324 Extracts from the Journals. [April, 



Certain it is, that the fall of Lake Ontario need not be traced 

 to any uncommon or mysterious agency. The operation of the 

 common laws of nature oti'ers an adequate and satisfactory solu- 

 tion. 



Sudden fall and rise of Lake Ontario. — September 20th, 1845, 

 the water at the mouth of the Genesee is stated, suddtnly to have 

 fallen about two feet, from the apparent passing of the water in 

 mass outwards, and after some minutes to have suddenly returned 

 in a wave about two feet above the common level. The Adver- 

 tiser of this city referred to the log-book of the revenue cutter 

 John Y. Mason, for proof. At Cobourg, on the Canada side, the 

 same phenomena was observed near the same hour, and noticed 

 in the Cobourg papers. Only good evidence will substantiate 

 such a matter as fact, and the cause is probably to be traced to 

 winds or water-spouts, or both. There have been reports of such 

 phenomena before, and once as occurring in Seneca lake and 

 observed at Geneva. 



Since the preceding facts were penned, the Daily Advertiser 

 has added to the evidence and added other facts. The writer 

 states, that the oscillations of the water on said September 20th, 

 took twelve and a half minutes — that the difference in the level 

 of the water was twenty-five inches — that the water rushed out 

 of the marshes and caves as well as the river, with great rapidi- 

 ty — the boats were lelt entirely on land for some minutes — that 

 at Toronto and Cobourg in Canada, the same phenomena were 

 observed, and that the steamer Princess Charlotte was aground 

 for a short time, by the dilFerence of the level greater than on 

 the American side of the lake, and that the cause was probably a 

 tornado which passed that day in a N. E. direction over Orleans 

 county, doing much damage, and spent itself on the lake — that 

 several waterspouts were seen during the storm, one of which 

 endangered the safety of a steamboat then on the lake. It hardly 

 needs to be remarked, that the cause here assigned is plausible 

 and adequate. 



Comparative Sriow. — In the early settlement of this section of 

 our state, only a moderate depth of snow is said to have fallen in 

 the winters, while the weather was much less severe than it has 

 been since the country was cleared of the forest. For the last 

 ten years, there has been much snow during the Avinter, and the 

 depth has not unfrequently been from a foot to two feet in depth 

 at a time. February has proved a month o-f snow of late years. 

 It should be remarked too that more snow falls on the district 

 near and south of Lake Ontario, than on the tract a little farther 

 south. The almost daily fall of snow, caused by the vapor of the 

 lake, extends only a few miles from the lake. 



