Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 91, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 August 1901 — IS LAKE ERIE DRYING UP? [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

IS LAKE ERIE DRYING UP?

Startling Report Which Comes from a Government (official. Tradition has It that once upon a time, for a single day, since civilizaJJon obtained a footing on this continent, the bed of the Niagara Itiver was dry and the cliffs down which the mighty waters have since plunged without cessation stood forth naked and black and frowning and grim. The phenomenon was explained on natural grounds. The same things may happen again under similar circumstances, though such an occurrence would attract more wondering visitors probably than does the great cataract now as It roars and surges and flashes in the sunlight from century to century. It must suggest to most people a surprise of hardly less degree to be Informed that Lake Erie is In danger of becoming so shallow as to offer obstacles to

navigation. We can conceive of the Niagara being dammed at its source, but few have ever dreamed that the vast expanse of water which furnishes it its current would ever perceptibly shrink. That is the startling report, however, that the chief engineer of the Marine Department of Canada has made. He has returned to Ottawa from a tour of inspection of the upper lakes, and states that Lake Erie is lower than was ever known to be ilie case before. This condition is due, he thinks, to a series of dry seasons, to the drain made by the power of development works at Niagara Falls and to the fact that dredging the Tonawanda canal has made it easier for water to escape from the lake. He considers it imperative' that the United States government adopt remedial measures at an early date, else navigation upon its present basis will be seriously interfered with.

He offers no suggestions as to what remedies should be applied. The seasons are not likely to remain always dry,, though when a body of water like this great inland sea is appreciably affected it is about the most startling commentary yet noted upon the policy of stripping the country of its raingatherers in the forests of the Northwest. Lake Erie at best is one of the shallowest of the great chain. There are three divisions in its floor, increasing its depth toward its outlet. The upper portion has a level floor with an average depth of about 30 feet. The middle portion, taking in the prinflpal part of the lake, has a mean depth of from CO to 70 feet. The lower portion varied from 00 to 240 feet. These measurements were taken a number of years ago and are not applicable to the reduced depth that has been reported. The area of the lake Is 9,000 square miles, or more by nearly a fourth than

that of the State of Massachusetts. But it drains only a narrow margin of country around it and receives no rivers of importance, the Maumee being the largest on the American side. It Is more thnn 800 feet higher than Lake Ontario. It is one of the most important factors in our system of lake navigation and furnishes business for many flourishing towns and cities. The present report concerning it may be a false alarm, a passing sensation, though we do not expect representations for the sake of sensation from scientific gentlemen in government service. No harm can come from a careful investigation of the conditions, to say the least.— Boston Transcript.

WIRE FENCE TELEPHONE—A CALL TO DINNER.