San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1892-05-30
DUG BY THE ANCIENT NoRsEMEN

DUG BY THE ANCIENT NORsEMEN
Description Of q Curieus Lake on
the Coast of Maine.
From the Boston Journal.
A friend of the Ills tener," who
has been down on the coast of Maine,
is much excited over the discovery
there of lake which is evidently of
artificial construction. and the building
of which he can refer to no other
architects then the Norsemen, who
must have constructed Ii nearly five
centuries before the"landing" of
Columbus. The "Listener's" TREND
does not, indeed, claim to have discov.
cred the lake. 1t already bears the
name of Morse Pom and has attracted
the attenti of the officers of the
United States Coast Survey; but the
description of 1t which these officers
embodied in their recent annual
report is tie only printed account Of
1t which has ever been published, al d
that is by no means exhaustive. IL
is compar atively an unknown wonder.
This is the way the listeners
friend tells the story Of the pond:
ut is located in the quaint and
chaTmingly picturesque town of
Cutler, on the Tar coast of Maine,
beween Machias and Eastport, and
may well invite the investigation of
those among US who are interested in
our antiquities. The village Of Cutler
has been built around beautiful
and deep inlet known to sailors as
Little River harbor. The township
Of Cutler Is not confined to the i'm.
mediate vicinity of Little River
harbor, but reaches for several miles
along the coast in either direction,
and extends far into the interior.
Four miles to the northeast of the
village of Cutler, near the coast, lie q
tran quill sheet of the purest fresh
water, consisting of about Gig hty acres
which at certain seasons OF the year
affords excellent shelter and feeding
ground for large number OF water
owl-a veritable spor ttman's para.
disc.
."This is Morse Pond; between 1t
and the ocean rises large hill or
elevation, while behind IL second
stretch of hign land The intervening
space forms the bed of the pond.
Human hands at some early period
converted this ipter-vsle into an
artificial body of fresh water by dam.
ming up q brook which flowed
through it. A massive wall Of over
1000 feet in length and of varying
thickness has been constructed across
the northeast extremity of this space.
The material consists of large and
small powders from the neighbor-
hood from quite distance around.
The scarcity OF small powders aud
stones in the neighborhood Of the
pond confirms this theory of artificial
construction.
considerable mechanical skill and
perseverance are displayed in' this
piece of masonry The query suggests
itself, who built this wall and thus
created Morse Pond? None of the
early settlers of this portion of
Maine did it, because Cutler WAS
settled by the grandfathers of many
now living person has any authentic
tradition rs to the real authors OF the
mysterious structure.
1.-THE locality of Morse Pond bears
no otner evidence of early settlers,
French, English or Indians. There
are no arguments in favor of a belief
that the aborlgines designed and con-
structed the wall. 1t would be
almost impossible to conceive OF any
necessity of their making artificial
ponds il they were familiar with the
interior Of the country, which is
thiekly covered with lakes and
ponds.
besides, the present appearance of
the wall tells a story of great age. 1t
could not have been built within
several centuries. 1t bears every
evidence of having been PIT togeil or
Dy people more or less civilized.
confirmatory of the Morse theory is
the fact that a few years ago the
remains of vessel of undoubted
Morse construction were dug OF the
sand near Grind Mepan Island,
and directly on the shore nearest
Morse Pond. Will not some one who
has a special knowledge of arch
zoology tell us what to think about
this.mysterious stone WALL"
aIn1M nl nHKS.