734 "^ [Assembly 



duing beauties of nature, combined with the awe-imposing and 

 thrilling grandeur of their mountain spectacles, with the pure, 

 invigorating and health-inspiring air which envelopes them, must 

 render these solitudes among the most desirable and attractive 

 resorts, to the philosopher, the invalid and the tourist of pleasure. 



Lake Placid, situated principally in North Elba, just touches 

 that beautiful valley, in the incomparable landscape of which it 

 forms a conspicuous and very essential feature. Its great expanse, 

 its deep and transparent waters, its beautiful proportions, stretch- 

 ing its sinuosities along bold headlands far into the recesses of 

 the mountains, until in the distant view, its waters seem to lave 

 the base of " White face," although in fact separated from it by 

 a rich valley of two miles in width, unite to render Lake Placid, 

 one of the most delightful and attractive objects in this land of 

 loveliness and silence. A small pond connects with the lake, by 

 a narrow channel. This pond has no other inlet or outlet, and is 

 distinguished by a singular circumstance. The water flows for a 

 period of two or three minutes, from the lake into the pond, an in- 

 terval of a few seconds succeeds, with no apparent motion of the 

 water, after this, for the same time, it flows back again into the 

 lake. This ebbing and flowing is, I believe, perpetual.* Lake 

 Placid is one of the most important heads of the Au Sable river. 

 The manufacturing interest on the line of that stream, has erected 

 at the outlet of the lake, an expensive and ponderous dam. This 

 work, forms the lake into a capacious reservoir, and secures a 

 permanent supply of water at all seasons, to the immense works 

 moved by the Au Sable. 



I may here appropriately refer to a fact of some philosophical 

 interest and great practical importance. In the progress of my 

 survey, I have observed, in repeated instances, the ruins of mills* 

 and dams, which in the early occupation of the county had am- 

 ple water power, not a vestige of which now remains, but a deep 

 and worn ravine, that once formed its channel. As the progress 

 of agricultural and manufacturing improvements, before which 

 forests are levelled, the country opened, and the earth exposed to 

 the influence of the sun and atmosphere, advances, springs and 



•T. L. Nash. 



