The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1884-07-17
MYSTERY OF THE LAKES.
Cayuga's Bed of Craters--.A Sub
terranean River Between Superior
and Ontario,


terranean River Between Superior
and Ontario.
''lf you are ever drowned in Cayuga
Lake, your friends need not 60 to the
expense or trouble of dragging the lake
for your body, for they'd never find it,"
This was the cheerful remark made
by resident of Ithaca. who has a taste
for geological research, and who has
indulged it during the past few years
in Investigating the bottom of Cayuga
Lake.
From all 1 have been able to discoV-
er, said he, ''the bottom of Cayuga
lake is a series of large openings and
cavities, many of them resembling the
craters of extinct volcanoes. Some of
these are hundred feet in diameter,
and are surrounded by raised rims,
like the sides of a milk pan. These
craters, as l believe they are, lie at
different depths, or. rather, are Of diff
ferent heights. Their depth l have
never been able to sound, although l
have lowered many hundred feet of
plumb line into them. They are un-
doubtedly fathomlcss, and have be-
come receptacles of the bodies of the
hundreds of persons who are known to
have been drowned in the lake during
the past half century, and of the un-
doubted thousands of people killed in
the fierce battles that We're frequently
waged on the shores of the lake be-
tween hostile tribes of the Original
people years before the white man ap-
peared Oh this continent.
''It was in Cayuga Lake that the
wretch RullOff lowered the bodies of
his wife and child, inclosed in a chest,
after he had murdered them, twenty
years ago. The weeks that were spent
in dragging for the chest was time
thrown away, for it had sunk into the
mouth of one of these dead volcanoes,
and, if it is not sinking yet is no
doubt floating about in the bottomless
depths where, in the ages past, fire
and smoke and ashes were the domin-
ant elements.
''Within forty years between 200 and
800 persons have been drowned in
Cayuga Lake, to recover the remains
of whom the grappling-iron and drag
have been used industriously, but in
vain. If it were possible for one to
make the rounds of this lakes crater
| like bed, he would, beyond doubt, en-
counter hideous charnel-houses beyond
number-caverns where thousands of
grinning skeletons have found their
own sepulcher, subterranean cata-
combs without end. Water taken
from depth of 800 feet in Cayuga
| Lake-which must have been from ono
of these cavities-is strongly charged
with sulphurctted hydrogen. nitrogen,
| hn nf
| lime, potash, soda, and magnesia.
Cayuga Lake has also mysterious
tidal motion. 1t is irregular in its Oc-
currencc, but very decided. The
phenomenon has been known to appear
| twice year, and then two years or
more have elapsed between its periods.
The water frequently recedes fifty feet.
The cbb is gradual, but the flood tide
comes in with considerable force and
rapidity. This phenomenon is also
noticed ON Seneca Lake, which is d.
vided from Cayuga by the high Seneca
county hills. The surface of Seneca
Lake is sixty feet above that of Cayuga
Lake, but | believe its bed is of the
same remarkable character. Seneca
Lake rises and falls as much rs three
feet during the time of its tidal COM
motion, which is also irregular in its
periods.
II believe there is a subterranean
river running from Lake Superior,
through Lakes Huron and Michigan,
under Lake Erie, and emptying into
Lake Ontario. There is no other way
in which to explain certain mysteries
connected with our great lakes. The
surface of Lake Superior is about go
feet above the tide, while its bed is 260
feet below the tide level. Lake Huron s
surface is fifty feet below that of Su-
| perior's. and its bed is about on o level
with Supcrior's. The surface of Lake
Michigan is 800 feet lower than Lake
Huron's, and it's bed is sunk cores
ponding distance to the level of the
other two lakes. Lake Erie's surface
is nearly as high as Lake Michigan's
being 565 above the tide. but its bed is
also above tide, being $50 feet higher
than the ocean level, consequently its
bed is 2j0 feet higher than those of the
lakes above it. Lake Ontario's surface
is the lowest of all the great lakes,
being less than 500 feet above tide, but
its bed is $50 feet below the ocean, or
about the same level rs Michigan,
Huron, and Superior. So there is a
continuous fall from Lake Superior to
Ontario. and all the outlet that the up
per lakes have that is known is the
comparatively insignificant Detroit R.v-
er. That stream never can care for all
of that great pressure and volume
from above, and the theory of an under
ground river such rs | mentioned
seems to me most reasonable. All the
| S.. Lawrence fishes are taken in every
one of the lakes but Lake Erie. Why?
Because they follow the course OF the
subterranean stream, passing 800 feet
| beneath the bottom of Lake Erie and
| enter the waters of the upper lakes.
The great lakes above Lake Erie have
an occasional flux and refiux of their
waters, corresponding with ocean
tides save in regularity.
1.-The subterranean river. according
to my theory. becomes occasionally
obstructed by great obstacles that are
constantly moving down from the lake
bottoms. Then the channels of outlet
are insufficient to carry off the great
volume OF water, and they are damned
back and the lakes rise. Finally these
+ distractions are swept away by the ir-
rcsistible pressure. the river flows
naturally once more, and the damned
waters subside. That is the whole
mystery of the rise and fall of the tides
in the great lakes. N Y. San.