Waterways of Delaware, Ohio

Delaware, Ohio is greatly influenced and shaped by the natural waterways of Ohio.  The Olentangy River runs through nearly the dead center of Delaware City.  This river is 97 miles long, beginning North East of Galion, Ohio and continuing through Delaware until in Columbus it meets up with the larger Scioto River and continues down to the Ohio River.  This river was actually mistakenly given the wrong name.  The river was named what translated in English as “stone for your knife stream” by the Delaware Indians because of the shale that could be found easily but was mistranslated to Olentangy, which means “river of the red face paint” which was the name of Big Darby Creek.  This river was very important to Delaware, providing not just drinking water but also providing an easy transportation south by boat, leading all the way down to the Gulf Of Mexico if followed.  This transportation made the Olentangy River very important for trade and to Delaware overall.  In 1951, just a few minutes drive North of Delaware, the Delaware Dam was built. This led to the creation of Delaware Lake.  This is the main source of drinking water for all of Delaware County to this day.  Nowadays, both the Olentangy River and Delaware Lake are not just sources of water, but are sources of entertainment.  Delaware Lake is in Delaware State Park which offers many opportunities to fish and go boating.  The Olentangy River runs scenically right beside Mingo Park, which also is where Mingo Pool is located.  Another man made waterway is Alum Creek State Park, 10 or 15 minutes east of Delaware.  This is another reservoir that is primarily used for entertainment now.  It is a great place to camp out or go boating and fishing.  Alum Creek State Park is also the beach in Delaware, allowing residents free access to sand and sun, even if they’re nowhere near the oceans.  This river was important to the Delaware Indians as shown by the name of the river itself.  Transportation, drinking water, and fishing are commonly known uses of waterways and rivers but the fact that the natives called this river “stone for your knife stream” shows one more use that may not be commonly thought of by modern residents.  Delaware Dam was nearly overflowed in 2005, the water levels coming within a foot of the top of the walls.  This caused the gates to be opened slightly to let some of the water out so that the entire damn would not overflow or be let out of control.  This should have been a scary time when I was younger even though I did not live anywhere near the river, but all I could think of at this time was maybe I would get out of school if something did happen.  Years later I understand how devastating that would be to the community of Delaware and even possibly further downstream.

Geography of Delaware, Ohio

Delaware, Ohio is a city located about thirty miles North of Columbus.  It is a fast growing city, located in Delaware County, the twenty first on the list of fastest growing county in all of the United States.  The geography of Delaware and its surrounding areas influenced it greatly.

Due to the glaciers that passed through Ohio, Delaware was one of the areas left almost nearly flat as well as depositing enough minerals to make for very fertile soil and farmland.  Feed corn is a very important product coming out of Delaware, as are soy beans.  I live just about five minutes north of Delaware and am surrounded by six hundred acres of nothing but corn and beans.    The farming lessens as one moves farther south and more towards Columbus, but grows as you go farther north. 

The Ohio State University Agriculture and National Resource site shows the statistics and just how important farming is in Delaware, Ohio.  In 2011, the number of farms in the county was at 720.  There were approximately 38,600 acres used for growing corn, 70,500 acres used for growing soybeans, and 12,600 acres used for growing wheat.  Counting this along with hay, sheep, cattle, and pigs, total land used for farming was around 132,000 acres.  This shows Delaware is a heavy farming community.

Another resource that Delaware has used is the large limestone deposits.  One old limestone quarry near the center of Delaware that I have personally visited is one that has been turned into a recreational park, aptly named Blue Limestone.  This is one of many parks and one of many spots that have been used to get limestone from Delaware.  There is another large limestone quarry that is still in use that I visit while working for the City of Delaware in my summers, and that is the one just west of the city of Delaware, National Lime and Stone.  Far bigger than Blue Limestone, it employs many people and is used by many locally just like the City itself.  These are the ones I knew of growing up, but looking it up easily shows at least 4 more limestone quarries, truly showing just how important limestone is and was to the development and continuing prosperity of Delaware. 

One very interesting thing about Delaware is that it is situated just on the verge of a whole different kind of landscape to the east of it, and things could have been drastically different here in Delaware had the glaciers that shaped it moved just a little bit differently.