The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1896-10-16
CRATER LAKE.
The Deepest Body Of Fresh Water
In America
Some Curious Facts About This
oregon Wonder

Crater Lake, IN Oregon, Is the
deepest body Of fresh water in Amer
lea Ouly one lake In tho world is
deeper, namely, Baikal, which exceeds
il IN depth by about 400 feet Until
recently Il was asserted that Crater
Lake was bottomloss, but soundings
have proved that It's greatest depth lie
1900 feet Il is FIVE miles IN diam
oter, nearly circular, and occupies the
crater Of an extinct volcano.
No fish have ever been known 10 OK
ist IN Crater Lake. Not long ago
request that it be stocked with trout
was sent TO Washington by the Maza-
mas, who are club OF mountain
climbers, having headquarters at
Portland. Mazama is the Indian name
for mountain goat The climbers are
anxious TO angle in the extinct crater.
and the government experts are going
TO find out whether or not such a
thing lie practicable. It is easy enough
to put trout into the water, but that
would be Of no use unless there is
food for them there. Trials will be
made by an expedition, for the pur-
pose Of ascertaining how much food
there is and whether or not it is OF q
kind suitable for speekled beauties to
browse upon.
This will be accomplished by tow
ing small nets Of gauze along the sur.
face Of the water. The water will
flow through the gauze, which will
catch all the animalculm that come in
its way. The quantity of the latter
secured in q given number of minutes
or hours will be an accurate measure
Of the amount OF fish food present.
They will be bottled and preserved in
formaline for subsequent examination
by a specialist who will determine the
species represented. Chiefly they
will be little shrimps and other small
crustaceans, and there will be some IN
sects Also 1t will be necessary to
make the towings at different hours of
the day, because some crustaceans
swim near the surface only in the
morning, others at midday, and others
yet in the evening. Shady areas as
we'll as sunny ones must be sought for
various species.
A most interesting series of expert
ments will be made for the purpose
of ascertaining the temperature of the
water at various depths. No temper
ature observations have ever been
taken in fresh water nearly so far
down. With this end in view, an
equipment of self-registering Their
mometers and supplementary appar-
atus will be taken and will be lei
down by means of sounding lines.
There are very few places in the en-
tire lake where the depth is less than
1000 feet, though it shoals OFF some
what in the southwest part, One lin,
of soundings registered over LOO
feet for distance of two miles. Thes,
depths are unapproached by any otheI
lake in the western hemisphere.
No wonder, then, that Crater LAX,
was supposed to be bottomless How
: ever the truth is that all lakes owe
$50 feet deep possess a similar repu
| tation. Any body OF water that j
, deeper than the length of the longes
feeling line is sure to lack a bottom i
a the popular belief. A irst-rate ez
ample of this sort of delusion is al
= forded by Payette Lake in Idaho.
n was formerly imagined to be bottom
a less, and later its depth was officiull
a stated to be 2, 600 feet Recent il
o vestigation proves that its creates
It depth is 8O5 feet. There are no dat
n on which to base a guess as to til
/, bottom temperature Of Crater LAX,
r but the supposition is that it will b
very little above freezing. The ten
perature of the ocean depths remain
: at about forty degrees Fahrenheit a
.e the year round, even in the tropic
te Nevertheless, some volcanic heat ms
= yet remain to warm the waters {
Crater Lake. ST. Louis Globe-Dem,
orat
Amusing Episode in Church.