Lake Maxinkuckee Its Intrigue History & Genealogy Culver, Marshall, Indiana

Early History of Lake Maxinkuckee - State Geologist's Report  



Maurice Thompson, on of Indiana's most beloved author's, was State Geologist, and in his report for 1886, he spoke of the lake as follows:

"Max-in-kuck-ee. - In may respects this is the most beaufitf ul of the m ultitude of small lakes with which northern and northwestern INdiana is studded. Its shores are high, beautifully rounded, and clothed with the native forest. The watres are clear and cold. Hundreds of springs flow out from the banks, and many more rise from the bottom of the lake. Very few weeds grow in the water, and there is far less of moss and peaty formation than is common to our Indiana Lakes. Here, to a large extent, sand gives place to gravel, and the beach is firm and clean. Nowhere in the United Sates is there a lovelier body of pure, cold water. It has become a famous summer resort, and deserves all the good praise it has received.

Though it is one of the deepest of our small lakes, it scarcely merits the name of 'bottomless' given it by many of the people who reside on its shores and allow their imagination to fill the blue depths with wonders. The res ult of our soundings gave seventy-six feet as the maximum depth. This was found at a point almost in the center of the lake, being very slightly to the west of the middle on an east and west line drawn throught Long Point and a little to the north of that line. There is, however, a large area of this deep water, perhaps a thousand acres, which will average a depth of fifty feet. A cross section taken by a line of soundings from Long Point on the west shore in a direction about thrity degrees north of eats to West Point on the east shore, gave the following depths: Six feet, seven feet, thirty-four feet, seventy-two feet, sixty-eight feet, sixty-six feet, seventy-six feet, sixty-two feet, forty-one feet, thrity-one feet, seventeen feet.

The springs which feed Maxinkuckee was very abundant, not only from the shores, but they may be seen in the clear waters at a depth of ten feet gushing up from the bottom, and from the deepest parts of the lake rise columns of cold water chilling the bather like an ice bath. These springs suggested the probablility of obtaining flowing wells, and now so many have been found along the east shore one can scarcely get beyond the cound of the spouting waters. The water from these wells is very clear and cold, and more or less ferruginous, a few of the wells being so highly impregnated with iron as to render the water slightly unpleasant to the taste until one gets use to it. Most of the water, however, is excellent at the first taste, and all of it is perfectly wholesome in use. Indeed, one of the causes of the prevailing good helath of the cottagers, as well as the residents on the shores of Maxinkuckee, is found in the purity of the waters of the flowing wells and abounding springs. The borings made to obtain these wells have not been watched with sufficient care, nor have the meager notes made at the time been sufficiently preserved to enable us to obtain accurate information as to the true depth and character of the strata if each. Enough can be known, however, to prove that at least two, and probably three, strata of water-bearing sand and gravel will be passed through in a bore of two hundred feet, and each of which will lift its water to heights of from six to twenty feet above the level of the lake surface.

The construction of the Vandalia Railroad's northern branch to South Bend, with a station at the northwest shore of the lake, so facilitated acess that the beautiful groves along the east side began to be dotted with cottages ; hotels were established; club houses were erected; steamers began to puff about the new buildings, and a fleet of little white sailboats blew over the water. The cottagers have shown most excellent taste in that they have preserved the natural beauty of the groves and green banks, while building large and costly summer houses, and the caref ul ornamentation of lawns and groves has handsomely supplemented without destroying the natural beauties of the place."