Sidney, Ohio

In the summer of 1002f Lief and his companions sailed southwesterly, until they saw land, flat along the shore, with snow-capped mountains at a distance from the sea. Farther south they found another country of heavy timber and no mountains. Here they rested a few hours, and t A Norse navigator, Herjulfson, sailing from Iceland to Greenland in the year 986 was driven by a storm to Newfoundland or Labrador, but after being driven about at length reached Greenland, without having landed in the new country of which he related marvellous stories.

Passage source: History of Shelby County, Ohio, published 1883.

This county is situated in the second tier of counties from the boundary line between Indiana and Ohio, and about half-way of the State from north to south. It is bounded on the north by Auglaize County', on the east by Logan and Champaign, on the south by Miami, and on the west by Darke and Auglaize. The county seat is Sidney. The water-shed between the Maumee and Miami River systems is partly in the northern part of this county. The road known ns the Kettler turnpike, in a general way, may be regarded ns marking the line of the water shed, at least for some miles of its course, nearest the Loramie Reservoir. The watershed bears to the northeast, after leaving this county, into Hardin and Wyandot counties.

Passage source: History of Shelby County, Ohio, published 1883.

At Cincinnati, low water in the Ohio River is four hundred and thirtytwo feet above tide-water, and the water in the Sidney feeder is five hundred and twelve feet above low water in the Ohio, or nine hundred and forty-four feet above tide-water. The greatest elevation yet measured in the county is one hundred and thirty-four feet, on the Tawawa turnpike, east of the Miami River. The line between this county and Champaign, on this turnpike, is one hundred and twenty-one feet above the water in the feeder. The greatest elevation on the line of the Stewart turnpike is one hundred and twenty-one feet, and on the line between Shelby and Logan counties one hundred and eleven feet above the water in the canal. On the Infirmary turnpike the greatest elevation is eightv-seven feet, and at the end of this road, on the line between this county ami Miami, it is forty feet below the level of the canal. On the St. Marys turnpike, about two miles from Sidney, the highest point is reached at one hundred and twelve feet above the water in the canal. The bottom of the reservoir is about eight feet above the water in the canal. The main canal extends entirely across the county, running in a northwesterly direction from a point on the southern boundary line about midway of the county, from east to west. The Sidney feeder is twelve miles in length, and extends from Port Jefferson to Lockington, and is the channel through which the water from the great reservoir at Lewistown reaches the summit level of the canal. The Sidney feeder and the main canal above Lockington are on the same level, and the, water from the Lewistown reservoir flows indifferently north or south. The summitlevel of the Miami and Erie Canal is, therefore, the same as that of the Sidney feeder - nine hundred and forty-four feet above the level of the sea. The highest land in the county (so far as any measurements have extended) is one thousand anil seventy-eight feet above tide-water, and six hundred and forty-six feet above low water in the Ohio River at Cincinnati. To aid in the comparison of the elevations in this county with other portions of the State, I will here give a few measurements taken from Prof. Orton's Report of the Geology of Highland County, in the volume for 1870, p. 258. At the head-waters of the Scioto and Miami rivers, in Logan County, an elevation is given, on the authority of Col. C. Whittlesey* of one thousand three hundred and forty-four feet, which is two hundred and sixty-six feet greater than any in Shelby County. A measurement still greater is given of a summit in Richland County, one thousand three hundred and eighty-nine feet above the level of the sea. The highest land in the Stale, so far as known, is a point. about three miles northeast of Bellefontaine. Its elevation above the sea, as determined by Prof. F. C. Hill, for the Geological Survey, is fifteen hundred and forty-four feet. The summit-level of the canal in this county is four hundred feet lower than the water-shed between the Miami and Scioto rivers in Logan County. This statement will show the resources of the canal for water supply in this direction. The surface drainage and spring-water of a surface of about nine hundred square miles, must be available at the head-waters of the Miami as a supply for the canal above the summit-level - one-half of which, with other resources, would float a tonnage greater than was ever floated in the canal.

Passage source: History of Shelby County, Ohio, published 1883.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Clinton Township - it names this place 279 more 279 times.