The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1898-06-27
TIDES IN LAKE SUPERIOR.

Lake Superior, to begin with, is the
largest body Of fresh water In the
world. 1t is water OF wonderful puri-
ty which it holds, too; and some time,
and in the not very distant future
either, the people who live In the large
cities to the west and south will come
to this lake to get the water for their
homes. 1t will not be so remarkable
an engineering feat to pipe the water
of this lake, pure and sparkling and
fresh from it's cold depths to these cit
les which are now struggling with the
question of their water supply and
meeting all sorts of difficulties in their
efforts to get water fit to drink.
All down through this thousand feet
of blue there is a peculiar GOODNESS.
AT the very most the temperature va
ries through the winter and summer
not more than six degrees. Winter
and summer this great lake never
| changes to any appreciable extent, so
that If you dip your finger tips in the
| blue surface on day in July, or if you
| test 1T some day in the early winter
when you have been out on some bella
ted, ice-mailed fishing smack, or when
you have gone out to watch the fisher
men spearing their supplies through
the thick ice in mid-January, you will
find but trifling difference in the tenn
| Il 81
too. there is but little variation in the
temperature, for it stands at nearly
forty degrees Fahrenheit at the bot
tom, and varies from forty to forty-six
degrees winter and summer at the sur
face. The other lakes, though cold, are
not in this respect like Superior.
The whole bottom of the lake is be-
lieved to be a strong rock basin
though it would seem that there must
be great springs at the bottom to help
keep up the enormous volume of water
From the north there is a large amount
of water pouring into the lake year in
and year out, the swift rushing, nor
rowbanked Nipigon and other streams
furnishing no small part of the supply.
These streams in large measure make
up Tor the loss on the surface. One of
the old lake captains, bronzed, kindly
| faced man, who had been for thirty
years on the lakes and had faced
death many time in the frightful
storms which sometimes sweep across
these beautiful bodies OF water, told
me, as we were passing along near the
north coast of Superior, with the head
lands and inlets and glossy green bluffs
of that most picturesque shore in full
view that the theory that the lake is
slowly going down in size was true.
He maintained that he could tell from
certain landmarks along the shores,
, with which he is familiar as he would
be with the streets of his old Scottish
birthplace. that the lake was slowly
very slowly-but surely receding.
However. it will be some centuries yet
before there will be any appreciable
lessening of the Great Lakes, so that
we need not be concerned
Strange as 1t may seem, the lake has
tides, too-welldefined tides, discovered
in 1860. 1t Is what is called a self-reg
istering tide, with regular flux and
ref1ux wave. caused, so the scientific
men say. by the sun and moon. The
average rise and fall every twenty four
hours is LA foot; the maximum at new
and full moon is is foot-San Francis
!, co Call.