The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1890-06-03
uYs1ERIoUs RoNKoNKoMA.
Its Waters arc Very High snd stu E'sins
-ApprehensiOns Felt.


Ronkonkoma Long Islands mysterious lake,
is still rising. The Sun told three months
ago bow the waters had risen until many
boat houses on the shore had been submerged
AMI ruined and how tho road around the lhRe
had been overlooked In several places. rms
odd lake has had habit OF rising ana la'Iioh
once in seven years, about three anu ohe-h
years being taken for the waters 10 rlse W
their highest and the same time being covered
in their fall. When tho lake was ut It's lowest
point. about three years ago seNerai Ticn NO"
Workers. among them ex-Aidrrmah hirN' os-
tablished summer residences along mo shore
They built funcy boat houses ana hathlhG
uaviions extending out into the wafer Az
that time the old residents in the vicinity
warned the newcomers that tho lake wonld
rise and eventually make these new structures
worthless, hut the city people, thinking that
these warnings were the result OF uniounucu
TiiE SIGS renor,er Hrst visited the lake II bad
already aoated and carried away nSHriy a., es
tho ornamental structures ma ID many l ,riHes
hul encroached upon the highway, coVerlnH
the cart tracks anu undermining pig trees.
From reports received YESTERDAY II aGpea nS
that residents in the vicinity are beginning TO
feel apprehensive. Unless the waters soon
subside new road ON higher ground viii Ge
II history may be taken as u fnr guide. there
is no danger oil any further damage from tlo
rising waters The present level OF the lhkelS
higher than 1t has ever been before. according
10 the memory of res dents and the LEGENDS OF
their ancestors; but the period Tor hixh water
has now been reached, and unlesS tie luxe
varies its usual performance II VIII now pro,
coed 10 sink dccorously for three nnd ohe-hhlt
years. Ronk onkoma has no visible Dnto' US
waiers ARE fresh. and it is entirely surrounded
by hills. with the exception Of narrow Nnlley
ntathe southwestern end. Not lar rom
that point there is swamp from
which a brook flows to the Sound. This
is doubtless the outlet for the lakes waters,
the swamp being manifestation OF he under
ground stream that runs from tho lake TO the
open brook. 1t has been suggested by sclen-
tlc men who have made various examinations
OF the eccentric lake that the underground
current flows through Nuicksands; that when
there is q full body ui water at the back chan
mel is forced through and that when tho lake
has sunk correspondingly the force Is not
sufficient to resist The accumulation OF SINKING
sand. The underground channel Is therefore
choked. and The lake rises until there Is water
enough to exert q pressure sufficient to force q
way through the treacherous soil underneath
the surface near the southwestern end.
If the SWAMP is now full OF water. aud IL the
brook to the Sound IL running freely, tho resi-
dents about ROnkonkomA should feel easy rel
alive to any 1urther immediate rise OF the
waters. H. on the other hand. the quicksands
have been exhausted and clay has maze its
way into the under ground channel. there may
be an indefinite riae in the lake so II Is said,
until an open stream has forced it's way across
fields either to the ocean at the south or the
Sound at the north.