Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1892-07-07
MORSE POND.
4 Curious Lake That was Dug by the An
cient NorsPmen.


4 friend OF the Listener" 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 than
the Norsemen, who must have con-
structed it nearly FIVE centuries before
the landing" of Columbus. The Lis
tencr's friend does rot. indeed. claim
to have discovered the lake. It already
bears the name of Morse pond. and has
attracted the attention of the officers of
the United States coast survey: but the
description OF it which these officers
EN- bodied in their recent annual report
is the only printed account of it which
has ever been published, and that is by
no means exhaustive. 1t is compare
lively an unknown wonder. This is the
way the Listeners" friend tells the
story of the pond:
1T is located in the quaint and charm
inglF picturesque town of Cutler, on
the far coast of Maine. between Machias
and PASSPORT. 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 immediate 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 is tranquil sheet of the purest
fresh water. consisting of about eighty
acres. which at certain seasons of the
year affords excellent shelter and feed
ing ground for large numbers of water
fowl-a verita BILE sportsman's paradise
This is Morse pond: between it and
the ocean rises large hill or elevation,
while behind is second stretch of high
land. The Intervening space forms the
bed of the pond. Human hands at some
early period converted this inter-vale
into an artificial body of fresh water
by damming up a brook which flowed
through it. A massive wall of over a
thousand feet in length and of varying
thickness has been constructed across
the northeast extremity of this space.
The material consists of large and
small bowlders brought from the neigh
borhood from quite distance around.
The scarcity of small powders and
stones in the neighbOrhood of
the pond confirms this theory
of artificial construction. Consid-
cradle mechanical skill and persever-
ance 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. and no living per-
son has any authentic tradition as &c
the real authors of the mysterious
structure.
The locality of Morse pond bears nc
other evidence of carly settlers, French.
English or Indians. There are no argu-
ments in favor of 4 belief that the
aborigines designed ard constructed the
wall 1t would be almost impossible to
conceive of any necessity of their MAX
| ing artificial ponds if they were familiar
| with the interior of the country. which
| is thickly covered with lakes and ponds.
Besides. the present appearance of the
! pond tells story of great age. 1t could
not have been built within several CEN
| turtles 1t bears every evidence of hav-
ing been put together by a people more
/ or less civilized. Confirmatory of the
| Morse theory is the fact that few years
/ ago the remains of a vessel of undoubt-
! ed Morse construction were dug out of
! the sand near Grand Menan island and
| directly on the shore nearest NCrsc po:.d
Will not some one who has a special
knowledge of archaeology tell us what
to think about this mysterious stone
wall?"-Boston Journal