48 
FLORIDA GEOLOGICAL SURVEY—THIRD ANNUAL REPORT. 
below normal during the preceding four years and at the Lake 
City station the rainfall had been below normal for at least three 
years in succession and apparently, from some imperfect records, 
had not reached normal during the preceding seven years. 
Under these circumstances it was deemed advisable to make use 
of the favorable opportunity during the fall of 1909 for investigat¬ 
ing the geology of these lake basins. 
Attempts have been made to drain some of these lakes as the 
land is more or less valuable for agricultural purposes. In some 
instances drainage operations have been delayed owing to 
legal difficulties arising from the variable character of the 
lakes. The lake basins claimed by the State under the title of 
swamp and overflowed lands were likewise claimed by abutting 
property owners under the privilege of riparian rights. A recent 
decision of the State Supreme Court vests the title of the lands in 
question with the State, not, however, as swamp and overflowed 
land but as navigable water. 
LOCATION OF LAKES. 
The lakes described in this paper occur in the upland section 
of the interior of Florida. In general they may be said to occur in 
a belt extending with interruptions from the Ocklocknee Rivei 
east and south paralleling the Gulf of Mexico to Hernando and 
Pasco Counties. The largest and best known examples are found 
in Leon, Jefferson, Columbia and Alachua Counties. Smaller but 
no less typical lakes of this type occur in Madison, Suwannee, 
Marion, Levy, Orange, Hernando and probably some other counties 
adjacent to those mentioned. West of the Apalachicola River 
small lakes of similar character occur in Jackson County and pos¬ 
sibly also in Holmes County.* The lakes selected for description 
as illustrating this type include Lakes Iamonia, Jackson, and La,- 
fayette, in Leon County; Lake Miiccosukee in Jefferson County: 
Alligator Lake in Columbia County; Alachua Lake in Alachua 
County; and Ocheesee Lake in Jackson County. The belt ,>£ 
country through which these lakes occur, although now broken up 
through natural processes of erosion into' several more or less well 
defined sub-divisions, was probably at one time continuous. 
CHARACTERISTICS. 
The leading characteristics of these lakes have been mentioned:. 
They do not occur along the coast nor in the level low lying 1 parts 
LA T — "Tv v ■ i t ',V;' —■ •/ Of.'-* ■ Co/Vf ' A ' : -- 4 - 
^For location of counties, see rhap plate 10, following page 121. i 
