Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1896-08-20
CURRENTS IN LAKE MICHIGAN

CURRENTS IN LAKE M;CI!GAE.
Their Effect in Making Saad Bars
! How These Chang.
/ Lake MiCh:gan's eccentricitics. us
high tides and its low tides. its wind
currents and its wave nipples have
peen the source CT good deal of spec
ulatlOn among the scientists, and many
nave been puzzled to know its vagar-
les. Only divers, dredgers and fisher
men have gained much information
about the formation Of the bottom of
the lake. Ordinary people must of
necessity be cOntented with the surface
appearance, with white caps and brown
rollers racing for the shore and break
ing on the sand bars a few hundred
feet out. The children are pleased to
hunt for round shining stones on the
beach without guessing just why thev
are found there, and not half a mile
north or south, where the beach is
simply packed with wet sand. Yet the
experience of practical men for fortv
years along the shore has been that
/ pebbles are great travellers. at the
sport of the waves and wind.
Some facts on the sand bars and the
pebbles are given by a gentleman who
for forty years has spent a good deal
OF time and thought watching the
movement Of bars and sand in currents
OF the lake. His observations have
covered that portion of the shore from
Milwaukee to Michigan City. The
currents of the lake." he said ARE
caused by the winds. On the west
shore of the lake we usually find traces
OF three sand bars. The first is. on the
average, $50 to 1000 feet from the
shore. The bar is about 200 feet wide.
and the depth of water on it is from
212 to feet. Just beyond is a second
par, 1000 feet to mile from the shore.
which is 200 feet wide, with a depth of
water beginning at feet on the land
side and running to II feet on the
outer edge. The third sand bar is out
side OF the second. 1t begins with a
depth of 10 feet and gradually deepens
(
rents running parallel with the shore
during the time of storms. and the
sand is constantly coming from the
north and working south. With a
northeasterly blow it comes along the
west bank of Lake Michigan, turns the
lake at the southern end, and is carried
along on the east shore by the south
westerly gales. The same grains of
sand are travelling around the lake con-
stantly. 1t is like a trotter around
the race track, slow but sure. I will
venture to say thu there are pebbles
on these beaches that have been
around this lake good many times.
The inner bar has a sand depth of
about ten feet. If the contour of the
shore is changed by running out pier.
the location of the bar is changed. The
bar will form and go around that pier
about the same distance away from it
that it is from the shore, and then
gradually turn and come in until it
reaches the same distance from the
shore. The general line of the bar is
southeast parallel with the shore. 1t
| is formed by the currents ON both sides
OF it. The waves break there and the
"n"1 ic hold in solution NV tho otrnn or
current on either side. The bars are
constantly Icing formed carried away
and replaced by the currents on either
side. Naturally, the water rushes the
fastest through the two deepest chan
r,els on each side of the bar, producing
breakers which break into spray. In
calm weather there is no current to
the water. 1t has no perceptible move
ment except at times when there might
be a heavy gale down the lake some
where and no wind here. In this case
there would still be smooth water here,
but you would have a current, or rather
movement of the water, rising and
falling like a tide. This sometimes
results in tidal wave six or eight
feet high.
I'm calm weather the sand bar is
/ perfectly quiet, but during a storm it
is constantly moving in state of solu-
/ ton for two or three feet. The water
washing and the currents striking the
sfore cause erosion. The sand of the
+ lake is being made all the time, and
is exhaustless, in my estimation.
Where there is rocky bottom, the
rocks clash together AS thu powders
break Off, the slashing and clashing of
/ the waves rub them together Every
time the bowlder or rock strikes, par
ticles of the corners are knocked off,
and these the current gathers and car
! ries along just like the snow driving
along a fence. Milwaukee Sentinel.