The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1910-07-27
MICHIGAN'S QUEER LAKES.
Some Without Inlet or Outlet and
Some Apparently Bottomless.

Some Apparently Bottomless.
Five thousand lakes Of all sizes
is the proud total claimed BY the
state of Michigan. Some Of them
are mysterious bodies having nei-
Their inlet nor outlet nor, so far as
can be discovered by sounding, bot
tom.
Many Of the smaller lakes are
slowly growing over and have wide
margins of tough sod that will sup
port the weight Of man, although
merely resting on water or thin
mud Of unknown depth.
These margins tremble to the
tread and culver for many feet
around when stepped upon. There
are instances where a lake has be-
come entirely oyergrown and for SO
long a period that the surface be-
comes solid and the existence Of
water underneath is unsupported.
The Pere Marquette Railroad
company when building a branch
between Grand Rapids and Lansing
returned to the work one morning
to find that several rods Of roadbed
had disappeared during the night
and a considerable lake had taken
its place. Thousands of feet Of
timber and many carloads Of earth
were dumped in before bottom was
found and the road had anything
like a firm foundation. The pres
sure Of the displaced water heaved
the earth and cracked it for some
distance around, fitting large for
est trees, some Of which fell.
Water came up through these
crevices, bringing eyeless fish, both
bass and bullheads, convincing GER
tain former skeptics that when any
organ Of sense or locomotion falls
into disuse it degenerates and final
~ is lost. Probably these fish were
the descendants Of others that had
lived in darkness for ages.
A small lake in Bovine township,
supposed by the rural folk to be
bottomless, swallowed up a full half
acre at one gulp few years ago,
and where the slide took place the
water is apparently as deep as ever.
In the extreme western edge of
Ionia county there is little lake
of about three acres in area. 1t is
without any visible feeders or out
let. 1t is surrounded by woods on
the high land, while its margin is
grown up to shrubs and flags and
grasses peculiar to the ordinary
swamp.
This is another of the mysteri-
Gus water holes termed bottomless,
one party having sounded $50 feet
without finding bottom. The wa
ter is red and unfit to drink, and
millions Of minute particles of veg
etable matter are held in suspen-
sion and are in commotion as if
stirred by force Of an undercurrent
or boiling springs.
The only fish are big mouthed
bass and bullheads. For all that
the water seems to be SO swampy
in character it does not detract
from the flavor OF the fish, proba-
bly, owing to the fact of its being
of better quality in its lower
depths.
Nagley's lake, in Kent county, is
formed like a great horseshoe and
is about seven miles in circumfer-
ence. 1t has been sounded in one
place and showed a depth of $50
feet. 1t has but one insignificant
feeder, and the natural evaporation
must be considerable, and yet it
has an outlet which flows water suf-
fcient for power to drive a saw
mill and gristmill, proving that it
is fed by heavy flowing springs that
man has never seen. The water is
clear blue and cold, and the bottom
is hard mari lime. Fur News.