Watertown republican. [volume] (Watertown, Wis.) 1860-1906, 1869-09-22

LAKE HoRIcoN.-For years the
question, s'has Lake Horizon right to ex-
ist' was agitated in our State Courts.
! Lawyers grew fat upon it and judges Vexeo
themselves thin over its knotty intrieacies
| if we are not mistaken it has appeared IN
every Circuit Court in the State and nearly
every volume of Supreme Court Reports
contains decision upon the subject. But
last winter the game was finally cornered,
the champions of the lake were driven TO
one slender legal point as their last resort
and, after desperate struggle to maintain
their position, were totally routed and
an edict went forth from theSupreme Court
that the dam which had been the means OF
creating the lake should be torn down
few days thereafter, the proper officials,
panopied with legal authority and ac-
coutered with india rubber boots and pick
axes, proceeded to demolish that ancient and
obnoxious structure. But the tough and
case hardened dam which had endured with
out Injury the tempests of legal Arguments
and judicial decisions which had been hurled
against it for SO many years, was not to be
destroyed in day and it was only after
ong continued and the most temper trying
efforts that the barrier was preached and
the waters of the lake allowed to flow again
in the former bed of the river. But now
appeared phenomenon which astonished all
parties alike; it is said to have been once
remarked by certain individual that "the
plans of mice and men are not always sure
to win," and another sage has embodied a
similar sentiment in the observation that
"you may lead horse to the water but you
cannot make him drink" So the triumphant
enemies of the lake found that though they
had destroyed the dam the lake still re-
manned, and, in spite of judgments and con-
trary TO legal authority, obstinately rolled
its waves up to their old high water mark.
Hodges and others living around its shores
found that the only result OF their long and
runous litigation had been to establish the
fact that the water which covered their lands
was trespasser with no legal right to be
there The numerous fish and water fowl
which had made the lake a very paradise
for sportsmen and whose expected destruc-
ton had been bitterly deploTed by them,
find their ancient privileges in no wise re-
stricted young ducks hatch out and thrive
there as no where else in the State, solemn
mudturtles still climb upon their time-bon-
cred perches to survey the surrou nding
scenery, and myriads Of bull heads grub in
the muddy bottom as of yore and fairly
shake their tails in derision of the highest
judicial authority in the State.
1t is said by many that by dredging ont
the chan2el the lake can finally be drained,
but the probability is that the water has
stood SO long over the soft and iriable soil
of the marsh which formerly occupied the
locality that it has washed away and carried
it off to the depth of several feet, and no
matter how deep the channel may be
dredged a lake several miles in extent will
still remain. Should this be so, the golden
visions of those who invested their money
in purchasing its bed at the rate Of seven
cents per acre will fade away and vanish
into thin air.