Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-04-06
HAVE CURIOSIT|ES
America Well Supplied With
Variety of Geographical
Oddities.
FRANKS OF A LAKE PRAIRIE
A Section of Florida That Plays Hide
and Seek-The Tickle
Mississippi.

sent out from Washington to make Il
survey of what was then Payne prai
RE Florida Il bit of land about s by >
miles in extent The survey was made
and the pras'ie described. Three or
four wears later Il new surveying eXpe |
dition found that this land had beer
transformed into Il body of water. and
it was put on the map as Lake Ala
chua. 1t developed that this lake prairie |
plays Il hide and seek game with itself |
This freak is explained 10y the fact |
that Il stream loses itself in Il sink at |
the northern part of the prairie, and |
when this sewer can carry off all the |
water the region is land. When the |
sink cannot drain off the water it &C |
cumulateS until it becomes lake.
One of the natural curiosities of this |
country is the Hampshire Ice mountain
on the banks of North creek. twenty
six miles f"Om Winchester. Va. For
about n quarter of Il mile the west side
of this mountain * covered with loose
| powders and stones of light color. the
mass extending all the way down to
the river. BY lifting these stones on
any day in the year crystals of ice can
always he found securely hidden in the
crevices beneath.
The Dismal swamp is not a swamp
at all. according to the usual definition
| of the term. 1t stands fifteen or TWEEN
| ty feet higher than the surrounding
country and instead of receiving drain
| age from rivers is itself a source of
| supply to various streams. The eli
mate is said to he pure and healthful.
| The northern boundary line of Della
ware is circular in form. This has
been explained by the fact that in CO.
lonial days William Penn wanted
enough land along the western bank of
| the Delaware river to give him an out
let to the sea- lac procured from the
Duke of York a release of all title and
claim to Newcastle, twelve miles
around it and to the land between this
| tract and the sea- This survey de
scrbed senicircle, and when this
particular colony became state it still
retained the old circular boundary line
Because man has never been able to
make the Mississippi ohedient and con-
tent To stay in one particular channel
|
tons have arisen. There are innumer-
able old channels threading back and
forth through the forests of the low
lands. and whenever there is an over
flow or a particularly heavy freshet
the river is quite liable to wander of
down one of these old channels and
leave some shipping point high and
dry. The t1wn of Delta used to be
three miles below Nicksburg but Il
cutoff changed things. SO it is now two
miles above that point. Another little
place called Blues Point was formerly
located in Mississippi. but one spring
$ when times were dull and the river
/, needed n diversion it changed its chan
i mel and transferred Blues Point over
:. into Arkansas.
u Builds Islands.
:, Another pastime i'll which the rive
:, INDUCES is island building. y snaG il
7 the river the wreck of an old boat o
n submerged tree is all that is needle,
for Il foundation. Chicken island. nca
Mound City. Ark. and just ahov,
Memphis. Tenn. was caused by tn
, sinking of the Sultana. Il Union trans
port which exploded in midstrean
y while carrying troops home from TIL
civil war
In Lake county. Ind. there is Il stri
of land that has the sinking habit. Til
sinking is an annual event, taking
1t place about December of each veal
II The point where it occurs is abOu
= eight miles east of Lake Michigan. nea
. the northern limits - the region o
swamp lands. 1t reaches about fiftee
miles north and south The Indian
= who lived in that locality in the thil
ties had a legend that in the swan
there was an entrance TO the center Q
the earth and laid out their trails $
4 they widely skirted the vicinity of tn
mysterious sinking land.
A popularity of the Blue mountain
Of Pennsylvania is that they are diviC
ed by rivers that break through tn
walls at intervals of twenty-seve
miles. From the Susquehanna to I'll
Swatara is twenty-seven miles: ais
from the Swatara to the Schuylkil
B from the Schuylllill to the Lehigh. frol
the Lehigh to the Delaware and frol
the Delaware to the hollow I'm Ne
Jersey known as Culvers pond the Il
+ tervals are the same 1t would |
most difficult to account fer such a C.
incidence in the similarity in these di
tances.- Philadelphia Press