The St. Cloud journal. [volume] (St. Cloud, Minn.) 1866-1876, 1876-04-06


Of Our Correspondents Not the Work
of 4ae A3tece OF Monnd: Bqildur-l MT
Beaver Dams-Jack Frost the worke4s
EDITOR JoQRNAL--Several years
ago some sensational writer startled
the literary and scientific world by
the announcement Of the discovery
of-a walled lake in some Of the
Western States. This was described
~ = stone wall across the lower end
Of lake, built apparently. 70 dam
up the waters Of the lake.. for some
mechanical purposes, and Jlaidl up
withso much, arch;tsctnral skill thet.
hampposed it to b. thu ~esk oepa'
prehistoric psople. Hin; .anouaaee
ment was followed by ao!eu4tsI Of
the discovery of many similar wallis
on the lower side of lakes in different
Northwestern States. Many theo-
riiea were advanced as to the object of
these: walls, and by whom built
The majority of archealogists claim
ed them to be the work of the ancient
Aztecs, or race Of mound builders,
while others asserted that the, Aztec
race had never lived as far north rs
wany of thes walls were found.
About that time a gentleman from
the East was visiting at my house,
which is on the bank of = lake. He
seemed anxious to learn more about
these walled lakes.
I took him to . lake and explain.
ed to him how and by what forces
these walls were built. He publish
ed the explanation in an eastern pa
per-, which was largely copied. But
still so many of our educated men
and writer's are ignorant Of the
causes Of these walls and ridges
around our lakes and low grounds
flat I have been induced to i vr,:iite
you an explanation Of them and the
manner in which they are built.
I dkall' direct my descriptions more
particularly, to the lakes Of Annn Annneso'
10, which ''ia considered the banner:
State for lakes-her surdsce dotted
all over with Thousands Of LAKE.
lets, many Of them without any in.
let but fed by invisible: springs in
the bottom, and no outlet except
evaporation, and yet: their water is a.
pure as the best spring water.
The low meadow and marsh lands
lying contiguous to many Of tht
lakes show by conclusive evidence
in the composition Of their soils
that they. have been reclaimed from
the adjoining lake by the gradual
subsidence Of the water to its pres
ent limits. Between the waters Of tht
lake and the adjacent low lands
which are often but a foot or two
above the water, is a ridge or wall O
sand, gravel or stone. or all three
mixed together, from one or two fee
in height and four or six feet in width
to ten or twelve feet in height and 9
width Of seventy or = hundred feet
and forming good carriage roads
When I first came to the State ano
enquired as to what caused these
ridges I was informed that they wert
dams. This !, at the time, accepted
as orthodox, and continued to unit
I began to investigate the subject
and found that there are but few
beaver dams in the country and thai
they are easily distinguished from th'
walls IN question.
1'have occasionally found ridge
enclosing a circular piece Of low
land, looking very much like the cir
cular Notifications often found il
the Eastern States, and supposed Il
be the work Of a prehistoric race
but with this difference: those in tn
East are on high ground, while thes'
are invariably on low lards, will
every indication that they were ono
the bottom Of lakes or ponds. Un
doubtedly the forces that built thest
walls are prehistoric, but they ar
also historic; for Jack Frost mar
shals his hosts and invades our Ian.
every year, and after q six-months
struggle is driven back to his "iair
by the fierce onslaughts of old "sol.
Philosophy teaches that heat ez
pands and cold contracts most bod
les Or substances-water in the &C
Of changing to ice is m exception
to- tho general rule. But after ic
is once formed it isexpanded BY hes
and contracted BY cold the same !
other Bodies, and ., cold M Misth!s peeI,,ii i j
tive Of heat, Or rather a t ~ ~, inferior d
gree Of heat, it follows that ever
change of temperature causes AGO.
responding expansion or contractio
Of the b dies which it affects. Vile
ioee,i. Z coy q e''red VII ~ !. .. toot q more
snow it is not much affected b
the changes of temperature. Blu
| this winter our lake, haEa basn claa