Gulf Coast breeze. [volume] (Crawfordville, Fla.) 1897-19??, 1898-04-29
LAKE SUPERIOR.
Interesting Facts About the Largest body
OF Fresh water In the world.

Interesting Facts About the Largest I,ody
OF Fresh water In the world.
"The Great Lakes" is the title OF
an article in st. Nicholas, written lay
W. :. Harwood. Concerning Lake
Superior, Mr.. Harwood says:
IL is, to begin with, the largest
cody OF fresh water in the world. II
is water OF wonderful purity which it
aoldS, too; and some time-and in the
lot very distant future, eithcr-the
people who live in the large cities to
the west aud south will come to this
lake 10 get the water for their homes.
1t will not be SO remarkable an en-.
ginecring feat to pipe the water Of
this lake, pure and sparkling and fresh
from It's 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 &c. water 1T to drink.
All down through this thousand feet
of blue there il n peculiar coldncSs.
At the very most, the temperature
varies through winter and summer
not more than six degrees. Winter
and summer, this great lake never
changes to any appreciablo extent, so
that II You dip your iingor-tips in tho
blue surface on day IN July, az If
you test it some day in early winter
when you have been out on some he.
lated, ice.mailed fishing smack, or
when you have gone out to watch the
fishermen spearing their supplies
through the thick ice in mid.JRnunry.
You will find but II triiling difference
i'll the temperature Away down at
the bottom, too, there il but little
variation IN the temperature, for it
stands ut nearly forty degrees Fahren.
hct mt the bottom, and varies from
forty to forty-siN degrees, winter aud
summer, at the surface. Tho other
lakes, though cold, are not in this re.
spect like Superior.
Tho whole bottom of the lake is
supposed to be strong rock basin,
though it would seem that there
must be great springs ut the bottom to
help to keep up the enormous volume
of water. From tho north there is
large amount of water pouring into
the lake year in uad year ont; the
swift.rushing, banked Nipigon
aud other streams furnishing no small
part of the supply, These streams in
II large measure make up the loss from
the surface. One of the old lake cap.
tains, bronzed, kindl y.faced man
who had been for thirty.iive years on
the lakes, and had faced death many
time in the frightful storms which
sometimes sweep across these beauti-
full bodies Of water, told me, ~ Wa
were passing along one day near the
north coast of Superior, with the
headlands aud inlets aud glossy green
bluffs of that most picturesque shore
in full view, that the theory that 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 az
familiar aS he would be with the streets
of his old Scottish birthplace, that the
lake was slowiy--very slowly-but
surely receding. However, it will be
some centuries yet before there will
be any appreciable lessening Of the
Great Lakes, 80 that wo need not DO
concerned.
Strange, as il may seem, the lake
has tides, too, well-defncd tides, dis.
covered in 1860. II il what liz called
n self-registoriug tide. with regular
ilux and reiiux wave, caused, 80 the
scientific men say, by the sun aud
moon. The average rise and fall every
iwonty-four hours is one fourteen
hnndredth of foot; the maximum
tide ut new and full moon is one
lwenty.eight-hundredth Of foot.