304 



ON THE PERIODICAL RISE AND PALI OF THE LAKES 



[1854 



whereas B tho centre and lower Lakes" were not so till the follow- 

 ing year; and that in 1827 Lakes Erie and < Ontario were between 

 two and three feel above their usual level, while Lake Superior 

 was lower than ever known before; — nil which circumstances 

 combined, with others yet to be noticed, have produced a convic- 

 tion thai each Lake is i rul'-[ h -i ni<-n 1. 1 \- liable In iri-.-^iiiarities of level 

 peculiar to itself. I allude to the well known, bul little thought 

 of, /act, that during the winter months large boulders, as well as 

 Bmaller masses of stone and gravel, lying alongshore, become 



firmly imbedded in the I m inline ice, ami nil any rise of the waters, 

 towards the close of the season, remain firmly attached to the 

 moving floating masses, liable to be either dropt again in deep 

 water, on the ice becoming whnl is called rotten, or to be re mm c. I 

 to some distant part of the shore, if not to be carried along by 

 the united wind and current towards the outlet of the Lake. 

 Admitting such to bo the ease — for there is every year abundant 

 evidence of the fact — it only remains to suppose that towards the 

 end of winter, as frequently occurs, an accumulation of loaded 

 drift ice takes place near the head of the Rapids in the neigh- 

 bourhood of Buffalo, and becomes temporarily united by a fresh 

 frost, and that a jam, as it is termed, then takes place, so as to 

 leave a more contracted space than usual for the passage of the 

 rushing volume of water below the broad roofing of ice, and that a 

 further rise afterwards happens, coupled with a thaw, during which 

 a deposition of the hitherto suspended rocky materials takes place 

 at the bottom of the channel, it will be evident that a still more 

 contracted space will be left for the discharge of the increasing- 

 flood ; and the natural consequence will be, that after the break- 

 ing up of the ice, the general surface of the Lake 'will have 

 assumed a higher level than would have otherwise been the case, 

 proportioned to the thickness of the stratum of boulders and 

 other rocky materials deposited at the bottom of the channel,— 

 liable to remain for a longer or shorter time, until gradually re- 

 moved by the action of the sweeping current: a process alto- 

 gether dependent on the strength of the latter, compared with 

 the degree of compactness and solidification acquired by the 

 rocky barrier opposed to it: and which may therefore require a 

 whole season, or even more, to be accomplished. Of the motive 

 power of ice, I myself have had ample proof, in the frequent dis- 

 lodgment of boulders of large size from one part of the Lake 

 shore to another, near ray own farm; but more particularly of a 

 vast rugged mass of limestone rock moved from comparatively 

 deep water, some distance out in the Lake, to a more shallow 

 part, so near the shore, that a large tree, dislodged from the high 

 bank above by the undermining fury of the waves, happened to 

 fall over in such a manner that its stem formed a very conveni- 

 ent though giddy bridge, from the beach to the stranger rock, 

 and thereby allowed' the latter to be afterwards used as a plea- 

 sant fishing station by my children. There are also, to my own 

 knowledge, many instances of the removal of boulders in the 

 different parts of the Rapids near Montreal. And among many 

 examples of the almost entire temporary obstruction of the out- 

 lets of Lakes Huron and Erie by the jamming of the ice, I shall 

 append to this paper an account of one which took place in the 

 Niagara River, between Buffalo and Fort Erie, in March, 1848, 

 with which I was at the time so much struck that I was induced 

 to write to a friend on the spot for further particulars, in hopes 

 of elucidating my long-cherished hypothesis; and such I have 

 no doubt would have been the case, had I been able to be pre- 

 sent myself to compare facts. Independent of that, however, the 

 particulars connected with the obstruction in the Niagara* alluded 



* The account of this singular phenomenon is unavoidably postponed till 

 some future time. 



to, were of o extraordinary a character as to deserve being placed 

 on permanent record. 



With respect to the 3d debateable question — the daily oscillations 

 or other irregular transient tides observable in the dill, rent Lakes; 

 J may obsei i e that, making allowance for a greater or less degree 

 of barometrical pressure, I might perhaps be disposed to assent 

 in few «oids to the now generally received opinion, that in other 

 respects they may be ascribed to the influence of the prevailing 

 winds upon their broad expanse, more or less modified by tlcir 

 peculiar form and direction, and the relative b.-aring and nature 

 of their extremities, as well as by the often verv jagged and irre- 

 gular outline of particular inlets or bays, and other ii sular 

 localities, such as Kewenaw Bay on Lake Superior, Green Bay 

 on Lake Michigan, Presque Isle Peninsula and Long Point on 

 Lake Erie, and the Bay of Quinte on Lake Ontario. But it seems 

 to me that in so doing I would be conceding too much, as, in my 

 humble unscientific apprehension, I am disposed to think that 

 though such may be the case to a general extent, it is not the 

 less necessary to prove, by a long and regular course of minute 

 observations, whether such be the fact or not, as well as how far the 

 surface of such vasi bodies of water may not at times be considerably 

 influenced by barometrical pressure on the one. hand, or by lunar 

 attraction on the other, particularly at the times of the vernal 

 and autumnal equinoxes; and the more so, considering that late 

 observations of philosophers in Europe have not only decided 

 that there is a perceptible tide in the Mediterranean, Euxine, and 

 Baltic, as well as in other altogether close saline seas, but also 

 that something like barometric and lunar influence, or both, is 

 observable on the inland fresh-water lakes of Switzerland and 

 elsewhere. In confirmation of this I would, as regards the lat- 

 ter, beg to refer to. the writings of Dr. Young, alluded to in an 

 early part of these remarks, in conjunction with a valuable paper 

 on the Lakes of Switzerland, by Colonel Jackson of the Royal 

 Geographical Society, which lately appeared in the Canadian 

 Journal, incorporated in a series of interesting articles on the va- 

 riations in the level of the Canadian Lakes, from the pen of its 

 learned editor, in which those oscillations (there termed seiches) 

 are said to amount to no less than five feet. Nay, so interest- 

 ingly appropriate to the present question do I regard a portion 

 of the article alluded to, that I am tempted, in spite of the already 

 great length of this paper, to transcribe the following,as the con- 

 clusion at which a learned German Professor has arrived on the 

 subject: — "1st. That the seiches of the Lake of Geneva are 

 much more frequent than is generally imagined. 2d. That they 

 happen at all seasons of the year, and at all hours of the day; but 

 that they are generally most severe in the spring and in the 

 autumn. 3d. That the state of the atmosphere seems to have a 

 decided influence, it being remarked, that in proportion as that 

 state is less changeable, so are the Seiches less frequent, and 

 vice versa. The Seiches have always been considerable when 

 the atmosphere has been loaded with heavy clouds, or when the 

 weather, in other respects severe, has threatened to be stormy, 

 and when the barometer has sunk. 4th. That though Seiches 

 are more frequent in spring and autumn, they are more consider- 

 able in the summer, and, in particular, towards the close of the 

 seasoa The highest that have been observed happened in the 

 month of September. 5th. That the minimum of the Seiches has 

 no precise term : their maximum seems to be five feet. 6th. 

 That although the duration of the Seiches is very variable, the 

 greatest extent seems not to exceed 20 or 25 minutes, but usu- 

 ally lasts a much shorter time. And TtL, That they are not pe- 

 culiar to the Lake of Geneva alone; M. Yaucher having ob- 

 served them on the Lakes of Zurich, of Annecy, and of Constance. 



