The Tipton advertiser. [volume] (Tipton, Cedar Co., Iowa) 1856-1962, 1868-01-09
Walled Lake.-The Great Natural
Curiosity of Iowa.
Iowa CITY. December 8.

Io"A AIlf. DeceInDeF y.
To the Editor of the Dubuque Herald:
From time to time, during the last ten
or fifteen years, the public have been
treated to accounts Of the so-called wall
ed lakes of Northern Iowa, one of them
being situated in Wright and the sther
in Sac county, and almost every writer
seems to have entertained the belief
that the "walls" were the work of hui
man hands, and those were the hanLs
Of departed race of men who, ages ago,
Inhabited that region. While making
examinations of the peat marshes of
that part of the State during the past
season, had excellent opportunities to
examine both of the lakes just named,
as we'll as others of the same character,
fourteen in number, of which the follow
ing is the list:
!. Clear Lake, Cerro Cordo county.
2. Rice Lake, Worth county.
3. Silver Lake, Worth county.
4. Brights Lake, Worth county.
5. Crystal Lake, Hancock county.
6. Eagle Lake, Hancock county.
I. Lake Edward, Hancock county.
8. Lake Mary, Hancock county.
8. Lake Flora, Hancock county.
10. Owl Lake, Humboldt county.
ii. Lake Gertrude, Wright county.
II. Lake Cornelia, Wright county.
13. Elm Lake, Wright county,
IA. wall Lake." Wright county.
Is. Twin Lakes, Calhoun county.
l6. "Wall Lake." Sac county.
Almost every one of these lakes pre-
sents the same phenomena, aud Is Just
as worthy the name of "walled lake, as
those are concerning which SO much
has been said. They vary from half a
mile to five miles in length. some of
which are beautiful little sheets of water,
but others are SO grown up with wild
rice and rushes that they are quite un
interesting in appearance, and all of
them are shallow. The region where
most Of them exist has "a gently undulat-
ing surface, and the depressions between
the numerous rounded elevations not
communicating SO freely with each
other as the depressions in well drained
regions do, many of them have become
occupied by peat marshes and small
lakes which drain into the upper branch
es of the rivers that rise in or flow
through that region. The drift material
there consists much more largely of
sand, gravel and boulders than it does
further to the southwark and the soil
and subsoil contain proportionally less
clayey material. 1t is true that on the
more level praries Of that region COM
paratively few boulders are seen upon
the surface, but along every stream and
near every lake they are abundant,
showing that they do exist there, and
the reason why they are not exposed on
the more level praries, such as surround
"WalI Lake, in Wright county, is be-
cause they have not been ''panned out"
to use the miners phrase, by the wash
ing of a lekelet's waves or the ceaseless
current of a stream; but remain covered
by the fine material which constitutes
the prairie soil. In the region of a ma
jority of these lakes, however, boulders
and gravel are plentifully distributed,
being particularly abundant on some Of
the "knobs," and doubtless not less so
beneath the finer soil material Of tho
lower lands. Originally the banks of all
these lakes were low, aud evidently
sloped very gently n the water; and