New-York daily tribune., 1858-08-03

ous les Of The bed of tte river where i. receives the
waters Of tie lske but these fluctuations are keep
irs esCh with Itself.
Ak On,,rio. as before observed huc,us.s more
than Ere its area beirg smsler, while the uppsc
lakes, Huron, Michigan and Superior, alvuNe less,
by reason of their brosSer area, while the -. Cltr
River 81 Lsks-,he later being very snssi-sni me
Detroit River rise even higher 10 high water OF the
urper lakes than the Nisgara Hence !. 10 thG tue
Nsgsra. below tie Fslls, where l. Is compressor
within very narrow bsnks with no room 70 sprssd ~
row six to ten feet higher than tor years pA.r vnis
at the Fab, although much wider. the sccamaSsd
waters give volume sni grandeur 70 me csSAsct
hitherto unequaed A. TO the
cAUsEs OF rHE FLUCTUATIONS N THr tEyEL ~ rHc
LkKks,
Tradition, In the early settlement ~ the country,
had t1ed on certain peroccs rise ard depression,
variant in time, ACCORDING 10 ,osl.ty, from once n
sever: ten iourteep and eysr up to ssoiy one yess.
The Msuu &c and Sandusky Ind ians, whom We krew
IN lSlo-20 had il once N seven, while the freach
Aa5fans about Detroit counted once ic fourteen, ard,
sgsn, the appers and eo3rrer' Sn e.i oil toe upper
lakes put them at twenty ore yesrs II /. quite sS,-
dent However, that they had no data, sod 1om tasr
disagreement, TO relsrcs cou'd be plsced on Their
several raoi itiors Bet observations, BY tue nxed
inhabitants since, have settled the fact thss snowy,
rainy and diy seasons only have made the dhsrsscs,
ard, for the full understanding Of this, lev geo-
grsplica fscts may be named.
The giea. basin 0f the lakes is rsrrow one. Na
brosdest around Lake Superior. lis climate e cold
ard humid, with little comparative svsporatro. lts
trbutsies thought short frequent and fal, pour
ing in steady currents OF water, but rot erougato
Keep the enormous tow OF Its outlet, sne the shs
must be largely supplied by vast spriogs bo.hng up
from its deep and alnost fathomless bed. 81 Mays,
the outlet OF Superior can scarcely supply both du'ou
ard Mchigan--ether OF them scarcely lees N GeS
than Superior, ard each loslrg msea msssSa sssss
volume If water by evaporation. IL is therefore
probable that they both contain Immense springs
which supply pcrtien Of this volume. Aadedro
this, their basins are beth narrower tnau Susenof'
particularly ths, of Michigan both sdes, its tro9-
he And
tributaries of Huron yield greater amount oi wa'et
than ts annual evaporation takes on 10 an orsinHy
seaon. The streams howirg into 81 Visir hvsI ssa
Lake and Detroit River on both sides, ave Alec abort
ard small scarcely extending back hundred miies 70
their sources while those of Lake Erie are kss st!i,
the lges. of them almost dry tor successive mentns
durirg the Summer and scarce one OF them ehtsnooR
ts hesdwatsrs hundred miles back. AZ Portland,
cpp, site Wes,held, in Chsutsuque County, ~. L.
Cbautauaue Lake one Of the head tributaries OF the
Allegheny, rises within nine miles OF Lsse Er,e:
The average fall If and IN the latitude oil
axe Erie is about thirty eight ipches-the evapora-
ton about tie same, according to well tired gauges
Let the be so deep, or the rams ever so
abundant in the basin C the lakes andthey are usuAy
tie greatest durirg the Of the leat evapora-
tion,he lakes held all their outflow for weeks or
months bt fore peIcepbe rise 10 them seer teere-
fore their maximum volume 10 touud IN June, July,
| ard slmetlmes IN August, while trer minimum CT
| water occurs in February aud March. And wneu
il is considered that there is the esst evapoah)n du
ripg the seasons when SHOWS ard rains most aoound,
is readily understood why they and they only, sooald
swell or contrary season, lees OF SHOWS ana rams,
and more of eyapo alton should tepress Their sur
faces The problem of their rise and fall, therefore,
we consider well settled by such plsn meteoroiegcM
facts to the extent that they affect the akes si:
Recurring however 10 the probable fact before
stated that vast subteranean springs cont butte TO iced
the upper lakes if entirely absent IN the Iossr ocss
OF E,ie and Ontario, We may ooh 10 tnS'e suppnse '
poticu Of the supply which ranes the lakes IN cor
tain season. or their absence, which depreeses them
in Others. Whence those vast resources low We know
net and culation is entirely at aut. Yet We have
enough of tie influence of snow, ram, AMI
drou,h in the basin of the lakes themselves 10
acco unt for most if not all the iuctuatiots which
have been noticed, and to explode the idea OF eey
thing Ike fixed or regular PERIODICAL rss anu fsii
| 1f ther surfaces. -
There is evidently another fact hitherto little no
| ticed which is that the lakes-Ere in psItlculM--
are permanently higher than thirty, forty or hy years
ago Forty or fifty years srce, when the h'st eeViefs
OF Northern Ohio emgrated there IN wagons and ON
horseback, the lske shore Of Erie, fiom Buffao To
Cleveanc was used as road most of the way on its
in mediate margin, beach, in the absence OF good
| roats or the wooded bank above. IL was ~ even ia
1873 but not 10 the extent OF previous years 10 tne
war of 1872 droves Of cattle for the supply Of the Mt
agsrs frontier amy were eriyen from Southern ONO
b Cleveland, ard 20 down the lake shore, on the
beach crossing many Of the streams q. their ontlef
dry shod. For the last twenty years no passing with
teams or cattle has been done tire Immediate shore
| ,f tie lake by reason Of the high water.
| Another evidence OF the permanent hgh water OF
below Lake Eiie, large dry land trees, sach % the
white oak, birch, elm, maple and ba,-wood have been
killed or drowned out By the continuous high wafer
srcurd them Many of those trees were then ,nr
and five feet in diameter ard must hsve had thrifty
ard ulsr growth, in scoDgenal soil of several CEN
tmits. We can now point to tho romans OF sueh
trees which have pershed by high water within t"en-
ty years past, while others, huge dead tusks, arc
su standing, and Others less affected by the water,
gradually dyirg away The cold banks of the river
also are cut away several feet where the greasy shore
once met the ordinary flow ci the water ana no~
pres.n mt their uLsghtly broken banks TO the stream
Still another fact supporting thus conclusion; Ihiny
years sgo--stme years after the completion OF tns
E,ie Carsl and the establishment OF coosidefeon
lake commerce west oi BuhAoItheis W. scsr.eys
vessel built drawing over eight feet of water-aver-
age draught being about seven feei, OWING 10 Ias
| shallow depth Of the lake nyers and harbors Ihs
St. Clair Flats would not admit the passage Oh soesen
more III an seven feet exec pt on exIsordinay occs-
.ors Nov, yesseIs drawing ten and eleven feet are
ths common average psssifg that draught over the
St Clair Flsts, although the much talked OF enrs-
vstions through them have anouated 70 I'.c y.
nothing one hundred and thirty tuDs, 10 lS's, wS
hrge sail vessel; now three hundred 70 Tour Luhoieo
az d fifty tuIs is not extraordinsry.
The question for navigstors OF such vessels might
| occur. whether, in the event Of the lakes g:ung
down 10 their ancient levels those vessels wouid noe
become useless But as that 10 only iocdentsl sus
facts we are discussing, need not be faftnsf
II the recessty srrvss it will probably take care OF
itself. ,1..,v ,,a,.>,.y
bigfsrtbapever every e1treDerlse gives them ghe1
level than previously krown. The annual rise sna
fall Of the lakes is about one half leet-not ei1ssa
MS - s,a The lowest in February ard March. Toe
vet and cod seasons and light svsporstions Of is'1
srd Is:7 raised the lakes higher than even IN
1ss, while the dryer Of after yeafs depfessss11
| them. The extraordinary snovs and rams oi ion
,s;,sd The vstsr n 1853 as pow standing, near two
ieet higher than in 1888 ard az Jet, July ~ ths vs.
Ter stands at level Of the past Elk weeks; ana rom
the middle Of last April TO the middle of June n
H;A~ ,oSk bound stream at its head, the outlet o!