SOME FLORIDA LAKES AND LAKE BASINS. 05 
with great rapidity. The rapid lowering of the surface is due, how¬ 
ever, as previously stated, not to greater rapidity in the escape of 
the water, but to the fact that the total surface area of the lake be¬ 
came greatly restricted so that the escape of a given amount of 
water lowered the surface much more rapidly. 
The following remarks regarding the lake appeared in the 
Washington Evening Star of September 19, 1891. This quotation 
is also from Dr. Dali’s report. 
“The Star recently printed an account of the disappearance of Alachua Lake 
in Florida, a lake that was so well established that a steamboat line was main¬ 
tained on it. A U. S. Geological Survey party has been engaged at work in 
that region. A member of this party, Mr. Hersey Munroe, who is now in the' 
city, gave an interesting account of the lake, or rather the ex-lake, to a Star 
reporter. “Alachua Lake,” said Mr. Munroe, “is situated in north latitude 290 
35' and west,, longitude 820 20'in Alachua County, Fla., and 2 miles south of 
Gainesville, the county seat. The lake was formerly a prairie, known as Alachua 
praifie before the Seminole War during 1835-37. It has since been named 
Payne’s Prairie, after King Payne, an old Seminole chief of an early day. The 
prairie was a great grazing spot for the Indians’ cattle and later was used for 
a like purpose and for tillage by the whites, some fine crops of corn and cotton 
being grown. The prairie lands are immense meadows, covered by the finest 
grass, interspersed with clumps of beautiful oak trees and palmettoes. These 
lands are subject to inundation during the summer season. Hatchet Creek 
rises 3 miles north of Gainesville and flows in every direction of the compass 
for a distance of 10 miles, emptying into Newnans Lake, a beautiful sheet of 
water covering 10 square miles. 
“how the lake was formed. 
“The overflow from Newnans Lake forms a large creek named Prairie 
Creek, which wended its way through Paynes Prairie to Alachua Sink, one of 
the curiosities of the State. There the waters found their way into a subterra¬ 
nean passage. Visitors, to have their curiosity gratified by seeing what the effect 
would be to have logs thrown into the sink, were the probable cause of the over¬ 
flow of Paynes Prairie. The logs would float out to the center of the sink, whirl 
around in a circle and suddenly disappear. This choking of the outlet to the 
waters of Prairie Creek caused the overflow and made a sheet of water sufficient 
to float small steamers and other crafts. 
“One steamer in particular had a splendid freight traffic, during the vegetable 
season carrying shipments of vegetables from its wharf on Chacala pond across 
Alachua Lake to the mouth of Sweetwater branch, the nearest point to Gaines¬ 
ville, the principal place for shipment north. After the overflow and the forming 
of a lake it was christened Alachua Lake. This name has been decided uuon by 
the United States Board on Geographic Names. Alachua Lake is 8 miles long, 
east and west, and in one place 4 miles in width, north and south, covers 16,000 
acres, and the average depth is from 2 to 14 feet. 
1 “lowering for several years. 
“For several years the lake has been gradually lowering. The elevation of 
the water above sea level as given by the Savannah, Florida and Western Rail- 
