New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1872-06-06
Lake EGsic-ssiii nj Dry up.

Lake Erie will dry up one of these DAYS.
The precise date is not given; but the reader
is permitted to calculate for himself after sur
veying the indications. We copy from cor
respondencc of the Boston Gtobe:
But intensely as | enjoy this lake view,
and confidently as | expect to have my lake,
my river in heaven, propose to show rca-
sons for my believing that Lake Eric--the
path of a mighty commerce, and the a,lmira-
ton of the traveller and the dwellcr on its
shores--will not continue always. The time
will doubtless come when it will be a vast
marsh-even when it will be the home of a
teeming population, and covered with Vine
yards and orchards and thriving cities. A
careful survey has shown that while Lake
Michigan has an average depth of 800 feet,
Lake Superior of 900 feet, and Lake Ontario
of 500 feet, Lake Erie has an average depth
of l2O feet. The upper part of Point Belle
island has an average depth of but 80 feet
The bottom of the lake is quite level, and COM
posed of soft clay. This clay is constantly
accommodating, from sediment carried down by
tributary streams. The south shore is COM
posed of easily disintegratng sandstone. The
western and northern coasts are made up of
limestone ofthc Heidelberg group, which east
~ yields to the action of the waves. Conse-
quently both shores constantly are contribute
ing to fill up the bed Of the lake. The work
is not rapid, but it is as certain as fate. There
are frequent landslidcs on this shore, which
are quickly taken up and deposited in sedi-
ment beneath the blue waters. Indeed.
along the shore, especially after II storm, the
waters can hardly be called blue. Ii is
brown as far rs the eye can reach, with the
clay washed down from the hills and taken
up along the shore. Let this process con-
tnue--and there is nothing to prevent it
and the time must come when the upper part
Of the lake, which is scarcely nayigablc now
in rough weather, will cease to be navigablc
except through very narrow channel. when
even the middle and lower portions will cease
to be covered with white sails, and become a
vast marsh, where the wild alder and swamp
whortlcberry will grow. Even if this did not
come through the filling up process, Niagara
is slowly but surely cutting Il ditch that will
one day drain Lake Erie. Every observing
man who has visited the great cataract knows
that it has cut its way up from Lake Ontario
to its present position. 1t is now many feet
further up the river than it was the first time
| listened to its roar, and gaZcd entranced
upon its wonders. The soft limestone that
lies beneath the "tablc rock" cracks and
drops away. When the cataract shall have
worn its way back to the head of the rapids,
its progress will be much faster than it is
now. 1t is easy to see that it will one day
reach the deep waters of the Niagara river.
Lake Erie will be etlectually drained, and
there will be only deep river flowing through
its central channel. Then what digging and
boring there will be to find the treasure that
has gone down in sinking ships, and will 90
down. For, of all the great lakes, Erie, ow-
ing to its shallowness, is the most trcachcr-
Gus to the navigator. A severe storm lashcS
its waves into the utmost fury, and woe to
the luckless sailors who find themselves on n
lee shore. So great is the commerce carried
over this lake that there is scarcely n storm
which does not find vessels in this unfortu-
nate position.