294 



ON Till' PERIODICAL RISE AND FALL OF TIIK LAKES. 



[1854 



fixed number of stations, at hours simultaneous with the other 1 

 meteorological observations. 



Taking it, at all events, for granted that such will !>■■ the case, 

 I proceed, as an indispensable preliminary step, t.i take a discur 

 sivo view of the yet debateable state of the question, as brought 

 home to my mind by a comparison of the casual observations 

 made l>_v myself on Lake Erie, compared with the recorded opi- 

 nions expressed by others, possessing either greater ability, or 

 more leisure and better opportunities, for prosecuting such an 

 enquiry, — as far as the very miscellaneous and disjointed memo- 

 randa accumulated by me will enable mo to do so. 



In accordance with this intentionl may, in the first place, re- 



mark, that though the phenomena < nected with the various 



periodica] fluctuations in the level of the Lakes appear to have 

 attracted the notice of philosophic travellers near two centuries 

 ago; they remained altogether uninvestigated till very lately. 

 The minor tides or oscillations were first alluded to by Fra. Mar- 

 quette, the Jesuit, in 1G73, and more particularly by the Baron 

 La Houtanin 1GS9: and they were afterwards further noticed 

 by Charlevois in 1721, and also by the British travellers, Mr. 

 Carver in 1766, and Mr. Weld in 1796; but it was not till 

 twenty years afterwards that the whole subject began to engage 

 the particular attention of men of science in America, and espe- 

 cially of the talented individuals engaged in the Geological Sur- 

 veys of the States of New York, Ohio, and Michigan — among 

 whom I find them successively noticed bv Colonel Whiting in 

 1819 and 1829, Mr. Schoolcraft in 1820," General Dearborn in 

 1820, and Governor Cass in 182S ; and more particularly by Pro- 

 fessors Hall and Mather, Colonel Whittlesley, Dr. Houghton, Mr. 

 lliggins, and others, in their valuable official reports, from 1838 

 to 1842; as well as by various observant British officers and 

 travellers, such as Captains Bayfield and Bonnycastle, and Messrs 

 McTaggart, Macgregor, and others, the purport of all of whose 

 observations will be found more or less glanced at in the sequel : — 

 and yet, strange to say, these singular phenomena still remain 

 involved in mystery 7 ! 



It so happens that the observations of all the early writers on 

 this interesting subject were confined to Lakes Superior, Michi- 

 gan, and Erie, and were directed more to the daily fluctuations 

 or tides remarked at particular places, than to the actual exist- 

 ence of the traditionary great septennial rise and fall of the waters 

 of the whole Lakes. Thus, for instance, Baron La Hontan, on 

 reaching Green Bay, at the northern extremity of Lake Michigan, 

 at its conjunction with Lake Huron, remarks that where the Fox 

 river is discharged into that Bay, he observed the waters of the 

 the Lake swell three feet high in the course of twenty-four 

 hours, and decrease as much in the same length of time. And 

 he also noticed a coutrariety and conflict of currents in the nar- 

 row strait which connects Lakes Huron and Michigan, which 

 were so strong that they sometimes sucked iu the fishing nets, 

 although two or three leagues off. In some seasons it also hap- 

 pens that the current runs three days eastwards, two days west- 

 wards, and one day to the south, and four to the northwards, 

 sometimes more and sometimes less. 



Charlevois also noticed similar appearances; and supposes 

 Lakes Huron and Michigan to be alternately discharged into each 

 other through the Straits of Michillimaekinac; and mentions 

 the fact that in passing that Strait his canoe was carried by tho 

 current against a head wind. 



But it was not till 50 years afterwards that we were indebted to 

 that intelligent British traveller, Mr. Carver, for any great additional 



ght on this mysterious subject, as well as for other particulars 

 n ardiogtbe then unknown region of Lake Superior,from inform- 

 ation acquired on the spot But as his remark* are alluded to 

 by a subsequent equally respectable and observant English wri- 

 ter, Mr. Weld, who visited Canada in 1796, we are content to 

 refer to the interesting volum.- of the latter for the following 

 (much condensed) appropriate observations.* 



" It is confidently asserted, not only by the Indians, but also 

 greal numbers of the white people who live on the shoo 

 Lake Ontario, that the waters of this Lake rise and fall alter- 

 nately every seventh year. Oilers, on the contrary, deny that 



such a fluctuation does take place; and, indeed, il differs so ma- 

 terially from any that have been observed in large bodii 

 water in other parts of the globe, that I am tempted to I" li 

 it is merely an imaginary change. Nevertheless, when it is 

 considered, that, according to the belief of the oldest inhabitants 

 of the country, such a periodical ebbing and flowing takes place, 

 and that it has never been clearly proved to the contrary, we are 

 bound to suspend our opinions on the subject For instance: a 

 gentleman who resides close upon the borders of the Lake, not 

 far from Kingston, and had leisure to attend to such subjects, 

 told me that he had observed the state of the Lake for nearly 

 fourteen years, and that he was of opinion that the waters did 

 not ebb and flow periodically; yet he acknowledged the verj 

 remarkable fact that several of the oldest white inhabitants in 

 his neighbourhood declared, previous to the late rising of the 

 Lake, that the year 1795 would he the high year; and that in 

 the summer of that year the Lake actually did rise to a very 

 uncommon height. He said, however, that he had reason to 

 think that the rise on this occasion was wholly owing to fortui- 

 tous circumstances, and not to any regular established law of 

 nature; and that its being greater than usual was more imagi- 

 nary than real ; and he formed this opinion from the circumstance 

 that when the Lake had risen to its unusual height in 1795, he 

 had questioned some of the oldest people as to the comparative 

 height of the water on this and former occasions, when they 

 affirmed that they had seen them equally high before.'' Now, 

 a grove of trees which immediately adjoined this gentleman's 

 garden, of at least thirty years' growth, was entirely destroyed 

 this year by the waters that flowed amongst them ; and if, 

 therefore, the Lake had ever risen so high before, this grove 

 would have beeu then destroyed; a circumstance militating 

 stongly against the evidence as to the height of the waters, but 

 which only proved that they had risen on this occasion higher 

 than they had done for thirty years' preceding, and not that they 

 had not during that term risen periodically above their usual 

 level.* 



• I take the opporhmity of here remarking that I might easily have im- 

 parted a seeming greater degree of originality to this paper by continuing 

 to make only occasional reference to parts of information derived from dil- 

 ferent writers, and connecting them with a few second-hand observations 

 in my own language ; but feeling myself already dissatisfied on that head, 

 and being desirous of exhibiting the whole evidence on the question, inde- 

 pendent of any opinion of my own, I have adopted a more equitable course, 

 in, as much as possible, allowing my authorities lo speak for themselves, in 

 their own language. I may at the same time add, that, in perusing Ihe 

 following and other hurriedly copied extracts and memoranda, accumulated 

 at uncertain intervals during a course of more than fifteen years, and fre- 

 quently at times when opportunities of access to books were " like angels' 

 visits, few and far between," it must be bome in mind that they were made 

 without any view to publication, and simply for the purpose of furnishing 

 the means of hereafter comparing the observations of different writers on 

 an important philosophical question, in which I had long taken a deep in- 

 terest; and that they will, therefore, perhaps often be found neither alto- 

 gether verbatim nor regularly connected, and perhaps even betraying not 



