Evening star., 1898-03-04
LAKE SUPERIOR.
Facts About the Largest NOdy of
Fresh Water In the World.
From st. Nicholas.

From ST. Nicholas.
Lake Superior is, to begin with, the larg-
est body of fresh water in the world. 1t IS
water of wonderful purity which it holds,
too: and some time-ard 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 he 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
iii to drink
All down through this thousand feet of
blue there is peculiar colGIess. AT the
very most the temperature varies through
winter and sumner not more than six de-
grees- Winter and summer this great lake
never changes 10 any appreciable extent,
so that if You dip your finger tips in the
blue surface on day in July, or if you test
II some daN IN early winter when you have
been out on some belated ice-mailed fish
ing smack, or when you have gone out to
watch the fishermen spearing their supplies
through the thick ice in mid-January, you
VIII find but a triffng difference in the tenn
perature Away down at the bottom, too,
there is but little variation in the temper
ature, for it stands at nearly forty degrees
Fahrenheit at the bottom. and varies from
forty To forty-six degrees, writer and sum-
lner, at the surface. The other lakes though
cold are not in this respect like Superior
The whole bottom of the lake is believed
10 be a strong rock basin, though ii 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 swift-rush-
ing, narrow-banked Nipigon and other
streams furnishing no small part of the
Supply. These streams N u large measure
make up the loss from the surface One of
the old lake captains a bronzed. kindly
laced man who had heen for thirty-fiye
years on the lakes, and had faced death
many tire in the frigftful storms which
sometimes sweep across these beautiful
tod1ss OF water told me- as we were pass
ing along ore day near the Forth coast of
Superior, with the headiands and inlets and
glossy green bluffs of that most pIctur-
esque shore in full view that the theory
mat the lake was 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
Sc0ttlsh birthplace, that the lake was slow
ly-Very slowly-but surely receding How
ever. it will be some centuries vet before
there Will be any appreciable lessening of
the great lakes, SO that We need not be
concerned.
Strange 1t may seem, the lake has
! des, too. Well-defned tides discovered In
1s6V. II is what is called a self-resisterine
tlde with regular fiux and refux wave,
Caused. 50 the scientific men say nv the
sun and moon. The average rise and fall
every twenty-four hours Is one fourteen
hundredth of foot; the maximum tide at
new and full moon Is ore tWenfy-eipbt
bundredth of foot.