The Placer herald., 1858-03-27
Walled Lake in Iowa-A Curiosity

A correspondent of the Cincinnati Gazette,
writing from Iowa, makes the following won
derful statement:
have for some time intended to give the
readers of the Gazette description of Wall
ed Lake, which is situated in Wright county,
Iowa. TO me it was one of the greatest curl
osties | had ever seen-enveloped as its
history is with mantle that will probably
never be withdrawn. This lake lies in the
midst of large plain-the rich, gently un-
du'ating prairie extending for many miles in
every direction. The lake covers an area of
about 1900 acres. The water is clear and
cold, with hard sandy bottom, from two to
twenty-five feet deep There is strip of
timber about half way round it, probably
ten r' DIS wde being the only timber in many
miles. There is a wall Of heavy stone all
around it.
1t is no accidental matter. 1t has been
built with human hands. In some places the
land is higher than the lake, in which case
the wall only amounts to something like a
rip-rap protection. This, | believe, is what
engineers call it, But in other places the
water is higher in the lake than the prairie
outside the wall. This wall in some places
is ten feet high; it is thirteen feet wide at the
base, sloping up both sides to five feet wide
on the top. The wall is built entirely of
boulders, from three tons in size, down to
fifty pounds They are all what are called
lost rock. | am no geologist, and conse-
sequently can give no learned description of
them. They are not, however, natives "to
the manor borE." Nor has the wall been
made by the washing away of the earth and
leaving the rocks. There is no native rock
in this region. Besides, this is a continuous
wall, two miles of which at least is higher
than the land. The top of the wall is level,
while the land is undulating, SO the wall is
in some places two feet high. These rocks,
many of them, at least, must have been
brou ght long distance-probably five or
ten miles. In Wright county, the lost rocks
are scattered pretty freely, but as you ap-
proach this lake they disappear, showing
that they have been gathered by some agen-
cy, when or by whom, history will never un-
fold. Some of the largest oaks in the grove
are growing. up through the wall, pushing
others, accommodating their shapes to the
rocks. The lake abounds with excellent fish.
The land in that township yet belongs to the
government.
When was there in the spring of 1856,
the wind had blown a large piece of ice
against the southwest part Of the wall and
had knocked it down, so that the water was
running out, and flooding the farms of some
of the settlers, and they were about to repair
the wall to protect their crops. 1t is beau
tiful farmland nearly all around this lovely
lake.
Your readers should not imagine that the
wall around this lake is as regular and as
nice as the wall around the Fountain in front
of the City Hall in New York, nor need
any entertain the theory that it is natural
wall; but it has been built hundreds, and
probsbly thousands Of years. The antigua
rian may speculate by whom this mighty as
we'll as ornamental work was done, but it
will only be speculation.
Notwithstanding the water in the lake is
pure and cool, there is no visible feeder or
outlet. This lake is about twelve miles north
of the located line of the Dubuque and Pa
cifc Railroad, and about one hundred and
fifty miles west of the former place. The time
is coming when the lake will be great place
of public resort.
The INDIANS SoUTH.-It is stated that
$1,000 of tbo +r;bo vybo bovo hoon Hohtin n,