The Blanchard River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline data
The National Map
, accessed May 19, 2011 tributary of the

Auglaize River The Auglaize River (Shawnee: ''Kathinakithiipi'') is a tributary of the Maumee River in northwestern Ohio in the United States. It drains a primarily rural farming area in the watershed of Lake Erie. The name of the river was derived from the ...

in northwestern

Ohio Ohio () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. Of the fifty U.S. states, it is the 34th-largest by area, and with a population of nearly 11.8 million, is the seventh-most populous and tenth-most densely populated. The sta ...

in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. It drains a primarily rural farming area in the watershed of

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( "eerie") is the fourth largest lake by surface area of the five Great Lakes in North America and the eleventh-largest globally. It is the southernmost, shallowest, and smallest by volume of the Great Lakes and therefore also has t ...

. It rises in central Hardin County, on the northern outskirts of Kenton. It flows generally north for its first into eastern Hancock County, where it turns sharply to the west. It flows west through Findlay and past

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. It joins the Auglaize from the east in western Putnam County approximately north of Cloverdale at .

History

The river is named for Jean Jacques Blanchard (1720-1802), a French

tailor A tailor is a person who makes or alters clothing, particularly in men's clothing. The Oxford English Dictionary dates the term to the thirteenth century. History Although clothing construction goes back to prehistory, there is evidence of ...

who settled among the

Shawnee The Shawnee are an Algonquian-speaking indigenous people of the Northeastern Woodlands. In the 17th century they lived in Pennsylvania, and in the 18th century they were in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana and Illinois, with some bands in Kentucky a ...

along the river in 1769. Fort Findlay, an American outpost in the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

, was constructed along the river in 1812 at the site of the present-day city of Findlay. In 1908,

Tell Taylor William "Tell" Taylor (aka Tellie ''né'' Tell Roberts;(October 28, 1876 – November 23, 1937). Tell was born October 28, 1876 to Clarinda Jane Roberts (1854-1930) and John Asbury Taylor (1853-1928), on a farm near the Village of Vanlue, Amanda ...

wrote "

Down by the Old Mill Stream "Down by the Old Mill Stream" is a song written by Tell Taylor. It was one of the most popular songs of the early 20th century. The publisher, Forster Music Publisher, Inc., sold 4 million copies. Background The song was written in 1908 while T ...

", a popular song of the early 20th Century and a barbershop favorite, while sitting on the banks of the Blanchard River. Around 1939 numerous projects by the

Works Progress Administration The Works Progress Administration (WPA; renamed in 1939 as the Work Projects Administration) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to carry out public works projects, i ...

improved the river near Findlay, including construction of two major bridges, clearing substantial existing pollution, and building a

sewage treatment Sewage treatment (or domestic wastewater treatment, municipal wastewater treatment) is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable for discharge to the surrounding envir ...

plant to reduce ongoing pollution.

Flooding

In August 2007 flooding along the Blanchard River caused more than $100 million in damage in Findlay and an estimated $12 million in damage in Ottawa. Flooding in Ottawa is aggravated by the low bridge carrying County Road I-9 in Putnam County. It traps debris, forming a dam during floods. Flooding also caused damage in Findlay in March 2011. On November 28, 2012, officials from Hancock and Putnam counties traveled to Washington D.C. to lobby for $1.7 million in federal funding to complete phase three of the Blanchard River Flood Mitigation study.

Variant names

According to the

Geographic Names Information System The Geographic Names Information System (GNIS) is a database of name and locative information about more than two million physical and cultural features throughout the United States and its territories, Antarctica, and the associated states of ...

, the Blanchard River has also been known as: * ''Quegh-tua-wa,'' in Odawa * ''Queghtuwa,'' in Odawa * Blanchard Fork * Blanchard's Fork * Blanchards Fork * Quegh-tu-wa * Sha-po-qua-te-sepe * Sha-po-qua-te-sepi * Tailor's River * Tailors River

References

{{authority control Rivers of Ohio Rivers of Hancock County, Ohio Rivers of Putnam County, Ohio Tributaries of Lake Erie

History

Flooding

Variant names

See also

References