The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1877-06-21
Tidal Waves ON the Great Lakes.

the lake, announced that on Tuesday
morning tidal wave five feet high came
rushing ashore on Lake Erie, accOmpa-
MED by loud, Kissing noise. The wave
lasted but few minutes, and as quickly
receded, followed at intervals for an hour
by smaller waves q foot or more high.
There was very little wind at the time,
and the lake was almost calm. Tidal
waves on the lakes are not of un-
common occurrence. Two or three years
ago Col. Charles Whittlesey read before
the American Association, at Hartford, q
paper containing detailed accounts of such
tidal waves or " swashes'' on this chain of
lakes as had been recorded. The first
noted on Lake Superior was in 1889. when
Alexander Mackenzie saw at the Grand
Portage, on the north shore, opposite
Port Royal, sudden fall of water, equal
to four feet, which soon returned with q
rush, and continued to vibrate several
hours. In 1894 the water above the Sault
suddenly fell two and one-half feet, and
in half an hour came surging back with
great velocity. In 1842 the same thing
happened below the falls, the current of
the river rushing swiftly up the stream.
DIR. Foster has placed on record that in
August, 1S45, while in an open boat on
Lake Superior, between Copper Harbor
and Eagle River, he saw huge wave,
twenty feet high, suddenly rise in the
lake, about quarter of mile distant,
which curled over like an immense surge,
crested with foam, and swept toward the
shore, diminishing as it advanced. 1t
passed the voyagers without doing them
any injury, and was succeeded by two
or three swells. In 1647 and the
two following years DIR. Foster OBJ.
served similar phenomena. A sud.
den rise of one foot three inches was
observed at Copper Harbor in November,
1851. In July, 1855, there was success
sion of rises and falls at the Sault from
nine in the morning to four in the after
noon, the maximum of variation being two
feet two inches. At Superior City ON the
22d of s ptember, 1865, there was an
oscillation fifty inches in fifteen min
utes. On LAYS Michigan Father Andre
reported in 1870 there was on Green Bay
a sudden change of three feet in the level
of the lake, which left his canoe high ald
dry. In April, 1858, wave rushed into
the river from the lake with such vio-
lence that the ferry boat on the MenOmi-
nee was upset. There was sudden ebb,
and in about twenty minutes two larger
waves came and receded. The difference
in about three-quarters of an hour was
full six feet. Tidal waves on Lake Erie
have been numerous and violent. 1t is
supposed that the loss Of Col. Bradstrcet's
expedition off Rockport, west of Rocky
River, in October, 1870, was due to q sud-
den =" swash" similar to the one observed
at the same place by Mr.. Taylor in 1911,
when white-crested wave rushed in from
the calm lake and carried a barrel of salt
several rods over what had been dry
ground into a ravine. Dewitt Clinton
reported that on the 10th OF May, 1898, at
Otter Greek, on the Canada shore of Lake
Erie, when the water was calm, a wave
nine feet high swept over the beach into
the woods, and stranded thirty-five-ton
schooner. The same thing occurred at
Kettle Creek, twenty miles distant.
In the spring of 1880 Mr.. Luther
Winchell, of Lake County, was
fishing with three others at Madi-
son Dock, when three large waves
came rolling in and swept the party in
shore. The first wave was fifteen to twenty
feet high, and the succeeding ones of d.
minisling height. Fourteen years later a
wave fifteen feet high swept into Euclid
Creek, carrying everything before it. On
the 10Th of November, 1916, the water
registers of Col. Stockton, at Cleveland,
showed a sudden fall of two feet eight
inches. In December, 1856, the level of
the water at Toledo changed, in few
hours, ten feet, first rising five feet above
the ordinary level and then falling five
feet. In this case, however, the Oscilla-
tions followed change in direction of
strong wind. With the aforementioned
exception none of the sudden changes of
level were accompanied by, or followed,
strong winds. In nearly every case the
sudden rise or fall of water occurred when
the air was still and the lake perfectly
calm. In many of the cases, especially
those of extreme oscillation, the "swash-
esq were followed by storms. This fact,
which is true of similar oscillations of
level in large bodies of water. in other
parts of the world, suggest a possible ex-
PLANTATION of the phenomena. The tidal
wave is said to come in from open water
parallel to the shore. May it not be
caused by sudden atmospheric disturb
ance or wave, which is local in it's extent
This is merely suggestion, for scientists,
who have given time and study to the
matter, commit themselves to no definite
theory.-CIeUeland Herald.