Lech

Lech (Licus), a river of Germany in the kingdom of Bavaria, 177 m. long, with a drainage basin of 2550 sq. m. It rises in the Vorarlberg Alps, at an altitude of 6120 ft. It winds out of the gloomy limestone mountains, flows in a north-north-easterly direction, and enters the plains at Füssen (2580 ft.), where it forms rapids and a fall, then pursues a northerly course past Augsburg, where it receives the Wertach, and joins the Danube from the right just below Donauwörth (1330 ft.). It is not navigable, owing to its torrential character and the gravel beds which choke its channel. More than once great historic events have been decided upon its banks. On the Lechfeld, a stony waste some miles long, between the Lech and the Wertach, the emperor Otto I. defeated the Hungarians in August 955. Tilly, in attempting to defend the passage of the stream at Rain against the forces of Gustavus Adolphus, was fatally wounded, on the 5th of April 1632. The river was formerly the boundary between Bavaria and Swabia.