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 bouy
of Fresh water In the world.
"The Great Lakes" is the title of
an article in st. Nicholas, written by
w. $. Harwood Concerning Lake
Superior, Mr.. HARDWOOD says:
1t is, to begin with, the largest
cody OF fresh water in the world. 1t
Is water of wonderful purity which it
holds, too; and some time--and in the
aot 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 remarkable an en-
cheering feat to pipe the water of
this lake, pure andsparkling 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 gel water At to drink.
All down through this thousand feet
of blue there is peculiar GOODNESS.
At the very most, the temperature
varies through winter and summer
not more than six degrees. Winter
aud summer, this great lake never
changes to any appreciablo extent, so
that if you dip your finger-tips in the
blue surface on day in July, or If
you test it some day in early winter
when you have been out on some be-
lated, ice.mailed fishing smack, OF
when you have gone out to watch the
fishermen spearing their supplies
through the thick ice in mid-January,
you will find but n trifling difference
in the temperature. Away down at
the bottom, too, there is but little
variation in the temperature, for 1t
stands at nearly forty degrees Fahren-
heit at the bottom, and varies from
forty to forty-six degrees, winter and
summer, at the surface. The other
lakes, though cold, are not in this re-
spect like Superior.
The whole bottom of the lake ia
supposed to DO strong rock basin,
though it would seem that there
must be great springs at the bottom to
help to 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 ont; the
swift-rushing, narrow banked Nipigon
and other streams furnishing no small
part of the supply. These streams in
a large measure make up the loss from
the surface. One of the old lake cap.
tains, bronzcd, kindly-faced man
who had been for thirty-hve years on
the lakes, and had faced death many u
time in the frightful storms which
sometimes sweep across these beauti-
full bodies of water, told me, ~ We
were passing along one day 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 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 Scottish birthplace, That tho
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, so that we need not DO
concerned.
Strange, as it may seem, the lake
has tides, too, well-defned tides, dis
covered in 1860. 1t is what is called
q self.registoring tide, with regular
fux and reilux wave, caused, 80 the
scientific men say, by the sun aud
moon. The average rise and fall every
twcnty.four hours is one fourteen
hnndredth of foot; the maximum
tide at new and full moon is one
twenty. eight. hundredth of foot.