The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1898-08-27
desire our government to give the an
sWer, I'VE come"
LAKE SUPERIOR TIDES.
There Is Also Constant Supply of
Fresh Water.

OOAAostsAA
Fresh Water.
Lake Superior is the largest body Of
fresh water in the world, says the San
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 it's 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 appreciable 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 a
trihing 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 Nipison and other streams fur
nishing no small part of the supply.
These streams in a large measure make
up for the loss on the surface One
of the old lake captains, a bronzed
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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 |
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 as familiar as
he would be with the streets of his old |
Scottish birthplace, that the lake was
slowly-but surely reced-
ing. However, it will be some cent
uries yet before there will be any ap-
preciable lessening of the great lakes,
so that we need not be concerned.
Strange as it may seem, the lake has
tides too-well- defined tides, discover
ed in 1860. 1t is what is called a self
tide, with regular fux and
ref1ux wave, caused, so the scientific
men say, by the sun and moon. The
average rise and fall every twenty-four
lours is LA foot; the maximum at new
md full moon is 1.2S foot.