The Red Cloud chief., 1898-04-08
LAKE SUPERIOR.
Interesting Facts About the Largest Body
az Erc-i, water In the World.

tN'tFFNtIir FN'lN Etppt ~ ''EFNt tboby
Of Trcsi, water In the world.
"The Great Lakes" Is the title OF an
article in st. Nicholas, written by w.
=. HARDWOOD. Concerning Lake Supe-
rior. MIR. HARDWOOD says: II Is. to be-
gin with, the largest body OF fresh
water In the world. It Is water OF
wonderful purity which it holds, too:
and some timc-and In the not very
distant future, cither--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. II will not bo
so remarkable an engineering feat to
pipe the water of this lake. pure and
sparkling and fresh from its cold
depths. to these cities 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 pecu-
liar GOODNESS. At the very most. tho
temperature varies through winter and
summer not more than six degrees.
Winter and summer this great lake
never CnuIlktS I any dHpit'laoiV -
tent. SC that If you dip your nnger-tips
in the blue surface on n day In July.
or II you test II some day In early
winter when you have been out on
some bclated. ice-mailcd ishing-smack.
or when you have rome out to watch
the fishermen spcaring their supplies
through the thick ice In mid-January.
ga, ,slll Enl I,t a tpintnn ItHnrnpnta
in the temperature. Away down at the
bottom. too. there IL but little varia-
ton in the temperature. for Il stands at
| nearly forty degrees Fahrenheit at the
bottom. and varies from forty to forty
six degrees. winter and summer. ut the
surface. The other lakes. though cold.
are not in this respect like Superior.
The whole bottom OF the lake Is be-
licved to be a strong rock basin. though
1t 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 q large amount OF
water pouring into the lake year in
and year out; the swlft-rushlng, mar
row-banked Niplgon and other streams
w liid put VI thV sup
ply. These streams In n large measure
make up the loss from the surface. One
Of the old lake captains. a bronzed.
kindly-faccd man who had been for
t~hirty-'ivc 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.
fnl1 n,p 40 un yvprn nauuinu nInnU nna
day near the north coast Of Superior.
with the headlands and inlets and
glossy green bluffs of that most pic
turesQuc shore in full view. that tho
theory that the lake was slowly going
down in size was true, He maintained
that he could tell from certain land
marks along the shores. with which he
Is as familiar as he would be with the
streets Of his old Scottish birthplace.
that the lake was slcwly--vcry slowly
but surely reccding. However. it
will be some centuries yet before there
will be any appreciable lessening OF
tho Great Lakes. so that we need not
3 be concerned. Strange as It may seem.
8 the lake has tides, too. well-deaned
| tides, discovered in 1860. II Is what
, Is called n self-registering tide. with q
regular flux and refiux wave caused.
SO the scientific men say. by the sun
and moon The average rise and fall
every t~wenty.four hours Is one four
te~en-hundredth Of q foot; the maxi
mum tide at now and full moon Is one
enty-cight-hundredth Of n foot.