Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1858-01-30

WALLED LAKE IN IowA.--A correspondent
of the Cincinnati Gascne gives an account OF
walled lake in Wright County, Iowa lie says:
To me it was one Of the greatest cnriositcs
I had ever acknowledged a. lis history Is with
a mantle that will probably never be Withdrawn.
mi. lake lies in the midst of vast plain the
rich. gently nduatng prairie extending for
many miles in every direction The lake Gov
,,rs an area Of about 300 ares. The wa,cr is
clear and cold with hard, sandy bottom, from
two to twenty-five feet deep. There is a snip
Of timber about half way round it, probably loo
rods wide, being the only timber in many miles.
Ihere is a wdN If hcdry stone m round H.
1T il no accidental matter. Ii has been built
with humln hands. Ia some places the Land is
higher than the lake, in which case the wall on
~ amo ints to something ike riP-rdp protec-
ton This, believe, is what engineers call IT.
But in other places the water Is higher in the
lake than the prairie outside Of the wall. The
wall in some places is ten feet high it isthirccn
feet wide at the bise, slopine up both sides to
five feet wide ON the top The wall is built en-
trclv of boulders from three tuns in size down
to fifty pounds. They are all what are called
lost rack. am no eeoloalst an consequently
can 1--WE 90 learned deception Of them. They
are not. however, natives, i0 the manor born
Nor has the wall been made 10y the washing away
ol the earth, and leaving Tic rocks. There is
no native rotl in this region Besides, this is q
continuous wall, two miles of which at least, Is
igher than the land. The top of the wall j.
level, while the land is undnlaiinq-so the wall
is in some places two feet, and in others ten feet
high These FORKS, many OF them at least, must
have been rought long distance probably
five or ten niles. In Wright County the hest
rocks are scattered pretty freely but as you ap-
prolch this lake they disappear showing that
they have been gathered by some agcncy-when
or bv whom history will never unfold. Some of
the largest oaks in the grove are growing up
through the wall. pushing the rocks in, in snm,
cases, outside in others, accommodating their
shape To- the rocks. The lake ahounAs with cX
celleni fish The land in that township yet he.
Longs to the Government.
When | was there in the Spring of 1886,
the wind had blown a large piece OF ice against
the southwest part of the wall, and had knock
ed it down. 81 that the water was running ont.
and flooding the farms Of some of the settlers
and they were about to repair the wall to pro-
tcrt their crops. 1t is beautiful farm land near
ly all around TIL, lovely lake.
" The readers of the Guseie should not i'm
agire that the wall around this lake is a. regu.
lar and as nee 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 hundrc Is and probably
thousands OF years. The aniiqulry may specu.
late by whom this mighty, as well as ornamen-
tai, work was dom, but it will only he spctuia-
ton.
Notwithstanding the water in The lake il pure
and cool there is visible feeder or outlet. This
lake is about twelve miles north OF the located
line Of the Dubuque and P.rift Railroad, and
about one hundred aud fifty miles west of the
former place. The time is roming when the
LAX" will lie a great place of public resort"