By: Patrick Troyer, Education Specialist
“The soils were as black as midnight”, the saying goes. As we certainly all know, the area we now live and work in was once part of the Great Black Swamp where the woodland and wildlife were plentiful and plenty of swampland was to be found. It is said that this swamp covered nearly 1,500 miles or 960,000 acres across northwest Ohio in what is now the counties of Paulding, Defiance, Van Wert, Henry, Putnam, Wood, Sandusky, Hancock and Seneca. How did this wetland form? What lived in the wetland? What happened to it? Are there any parts of it left? Read on to find the answer to these questions and so much more!
Before we get too far, do you know what a swamp is? By definition, a swamp is a wet, spongy land saturated and sometimes partially or intermittently covered with water. It contains what is called hydric soils which are soils that formed under flooded conditions long enough during the season to develop anaerobic (no oxygen) conditions in the upper layers. According to Historians at Sauder Village, the Great Black Swamp formed thanks to the Wisconsin Glacier which blanketed the area some 20,000 years ago. The enormous power and force associated with the glacier took what was once rugged terrain and flattened it out while also leaving a thick layer of clay in its aftermath. This clay left behind would prove to be a great base for the wetland that would follow behind as clay is the best soil particle to hold in water.
Clay was not the only thing left behind as there were some ridges of sand also deposited which distinguished one section of the swamp from the other. Sauder Village writes that most of the swamp was uniform in appearance and had a multitude of slow moving streams that helped drain it. Prairies were also a feature of the swamp and could be found in Wood and Sandusky Counties.
Soils of the Great Black Swamp were quite unique to say the least. As stated above, clay was a common soil particle found in the swamp that was great at containing the water. The Great Black Swamp Exhibit at Sauder Village does a great job explaining the layers of the soil making up the swamp. The surface layer was a dark black loam formed from plant material which had decayed. The middle layer had a yellowish color and was a clay type soil with some small pebbles mixed in. Below the middle layer, the lower soil layer was a clay that was blue in color while the bedrock layer was composed of limestone.
It was the well put together soil which drew in the settlers and made the area appealing to farmers who saw the rich, dark soil as an opportunity to be successful. At first, it was a great idea to drain the swamp which left behind that rich soil, but as time goes on, we have learned the richness is not found in as great of quantities.
Dense forests were a staple of the Great Black Swamp. It is said that once the tree leaves and other various plant parts fell to the ground and decomposed, the water would turn black thus giving the name Great Black Swamp, according to Sauder Village. Common in the swamp was a variety of walnut, maple, cottonwood, ash, elm, and giant oak trees which grew to great heights and created quite a dense forest according to Historic Perrysburg.
Historic Perrysburg notes accounts that water in the swamp was so deep that if could touch the belly of a horse and would stay at such a level until the hot weather of the summer months took hold. When the ice thawed in the spring or the rains came, there was plenty of muck to be left behind. With the constant standing water, you can certainly imagine that disease was certain to follow as well. Diseases such as cholera, typhoid, and malaria carried by pesky mosquitoes. Historic Perrysburg writes that many of these fevers and diseases which took a range of three to five years to get rid of and brought on chills and shakes as some of the many symptoms.
With the rich soils found in the area, pioneers and farmers saw a great opportunity in the swamp. It was in the 1840s that the swamp was first drained to clear it for farmland but also to rid of the fevers which plagued many. Some water drained from the swamp and trees cleared away were use on the canal systems that traversed through the area during this time. During the drainage of the swamp, we begin to see farmers first putting field drainage to use when they would dig ditches to move the swampy water to the nearest stream.
By the time 1850 came around, the Ohio General Assembly passed legislation signaling their support for drainage systems to clear the swamp which caused people to take advantage of this opportunity and settle the area. The job of draining the swamp was certainly not easy. By the time 1900 rolled around, very few areas of the Great Black Swamp remained.
Where can you find a good idea of what the Black Swamp may have been like? First, the Black Swamp Nature Center in Paulding is a great start to see wetlands right here in Paulding County. Another place to check out would be Goll Woods State Nature Preserve located near Archbold in Fulton County. According to their website, Goll Woods shows what a Black Swamp forest looked like as it features a multitude of giant bur oaks, white oaks, cottonwoods, and much more which are two hundred plus years old! Visit www.naturepreserves.ohiodnr.gov/gollwoods for more information on this great nature preserve.
If you wish to know more about the Great Black Swamp, WBGU-PBS out of Bowling Green has a great documentary titled “The Story of the Great Black Swamp” that is available for purchase on DVD or you can view it on their website. It is definitely a must see! Hopefully you have come to now enjoy learning about such a great feature of nature right in our own backyards!
