River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1884-02-14
Prom Florida.
GAINESVILLE, ALAcHNA COUNTY, Fla,

L OAINESNILLE, AIASHNA OOuNi1, I4-A.s
JAN. %, 1884
A sad accident near town has calleC
my attention to the peculiarities of Alach
ma Lake, an arm of which reaches within
two miles of our city. The event refer
red TO was the drowning of young maj
while out with a companion duck hunt
ing. He had gone out on the water in {
canoe, or dugout, to explore the recesses
of the sawgrass for ducks, leaving his
companion on the shore to shoot the
game he nigh scare up. When In the
act of discharging his gun the recoil Of
the piece sent him into the water, upset
ting the canoe, and becoming entangled
in the sawgrass and mud after one des-
pairing cry he sank helpless among the
treaeherous weeds. His companion did
his best to reach and assist him from
shore, but the sawgrass and mud were
too formidable obstacles and he was com
PEELED to desist. Help soon came and
the body found and held subject to the
coroner. The young man had very re-
Gently inherited a fortune of several
thousand dollars by the death of broth
er, formerly of this place.
AIachnG (ch as tch), in Seminole dia-
lect Big jug, the aptness of which name
we shall soon see, though somewhat of a
mammoth as a jug, the length of the lake
being seven miles and the breadth five
miles. The water has depth of eight
or ten feet near the middle of the lake
though mostly shallow except few
acres in extent on one side of sharp
bluff promontory where the water is
said to be very deep, and near this arm
of the lake is the nozzle of a jug lying on
its side, so to speak, where the water is
discharged underground at irregular Pc
RODS. The remotest Indian traditions
represent this lake as ebbing and flown g
at periods of two to six years and cover
ing an area of few acres Cat the muzzle
of the Jug or of many miles in extent.
The ebbing or sinking occurred thir-
teen years ago and previous to that time
the lake had ebbed and filed twice in
five or six years to the personal knowl-
tleman and highly respected. He made
pecuniary investment in the locality of
the sink at the time of the last discharge
Cfthe water so as to control for time the
sink or basin as fishery and sold many
thousand dollars worth of fish taken with
a seine and packed in ice for shipment to
the various cities. The first historical
accounts of this section of country agree
the fact of the ebb and flow of this lake
by an invisible subterranean passage.
1t is stated that during the discharge of
the water, rails or posts thrown into the
the water would turn and whirl on the
surface until in position to tip on end
when they would finally disappear. Mr..
Land (mine host) believes the filling of
the passage the last time was caused by a
severe storm of wind and rain, which
drifted into the vortex brush and the long
coarse moss growing on trees in this latl-
tude and other extraneous substances,
causing it to fill with sediment which it
did mostly in one night, much of it by
the overflow of other small lakes in the
vicinity. Into what body of water the
lake discharges is matter of conjecture,
but this much is certain that shad which
belong in salt water are present here and
tradition has it that the body of man
drowned in this lake was found in the
Suwanee river which is twenty miles
away.
Since my abode here I have seen an
account of the draining of another small
lake in similar manner farther south
which occurred very recently.
Never but once has January been
,nown to be so cold in this latitude as the
present month, and very many of the
Young orange trees are killed to the
the ground, the larger and older trees
suffering less, and some in close prox-
unity to large bodies of water and other
avored localities have entirely escaped.
Very much fruit remaining on the trees
vas rendered unfit for shipment although
t does not rot, yet the stem end of the
fruit becomes pithy while the other part
nay be luscious and juicy. Early plant
ed vegetables have been discarded and
seed sowing and planting are being push
ed vigorously, the weather being warm
and sunny enough for June. L. ?. w.
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