Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1898-04-16
LAKE SUPERIOR.
Interesting Facts About the Largest Body
Of Fresh Water In the World.

Interesting Facts About the Largest Body
of Fresh Water In the World.
1.-THE Great Lakes is the title IF
an article in st. Nicholas, written by
". $. HARDWOOD Concerning Lake
Superior, Mr.. Harwood~ays:
1t is, to begin with. the largest
body of fresh water in the world.
1t is water OF wCslderful purity
which il holds, too, and some time
and III the not very distant future
cither--the people who live i'll the
large cities to the west ard south
will cone to this lake TO get the wa
ter for their homes. it Will not be
so remarkable un engineering feat
to pipe the water of this lake, pulo
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 1000 feet
pf blue there is Il peculiar GOODNESS.
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 appreciable extent,
go that if you dip your finger tips in
the blue surface on day in July, or
if you test it somo day in early Win
ter when you have been out on some
belated, ice mailed fishing smack, OF
when You have gone out to watch
the fishermen spearing theil sup
plies through the thick ice in mid.
January, you will find but a tritling
difference III the temperature. Away
down ut the bottom, too, there is but
little variation in the temperature,
for 1t stands at nearly 40 degrees +.
at the bottom and varies from 40 to
AZ degrees, winter and summer, at
the surface. The other lakes, though
cold, are not ill this respect like Su-
perior.
The whole bottom of the lake is,
believed to be Il strong rock basin,
though it would seem that there
must be great springs at the bottom
to help keep up the enormous vol.
ume of water. From the north there
is Il large amount of water pouring
into the lako year in and year out,
the swift rushing, narrow banked
Nipigon and other streams furnish
ing no small part of the supply
These streams in large measure
make up the loss from the surface
One of the old lake captains, a
bronzed, kindly faced man who had
been for 35 years on the lakes and
had faced death many a time III the
frightful storms which sometimes
sweep across these beautiful bodies
of water, told me, as we were pass.
ing along one day near the north
coast Of Superior, with the head
lands and inlets and glossy green
bluffs of that most picturesque shore
in full view, that the theory tl,,, the
lake was slowly going down in size
was true. Ho maintained that he
could tell from certain landmarks
along the shores, with which he is
as familiar as he would DO wit h the
streets of his old Scottish birthplace,
that the lake was slow ly, very slow,
ly, but surely receding However,
il will he some centuries yet before
thele will be any appreciable lessen
ing of the great lakes, so that we
need not lie concerned.
Strange az it may seem, the lake
has tides, too--well defined tides
discovered in 1860. 1t is what is
called self registering tide, with a
regular tirX and refinX wave, caused,
SO the scientific men say, by the sun
and moon The average rise and
fall every "a houls is one fourteen.
hundredth of Il foot. The maximum
tide at new and full NOON is one
twenty eight Lun,ircdth Uf /. foot.