The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1895-10-26
LOST RIVER Is A WONDER
The Remarkable Features Of an
Indian Strearn
IT Disappears and Rises Again Several
Miles Away-A Subterrancnn Water
fall, and Caverns Descending
to It's Banks.

OF all those vagaries of nature which
attract both scientist and curio seeker
in southern Indiana there is none. per
haps, more interesting and more mys
terious than Lost river, which takes :,
second lease of life in the upper world
this place, writes an Orangcvillc (lnd.)
correspondent to the Chicago Record
For fourteen miles or more in an ali
line-for fifty miles and more if al
the qualifications and gyrations of the
bed are followcd--this river flows I'M
der the surface OF the earth. 1t enters
its subtcrranean way by running into a
hill. 1t energies, clear and cold, from
beneath the base of "a tall bluff. In Il
nutshell, u rSer, or, rather, n good.
sized creek, rises in Washington county
flows short distance, and disap-
pears in hole in the ground. Miles
away, at Orangeville, in Orange county.
Il rcappcars, and thereafter in most re-
spccts behaves itself like any other
stream until it loses its waters in the
cast fork of the White river and event
ually in the beautiful Ohio.
This stream has something of coun-
tcrpart in Stampcr's creek, which sinks
near where Lost river sinks and rises
at Spring Mills, forming the source of
flow for so many miles under ground
seems due to the curious geological
structure of this portion of the country.
There are hills rising from three to four
hundred feet, seemingly independent OF
each other. The country is wild AMI
untouched. Lost river flows in ordi-
nary channels until it commences to
lose itself in sink holes. These sink
holes are common. The whole country
seems to be hollow. The subtcrrancan
channel of thc-river is not simple,
straight, cavcrnous opening like sew
er, through which the water rushes,
but is complex arrangement OF mains
and leads in two distinct systems, each
OF which is Il counterpart OF the dry bed
on the surface ofthc ground. In ordi-
nary weather all the water in the river
Is taken in at the first sink hole. The
water simply flows into Il hole just as if
it were flowing into great sewer.
When there have been heavy rains and
the flow of water is greater. il appears
that all the channels and chambers OF
the lower subtcrrancan system are
filed, and the overflow water runs along
the dry bed for several miles until it
Let, y LII 4 ;r
appears. In times of unusually high
water this second system Of channel
chambers s filed, and the overflow
PUSHES down the dry bed of the river
on the surface, like any other stream.
All of these systems rcunitc at Orange
ville--or, at least, very near there. The
system through which the ordinary
current runs appears from the bluff OH
which the village is built. The dry bed
circles around the village and mcrgcs
with the bed of the stream as il reap
pears, just below the village. About n
mile further down the second channel
chamber system gives up its water and
the reunited stream is regular there
after. The channels do not follow the
course of each other, however. In sew
cral places the lowest channel is several
miles from the dry bed. All are more
or less in connection with each other
and many curious phenomena result.
For instance, about ten miles east OF
Orangcvilc the dry bed and the lowest
channel are connected by three open.
ings,which are known as "wct-wcathcr
rises" 1t is known that the lowest
water from underground branches dur
ing its course. Sometimes these
branches supply more than the usual
amount of water and the overflow Is
forced up through these three openings
into the dry bed. Then there is the in
tercsting spectacle Of water flowing in
the lowest and the top systems, but
none in the middle system.
The dry bed of the river is not an open
channel. II has the appearance of the
bed OF an ancient river long since gone
dry. Not only is there the usual vegc-
table and timber growth common to
river banks along it's shores, but in the
bed itself are to be found majestic for
est trees. IL presents one Of the wild
est and most picturesque scenes imag-
Unable when filed with rushing waters
following heavy rain, the stream
seemingly being lost in the depths Of
the forest. The timber growth is heavi-
est in the bed Of the stream itself.
The underground stream winds and
twists about like any surface stream.
1t has it's shallow places and it's deep
places, It's eddies, its ripples, its water
falls and its tributaries. About eight
miles from Orangeville cavernous
passage leads from the surface of the
ground to the brink of the dark