HYDROLOGY OF NEW YORK 



347 



Previous to 1886 Skaneateles lake was the principal feeder of 

 the Jordan level of Erie canal, but in that year Otisco and Owasco 

 lakes were also made feeders. The Skaneateles lake dam was 

 reconstructed 9 feet high by the State in 1887, and in 1893 was 

 again rebuilt by the Syracuse Water Board with its spillway 2 feet 

 higher than the crest of the old dam. The following are the 

 catchment areas of this stream : 



Squai« 



miles 



Land surface above State dam 60 . 3 



Water surface of lake 12.3 



Total catchment area, above foot of lake 73.0 



Total area above Willow Glen weir 74.3 



Total catchment above Jordan 03.0 



The elevation of Skaneateles lake is 867 feet plus tidewater, 

 while that of the outlet at the Erie canal crossing, near Jordan, 

 is about 400 feet. The lake lies in a deep valley, with bold shores 

 rising several hundred feet at either side. The figures given in 

 table No. 53 do not represent in any degree the natural runoff 

 of this catchment, but merely the water yield during the years 

 indicated, in which there was large storage. 



In March, 1895, the city of Syracuse began to draw water 

 through the new conduit to Skaneateles lake. The results 

 given in table No. 53 are the quantity flowing in the outlet as 

 measured on the weir located at Willow Glen, plus the outflow 

 through the conduit. 



In table No. 52 the mean monthly elevations of Skaneateles 

 lake, above and below an arbitrary datum, as derived from ob- 

 servations taken on the first, eighth, fifteenth and twenty-second 

 days of each month, are given for the water years 1890-1901, in- 

 clusive. These observations have been made by gate keepers of 

 the Canal Department and are approximate merely. In the 

 original record they are given to the nearest quarter of an inch, 

 while in the present record they have been translated to feet 

 and tenths — it has not been considered worth while to carry out 

 the hundredths of a foot. 



Geologically, Skaneateles lake catchment lies in the horizon 

 of the Hamilton shales. 



