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 U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

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

Lake Erie Lake Erie ( ) 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 also has the shortest avera ...

. Much of the length of the river can be navigated by canoe. 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 is the capital city of Canada. It is located in the southern Ontario, southern portion of the province of Ontario, at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the cor ...

. 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 a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language. Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...

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

War of 1812 The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...

, was constructed along the river in 1812 at the site of the present-day city of Findlay. In 1908, Tell Taylor wrote " Down by the Old Mill Stream", 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; from 1935 to 1939, then known as the Work Projects Administration from 1939 to 1943) was an American New Deal agency that employed millions of jobseekers (mostly men who were not formally educated) to car ...

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

sewage treatment Sewage treatment is a type of wastewater treatment which aims to remove contaminants from sewage to produce an effluent that is suitable to discharge to the surrounding environment or an intended reuse application, thereby preventing water p ...

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 location information about more than two million physical and cultural features, encompassing the United States and its territories; the Compact of Free Association, asso ...

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