406 GEOLOGY OF OHIO. 
In the townships of Wayne and Goshen, on the summit of the great 
watershed, the drainage is so imperfect that considerable territory is in 
the condition of swamp or wet prairie, on which stand several inches, or 
feet, of water during the wet months of the year. These areas are 
mainly without forest, and have a peaty soil. They are in the eastern 
part of the county, and are drained southward into the Miami River. 
The soil of the county is essentially clay. Variouslocal circumstances 
have caused accidental qualities to greatly modify it. Along the river 
bottoms, the rich, sandy loam resulting from the annual wash of the 
streams upon the Drift banks adjoining, has always been prized for the 
quickness of its crops and the ease of tillage. In places poorly drained 
there is an accumulation of animal and vegetable debris which, under- 
going slow decay, adds considerable ammonia and phosphorus to the 
original Drift soil The farms on the ridges, particularly the St. John’s 
Ridge, are characterized by a gravelly clay soil. In short, wherever the 
drainage is rapid, so as to carry away the finer constituents of the Drift 
soil, there is found a greater amount of gravel. Stones and bowlders 
very rarely disturb the plow in Auglaize county. Wherever they occur 
they seem to have been washed from the materials of the_Drift by rapid 
drainage. 
The streams have a flood-plain, and a single bench, or terrace, worn 
out of the drift deposit. The height of these at any point depends on 
the swiftness of the current, the amount of set-back in the water, and 
the undulations in the original Drift surface. The flood-plain usually is 
from three to six feet above the summer stage of the water, but it some- 
times rises to ten or twelve. The Drift banks of the Auglaize and the 
St. Mary’s rivers are usually about twelve feet above the summer stage 
of the water. Where they cross the ridges the exposed section is much 
more, sometimes reaching twenty-five or thirty feet. 
GEOLOGICAL STRUCTURE. 
There is but a single exposure of the underlying rock within the 
county. Hence but little is known of the details of its geological struc- 
ture. In general, however, judging from the known formation of sur- 
rounding counties, the Niagara limestone must underlie the townships 
of Wayne, Goshen, Clay, Pusheta, Washington, Jackson, German, and 
St. Mary’s, the boundary line between it and the Waterlime passing 
south-westwardly through the township of Union, and north-westwardly 
through Noble, and about a mile south of Wapakoneta. The remainder 
of the county is underlain by the Waterlime formation. The only ex- 
posures of this stone within the limits of the county are in the bed of the 
