Black Swamp

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BLACK SWAMP

BLACK SWAMP, a term once applied to much of northwestern Ohio but more accurately to an area lying chiefly in the drainage basin of the Maumee River, including all or parts of a dozen present-day counties. Glacial Lake Maumee once covered this area, leaving behind a level and poorly drained landscape. Drainage difficulties, malarial diseases, and general inaccessibility discouraged whites from settling here long after they had moved into surrounding areas. However, the swamp underwent rapid development after 1850 when German immigrant farmers began draining and settling the land. Today the former Black Swamp constitutes one of the richest farming areas in the state.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Jones, Robert Leslie. History of Agriculture in Ohio to 1880. Kent, Ohio: Kent State University Press, 1983.

Eugene H.Roseboom/w. p.

See alsoDefiance, Fort ; Wetlands .