SOME FLORIDA LAKES AND LAKE BASINS.

with great rapidity. The rapid lowering of the surface is due, however, 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 became 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 i9, I89I. This quotation
is also from Dr. Dall'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 maintained 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 so-,Nth of Gainesville, the county seat. The lake was formerly a prairie, known as Alachua prairie 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 IO miles, emptying into Newnans Lake, a beautiful sheet of water covering io square miles.
rHOW THE LAKE WAS FORMED.
"The overflow from Newnans Lake forms a large creek named Pradirie 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 subterranean 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 overflow 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 Gainesville, the principal place for shipment north. After the overflow and the forming of a lake it was christened Alachua Lake. This name has beet' decided aon 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,ooo acres, and the average depth is from 2 to 14 feet.
LOWERING FOR SEVERAL YEARS.
"For seve-ral years the lake has been gradually lowering. The elevation of the water above sea level as given by the Savannah, Florida and Western Rail-