SHELBY COUNTY. 451 
of seventy-five or eighty feet from the bottom of the reservoir to the 
mouth of the Loramie. The eastern part of the county is drained by 
other tributaries of the Miami. The Towana, formed by the junction 
of the Leatherwood and Mosquito creeks, is an excellent mili stream, 
and drains the principal part of the county east of the Miami River. 
From the appearance of this stream in the dry months of July and Au- 
gust, I conclude it is largely fed by springs, as the volume of water was 
kept up to a good stage when many other streams had failed. There are 
some copious springs in the county, but they do not form such a feature 
as they do in some other counties situated at a lower level. As might 
be expected, the high land west of the Miami has fewer and less copious 
springs than are found in less elevated localities in the county. In con- 
clusion of this subject, the drainage of the county by natural channels 
is ample. 
The Soil.—The character of the soil out of the river and creek bottoms 
depends upon the nature of the underlying drift. The drift will be 
‘spoken of more particularly further on. The soil in the river bot- 
toms is composed largely of partially decompose vegetable matter. 
There is nothing peculiar about this class of soils in this county, ex- 
cept that oh some of the tributaries of the Miami, as Plum Creek, 
there is an unusual body of it compared with the size of the creek. 
The explanation of this seems to be that in the upper course of this 
stream especially, the fall in the bed of the creek is often very slight, 
and the drainage was very imperfect. Before the country was cleared 
the water was still more impeded by rubbish and undergrowth, and 
it stood on the ground for at least a portion of the year. Large accu- 
mutations of vegetable mould took place, which the size of the streams, 
as seen to-day, do not seem adequate to produce. This mould is not allu- 
vium, but the result of vegetable growth on the spot.. It has not been 
washed thither by the water, but the vegetation which made it grew up 
in the swamps which existed along this sluggish water-course. The 
upland soil in the county is naturally divided into two classes, one called 
black soil, composed of the clay of the drift, mixed with a greater or less 
proportion of vegetable mould; the other is a leght-colored, “thin” soil, 
with little vegetable matter. The dark-colored soil is related in origin 
to that of the creek bottoms or flats, just referred to. Wherever the water 
formed swampy districts, there accumulated vegetable matter. Some of 
these places were yet swampy at the first settlement of the county, and 
were shunned as unhealthy localities; but others, often extensive, were 
no longer swampy, but from channels being worn through them or out 
of them, were dry, and invited, not in vain, the early settler. The face 
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