Lakes Near Laporte 85 



to Mr. Leverett^ this moraine is predominately clay west of Valparaiso 

 and sand and gravel east of that point. 



Four other small areas lie to the northwest of the Valparai-so 

 moraine in LaPorte County. These are a belt of outwash about two 

 miles wide comprising 3.9 per cent of the county, small patches of 

 moraine comprising 1.8 per cent, a lacustrine plain, part of the bed of 

 Lake Chicago comprising 2.8 per cent and a part of Lake Michigan 

 comprising- 1.8 per cent. Sand dunes have encroached upon much of 

 the land portions of these areas. Since these areas have little to do 

 with the problem of the LaPorte lakes they will not be discussed in 

 detail. 



Origin of Lakes. Three types of lakes occur in LaPorte County. 

 Those which lie in the Kankakee lowland are lemnants of the great 

 marginal lake which once occupied this area. Those which lie within 

 the Valparaiso moraine are principally of the irregular type of lake 

 which occupy the irregular depressions left by glacial deposit. There are 

 probably some kettle hole lakes which are formed by melting of buried 

 masses of ice within the moraine. This type of lake is small, nearly 

 circular and deep. They are usually closely associated with the irregular 

 type and are sometimes hard to distinguish from them. The group of 

 lakes which lie west and north of LaPorte are of the irregular type. 

 The group of lakes of which this paper treats specifically form a cres- 

 cent partially within the city limits and partially on the northwest 

 edge of the city. The limbs of the crescent point north and beginning 

 with the northeasternmost lake we find, Lower, Clear, Lily, Stone, South 

 Pine and North Pine, the last forming the northwest limb. On the 

 northeast limb to the north of Lower Lake are three other small lakes, 

 Lower and Upper Fishtrap and Horseshoe Lakes. These three lakes, 

 however, are detached from the other groups by considerable divides and ^ 

 lie at considerably different levels so are treated only incidentally in 

 this paper. 



Status of Lakes at Earliest White Settlement. The six lakes named 

 in the first group above are remnants of two lakes which existed when 

 white settlers first came to this region. Lower, Clear, Lily and Stone 

 lakes were then i^arts of one lake the extent of which is shown in figure 

 2. The elevation of this lake was about thirteen feet higher than the 

 present level of Clear Lake or about 804 feet above sea level. The two 

 Pine lakes were united at that time and the extent of this lake is 

 shown in figure 2. The elevation of this lake was about twenty feet 

 higher than the present level of North Pine Lake or about 809 feet 

 above sea level. The divide between these two lakes was a low narrow 

 ridge through which a channel was cut to allow the passage of a small 

 steam boat. This boat was used to convey passengers from LaPorte 

 to the Old Baptist Assembly ground on the north end of North Pine 

 Lake where Pine Lake Village now stands. This steamer discontinued 

 operation about forty years ago. During these early years Clear 

 Lake had an outlet overland through the city of LaPorte somewhat 

 north of the business section. This outlet ceased to flow forty or fifty 



1 Monograph IJII, U. S. Geol. Suiv. 



