Crystal Lake
&
Watershed Association P.O. Box 89, Beulah, MI 49617
Phone: (231) 882-4001
FAX: (231) 882-7810 Email
Us
About
The Crystal Lake Watershed
Details about the Crystal Lake
Watershed
History, Maps, Facts, and Photos (See also: Watershed
FAQ) The Crystal Lake Watershed is located
in
Benzie County in Northwest Lower Michigan, USA.
The chronology of the Crystal Lake
Watershed extends from the present day (Holocene epoch) back to the extensive glaciations
of several million years ago (Pleistocene epoch). Many advances and retreats of the
glaciers across Michigan formed and reformed the Great Lakes over geologic time (Quaternary
period). Levels of the large glacial lakes rose and fell by several hundreds of feet.
Crystal Lake was a bay of Lake Michigan until about 2,000 years ago when it was finally
became separated as the prevailing westerly winds created sand dunes to complete
the embayment.
The Crystal Lake Watershed has
always captivated the imagination of all who walk about it. Beginning with the early
explorations of Frs. Marquette and Charlevoix, the land survey of the Burt brothers,
Alvin and Austin, the geological surveys of Douglass Houghton and Henry Schoolcraft,
the environmental studies of Henry Chandler Cowles, William James Beal, Warren Gooklin
Waterman, Irving D. Scott, and James Lewis Calver, and the prose of Walter B. Case
and Bruce Catton, it has continued to the present day. The Crystal Lake Watershed
contains many diverse, but hydrologically intertwined ecologies and unique environmental
niches, including active sand dunes, forested heights, wetlands, tributaries, and
a large deep inland lake connected to Lake Michigan. Crystal Lake, with its immense
body of pristine water of exceptional clarity, mixed sandy and rocky nearshore perimeter,
sandy shoreline, deep marl bottom, and high-ridged vistas, captivates all who view
it.
The "Tragedy"
of Crystal Lake - 1873
The essence of the "Tragedy"
is contained in a famous and oft repeated "Epilogue":
The sun has set, and o'er the quiet
lake
His light still lingers, reluctant to depart.
The darkening hills draw close, and over all
Peace reigns, but discontent still fills my heart.
But as I stand alone upon the shore
Peace also comes to me - I seem to hear
A voice amongst the murmur of the waves
Saying. "Be still and know that God is near."
And so, O lovely lake, you gave to me
A message straight from God. And I still take
That message with me as I wander far.
And hope once more to see you, Crystal Lake.
-- Walter F. Case, February 4, 1895 - March 6, 1923
Walter F. Case, was the son of
William L. Case, his son, Leonard L. Case, was a lumberman (Timber Products Manufacturing
Co. in Beulah) and a stringer correspondent for the Benzie Co. Advisor (The Crystal
Gazer). W. L. Case was the man who so masterfully told the authentic story of the
lowering of Crystal Lake. For many years, it was his desire to establish, for all
times, the level of Crystal Lake as it was in 1873.
In 1873 an ambitious but ill advised project was put through in an effort to connect
Crystal Lake and Lake Michigan with a navigable channel. The original level of Crystal
Lake was, at that time, much higher than its present level. The project was a complete
failure in respect to its accomplishing its proposed purpose. The result was the
lowering of the lake and exposing a wide stretch of beach around the entire lake
and making possible the development of Crystal Lake as a resort and residential area
as well as the site of the village of Beulah. This monument, erected by the people
of Benzie County, stands at the original level of Crystal Lake. 1978. (Case, William
L., The Tragedy of Crystal Lake / By a Survivor, J.W. Saunders, Beulah, MI, 1922,
17pp.)
(*) This inscription appears on three permanent markers at the original level of
Crystal Lake as located by the County Surveyor, Soil Conservation Department staff,
and members of the Benzie Area Historical Society and unveiled in ceremonies on August
27, 1978. They are placed at three locations: (1) in the public beach park in downtown
Beulah on the southeast shore of Crystal Lake, (2) at the corner of Crystal Drive
and Warren Road, on the northeast shore of Crystal Lake, and (3) in Bellows Park
on the southwest shore of Crystal Lake.
The "Tragedy" of Crystal Lake most probably occurred sometime between Saturday,
August 23rd and Wednesday, August 27th of 1873, with lowering of the lake continuing
on into October of 1873, according to recent review of historical accounts by Dr.
Stacy L. Daniels, Chair of the Education & Communications Committee. He has authored
a comparison of the "Tragedy" with a similar event that occurred at a lake
in Vermont back in 1810:
The "Runaway" and the
"Tragedy": A Tale of Two Lakes, Having Disappeared, Being a Short Discourse
on Certain Events Involving Two Inland Bodies of Water of Separate Geological Extents,
but Sharing Certain Commonalities Leading to Profound Changes Thereby Affecting their
Respective Destinies.
Abstract:
Many similar enterprises have been conceived and executed in modern times, both for
the purpose of reclaiming land covered by water and for sanitary reasons. They (the
unforeseen effects of draining and lowering lakes) are sometimes attended with wholly
unexpected evils, as, for example in the case of Barton Pond (Runaway Pond), in Vermont,
..." George P. Marsh (1801-1882), American Environmentalist (& native Vermonter),
/Man and Nature or Physical Geography as Modified by Human Action/, 1865.
Two monumental events of disappearing lakes occurred under very similar extenuating
circumstances in early American history. Both involved significant lowerings of the
levels of two deep cold-water inland lakes. One occurred in the East - Long Pond
near the present-day village of Glover, Vermont, in 1810; the other in the upper
Midwest - Crystal Lake near Beulah/Benzonia in Benzie County, Michigan, in 1873.
Both events were precipitated by the interventions of men who dared to improve upon
Nature's original designs by altering existing natural conditions with well-intentioned,
but poorly conceived projects, which led to unforeseen consequences. Long Pond was
drained in its entirety, and became known as "Runaway Pond". Crystal Lake
lost a significant portion of its volume in an event duly noted as the "Tragedy
of Crystal Lake". The *Runaway* and the *Tragedy*, and the impacts on their
respective watersheds are discussed herein.
The story of "Runaway Pond"
is documented at this Web site.
Survey Maps of
Cap Lake (Composite of the 1838-9 Surveys)
(Source: Bentley Historical Library,
The University of Michigan)
The southern two-thirds of present
Benzie County were surveyed by the two Burt brothers, Alvin and Austin in 1838-9
to establish township and section lines (2). In addition the topography of the land,
the forest growths, types of soil, streams, lakes, swamps, the species of growing
timber, water power potential and other physical features of the area being surveyed
were carefully noted and recorded. The surveyors did not find a great deal to be
enthusiastic about. The quality of the soil is second or third rate and sometimes
very poor and hardly worth resurveying, but almost without exception, the waters
in lakes and streams were clear and the bottoms sandy or gravelly. Most of the lakes
in the county were unnamed at the time of the survey. Platte Lake had its name before
that time and Crystal Lake had been called Cap Lake, other records call it Carp Lake
(*).
(*) Note: The origin of Cap, a derivative of Whitecap, a wave with a broken and
foaming crest, begins around the time of the original survey (1838-9) and appears
on a number of maps up through the Civil War period.
Click on image for
a much larger view
G.L.O. Plat
Maps of Benzie County, 1838-9
(Source: Michigan Geographic Data
Library, MDNR)
Once at this General Land Office
Plat Maps for Benzie County
site, click on a region to bring up a PDF version of the plat map for that region.
Note "General Land Office (GLO) plat maps are derived from original surveyor
notes of the State of Michigan. The survey was conducted in the early to mid 1800's.
All documents pertaining to the original survey of Michigan can be found in the State Archives of Michigan."
Benzie County,
1895 (Source:1895 U.S. Atlas.)
By 1895, many of the locations
in Benzie County were already named.
Click on image for
a larger view
and the full Web page.
The Manitou Passage,
1911 (Source: Manistee County
Historical Museum.)
The passage between the Manitou
Islands and the western shoreline of Lake Michigan north of Point Betsie and Crystal
Lake was well-known in the age of the large sailing schooners.
Click on image for
a larger view
and the full Web page.
Explore Our
Watershed - DOQ (Source: Digital ortho-quadrangles
from Michigan Department of Natural Resources)
Click on the image
below for a larger view
and further information on the 1998 digital ortho-quadrangles of Benzie County.
Click on image for a more detailed
view.
Explore Our
Watershed - TerraServer
(Source: U.S. Geological Survey)
You can virtually "walkabout"
(or "flyabout") our Watershed and see the "big" picture or focus
on individual features like hills, sand dunes, roads, cottages, docks, etc.
Instructions:
Click here to see aerial photo of Crystal Lake area.
Once the page has loaded...
Click here
and in the window that comes up, enter Lat: 44"40" North and Long: 86°9'
West to get a view of the Earth from the sun directly over Crystal Lake.
Crystal
Lake on the Earth
(Source: Visible Earth, A catalog
of NASA images and animations of our home planet)
Click here
to see how easily the Great Lakes and Crystal Lake can be seen from space.
Crystal
Lake Flyover (WISC-T2000: Wisconsin Snow Cloud Campaign, 28 Feb 2000)
Sources:
NASA
MODIS Airborne Simulator
(MAS), an airborne scanning spectrometer that acquires high spatial resolution imagery
of cloud and surface features from its vantage point on-board a NASA ER-2 high-altitude
research aircraft.
Click on the thumbnail for
a larger view of mosaic image
Mosaic shows:
1. Crystal Lake, just east of Lake Michigan (00-064; 20,10,2)
2. Ice forming in Green Bay on Lake Michigan (00-069; 20,10,2)
3. Snow on the Catskill Mountains in New York (00-068; 20,10,2)
4. Snow above the Green River valley in southern Utah (00-062; 20,10,2)
5. Mostly frozen Castle Rock and Petenwell Lakes (00-066; 20,10,2).
Crystal Lake and surrounding area
from 60,000 ft. altitude. Infrared processing renders soil and trees as shades of
red.
Click on image for
a much larger view
Crystal
Lake in the United States ( 44 39' 33" N,
086 09' 23" W ) (Source: USGS National
Mapping Information)
Crystal Lake is located in the
Lower Peninsula (the "Mitten") of Michigan.
Click on image for a more
details.
Crystal
Lake in the Great Lakes (Source: "The Great
Lakes - An Environmental Atlas and Resource Book", Government of Canada and
U.S. EPA, National Program office, Chicago, IL, Third Edition, 1995.)
Crystal Lake, large as it is, is
but a small part of the immense Great Lakes water system (located west of Traverse
City).
Click on image for a more
details.
Crystal
Lake in Northwest Lower Michigan (Source: GIS Map for CLWF
by NWMCOG)
Michigan's lower peninsula is surrounded
by water on all sides except its southern border. The northern part of the lower
peninsula of Michigan is one of the most water-oriented environments in North America.
Crystal Lake is located in northwest
lower Michigan (along the edge of the little finger).
See this site Michigan Township
Maps for many interactive
maps. Once you have the map open, you can zoom in to specific areas, change the map
at which you are looking, and print the map image.
The Seven Commissioner
Districts
and 12 Townships / 1 City in Benzie County
Click on image for
a much larger view
Benzie
County Inland Lakes (Source: Michigan Department
of Natural Resources.)
Benzie County
Watersheds (Source: GIS Map for CLWF
by NWMCOG)
Benzie County, in northwest Lower
Michigan, is the smallest of 83 counties in land area (321 square miles); but 24th
in total water area (538 square miles); and 18th in inland lakes water area (26 square
miles).
The Crystal Lake Watershed is nestled between two riverine watersheds - the Platte
River Watershed to the north, and the Betsie River Watershed to the south.
Click on image for
a much larger view
Crystal Lake Watershed
Boundary & Longest Reach
(Source: Bill Arnold, Meridian Geographics,
for the CLWF.)
The footprint of Crystal Lake fits
into a larger footprint of the Crystal Lake Watershed. The longest reach (42,800
feet) is the longest horizontal distance on Crystal Lake. See Crystal Lake Watershed
Boundary & Longest Reach
(PDF document, 3.4 mB, see
here for details.)
Crystal Lake Watershed
- Details (Source: GIS (Geoscience
Information System) Map for CLWF by NWMCOG)
The Crystal Lake Watershed encompasses
parts of six townships, is comprised of 17 subwatersheds, and flows into the Betsie
River and Lake Michigan Watersheds. The Villages of Beulah and Benzonia are near
the East End; the City of Frankfort and the Village of Elberta are near the West
End.
The Crystal Lake Watershed is unique the surface of the Lake is ~ 35% of the total
Watershed (land + water).
Click on image for
a much larger view
Interesting WatershedFacts
(Source: Compiled by the Crystal Lake
& Watershed Association.)
The Crystal Lake Watershed is a
very contained watershed with a small land to water ratio. Our Interesting Watershed
Facts table below provides facts about the size and shape of Crystal Lake in
relation to the Crystal Lake Watershed.
Related: The Betsie Valley Trail is a "rail-trail" that stretches 22 miles
from Frankfort-Elberta, along Crystal Lake, through Beulah and Benzonia, and on to
Thompsonville, Michigan.
While most of the total area
(28,145 A) of the Watershed (land + water) is west of Beulah, most of the land-only
area (18,291 A) within the Watershed is east of Beulah (58.41 % vs. 37.88%, respectively).
Essentially all of the water-only area (9,854 A) is west of Beulah.
Crystal Lake
Lake Area:
15.40 square miles
(9,854 acres)
9th largest lake in Michigan (based
on area)
Ratio of (Land + Water) to Water
2.856
Ratio of Land to Water
1.856
Lake as percent of (Land + Water)
35
Perimeter:
20.838 miles
Unique perimeter due to historic drawdown
Reach (Longest) 42,800 feet (8.11
miles)
Depth (Avg=volume/area):
70.70 feet
Depth (max):
165 feet
Volume:
741,366 acre-feet, or 242,000,000,000
gallons or
916,000,000,000 liters
If all the water in Crystal Lake was
spread evenly over all of Benzie County (assuming it was flat and the water didnt
soak into the ground), it would cover the land to a depth of 3-8, or just about
head-high for a five-year-old!
It would take a faucet flowing at
10 gallons per minute for 51 years to create the volume of water contained in 1 inch
at the surface of Crystal Lake!
Lake Michigan contains 4,918 cubic
km (km3) of water. (1 km3 =
1,000,000,000,000 liters) Therefore there are the equivalent of 5,370 Crystal Lakes
in Lake Michigan.
As the crow flies, Crystal Lake
is about halfway between here and there:
It is halfway between the Equator
and the North Pole (and about 1/4 away around the world from the Prime Meridian).
It is halfway between the extreme
northwestern edge of the Upper Peninsula and the extreme southeastern edge of the
Lower Peninsula of Michigan.
On the globe Crystal Lake is opposite
a very remote spot in the middle of the Indian Ocean between Australia and Antarctica.
Center of Crystal Lake : 44° 39'
33" N Latitude, 086° 09' 23" W Longitude
Benzie County
Benzie County, in northwest lower
Michigan, is the smallest of 83 counties in land area (321 sq mi); but 24th in total
water area (538 sq mi); and 18th in inland lakes water area (26 sq mi).
In Michigan, you are never more than
six miles from an inland lake or more than 85 miles from a Great Lake.
Paleontology
and Geology of Michigan
During the Devonian, shallow tropical
seas covered Michigan. Fossils are particularly abundant and include the trilobite,
Phacops, many species of brachiopods, cephalopods, snails, crinoids, and Hexagonaria,
the coral more commonly known as the Petoskey Stone (Michigan's state rock).
This map indicates a broad exposure
of Devonian rocks along the southern shore of the upper part of Lake Michigan, as
well as in the southeastern and southwestern parts of the state. (Credit: The Palentology
Portal)
Aerial Photos of
Crystal Lake
Crystal Lake is a large "footprint."
Crystal Lake is higher than nearby Lake Michigan.
From Pt. Betsie
toward Beulah, West to East, taken 9/96. (*)
From Beulah toward
Pt. Betsie, East to West, taken 6/93. (*)
Betsie Bay &
Frankfort, looking northwest, taken 6/93. (*)
Frankfort Harbor,
looking northeast (**)
(Sorry,
no large version.)
(Sorry,
no large version.)
West end of Crystal
Lake,
looking south. (**)
West end of Crystal
Lake,
looking east. (**)
West end of Crystal
Lake,
looking south, May '05. (**)
* Photographs used
with permission of Aerial Graphics, Grand Rapids, MI.
** Photographs used with permission of Photography Plus, Muskegon, MI.
More Photographs
The Crystal Lake Watershed includes
people and their activities. See
more photos of the Crystal
Lake Watershed and the people involved with CLWA, and the former CLWF
and CLA organizations.
Hydrology of
Crystal Lake & Lake Michigan
(Source: Dr. John C. Walton,
University of Texas, El Paso.)
Crystal Lake is more than twenty
feet higher in elevation than nearby Lake Michigan, as seen below:
Hydrology of Crystal
Lake & Lake Michigan
Water Table - The level
at which the water fills up below the ground surface. If you dig a hole in the ground,
at some point you will reach water, this point is on the water table.
Precipitation (P) - The amount of rainfall and snow on the drainage basin.
Evaporation (E) - The amount of water that changes to water vapor and is lost
to the atmosphere.
Evapotranspiration (ET) - Sum of water lost to the atmosphere from evaporation
and transpiration (water lost through plant leaves).
Clay layers - Water cannot pass easily through clay layers and thus tends to flow
around them. Water may build up or perch on the top of clay layers. Sometimes this
leads to the formation of a spring.
Flow lines - The direction of ground water flow is shown by the arrows. Ground
water may transport pollutants from septic tanks and fertilizers placed on lawns
into Crystal Lake. The ground water flows in different directions depending upon
location and time of year. Ground water always flows down an energy gradient but
can sometimes flow uphill as shown.
Hydrology of the
Great Lakes
Click on image for a much larger
view.
(Source: "The Great Lakes
- An Environmental Atlas and
Resource Book", Government of Canada and U.S. EPA,
National Program office, Chicago, IL, Third Edition, 1995.)
Click here for more on water levels of Lake Michigan.
Sleeping Bear Dunes
National Lakeshore Map (Source: SBDNL, National
Park Service)
The Crystal Lake Watershed is located
just south of the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.
Digital Elevation
Model (DEM) of the Crystal Lake Watershed
This model was prepared by Dr.
Timothy Fisher, Associate Professor of Geology, The University of Toledo. Data
were taken from the USGS National Elevation Dataset.
The false-color digital elevation model illustrates the complex glacial landscape
surrounding Crystal Lake, including.
The hill ridges that surround
and define the Crystal Lake Watershed.
Spillover from Crystal Lake into
the Platte Plains through Round Lake (North).
The present-day Outlet Creek flowing
into the Betsie River (South).
The largest present-day tributary
to Crystal Lake, Cold Creek and its three branches (East).
A large historical tributary near
present-day Beulah (Southeast).
A small historical outlet that
drained into glacial lake Algonquin. Crystal Lake was a large bay that was finally
closed off by blowing sand creating dunes near the present-day CSA (Southwest).
Click on image for a much larger view.
Landforms of
Northern Lower Michigan (including Crystal Lake Watershed)
(Source: Bruce Knapp, Resource Soil
Scientist, NRCS, March 5, 2004.)
Lake Michigan Ice (including
Crystal Lake Watershed)
(Source: Earth Sciences and Image
Analysis Laboratory at Johnson Space Center, 2003, This Web Site.)
Click on image for a much larger view.
Crystal Lake, the Platte Lakes, and
Glen Lake covered with ice.
Note the ice floes streaming north from Point Betise across Platte Bay and north
from Pyramid Point across Good Harbor Bay.
"A colder than normal North
American winter saw the entire surface areas of Lakes Superior, Huron, and Erie frozen
over for the first time in years. The cold has delayed the opening of the St. Lawrence
Seaway and will likely delay the start of the growing season near the Great Lakes
shorelines. Although the open surface waters of Lake Michigan did not freeze this
season, the southern portion experienced a higher than normal amount of ice. Winds
and currents drove broken pieces of ice from the north to the south.
This image taken from the International Space Station shows a number of large pieces
of ice collected along and just off the shoreline southwest of Benton Harbor, Mich.
Smaller pieces trail northward offshore from Chicago, Ill. Note the ice accumulation
along the entire eastern shoreline of Lake Michigan as well as the wind-driven lake-effect
snow cover over the western half of the lower Michigan Peninsula.
(Sorry,
no large version.)
(Sorry,
no large version.)
