New-York tribune., 1900-07-27
CHANGING LAKE LEVELS.
QUEER PHENOMENA ONLY EXPLAINED
BY REFERENCE TO "oLD SUB"
From The Chicago inter Ocean.


Among old sailors and engineers who have studied
Lake Michigan .9r nifty years. CAPTAIN keiths
m that The aTanags d & BTddr ha a h
sternation. Lake Michigan. like all Of the Great
that Lake Michigan once rose up hediy seven feet
in an hour along TINS coast In lSss In te three feet
Lake Erie n 1913 az Buffalo which drowned twenty
So strange and unaceountable are the fluctuations
n the levels Of al the Great Lakes that sailors
ground monster, who turns the water of and on
old Subs tinkerin i With The stopcocks" say the
seamen. when the water begins 20 creep up on the
and then the talk is that "Old Sub has taken 10
Some believe that great undiscovered passage
exists between the Great Lakes and a body Of open
there accounts for the wGnderfu sbb and o% Of
the water In the basin Of the Great Lakes Oc-
n9uGees that ths boat passed over Tie very region
and IN unlimited supply. In a little different way
scientists have sometimes upheld the theory Of
cite the seven p years rise V and e fan of Of lake Levels
as proof OF H. Others take no stock In the theory
But through i all there is the mystery which
measured me- By the rse and a y Of fy any
Long before the opening OF the drainage canal a
known to be an ordinary affair. Something's the
cannot. Scientific men are as much at loss as
the veTiest old salt.
from those caused by the Winds No '1I man knows
places Of these lake tides" So constant are the
fluctuations that a general fan Of three inches
and Lake Huron would not be appreciable in the
set OF gq9se ,i 9eaa1gs % , The
minutes, amounting sometimes to between two and
suddenly six feet % in Ghcago HaTbor % an attempt
was made 10 account for these oscillations on a
lake "a and read at hve minute intervals The gpshot
the phenomenon omen was due To a swing az the lake
in its bed from shore to shore Others did not think
vance More remarkabie sun, it was found that
ONE % days lay w shoEed general owens
AS early as 1913 Father Marquette took note OF
indians about It. and they said that Lake Michigan
swung from high 10 low and back again in four
the gamut Baron La Hontan. in 1859. made some
levels He wrote that in twentv-four hours once
at the northern extremity Of Lake Michigan he
the day He Was first to observe the flow Of water
Michigan to Huron, which Is now acknowledged,
We cast our fishing nets In the straits" says
current sucked them TO the eastward strongly
that we could with diflculty haul them from the
toward the west. and carried our nets in that di-
Stories Of mysterious inundations by the lake
OF times when the beach widened and a great
have always been current among IND Indian tribes,
today observation has - Confirmed these legends
At Sault Ste Marie General Dearborn noted an
Lake Erie has been known TO rise from seven 10
Cleveland the lake suddenly rose fve feet In
feet above the ordinary level at Miwaukee In that
year the water fell six feet in Chicago Har69r and
High masted schooners eareened to one side. and
looked as if the Chicago River would be drained
dry in half an hour. and the experience has never
is it dS,t; IS said the same 59 thi9s Occurred
changes in the lake level there is a tolerably we'll
defined periodical movement OF the surface extend
claimed that this movement requires seven years.
sometimes ten years; ossian G. hrie and others
It usually extends over from TIVE 10 ten years
uaFy to June, caused by the ordinary spring rain
fall, which runs the level Of the lake UP about one
the FPrbng rise was fo9Pd oF to be
spring rainfaIls will raise the level of the lake
three or four feet above datum for number of
years. and series OF drouths viii reduce 1t cor
beginnlng with Bi, osslan Gqthrie 1ed mas Kept
Michigan. In lst7, as las been stated ed Lake Mieh-
From isss to ss it fe them it swung BACK
down in 1879 going up abruptly in the spring OF
feet From 1855 1892 it ieiI about four feet. In
time OF Since 5 5 the fsR sRe ha BEEN a o
S5 S1d en d1F3g a T9s % ISL e asf fan oy and this bB
the usual rise from rainfalls. the lake is higher
than it was before the opening of the drainage
hce show that during January. February and March
IF eSs @ waf 1usE eoop SS & % racoTd % shows
variation of several Inches On January IL there
was variation in the lake level of one foot. From
February IL to February IL in 1894, the lake level
at the foot of Randolph-st. rose little over two
feet.
These daily fluctuations of from six inches two
feet are accounted for, engineers believe by winds
and by barometrc pressure. A strong east wind
Will easily raise the surface of the lake here TWO
feet. Again If the atmospheric pressure all over
the surface of Lake Huron is suddenly reduced, the
water will rush through the straits from Lake
Michigan. and Huron will rise, mysteriously per-
haps perfectly calm day.
Engineers at the office of the Drainage Board
estimate that IL rainfall reach Lake
Michigan. and the maximum flow OF three hundred
thousand cubic feet OF water drawn of
through the drainage canal. it would take little
over eight years to reduce the level of Lake Micht
gan foot. AS matter Of fact. the annual rain
fall always produces i waste overflow past Niagara
which greatly exceeds that drawn off by the drain
age canal If the water not taken through
the canal it would over Niagara during spring
fFeshets In general engineers agree that the
physics of Lake Michigan and OF all the great lakes
has never heen studied accurately, and that the
mysterious movements of the immense inland seas
offer comparatively unworked field for useful and
scientific research