SOME FLORIDA LAKES AND LAKE BASINS.

plateau. In the course of time the streams cut down to or nearly to the underlying Vicksburg Limestone. The result of the close approach to this limestone was the formation of sinks due to scltion in the limestone. After the formation of the sinks it became possible for the water to pass through the sinks and find its escape by subterranean drainage. This process of solution and subsidence continued through long intervals of time has resulted in the formation of these numerous basins. Some of these basins have beel carried to a level equal to or below their original outlet through Orange Creek.
Basins may be seen at the present time in varying stages of de-velopment. In the plateau itself no basins are found. Even here, however, are found occasional sinks, the first evident effect of the reduction by solution. An illustration of a partially developed basin may be found in Sanchez Prairie near Hague. The country surrounding this small basin stands at a level of about i8o feet. The basin itself occupying an area of a few hundred acres is reduced to an elevation of about ioo feet above sea. Hogtown Prairie near Gainesville (Text figure 5) represents a more advanced basin. Hogtown Creek probably originally flowed through Alachua Basin, thence to the St. Johns River through Orange Creek. The formation of the sink, however, permitted a subterranean escape and around this sink is formed Hogtown Prairie, now sepa rated from Paynes Prairie by elevations amounting to twenty or thirty feet.
OCHEESEE LAKE.
Of the few lakes occurring in Jackson County Ocheesee Lake is perhaps the largest. This lake lies in the southeastern part of the county extending from near Grand Ridge in a southeasterly direction to within three or four miles of the Apalachicola River. The total length of the lake is six or seven miles. In breadth it varies from a few rods to possibly three-fourths of a mile. At the northwest end the surrounding country rises very gradually. The southwest part of the lake, however, is surrounded by red sandy hills which rise from 75 to ioo feet above the bottom of the lake. The lake is perhaps best described in this instance as a swamp. the greater part of the lake bottom being occupied by a growth of cypress. Near the east end open water occurs over an area of about ioo acres. The water sinks into the Chattahoochee Limestone at the south-east end of the lake.
The history of the development of this lake is very clear. Originally the drainage from this part of the county passed by

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