I20 FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY SIXTH ANNUAL REPORT. 



low normal during the preceding four years and at the Lake 

 City station the rainfall had been below normdl for at least three 

 years in succession and apparently, from some imperfect records, 

 had not reached normal during the preceding seven years. 



Under these circumstances it was deemed advisable to make use 

 of the favorable opportunity during the fall of 1909 for investigat- 

 ing the geology of these lake basins. 



Attempts have been made to drain some oi these lakes as the 

 land is more or less valuable for agricultural purposes. In some 

 instances drainage operations have been delayed owing to 

 legal difficulties arising from the variable character of the 

 lakes. The lake basins claimed by the State under the title of 

 swamp and overflowed lands were likewise claimed by abutting 

 property owners under the privilege of riparian rights. A decision 

 of the State Supreme Court, rendered in 1909, vests the title of the 

 lands in question with the State, not, however, as swamp and over- 

 flowed land, but. as navigable water. 



LOCATION OF LAKES. 



The lakes described in this paper occur in the upland section 

 of the interior of Florida. In general they may be said to occur in 

 a belt extending with interruptions from the Ocklocknee River 

 east and south paralleling the Gulf of Mexico to Hernando and 

 Pasco Counties. The largest and best known examples are found 

 in Leon, Jefferson, Columbia and Alachua Counties. Smaller but 

 no less typical lakes of this type occur in Madison, Suwannee, 

 Marion, Levy, Orange, Hernando and probably some other counties 

 adjacent to those mentioned. West of the Apalachicola River 

 small lakes of similar character occur in Jackson County and pos- 

 sibly also in Holmes County. The lakes selected for description 

 as illustrating this type include Lakes lamonia, Jackson, and La: 

 fayette, in Leon County; Lake Miccosukee in Jefferson County; 

 Alligator Lake in Columbia County; Alachua Lake in Alachua 

 County; and Ocheesee Lake in Jackson County. The belt of 

 country through which these lakes occur, although now broken up 

 through natural processes of erosion into several more or less well 

 defined sub-divisions, was probably at one time continuous. 



CHARACTERISTICS. 



The leading characteristics of these lakes have been mentioned. 

 They do not occur along the coast nor in the level low lying parts 



I 



