Lucas. With the exception of the north-western corner, 
which is cut off by the Maumee River, its form is that of a rectangular 
parallelogram, with an area of about seventeen towns, or six hundred 
and twelve square miles. 
NATURAL DRAINAGE. 
The Maumee River, which forms its north-western boundary, has but 
little effect on the drainage of the county. Beaver Creek, which enters 
it within the limits of the county, receives its waters from Putnam and 
Henry counties. With this exception, the Maumee receives no mention- 
able tributaries from Wood county. The Portage, with its tributaries 
from the south, forms the principal drainage system of the county. It 
has its source in springs from the Leipsic Ridge, in Putnam county. Its 
tributaries from the south also take their rise in other counties, and bear 
a similar relation to the Belmore and Leipsic ridges. The northern and 
central portions of the county, between the Portage and the Maumee, are 
poorly drained. In this area are several extensive tracts known as 
prairies, which, before artificial drainage was resorted to, were covered 
most of the year with standing water, and are clothed only with a growth 
of grasses and sedges. This area occupies the most elevated parts of the 
county. It is in the form of a plateau, or table-land, which extends 
nearly across the county from Farnham’s Station, in the south-western 
corner, to the Maumee and Western Reserve Road, in the north-east. 
The northern portion of this plateau is drained north-eastward through 
