The
Great Black Swamp, or simply
Black Swamp, was a
glacialA glacier is a perennial mass of ice which moves over land. A glacier forms in locations where the mass accumulation of snow and ice exceeds ablation over many years...
ly caused
wetlandA wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water. Wetlands include swamps, marshes, and bogs, among others. The water found in wetlands can be saltwater, freshwater,...
in
northwestNorthwest or northwestern Ohio consists of multiple counties in the northwestern corner of the US state of Ohio. This area borders Lake Erie, southern Michigan, and eastern Indiana. Some areas in northwestern Ohio are also considered the Black Swamp area. The Toledo metropolitan area is also part...
OhioOhio is a Midwestern state of the United States. The thirty-fourth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the seventh-most populous with nearly 11.5 million residents...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, extending into extreme northeastern
IndianaIndiana is a U.S. state, the 19
th admitted to the Union. It is located in the Great Lakes region, and with approximately 6.3 million residents, is ranked 16
th in population and 17
th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38
th in land area, and is the...
, that existed from the end of the
Wisconsin glaciationThe last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age, occurring in the Pleistocene epoch. It began about 110,000 years ago and ended about 9,600 - 9,700 BC. During this period there were several changes between glacier advance and retreat. The maximum extent of...
until the late 19th century. It comprised extensive
swampA swamp is a wetland featuring temporary or permanent inundation of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a substantial number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types...
s and
marshIn geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland which is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, and other herbaceous plants. Woody plants will be low-growing shrubs. A marsh is different from a swamp,...
es, with some higher, drier ground interspersed, and occupied what was formerly the southwestern part of
Glacial Lake MaumeeGlacial Lake Maumee was a proglacial lake that was an ancestor of present-day Lake Erie. It formed about 14,000 years ago. As the Erie Lobe of the Wisconsin Glacier retreated at the end of the last ice age, it left meltwater in a previously-existing depressional area that was the valley of an...
, a
holoceneThe Holocene is a geological epoch which began approximately 11 700 years ago . According to traditional geological thinking, the Holocene continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Neogene and Quaternary periods. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely...
precursor to
Lake ErieLake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the thirteenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
. It was gradually drained and settled in the second half of the 19th century and is now highly productive
farmA farm is an area of land, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibers and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single individual, family, community, corporation...
land.
Its historical boundaries lie primarily within the
watershedA drainage basin is an extent of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean...
s of the
MaumeeThe Maumee River is a river in northwestern Ohio and northeastern Indiana in the United States. It is formed at Fort Wayne, Indiana by the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers, and meanders northeastwardly for about 130 mi through an agricultural region of glacial moraines before...
,
AuglaizeThe Auglaize River is a tributary of the Maumee River, approximately 100 mi long, in northwestern Ohio in the United States. It drains a primarily rural farming area in the watershed of Lake Erie...
, and
Portage-Canada:*Portage River , a tributary of the Churchill River*Portage River , an inlet of Cascumpec Bay*Portage River , a tributary of the Northwest Miramichi River...
riverA river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water...
s in northwest Ohio.
The
Great Black Swamp, or simply
Black Swamp, was a
glacialA glacier is a perennial mass of ice which moves over land. A glacier forms in locations where the mass accumulation of snow and ice exceeds ablation over many years...
ly caused
wetlandA wetland is an area of land whose soil is saturated with moisture either permanently or seasonally. Such areas may also be covered partially or completely by shallow pools of water. Wetlands include swamps, marshes, and bogs, among others. The water found in wetlands can be saltwater, freshwater,...
in
northwestNorthwest or northwestern Ohio consists of multiple counties in the northwestern corner of the US state of Ohio. This area borders Lake Erie, southern Michigan, and eastern Indiana. Some areas in northwestern Ohio are also considered the Black Swamp area. The Toledo metropolitan area is also part...
OhioOhio is a Midwestern state of the United States. The thirty-fourth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the seventh-most populous with nearly 11.5 million residents...
,
United StatesThe United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
, extending into extreme northeastern
IndianaIndiana is a U.S. state, the 19
th admitted to the Union. It is located in the Great Lakes region, and with approximately 6.3 million residents, is ranked 16
th in population and 17
th in population density. Indiana is ranked 38
th in land area, and is the...
, that existed from the end of the
Wisconsin glaciationThe last glacial period was the most recent glacial period within the current ice age, occurring in the Pleistocene epoch. It began about 110,000 years ago and ended about 9,600 - 9,700 BC. During this period there were several changes between glacier advance and retreat. The maximum extent of...
until the late 19th century. It comprised extensive
swampA swamp is a wetland featuring temporary or permanent inundation of large areas of land by shallow bodies of water. A swamp generally has a substantial number of hammocks, or dry-land protrusions, covered by aquatic vegetation, or vegetation that tolerates periodical inundation. The two main types...
s and
marshIn geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland which is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, and other herbaceous plants. Woody plants will be low-growing shrubs. A marsh is different from a swamp,...
es, with some higher, drier ground interspersed, and occupied what was formerly the southwestern part of
Glacial Lake MaumeeGlacial Lake Maumee was a proglacial lake that was an ancestor of present-day Lake Erie. It formed about 14,000 years ago. As the Erie Lobe of the Wisconsin Glacier retreated at the end of the last ice age, it left meltwater in a previously-existing depressional area that was the valley of an...
, a
holoceneThe Holocene is a geological epoch which began approximately 11 700 years ago . According to traditional geological thinking, the Holocene continues to the present. The Holocene is part of the Neogene and Quaternary periods. Its name comes from the Greek words and , meaning "entirely...
precursor to
Lake ErieLake Erie is the fourth largest lake of the five Great Lakes in North America, and the thirteenth largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has the shortest average water residence time. It is bounded on the north by the...
. It was gradually drained and settled in the second half of the 19th century and is now highly productive
farmA farm is an area of land, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibers and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single individual, family, community, corporation...
land.
Its historical boundaries lie primarily within the
watershedA drainage basin is an extent of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean...
s of the
MaumeeThe Maumee River is a river in northwestern Ohio and northeastern Indiana in the United States. It is formed at Fort Wayne, Indiana by the confluence of the St. Joseph and St. Marys rivers, and meanders northeastwardly for about 130 mi through an agricultural region of glacial moraines before...
,
AuglaizeThe Auglaize River is a tributary of the Maumee River, approximately 100 mi long, in northwestern Ohio in the United States. It drains a primarily rural farming area in the watershed of Lake Erie...
, and
Portage-Canada:*Portage River , a tributary of the Churchill River*Portage River , an inlet of Cascumpec Bay*Portage River , a tributary of the Northwest Miramichi River...
riverA river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water...
s in northwest Ohio. The boundary was determined primarily by ancient sandy beach ridges formed on the shores of Lakes Maumee and Whittlesey, after glacial retreat several thousand years ago. It stretched roughly from
New Haven, IndianaNew Haven is a city in Jefferson and Adams townships, Allen County, Indiana, United States. It is a suburb of Fort Wayne situated mostly along the southern banks of the Maumee River. The population was 12,406 at the 2000 census.-History:...
in the west, to
ToledoToledo is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio within the Great Lakes Region and the county seat of Lucas County. Named after Toledo, Spain, it is located on the western end of Lake Erie, on the Michigan border. It is the principal city in the Toledo Metropolitan Statistical Area. In the 2000 census,...
and
SanduskySandusky pronounced [suhn-duhs-kee, san-] is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Erie County. The municipality is located in northern Ohio and is situated on the shores of Lake Erie, almost exactly half-way between Toledo to the west and Cleveland to the east.The population was...
OhioOhio is a Midwestern state of the United States. The thirty-fourth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the seventh-most populous with nearly 11.5 million residents...
on the east. Additional
watershedA drainage basin is an extent of land where water from rain or snow melt drains downhill into a body of water, such as a river, lake, reservoir, estuary, wetland, sea or ocean...
s partly or wholly within its former boundary include the
SanduskyThe Sandusky River is a tributary to Lake Erie in north-central Ohio in the United States. It is about 150 mi long, and flows into Lake Erie at Sandusky Bay.-Course:...
,
OttawaThe Ottawa River is a river in the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. It defines for most of its length the border between these two provinces.-Geography:...
,
TiffinThe Tiffin River is a tributary of the Maumee River, approximately 75 mi long, in southeastern Michigan and northwestern Ohio in the United States. It drains a primarily rural farming region in the watershed of Lake Erie...
, and Blanchard
riverA river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing toward an ocean, a lake, a sea or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water...
s.
The area was not continuous swamp, but rather characterized by a variety of
vegetationVegetation is a general term for the plant life of a region; it refers to the ground cover provided by plants. It is a general term, without specific reference to particular taxa, life forms, structure, spatial extent, or any other specific botanical or geographic characteristics. It is broader...
types (Sampson, 1930; Kaatz, 1955). In the lowest, flattest areas, prone to permanent inundation,
deciduousDeciduous means falling off at maturity or tending to fall off and is typically used in reference to trees or shrubs that lose their leaves seasonally and to the shedding of other plant structures such as petals after flowering or fruit when ripe...
swamp forests predominated, characterized especially by species of
ashFraxinus , common name Ash, is a genus of usually medium to large trees, mostly deciduous though a few subtropical species are evergreen. Genus Fraxinus are the true ashes, and are in Oleaceae, the olive family, along with olives and lilacs. The leaves are opposite , and mostly pinnately-compound,...
,
elmElm leaves are alternate, with simple, single- or, most commonly, doubly-serrate margins, usually asymmetric at the base and acuminate at the apex. The genus is hermaphroditic, having perfect flowers which, being wind-pollinated, are apetalous. The fruit is a round wind-dispersed samara...
, cottonwood and
sycamoreSycamore is a name which is applied at various times and places to three very different types of trees, but with somewhat similar leaf forms....
. In slightly higher areas with some topographic relief and better drainage,
beechBeech is a genus of ten species of deciduous trees in the family Fagaceae, native to temperate Europe, Asia and North America.The leaves of beech trees are entire or sparsely toothed, from 5–15 cm long and 4–10 cm broad...
,
mapleAcer is a genus of trees or shrubs commonly known as Maple. Maples are variously classified in a family of their own, the Aceraceae, or included in the family Sapindaceae. Modern classifications, including the Angiosperm Phylogeny Group classification, favour inclusion in Sapindaceae...
s, basswood, tuliptree and other more
mesicIn ecology, a mesic habitat is a type of habitat with a moderate or well-balanced supply of moisture, i.e. a mesic forest, a temperate hardwood forest, or dry-mesic prairie. The opposite of mesic is xeric....
species were dominant. On elevated beach ridges and moraines with good to excessive drainage, more
xericDeserts and xeric shrublands is a biome characterized by, relating to, or requiring only a small amount of moisture. Deserts and xeric shrublands receive an annual average rainfall of ten inches or less, and have an arid or hyperarid climate, characterized by a strong moisture deficit, where annual...
species, especially of
oakAn oak is a tree or shrub in the genus Quercus , of which about 400 species exist. "Oak" may also appear in the names of species in related genera, notably Lithocarpus...
and
hickoryTrees in the genus Carya are commonly known as Hickory. The genus includes 17–19 species of deciduous trees with pinnately compound leaves and large nuts...
, were dominant. Unlike other swampy areas of the Great Lakes, such as northern Minnesota, there were no conifers (Sampson, 1930). There were also non-forested wetlands, particularly marsh and wet
prairiePrairies are considered part of the temperate grasslands, savannas, and shrublands biome by ecologists, based on similar temperate climates, moderate rainfall, and grasses, herbs, and shrubs, rather than trees, as the dominant vegetation type...
s, with marshes being particularly extensive along the Lake Erie shoreline between Toledo and Sandusky. Some of these exist today in modified form in state and federal wildlife refuges, such as Ottawa National Wildlife Refuge.
Although much of the area to the east, south, and north was settled in the early 19th century, the difficulty of traveling through the swamp delayed its development by several decades. A
corduroy roadA corduroy road or log road is a type of road made by placing sand-covered logs perpendicular to the direction of the road over a low or swampy area. The result is an improvement over impassable mud or dirt roads, yet is a bumpy ride in the best of conditions and a hazard to horses due to loose...
(from modern day
FremontFremont is a city in and the county seat of Sandusky County, Ohio, United States. The population was 17,375 at the 2000 census. Former president Rutherford B. Hayes lived in the city for a period of time and dedicated a library to the town...
to
PerrysburgPerrysburg is a city in Wood County, Ohio, United States, along the Maumee River. The population was 17,042 according to the 2007 census. If combined with the adjacent Perrysburg Township, it would have a total population of 30,747 making it the most populous city in Wood County. It is a suburb of...
) was constructed in 1825 and paved with gravel in 1838, but travel in the wet season could still take days or even weeks. The impassability of the swamp became an obstacle during the so-called
Toledo WarThe Toledo War , also known as the Ohio-Michigan War, was the almost entirely bloodless boundary dispute between the U.S. state of Ohio and the adjoining territory of Michigan...
(1835–36), when the
MichiganMichigan is a Midwestern state of the United States of America. It was named after Lake Michigan, whose name is a French adaptation of the Ojibwe term mishigama, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....
and
OhioOhio is a Midwestern state of the United States. The thirty-fourth largest state by area in the U.S., it is the seventh-most populous with nearly 11.5 million residents...
militias were unable to find each other, and thus were unable to battle. Settlement of the region was inhibited by the presence of endemic
malariaMalaria is a vector-borne infectious disease caused by a eukaryotic protist of the genus Plasmodium. It is widespread in tropical and subtropical regions, including parts of the Americas, Asia, and Africa. Each year, there are approximately 350–500 million cases of malaria, killing between one and...
, which continued to plague residents of the region until the area was drained. In the 1850s an organized attempt to drain the swamp for agricultural use and ease of travel began which lasted for 40 years, and the area was largely settled over the next three decades. The development of railroads and a local
drainage tileTile drainage is a practice for removing excess water from the subsurface of soil intended for agriculture. Whereas irrigation is the practice of adding additional water when the soil is naturally too dry, drainage brings soil moisture levels down for optimal crop growth...
industry are thought to have contributed greatly to drainage and settlement (Kaatz, 1955).
See also
- Black Swamp Arts Festival
- Limberlost Swamp
The Limberlost Swamp, parts of which were also known as the Loblolly Marsh, originally existed in Indiana, across 13,000 acres of Adams County and Jay County....
External links