The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1898-09-10
desire our government to give the an
BWer, we come
LAKE SUPERIOR TIDES.
There Is Also Constant Supply of
Fresh Water.

! Fresh Water.
| Lake Superior Is the largest body Of
fresh water in the world, says the Sar
Francisco Call. 1t is water of wonder
full purity, 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 re-
markable an engineering feat to pipe
the water of this lake, pure and spark
ling and fresh, from its cold depths to
these cities, which are now struggling
with the question of their water sup
ply and meeting all sorts of difficulties
in their efforts to get water fit to drink.
At the very most the temperature varies
through the winter and summer not
more than six degrees. Winter and
summer this great lake never changes
to any appreciate extent, so that if
you dip your finger tips in the blue
surface on day in July, or if you test
IL some day in early winter, when you
have been out on some belated, ice
mailed fishing smack, or when you have
gone out to watch the fishermen spear
ing their supplies through the thick ice
in mid-January, you will find but
trifling difference in the temperature.
Away down at the bottom, too, there
is but little variation in the tempera-
ture, for it stands at nearly 40 degrees
Fahrenheit at the bottom, and varies
from 40 to 46 degrees winter and sum-
mer at the surface. The other lakes,
though cold, are not in this respect like
Superior.
The whole bottom of the lake is be-
lieved to be 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, narrow
banked Nipigon and other streams fur
no small part of the supply.
These streams in large measure make
up for the loss on the surface. One
of the old lake captains, a bronzed
4AANNlJ AeSSu man, VIM uGu USCh LII
thirty-five years on the lakes and had !
faced death many a time in the fright |
full 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
headlands and inlets and glossy green
bluffs of that most picturesque shore
IN full view, that the theory that the
AXE is slowly going down in size was
rue. He maintained that he could tell
rom certain landmarks along the
shores, with which he is as familiar as
lie would be with the streets of his old
Scottish birthplace, that the lake was
lOwly-very slowly-but surely reced-
ng. However, it will be some cent
lries yet before there will be any APP
lessening of the great lakes,
10 that we need not be concerned.
strange as it may seem, the lake has
ides, too-well-defined tides, discover
d in 1860. 1t is what is called a self
clustering tide, with a regular flux and
etlux wave, caused. so the scientific
1en say, by the sun and moon. The
Verage rise and fall every twenty-four
ours is LA foot; the maximum at new
nd full moon is 1.28 foot