The Great Black Swamp and the Gas and Oil Boom

For many years most of northwest Ohio was covered by acres upon acres of swamp. This swamp stretched over twelve counties east to west from Sandusky, Ohio to Fort Wayne, Indiana and north to south from the Maumee River Valley to Findlay, Ohio. Parts of this swamp were meadows, other parts were forests of multiple types of trees, and yet other parts were thick brush and wild growth.

The swamp was a beautiful site to see, but it did not appeal to humans. The swamp was named the Great Black Swamp due to its black soil and inky waters. The swamp displayed waist-high waters in spring and ravenous haze of mosquitoes. For most seeking land to clear and farms to plant it was a sinister place that they didn’t want to be bothered with.

By 1830 the majority of the cleared land was taken and pioneers began considering the swamp. As this time period went on more settlers entered the swamp. The early roads of the swamp caused the settlers’ horses to struggle through the thick layer of mud especially during the spring when the waters were high sometimes only making a mile of advancement in a day. During the summer months water was not as big of an issue, but there was another issue, mosquitoes. Mosquitoes were so bad that it forced the settlers to wear heavy clothing for protection. Due to mosquitoes later summer was the onset of ague which led to soaring fevers, deep chills and violent shaking which went on for up to weeks.

Despite the physical discomforts and afflictions, settlers faced the challenge of draining the land. The first attempts typically consisted of digging a ditch to deplete the surface water away. Later, they realized that underdrainage would be essential for farmland to reach maximum output. The first underdrains were simply stones or saplings laid in a trench and covered over. This technique was later replaced by nailing two planks into a V and laying them reversed in a trench and covering them over. The best method of underdrainage was clay tile, but...