MAUMEE RIVER formed by the confluence, at Fort' Wayne, Indiana, of the Anglaize and St. Mary's river, and flowing thence 100 in. e.n.e. to its mouth in the Maumee bay at the end of lake Erie. For 12 m. above its rnouth it is an estuary of the lake; its waters rising and falling as the winds shift from e. to west. Its breadth in this part is from one third of a m. to a m.: its channel from 12 to 30 ft. in depth. Toledo, its commercial rnart, is 4 in. from its mouth; and up to this point the channel is usually 14 ft. deep; above Toledo 10 feet. The rapids of the Maumee meet the slack water of the lake 12 rn. above the mouth, are 18 m. long, with an average fall of about 4 ft. to the mile. The river from the foot of the rapids to Fort Wayne is from 400 to 100 yards wide; above the rapids its slack water is used as a part of the way for the Wabash and Miatni, and Erie canals, and furnishes water for the locks down to their terminus at Toledo. The shores are low near the lake, and increase in height to the foot of the rapids, where they are 60 ft. high. Above Toledo, and below the rapids, the river is studded with low islands which, with its banks, once beautifully wooded. made
a valley of great beauty. The scenery along the rapids is also beautiful. The volume of water in the river varies from spring to mid-summer like that of a mountain stream; though throughout its whole coume, it flows through a flat alluvial county. In summer the rapids are frequently:alvost cicy; yet the spring freshets are tremendous. The la.st one in Feb., 1881, in conjunction with fields of unbroken ice below Toledo, and e. winds driving the water of the lake into the open funnel formed by the narrowing width of the lake, bay-, and river, caused a greater rise than ever before known; inundating all the river front of the city. The reason for this unequal volume of its water is found in the capacity of the alluvial soil to absorb the suminer rain falls more and more as the area of cultivation widens; while in winter the frozen ground prevents such absorption and empties a large part of the precipitation into its bed.