The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-06-08
FLORIDA'S LAKES.
An Interesting and Graphic De-
scription of Them.

Wnlcn recently appeared In lne MOTIF
ing News, are by no means the most
interesting natural features of this sec
ton.
There are in this county about LOO
lakes of the purest and softest water
imaginable. These are of all sizes,
from an acre or two in extent running
up the scale until the maximum is
reached IN Lake Apopka on the west
ern boundary of the county This is
an open body of water, nine by ten
miles in diameter. 1t is the second
largest lake in Florida.
1t is a well-known fact that the wa
tiers of the lakes in the northern por-
ton of the county are drained by out
lets which flow into the st. Johns riv-
er, and thence into the Atlantic, while
those located in the southern portion
are the sources of streams which flow
southwest through the Kissimmee sys-
tenn and the Caloosahatchie into the
Gulf of Mexico.
Just on the eastern edge of the cor
porate limits of Orlando, however, is
an outlet for several lakes of this vi
cinity which is denominated THE
Sink" 1t is a small lake covering
three to five acres. Into this
at all times of the year
flow two or three small
streams. Seven lakes regularly dis
charge their waters into this sink. In
times of high water three or four more
contribute their overflow to the vol
ume. There is no visible outlet to this
small body of water. Somewhere be-
meath the surface there must be an I'M
foreground outlet through which the
water passes away to some undeter-
mined destination.
Anotehr and most interesting sink is
located about four miles northwest of
this place and two and a half miles
nearly due west of Winter Park. This
has no outlet or inlet. Its appear
ance suggests that at some early date
the earth has sunk leaving a depres-
sion some 300 feet across. The sur
face of the gorund about it is level. No
indication of such a depression is no.
ticed until one suddenly is confronted
with it. From the surrounding sur
face down to the water at the bottom
is about forty feet. The sides are
sloping or funnel shaped, and bay and
trees have gained a foothold
on the slipping sides. At the bottom of
this depression is a pool of water rs
feet across.
A person standing at the edge of the
depression at midday when the almost
vertical rays of the sun light up the
place and penetrate far in
to the water, can look down,
down, into what seems measureless
depths of blue, transparent water. 1t
is not difficult to climb down and up
the bank, and many people have visited
the place. Formerly an early settler
lived here, and he obtained water for
domestic purposes from this ''well."
To the southwark less than one
~ ~
ters of a mile long and half as broad.
To the westward five or six hundred
feet away lies Lake Fairview. one of
the larger lakes of this vicinity. The
ground between is low. Probably it
is no higher than fifteen feet between
the lakes and the sink, and as the wa
ter of the sink is forty feet below the
surface of the ground, it must be about
twenty-five feet lower than the surface
of these nearby lakes. 1t is evident
therefore that there can be no connec-
tion between the water of the lakes
and that in the bottom of this sink.
A few months ago Prof. Thomas R.
Baker of Rollins College at Winter
Park, went with party. of college stu.
dents to make a thorough examination
of this place. They provided them
selves with an iron sash weight and
several hundred feet of strong line.
They constructed a raft at the edge of
the water of the sink, and two of the
boys took the weight attached to the
end of the line, and propelled the raft
to the center TO the pool.
The shore contingent held the
coil of line, paying it out as need
the coil of line, paying it out as need
ed. With this they were enabled to
pull the raft back to shore when the
scundings were completed. The boys
on the raft sent the weight down and
those on shore paid out until they be-
gan to think they had found the veri-
table bottomless pit. Finally the
weight touched bottom, and a mark
at the surface of the water was at
tached to the line, and the raft was
pulled to shore. Returning to the
college the measurement showed that
the water of this little pool was three
hundred and sixty two feet deep. This
is probably a greater depth than can
be claimed for any lake in the coun-
ty.
Add to the depth of water the forty
feet between the level of the land
about the sink and the water, and a
round four hundred feet will be shown.
AS the altitude of the section is about
one hundred feet above sea level. it
will be seen that the bottom of this
small body of water is three hundred
feet below the surface of the Allan
tic.
Is there an underground water
course flowing beneath this sink which
has carried away and weakened the
everything earth until this small section
has given way and fallen in? Prof.
Baker thinks this is possible, and has
suggested that water from Lake Fair
view be piped to the sink and a test
made whethep the pit can be
filled with water, or whether
the water will run away from an I'M
foreground outlet as fast as it is poured
in. If there is an underground river
connected with the bottom the sink.
then the professor argues that the
twenty-five feet fall which could be
obtained by simply running pipe 200
yards would give a valuable water
power that could be utilized for gen
Grating electricity for this section. or
could be used for some other purpose.
1t would seem that the experiment is
worth trying. Whether it can be made
or not, here is a natural curiosity.
heretofore attracting little attention,
but destined to receive attention from
scientists and wise men in he fitlra