This and That

By Helen Kaverman, The Delphos Herald
Published:  Tuesday, September 30, 2008 (2 months ago)
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At one time this whole area, including Van Wert County, was part of the Great Black Swamp.  Before that it was covered by glaciers which extended even further south.
As the glaciers receded, the melting ice formed a large body of water, called Lake Maumee. As the lake receded, it left beaches and ridges as the water lapped along the edge.
One of the ridges is quite visible as you drive down the Old Lincoln Highway (old Route 30) through Van Wert County. As you travel along you can see how the land drops off on the north side of the road. This is said to be the outermost ridge and beach of Old Lake Maumee.  This east-west ridge has long been called “the Ridge”.  It crosses the county and extends in both directions.  Ridge Township took it’s name from this fact.
Ancient Lake Maumee extended across northwestern Ohio and a corner of Michigan from what is now Lake Erie and Lake Huron to the site of the present day city of Fort Wayne, Ind. It had an outlet to the Wabash River, which flowed to the Ohio and thence to the Mississippi. Some water also escaped through the Scioto and Miami Rivers. The outermost of Lake Maumee’s beaches extends into Ohio from Michigan to a point near Fayette, in the northwestern corner of Ohio. From there it runs southwesterly to Fort Wayne. From Ft. Wayne it runs southwesterly through Van Wert and Delphos. From there it runs through the Pandora area to Findlay. A trip along Route 12, gives you a hood look at the lay of the land.
There are some minor ridges between our area and Lake Erie but most of the land was left very flat. The Blanchard River has it’s beginning near Kenton. If it were to flow directly north to Lake Erie, about 50 miles, it would have a fall of about 4 feet per mile. Instead it cut a channel from near Findlay to the Auglaize, then northward to the Maumee River and on to Lake Erie.  For some 50 miles it has a fall averaging about 18 inches per mile. The St. Joseph River, which originates in Michigan, carries it’s water over 160 miles, via the Maumee to Lake Erie, averaging a drop of about 12 inches per mile. All this poor drainage left the Great Black Swamp. Trees grew thick and tall in this swamp.
The Indians who lived in this area found these rivers convenient for their travel to far flung areas.  Via the Maumee, Wabash, Ohio and Mississippi Rivers the Native Americans could move from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico. The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence could take them east and other tributaries could take them to the Rockies. They were great navigators.
When the early pioneers came into this land they discovered a harsh waterlogged swamp, so dark it could be described at “black”. So it was when Capt. James Riley came into the area.  He was appointed by Edward Tiffin to survey the northwest Ohio Territory. He reached the St. Marys River in 1819 to begin his survey work.  In 1920 Riley purchased 7 tracts of land, which was known to the Indian as the Devil’s Race Ground.  This land was situated at the falls of the St. Marys River.  He immediately built a small log cabin. In 182l he brought his family to the wilderness. They were the first white settlers in Van Wert County. The family first lived in the temporary cabin which had been built. Riley built a mill and dam near the sight of his home. He was also credited with digging the first water well in the county.
The Riley children were terrified curing the first night in their little home. The howling wolves prowled around the cabin all night.
The first winter proved rather mild so by spring they built a large 2 story cabin on the east bank of the river, at the foot of the rapids, near the site of the mill. The cabin was built in 20 foot sections, totaling about 60 feet. The floors were split and hewed puncheons, with clapboard doors and windows with sash and glass.  Glass windows were very rare at that time.  (Henry Howe wrote in his Historical Collections of Ohio that those were the first glass windows he saw north of Piqua.)
During March 1822, Riley founded, surveyed and platted the town of Willshire.  Wilshire was the first town in Van Wert County. The land was purchased from the Miami and Shawnee Indians at the Treaty of St. Marys in 1818. The town of Willshire  received it’s name as an honor to William Willshire, who “rescued” Capt. Riley from slavery in Africa, following a shipwreck some years when Capt. Riley was a ship captain.

(To be continued)

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