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Syracuse is the station having most nearly the elevation of the surface of 

 Turkey Lake. The mean level of the lake is about 5 feet below the station at 

 Syracuse. This gives the lake an elevation of 864 feet above the sea, and 282 feet 

 above the surface of Lake Michigan. 



CHANGES IN LEVEL. 



Changes in the level of the lake have been due to three causes : erosion, the 

 dam which is built across Turkey Creek just below the outlet of the lake, and 

 climatic conditions. 



Old beach formations give evidence that the level of the lake was formerly 5 

 or 6 feet higher than at present. By erosion the channel at the outlet was cut 1 

 feet below this ancient level, and the dam has raised the level of the lake 5 feet 

 to its present level. 



The history of the dam as given by an old settler is as follows : 

 A small dam was built in 1828, to which additions were made in 1831. This 

 dam washed out in 1833, and the present dam and mill race were begun in the 

 same year. This raised the level of the lake so that timber stood in water 5 feet 

 deep. Much of this timber remained uncut in 1840, and some was still standing 

 as late as 1865. 



The vertical distance between the level of the water in the creek below the 

 dam and the top of the waste gate, December 7, 1895, was five feet. This would 

 be the amount the dam, when in working order, would raise the level of the lake. 

 The dam is not in use at present and a small portion has been removed, which 

 allows the water to pass into the creek at a level 16 inches below the top of the 

 waste gate. This present condition of the dam holds the water of the lake 3 feet 

 8 inches above the level of the water in the creek below. 



The submerged stumps in many parts of the margin of the lake is the best 

 evidence that the dam had the effect of increasing the area of the lake. These 

 stumps stand at present in water from a few inches to two feet or three feet deep. 

 Along the margin of Syracuse Lake the stumps are most abundant at the point of 

 the lake extending furthest west, and on the east shore along the edge of the 

 marsh. Turkey Creek, from the lake to the dam, is sixty feet wide, and only 

 twenty feet along the middle is clear of stumps. This was the channel of the 

 creek before the dam was built, and the stumps now standing in water are the 

 remains of the timber which grew along the banks of the creek. On the north 

 and south sides of Buck Island, at the south end of Syracuse Lake, areas of sub- 

 merged stumps indicate that this island was formerly one hundred feet wider in 



