The purpose of this thesis is to explain why artificial drainage is necessary in Lorain County, Ohio, and how it has been accomplished under county supervision.
Artificial drainage is the process of removing an excess of water from the soil by means of open ditches or underground drains. Its main purpose is to improve the condition of the soil for agriculture. An organized drainage enterprise should provide adequate outlets into which the farms of the district may be tile drained, and should provide relief for the region as a unit.
The maps showing the location of the county ditches and drains were made from Lorain County ditch records and maps and checked with aerial photographs of the county. The beach ridges in the county, as shown in Plate I and figure 5, are taken from the unpublished maps by Frank Carney which show the abandoned shorelines of the glacial lakes in the Vermilion and Oberlin topographical quadrangles.