Page:History of Richland County, Ohio.djvu/24

 the western boundary of the State. This " divide " separates the lake and Ohio River waters, and maintains an elevation of a little more than thirteen hundred feet above the level of the ocean. The highest part is in Richland County, at the south- east corner, where the elevation is 1,390 feet.

North of this ridge the surface is generally level, with a gentle inclination toward the lake, the inequalities of the surface being caused by the streams which empty into the lake. The central part of Ohio is almost, in general, a level plain, about one thousand feet above the level of the sea, slightly inclining southward. The Southern part of the State is rather hilly, the valleys growing deeper as they incline toward the great valley of the Ohio, which is several hundred feet below the general level of the State. In the southern counties, the surface is generally diversified by the inequalities produced by the excavating power of the Ohio River and its tributaries, exercised through long periods of time. There are a few prairies, or plains, in the central and northwestern parts of the State, but over its greater portion originally existed immense growths of timber.

The " divide," or water-shed, referred to, between the waters of Lake Erie and the Ohio River, is less elevated in Ohio than in New York and Pennsylvania, though the difference is small. To a person passing over the State in a balloon, its surface presents an unvarying plain, while, to one sailing-down the Ohio River, it appears mountainous. On this river are bluffs ranging- from two hundred and fifty to six hundred feet in height. As one ascends the tributaries of the river, these bluffs diminish in height until they become gentle undulations, while toward the sources of the streams, in the central part of the State, the banks often become low and marshy.

The principal rivers are the Ohio, Muskingum, Scioto and Miami, on the southern slope, emptying into the Ohio; on the northern, the Maumee, Sandusky, Huron and Cuyahoga, emptying into Lake Erie, and, all but the first named, entirely in Ohio. *

The Ohio, the chief river of the State, and from which it derives its name, with its tributaries, drains a country whose area is over two hundred thousand square miles in extent, and extending from the watershed to Alabama. The river was first discovered by La Salle in 1669, and was by him navigated as far as the Falls, at Louisville, Ky. It is formed by the junction of the Alleghany and Monongahela rivers, in Pennsylvania, whose waters unite at Pittsburgh. The entire length of the river, from its source to its mouth, is 950 miles, though by a straight line from Pittsburgh to Cairo, it is only 615 miles. Its current is very gentle, hardly three miles per hour, the descent being only five inches per mile. At high stages, the rate of the current increases, and at low stages decreases. Sometimes it is barely two miles per hour. The average range between high and low water mark is fifty feet, although several times the river has risen more than sixty feet above low water mark. At the lowest stage of the river, it is fordable many places between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. The river abounds in islands, some of which are exceedingly fertile, and noted in the history of the West. Others, known as "tow-heads," are simply deposits of sand.

The Scioto is one of the largest inland streams in the State, and is one of the most beautiful rivers. It rises in Hardin County, flows southeasterly to Columbus, where it receives its largest affluent, the Olentangy or Whetstone, after which its direction is southerly until it enters the Ohio at Portsmouth. It flows through one of the richest valleys in the State, and has for its companion the Ohio and Erie Canal, for a distance of ninety miles. Its tributaries are, besides the Whetstone, the Darby, Walnut and Paint Creeks.

The Muskingum River is formed by the junction of the Tuscarawas and Waldhoning Rivers, which rise in the northern part of the State and unite at Coshocton. From the junction, the river flows in a southeastern course about one hundred miles, through a rich and populous valley, to the Ohio, at Marietta, the oldest settlement in the State. At its outlet, the Muskingum is over two hundred yards wide. By improvements, it has been made navigable ninety-five miles above Marietta, as far as Dresden, where a side cut, three miles long, unites its waters with those of the Ohio Canal. All along this stream exist, in abundant profusion, the remains of an ancient civilization, whose history is lost in the twilight of antiquity. Extensive mounds, earthworks and various fortifications, are everywhere to be found, enclosing a mute history as silent as the race that dwelt here and left these traces of their existence. The same may be said of all the other valleys in Ohio.

The Miami River — the scenes of many exploits in pioneer days — rises in Hamlin County, near the headwaters of the Scioto, and runs southwesterly, to the Ohio, passing Troy, Dayton and Hamilton. It is a beautiful and rapid stream, flowing through