09/06/2026
The Teays River in Ohio ( Pliocene Era) - *Pre-History Thursdays*
"As it was so much larger than any of the others, all that existed in Ohio are spoken of as the ““Teays Stage,” meaning they existed at this same time.
As rivers were numerous and their study, while interesting, would not apply to our part of Ohio, we will only describe the Teays River and its principal tributaries.
The headwaters of this mighty river gathered the waters from the great Piedmont Plateau of Virginia and North Carolina starting its northward flow near Ashville, North Carolina, then by way of Roanoke to White Sulphur Springs, Virginia, thence northwestward through the mountains to Charleston, West Virginia, thence past St. Albans, Milton and Barbourville, West Virginia, to what is now the valley of the Ohio River at Huntington, West Virginia.
From this point, it followed much the same as the present Ohio River to Wheelersburg, Ohio, near Portsmouth, Ohio, thence northward through what is now the State of Ohio, past Minford, Stockdale, Glade, Beaver, and Givens to Waverly.
The valley of the river to this point in its course has not been disturbed by glaciation, but from Waverly to Richmondale, the present Scioto River has partly obliterated its course, but the same can still be traced past Vigo and Londonderry to Chillicothe where the valley is covered by a thick layer of drift. This point will be shown to be the borderline of glacial drift in descriptions to follow.
Where the valley is covered by drift, it must be traced by water well drilling, excavations, the study of the general topography of the country, and other methods. By this manner, the old Teays River has been traced from Chillicothe northwestward past Andersonville, Clarksburg, Atlanta, Waterloo and London to Vienna where a large tributary from the east known as the Groveport River was picked up.
Another glance at the map will show that this river drained a large part of central and eastern Ohio.
Below this junction, the river was perhaps from two to three miles in width and flowed westward towards Springfield, then northwestward past Bowlusville, under St. Paris, to Port Jefferson and Botkins. In crossing Auglaize County it received a small tributary from the north known as Wapakoneta Creek. .
From this point the course was westward under the east end of Lake St. Marys, thence northward past Mercer to Rockford and thence westward to the Ohio-Indiana Line.
In the State of Indiana the stream has not been located through lack of study and the difficulty arising from the great depth of drift covering it, but the course seems to continue westward to the valley of the present Wabash River, which is thought to have followed to the southwest to the Mississippi River and on to the Gulf of Mexico.
Earlier studies of this river led to the belief that it still continued northward to Hudson Bay or the Arctic Ocean."
- Willliam R. Kinder, Historic notes of Miami County
(HI-RES DOWNLOAD OF MAP https://ko-fi.com/i/IA3B326BK2E )
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