THE COMEDY OF CRYSTAL LAKE: RE-CREATION OF AN HISTORIC CANAL THAT BECAME A BEACH
STACY LEROY DANIELS BENZIE CO. RIVER IMPROVEMENT CO. IMAGIN JUNE 19, 2018 Abstract
Crystal Lake, the 9th largest inland lake in MI, was lowered in 1873 in a failed attempt to build a canal to nearby Lake Michigan.
GIS analysis of a QL2 LiDAR dataset (MiSAIL) allowed re-creation of elevation drop; lake surface lost; water volume discharged; beach width gained; and dredged volume for three canals (*). (*) 17 ft; 2,000 A, 21 mi; 56 Bgal; 88 ft; 105 Kyd 3 The Crystal Lake Canals Outline • Location & Description of Crystal Lake
• “Tragedy” / “Comedy of Crystal Lake
• Topography & Bathymetry; Maps & Data
• Geomorphic Analysis & 3D Modelling
• Re-Creation & Recreation Greetings from Crystal Lake !
Crystal Lake is like a blue sapphire ring upon the first knuckle of the little finger of the left-hand mitten (palm down) depicting the Lower Peninsula of Michigan. A Brood of Lakelets
Winchell, Alexander, Climate of the Lake Region, Harper’s New Monthly Magazine 43(254), 275-285 (Jul 1871). Michigan Groundwater Mapping Project, Public Act 148 of 2003, Michigan Lakes, Crystal Lake ~ 11,000 YBP
Crystal Lake - An open embayment of glacial Lake Algonquin Climate change—the long view Maps of changing ice-margin positions 31,500 - 11,000 ybp https://wgnhs.uwex.edu/wisconsin- geology/ice-age/ Crystal Lake & Environs
Photograph® by Marge Beaver, Photography Plus, 2005. Geological History of Crystal Lake • “During the Algonquin stage, the Crystal Lake depression was connected with the waters in the Michigan basin by three channels. The Betsie River valley was flooded for several miles upstream from its mouth at Frankfort, and a connection existed between it and the Crystal Lake depression at the low sag in the Frankfort moraine, now occupied by the outlet of Crystal Lake.
• Likewise a connection with the waters that flooded the Platte Lake depression was made through the Round Lake sag in the Point Betsie moraine, on the north side of Crystal Lake.
• The bar between Crystal Lake and Lake Michigan was not in existence and the waters of Lake Algonquin had free access to the depression from the west (pl. VI, A).
• -- Calver, James Lewis, The Glacial and Post-Glacial History of the Platte and Crystal Lake Depressions, Benzie County, Michigan, Occasional Papers for 1946 on the Geology of Michigan, Part I., Mich. Geol. Survey, Pub. 45, Geol. Ser. 38, Pt. II, 1947, 70pp. Digital Elevation Model
Crystal Lake is ringed by moraines and terraces. Crystal Lake Watershed The “Tragedy” / “Comedy” “The Tragedy”: (Sad Beginning) • In 1873, Crystal Lake was 35 ft above Lake Michigan. • An attempt was made to construct a slack-water canal to Lake Michigan. • Whitecap waves washed out a temporary dam. • The lake level dropped 17 ft as 56 billion gal of water flushed down the outlet. • A 21-mile perimeter of “barren beach” (432 ft depth) was exposed. • A perceived “failure” of an “ill-conceived” project by an apparent scapegoat ? “The Comedy”: (Happy Ending) • The founding of the Village of Beulah, the coming of the railroad, installation of telegraph and telephone lines, development of lakeside resorts, construction of 1,100 cottages, all connected by an infrastructure of perimeter roads and trails. • Property value in 2016 was >$600,000,000. • An epochal event that had a permanent bearing on the subsequent development of Benzie County and one of the major incidents of the county's early history. • An unqualified “success” by a visionary celebrated as a local hero ! Archibald Jones, Jr. (1811-1890) President of the Benzie Co. River Improvement Co. Responsible for the enterprise that resulted in the lowering of Crystal Lake by 20 ft in 1873. “The top of Crystal Lake was too far above the beach !” On The Draining of Lakes • “It would seem axiomatic that the shores and surrounding country should be well drained, if the lake is to be useful for summer homes, in order to secure healthful living conditions and to insure a minimum of pests. However, the writer has seen far too many resorts planned on a magnificent scale which exist only on plats executed for the use of distant real estate dealers and has helped in locating some of the properties only to find them situated on an insignificant lake in the midst of a swamp .”
• Physiographic study would eliminate this. An ideal site, … is to be found on lakes which have stood for a considerable time at an appreciably higher level – of which Michigan has many – for under these conditions a sandy terrace is now exposed high and dry above the level, surmounted by a cliff of varying height from the base of which springs of cool, pure water often flow(!).”
• “As stated above, lakes have served a useful purpose in the storing of water for various projects which, in most cases, necessitates the building of a dam (or a canal), thereby interfering with the natural level of the lake in question.”
• -- Irving Day Scott, “ Inland Lakes of Michigan” , 1921. Stock Certificate
[(*) Original stock certificate found under a tapestry in the Benzonia Library.]
$25 invested at 8% and compounded for 137 years ~ $1,000,000 ! Historical Site Marker
[(*) Dedicated at the Crystal Lake Outlet, 22 Aug 2015.] Map Showing Sources & Courses of the PLATTE & BETSEY RIVERS, BENZIE COUNTY, MICH. Together with Some of the Obstructions and Proposed Improvements , DRAWN for the BENZIE COUNTY RIVER IMPROVEMENT COMPANY, by B.C. Hubbell, DRAFTSMAN, Benzonia, Mich. (ca. 1873) Crystal Lake Canal System
Overlays of Current Crystal Lake and Its Watershed by Michael Michelak. Topography/Bathymetry of Lakes
• Topographic maps show elevations (levels) of land forms above a lake surface. • Bathymetric maps show depths (levels) of landforms below a lake surface. • Both elevations and depths are described by contour lines, a series of locations at a constant level. • The surface of Crystal Lake is 600 feet above sea level. • The hills (moraines) around Crystal Lake (on the avg.) are about twice as “high” as the Lake is “deep”. • A moraine is a ridge of rocks and sediment moved and deposited in ridges by glaciers. How Best to Estimate D, A, V ?
• Bathymetric maps (Water surface area and volume afo depth) • Hypsographic extrapolation (Water meets the land) • Planimetric maps (Position but no topo) • Topographic maps (Land area afo of elevation) The Level of Crystal Lake is variable because it is high, low, up, down, in, out, or Crystal Lake – Its Many Levels
Terraces are “steps” of land above & below the water surface. CRYSTAL LAKE HYPSOGRAPH (Derived from combination Topo-Bathy)
640
630
620 HIGH ~ 612 FT 610
NOW ~ 600 FT (BREAKLINE) 600 ELEVATION, FT ELEVATION,
LOW ~ 595 FT 590
580 7,000 8,000 9,000 10,000 11,000 12,000 LAKE AREA, A Hypsographical Extrapolation Shoreline & Backwater Areas (dunes and swales) South Canal (Outlet Dam) A
B 604 A “South Canal: A to B B 602 600 598 596 564 592 0 5000 North Canal (Round Lake) Outlet route Focus Maps Geomorphic Features (Round Lake) Water elevations (Things to lookB for…)
A
616 A B 612 “North” Canal: A to B 608 604 600 596 0 3000 West Canal (CSA) A
B
620 B A “West “ Canal: A to B 610
600
590
580 0 4000 Canal Routes & Lake Elevations
585’
612’
577’
CANALS: “SOUTH” ; “NORTH” ; “WEST” (REV. 061918)
39 620
615 CRYSTAL LAKE LEVELS HIGH = 612 FT 610 NOW = 600 FT LOW = 595 FT 605
600
595 AT BETSIE RIVER 590 ELEVATION, FT ELEVATION, 585 AT PLATTE LAKE
580 AT LAKE MICHIGAN 575 0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000 14000 16000 18000 20000 DISTANCE, FT
SOUTH NORTH WEST
Lake Parameters Lake High Low Now Year 1873 1904 2018 Elev, ft 612 595 600 L, mi 8.71 8.09 8.13 W, mi 3.31 2.75 2.79 D, ft 177 160 165 P, mi 27.478 21.942 21.709 A, Acre 10,754 8,753 9,896 V, Bgal 261 205 221 ΔA, % - 18.6 (H - L) - 8.0 (H - N) ΔV, % (~) - 21.4 (H - L) - 15.3 (H - N) Canal & Beach Parameters Canals Lengths, mi Dredged • Name Land Water L+W Vol, yd 3 South 1.04 8.65 9.69 30.5 North 1.52 8.77 10.29 29.6 West 1.01 .00 1.01 44.5 Totals 3.57 17.42 20.99 104.6 Beach Elev, ft ΔE, ft ΔA, A ΔV, Bgal Width, ft 612-600 12 858 40 88 600-595 5 1,143 15 432 612-595 17 2,001 (!) 55 668(?) By Guess or by Gosh! (I) • “Very few people who are familiar with the present appearance of Crystal Lake and the wide beach which completely surrounds it, realize that up to 1873 the water was much higher than it is at present—eight or ten feet at least (sic, twelve feet). It reached to the woods and the foot of the surrounding hills, leaving little or no space between the water and the over-hanging trees.”
• “Its area at that time was some two thousand acres (sic, 2001 A) more of surface than at present, and during severe storms the waves were much higher and the white caps more numerous. On the early maps of the region, indeed, the lake was called "Cap Lake“, probably so named because of the special prominence of the white caps upon its surface, even with but moderate wind.”
• -- William L. Case, “The Tragedy of Crystal Lake ”, 1922, page 1. By Guess or by Gosh! (II) • Luman B. Gorivan (1868-1971), a participant in log drives on the Betsie River, recalled the canal story:
• “Years ago, after it happened, there was a beach, my gosh, I don’t know it must have been twenty rods wide (330 ft) all around that (Crystal Lake). They’d lowered that lake and it all run down the Betsie River … that water … and changed things … spoiled the river.”
• -- Overlease, William (Roy) (1924-2007), and Overlease, Edith, Daylight in the Swamp, An Oral History of Logging in Northwest Michigan, Bayside Printing, Frankfort, MI, 1996, 149pp. Page 139. By Guess or by Gosh! (III) • Charles M. Anderson, a local fisherman and historian, also described the lowering of the Lake:
• “The beaches at one time were under water, as the water was 6 or 7 feet higher than at this time. The water used to come up to the bluffs, so said Ivor Peterson, George Waters, and George Slyfield. One had to walk near the top of the bluff before Crystal Lake was lowered 6 feet.”…
• The once beautiful Crystal Lake was quickly stripped of her beauty. For a long time there were barren beaches – in some areas, for 500 feet. In other places, the beach was very narrow. Soon trees began to grow on the beaches and Crystal Lake began to take on her beauty once more.”
• Anderson, Charles M., “Memo’s of Betsie Bay: A History of Frankfort” , 1988, 128pp. I’ve Had It Up to Here !
HIGH 612 FT HIGH 612 FT
NOW 600 FT NOW 600 FT
LOW 595 FT LOW 595 FT
HIGH - NOW (Δ 12 FT) ~ 2.4 x NOW - LOW (Δ 5 FT)
40 "Life is a tragedy when seen in close-up, but a comedy in long-shot." -- Charlie Chaplin Crystal Lake Haiku (*) “A map, a plan, not Panama, but Crystal Lake; No canal, a beach.”
-- アアアーキバルド・ジョーンズアーキバルド・ジョーンズ Ākibarudo jōnzu “A.J.” (Archibald Jones)
(*) a Japanese poetic form of seventeen syllables, in three lines of five, seven, and five, traditionally evoking images of the natural world. Summer 2018 prices : book $32.00; map + short text $15.
CRYSTAL LAKE WATERSHED with Bathymetry of Crystal Lake, Benzie County Michigan. CRYSTALANA: A Journal of Historical Reflections and Current Perspectives of Crystal Lake, Its Watershed, & Benzie County, MI. www.CRYSTALANA.com References Daniels, Stacy Leroy, The Comedy of Crystal Lake: Re-Creation of an Historic Canal that Became a Beach, IMAGIN, 27th Annual Conf., Traverse City, MI, 19 Jun 2018.
Daniels, Stacy Leroy, and Hobbs, Trevor, The Comedy of Crystal Lake: Geomorphic Analysis and 3D Modelling of an Historical Anthropogenic Event, Geological Sciences Section, Michigan Academy of Sciences, Arts, & Letters, Mt. Pleasant, MI, 09 Mar 2018.
Daniels, Stacy Leroy, Hobbs, Trevor, and Longanbach, Tom, The Comedy of Crystal Lake: Geomorphic Analysis and 3D Modelling of an Historical Event Using LiDAR Data, IMAGIN, 26th Annual Conf., Traverse City, MI, 06 Jun 2017. http://imagin.org/resources/Conference/2017/presentations/daniels_crystal_lake.pdf
Daniels, Stacy Leroy, The Comedy of Crystal Lake: GIS Analysis of an Unique Historical Event Using Original Survey and Project Maps, IMAGIN 25th Annual Conf., Traverse City, MI, 16 May 2016. http://sciencedocbox.com/amp/71469002-Geology/The-comedy- of-crystal-lake-gis-analysis-of-an-unique-historical-event-using-original-survey-and- project-maps.html
Daniels, Stacy Leroy, The Comedy of Crystal Lake, I. The Lowering of Crystal Lake; II. The Biography of Archibald Jones, Flushed With Pride Press, 2015, 496pp. ISBN 978- 0-692-21715-3 http://www.CrystalLakeComedy.com Crystal Lake Profile (W-E)
800 750 Topo-Bathymetric Profile Current600 Lake Level Pre-Archie612 High Water Post-Archie595 Low Water 700 ft ft 650 600 550
Elevation 500 450 400 350 300 0 5,000 10,000 15,000 20,000 Horizontal Distance (feet) “South” Canal Profile
West 620 Historic Crystal Lake (612 ft) 615
610
605
600
595
590 Elevation (feet) Elevation 585
580
575
570 -300 700 1,700 2,700 3,700 4,700 5,700 Horizontal Distance (feet) “North” Canal Profile
Topographic Profile of Proposed Canal on connecting Crystal Lake to Long Lake
640 West East
620 Crystal Lake (612 ft)
Long Lake - 598 ft 600
580 -400 100 600 1,100 1,600 2,100
560 Elevation (feet) Elevation
540
520
500 “West” Canal Profile Topographic Profile of Proposed Canal Connecting Historic Crystal Lake to Lake Michigan
630 West East 620 Historic Crystal Lake (612 ft) 610
600
590 Lake Michigan (~579 ft) 580 Elevation (feet) Elevation 570
560
550 -500 500 1,500 2,500 3,500 4,500 Horizontal Distance (feet) Topographic Profile of Proposed Canal on connecting Long Lake to Rush Lake
605
600 Rush Lake (598.9 ft) Long Lake (598.1 ft)
595
590 Elevation (feet) Elevation
585
580
575 7,000 7,200 7,400 7,600 7,800 8,000 8,200 8,400 8,600 8,800 Distance (feet) Topographic Profile of Proposed Canal on connecting Rush Lake to Platte Lake
610 West East
Rush Lake (598.9 ft) 600
Platte Lake (584.5 ft) 590
580 Elevation (feet) Elevation
570
560
550 12,500 13,500 14,500 15,500 16,500 17,500 18,500 Distance (feet) Lake / Canal / Beach Parameters Lake High Low Now Canals Length, mi Dredge Year 1873 1904 2018 Name Land Water L+W Vol <-- Water Planes --> South 1.04 8.65 9.69 30.5 Elev, ft 612 595 600 North 1.52 8.77 10.29 29.6 West 1.01 .00 1.01 44.5 L, mi 8.71 8.09 8.13 Totals 3.57 17.42 20.99 104.6 W, mi 3.31 2.75 2.79 (Dredge volume, Kyd3) D, ft 177 160 165 (Betsie Bay (1980) 114.4 Kyd3) P, mi 27.478 21.942 21.709 A, Acre 10,754 8,753 9,896 Beach V, Bgal 261 205 221 Elev, ft ΔE ΔA ΔV Width, ft gross net 612-600 12 858 40 288 ΔA, % - 19.6 - 8.0 600-595 5 1,143 15 432 ΔV, % (~) - 21.4 - 15.3 612-595 17 2,001 55 668(?) Level drop & rebound Lake lost = Beach gain SLD: (Rev’d: 04/12/18) “The number of inland lakes in the state of Michigan, while not definitely known, has been conservatively estimated as at least five thousand, ranging in area from thirty square miles down to small unnamed ponds. These lakes constitute about one fiftieth of the total area of the state. Assuming that all of them in both peninsulas could be drained, more than twelve hundred square miles of land would be opened to cultivation. In addition, many nearby swamps would likewise be made available for farming purposes.”
“But although these lakes in themselves are a valuable asset functioning as they do in many practical ways—power, irrigation, logging operations, water supply, traffic, etc.— their most important function after all is not commercial. It lies, rather, in the unique advantages which they afford for needed summer outings for multitudes of tired people, and general recreation purposes. This has become recognized throughout Michigan, and now multitudes from outside the state are more and more availing themselves of these advantages. The pure air, cool temperature, simple conditions of life, facilities for boating, fishing, bathing, stimulate to renewed mental and physical vigor.”
“Here, by these lakes, one may rest—”
-- Rev. Frank T. Lee, The Attractions of Crystal Lake and Vicinity, 1923. • “During the Algonquin stage, the Crystal Lake depression was connected with the waters in the Michigan basin by three channels. The Betsie River valley was flooded for several miles upstream from its mouth at Frankfort, and a connection existed between it and the Crystal Lake depression at the low sag in the Frankfort moraine, now occupied by the outlet of Crystal Lake. • Likewise a connection with the waters that flooded the Platte Lake depression was made through the Round Lake sag in the Point Betsie moraine, on the north side of Crystal Lake. • The bar between Crystal Lake and Lake Michigan was not in existence and the waters of Lake Algonquin had free access to the depression from the west (pl. VI, A). • Calver, James Lewis, • Several years later a dam was constructed across the outlet and the water of Crystal Lake was raised to somewhere near its former level (not 615 feet but ~ 600 feet?). However, the early dams were of wooden construction and the level of the lake fluctuated with the whim and fancy of the residents in the area.(!)
• The concrete dam now in use was constructed about 1915 (sic, 1911), and since then the water level has been controlled at an elevation of approximately 602 feet, or eight (?) feet below its natural (Algonquin) level. • (No, 602 + 8 = 610! but 602 + 12 = 614 feet as stated on Page 9/26). • Several years later a dam was constructed across the outlet and the water of Crystal Lake was raised to somewhere near its former level (not 615 feet but ~ 600 feet?). However, the early dams were of wooden construction and the level of the lake fluctuated with the whim and fancy of the residents in the area.(!)
• The concrete dam now in use was constructed about 1915 (sic, 1911), and since then the water level has been controlled at an elevation of approximately 602 feet, or eight (?) feet below its natural (Algonquin) level. • (No, 602 + 8 = 610! but 602 + 12 = 614 feet as stated on Page 9/26). • “The writer has no adequate explanation for the development of triple bars across the eastern end of the depression, near Beulah, for the three-staged development of the bar between Round and Crystal Lakes, or for the three important bars of the Algonquin level represented in the area between Crystal Lake and Lake Michigan.
• There is no evidence that the level of Crystal Lake was lowered following Algonquin times until the recent artificial reliction which exposed a sandy terrace three to four hundred feet wide between the forked bar and the new shoreline. -- James Lewis Calver, 1946, page 12/26) Crystal Lake: Paradise !
Thomas F. Parker, Tomasi Designs, Ann Arbor, MI, 1990. Lake Algonquin (11,000 YBP)
Crystal Lake
Larsen, Curtis E., USGS Bull. 1801, 1987, http://pubs.usgs.gov/bul/1801/report.pdf Glacial Lake Algonquin (1915) 1838-9 Survey Geography of NW Benzie Co., MI.
(After Waterman, Fig. 9, 1917) Crystal Lake – A Big Footprint
Length 8.1 mi Width 1.9 mi Depth 165. ft (max) 71. ft (mean) Perimeter 20.838 mi Area 44.65 sq mi (Total) 28.58 sq mi (Land) 15.40 sq mi (Lake) 9,854. Acre (34.5%) Volume 0.242 Bgal Detention 32. yr Orientation WNW to ESE ~25º The Level of Crystal Lake is variable because it is high, low, up, down, in, out, or The Level of Crystal Lake
Elevation: 600 +/- 0.25 ft (IGLD1985) (Summer: 01 May - Oct 31; Winter: 01 Nov - 30 Apr 30