Rensselaer Republican, Volume 25, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 November 1892 — Whence the Water of the Great. Lakes? [ARTICLE]

Whence the Water of the Great. Lakes?

Chicago Herald, Where do the waters of Lake Michigan come from old-ques-tion, and it is a question as old as tle artesian wells. Where do their waters come from? Col. Foster, an eminent civil enginer, for many years in charge of Government interest on the lake, was fond of talking on the subject. “Every drop of those waters,’’ he was ofter heard to declare, “came from the Rocky Mountains." His theory was that they were brought hero subterraneously, but he never, to our knowledge, marked out the course of the subterraneous stream. He announced this as his conviction long before —indeed, he died before —the sinking of artesian wells in Chicago and the consequent discovery of the now undoubted fact. ”~ William B. Ogden held the same view, and used at times to make himself very interesting in expatiating upon it. With him, as well as with Col. Foster, it was no more than a theory, but he adhered to it “Mr. Cregter,..w.hij'""»3 .sclehitifie be--fnre he-Tsfr pnlitioinH, in wont to tallcapprovingly of the theory iu a manner to convince any man. §gg The phenomenon is the running ou f of this lake through the others of the easterly chain and over Niagara Falls of an incalculable quantity of water, and this con tin ual ly every minute in the hour, every hour ill the day, every day iu the year, and evecy year in progressive time! The lake lias no visible inlets# where, then, does it get its replenishment? From the Rocky Mountains. Through rents and crevices, down into caverns at the roots of these mountains, pour even the waters from melting snow. Four thousand feet they sink to strike a gravity incline that levels with tlieir floor under Chicago. Under this city and elsewhere on the west side of Lake Michigan—this is the proved theory, theory as good as proved—the snow-covered Rocky Mountains are constantly sending their waters to supply flowage and evaporation that is going forward in the watery expanse.