Barbour County index. [volume] (Medicine Lodge, Kan.) 1880-current, 1886-03-19
Two CURIOUS LAKES.
Remarkable Sheets Of Water In
Wayne County, Pa.
Cajsh's Floating Misunderstanding POND,
Unsafe Shores and Impudent Reptiles
The Only Mountain Lake which
Abounds In Leeches.
THonesdale pa, Cor " sn,,


Cajah Pond, a beautiful sheet of vatar
q mile and a half from HonesdaIe and two
hundred feet above it, is dotted with a
number Of little islands. These islands
are covered witk trees. some of tho,,
twenty feet in height, and a dense growth
OF thick-folfaged bushes. The island hot.
toms are msrshy, but the soil is stir
enough to sustain the weight of the
fishermen who troll for pickerel from
the islands%in the summer fishing sea.
SON, and who are their only visitors. In
the summer time these miniature islands
are pleasing variations in the beauty Of
the scene the lake presents to the specta-
tor gazing npon it from the hills sur
rounding it, and il the wind happens to
be blowing strong and changeable, as it
generally is. on the lake, the visitor who
looks upon 1t for the first time can scarce
ly help being startled to see these islands
moving about from one point of the COM
pass to another as the wind shifts. They
are group of floating islands. One day
they may be seen huddling together In
one spot, 1.-The next scattered wide-
ly apart An island that the fish,
erman may cast his line from at one ex-
tremity Of the pond to-day may invite him
to it from the other extremity tomorrow.
The largest of these fair islands was for
merly partial to the lower end of the lake.
ana hugged the shore there with only
slight changes Of position, day in and day
out. A year or so ago, during a stiff and
heavy wind, this island tackled first to one
side and then to the other side of the lake.
moving slowly the while toward the upper
end, until it worked its way to the shore
near that end, and there it has remained
ever since, moored in some mysterious wav
to the marshy margin of the main land.
These islands, though still almost con-
stantly shifting, are not so susceptible to
the influence of the wind as they
were years ago. Their dimensions
are perceptibly increasing. Apparently
the roots of the trees and underground
have thrust themselves down deep enough
to act as anchors to these curious natural
craft. By what mysterious processes of
nature these formations are being con-
stantly augmented and made more solid
and substantial in structure 1 do not
know, but the process is going on,
and In time, no doubt, the entire surface OF
the lake viii have become covered with
this slowly-collected soil, until no evil
dence that a lake was ever there will re-
main. Collins Pond, mile or two be-
yond Cajah, on the Cherry Ridge road, is
gradually being encroached unon in the
same manner, except that the marsh
islands are stationary, and that the shore
is also closing In upon the water. Between
the road and Collins Pond is a strip of
woods two or three roads wide. The tim
Der is OF various kinds and Of large growth.
Yet as one approaches the lake over this
strip the bottom shakes beneath Che feet.
Once yea } Sa1 friend of mine and myself
were leaving the lake after successful
days catfshing. We were carrying our
string of fish slung over pole between us,
as the spies Of the Children of Israel
brought in the specimens of the grapes
they found on their prospecting tour. The
tall friend walked behind. Suddenly I
heard a cry, and his end of the pole went
down. looked around, and saw half of
my tall friend above ground and strug-
CLING wildly to get the other half there,
too. The roof OF the lake had given way
with him, and he disappeared from his
waist down. But for network of roots
that supported him, the chances are the
other hall OF him would have gone under.
too, for he said that as far as he
pi ion of any bottom. There are big pick
erel and perch and no end to catfish in
Collins Pond, but it is not cheerful place
to fish in. One can not possibly get to the
water without miring half way TO the knees
In the marshy shore. The rank growths
OF water wseds and marsh grass make the
pond paradise for aquatic snakes of all
sorts and sizes. They are not afraid to
swim up to your line and inspect it, regard
less of your presence, and any time yoa
choose to look at the bushes along the shore
pr on the marshes, you may be rewarded
with the sight Of one on every bush, hang
ing there watching for the sinners that
swim along the shores. They dive and
catch these with amazing skill, and grow
fat and impudent upon them. Besides the
snakes, the pond is alive with hideous-
looking leeches, or blood suckers, which
swarm about your boat by the hundred,
and propel themselves through the water
with up and down curvatures Of the body
that alone give them a startling appear
ance. This is the only water high among
the hills in which l ever saw or heard of
the wild leech abounding aud thrivinx