Auglaize County, Ohio

History of Auglaize County

Bodies Of Water

The Mercer County reservoir, a great artificial lake with an area of 17,600 acres and an average depth of ten feet, extends two miles into St. Marys township, the greater portion being within Mercer County. This reservoir abounds with fish, ducks, and geese.

The Auglaize River traverses Union, Duchouquet, Moulton, and Logan townships, when it leaves the county on its general northwestern course to the Maumee River.

The St. Marys rises within the county, flows through St. Marys, Washington, Noble, and Salem townships, and also seeks the Manmee of the northwest.

Both these streams pursue a serpentine course within the county, and were formerly considered permanently navigable, the former to Wapakoneta, and the latter to St. Marys; but cleared and cultivated lands, with attendant evaporation and absorption, have served to diminish the volume of water below any navigable consideration.

Blackhoof, Wrestle, and Pusheta Creeks and Quaker Run are all tributaries of the Auglaize within the county, while the St. Marys has several branches of minor importance.

The Miami and Erie Canal, constructed in 1838, crosses the western part of the county from north to south a distance of twenty-one miles, and contributed largely to the development of the county, but more especially of St. Marys, which was afforded means of commerce long before the period of railroads.

A feeder within St. Marys township supplies water to the canal from the Mercer reservoir.

From "History of Auglaize County, Ohio, with the Indian History of Wapakoneta, and the First Settlement of the County", Robert Sutton, Publishers, Wapakoneta, 1880