The times., 1899-08-21
QUEER MOVING ISLANDS
They Float About and Carry Away
Live Stock.
These Shifting Bits Are Generally
NoEiadic, But When once Dome--
ticated They Serve as vaRes-one
Plays at Spinning Top-oue Effect
of the Delaware and Hudson Canal


II read about the floating islands OF
the mouth OF the Mississippi the other
day said a man from Homesdale. Pa
THAT reminded me that my own little old
county can boast q few islands of the
sort. What county, Wayne. young man
You'll fnd it on the maps due north of
Pike county. You city chaps have an idea
that all Of northeastern Pennsylvania is
Pike county In expansion. but you were
never so much mistaken about anything
in your lives. pike county is all very we'll
in its way, but its way runs 10 fish liars
and rattiesnakes. Now. Wayne has none
Of the latter. but OF the former-well. talk
about Pike county fishing! Young fellow,
Pike county isn't marker 70 Wayne
when it comes to downright, honest,
clean-cut piscatorial sport Pike may lie
about it better, but when you come to sift
the facts from the fiction before an in
vestigating commission you'll find that
Wayne catches the biggest trout and the
fghtin'est bass every time, and doa't
you forget 1t.
But l started 10 tell you about the
floating islands in the old county. Way
back in the twenties the Delaware and
Hudson Canal Company gouged a channel
in the face of the earth from Rondout to
Honesdale and called Ii a canal. For reser-
voirs and feeders to this canal the level
of ponds and lakes along the route was
raised by means OF dams from twelve TO
twenty feet. While the dams were in
n b,,iId he ffr,,I. Oh ~
ponds was felled up TO the artificial water
line, and in many cases really valuable
lumber was left to decay where 1t fell.
These dead trunks formed, when the water
rose to its new level, the basis OF the float
ing islands which may be found in so many
of the lakes OF Wayne county. Intertwin-
ing branches and twigs of the trees them
selves and large quantities of underbruSh
served 10 bind the logs together in soIRe-
thing like a solid mass, thereby forming
RATS OF more or less buoyancy and size
II tie course OF time water weeds Of
various kinds attached themselves to the
raft and eventually became a part Of it.
Gradually a light, thin mold accumulated
on the island, and in this mold birds
planted seeds and grain, which, sprouting
growing, and finally dying and rOtting, did
their part in the making CT the whole
All of the larger islands bear from one to
a score of trees. many Of which have at
tanned a considerable growth; so large, in
fact, that they could scarcely be described
as saplings.
"You might suppose that to walk upon
or to fish from one of these Islands would
be a source OF some danger, but aside from
an occasional wetting of the feet no acct
dents from this cause have ever occurred
SO far as | have been able to learn The
sensation produced by walking or a float
ing island is very similar to that which
you and have both experienced when, as
boys, we ran on thin young ice or thicker
old and rotten ice. You remember how
the ice used to bend under your weight as
you ran across it, sometimes sinking nearly
a foot, and then. with the next step. rising
/! to meet you. possibly throwing you and
| perhaps giving you a ducking? Well it's
the same way with the floating islands, but
! with the danger eliminated. II has the
same fascination.
! Strange as it may seem, very few of
! these floating islands have become perma-
nently anchored to the bottoms of the
| lakes They are as nomadic and unsettled
| in their habits as the Arab. They lack
what We country people call stick-to-it-
| iveness. They're the contrarisst cusses,
| next to a Populist. that ever happened.
| Sometimes a mere breath of wind viii
| send one of them sco0ting from one end
CT the lake TO the other, and again You
| couldn't bulge that same island with a
| hundred-ton compound freight locomotive
and political pull Once thoroughly do
mesticated, however. they make excellent
water vanes. for they invariably seek the
| lee shore.
Il recall a peculiar thing that happen
| ed years ago to the island in White Oak
! Pond, near Aldenville, some eight or nine
| miles TO the north and west OF Homes.
dale. By the way. this particular island
| is the largest OF the lot; so large in fact
/ that the centre rises fully ten feet above
the water line. The farmer owning thiI
island proposed erecting summer house
on the elevation, but was obliged TO give
| 1t up owing to his inability to lay a
| proper foundation without driving piles
| and to do that would result in mailing the
| island to the bottom. Well. as I was
/ going to say, this Island one day eloped
with a southwest zephyr, which prompt
ly deserted, as soon as 1t had got its con-
sort into the middle of the lake. There
! 1t foated in a sultry summer sun, with
no means of motion in itself, and milking
time approaching. Presently the edge OF
| a little breeze from the northwest struck
| the wanderer on the port quarter and
things began to look little brighter. Tn
! fortunately for the island. however, al
| about the same moment that the first
| came up from the southeast, and its edge
caught the island on the starboard bow
| In less than minute these two contrary
winds had that island spinning around
| like a ton. You may believe this or not
| as you like l can show you the island
| any time that you'll come up TO he old
| county.
ITS a common thing for one of thess
| islands TO turn sheep or chicken or pig
thief in fact. it's almost nightly occur
| renee on one or another of the lakes. Aftel
an island has stayed by a farmer fol
months. or maybe years, without showins
| any signs OF a restless spirit or a desire
| to be up and going. the honest, horny
handed son OF the soil comes to place az
| abiding confidence in the supposedly re-
formed nomad In doing so he frequently
buys a gold brick He trustingly allows hi
| domestic animals and fowls to camp out a
will upon the island. TO his later undoins
Some night he'll go 20 bed conscious OF ;
| hard days work we'll done. only 10 awakeI
! in the morning 10 find that his island ha
sailed while he slept, with deekload o
his critters Put not your trust in foatint
| islands,"
And so saying. the man from Honesdal
ate a cherry that only a few minutes be
fore had been floating in the glass in fren
| of him-New York Sun.
Paris Green Found In Spring.