History of Oakland County Michigan a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, its principal interests / compiled from the official records of the county, the newspapers and data of personal interviews, under the editorial supervision of Thaddeus D. Seeley.

HISTORY OF OAKLAND COUNTY

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bound together by the Huron, while some in the northwestern portions
find an outlet through the Shiawassee river and thence into Saginaw
bay. A few lakes in Bloomfield and West Bloomfield townships are also
drained through the Rouge river.
Most of the lakes in Oakland county have picturesque, irregular
shores, with gravelly beaches, and in the early days were almost wholly
encompassed by forests of the American larch, or tamarack. Although
these have necessarily been thinned out by both the farmer and the home
seeker, they remain in the condensed form of hardy and shady groves
and some of the smaller islands are still quite thickly clad in pine and
cedar.
REMARKABLE NATURAL PHENOMENON
A somewhat curious natural phenomenon is noticed in several of the
Oakland county lakes, particularly in Cass and Walled Lake, the latter
lying mostly in Novi township, southwest of West Bloomfield. Reference is made to the action of the ice which seems to expand from the
center and force the sand, gravel and trees back toward the precipitous
banks a few rods from the water. By this action immense piles of these
materials are forced for some distance from the margin, where they are
left high and dry after the ice has disappeared in the spring. Walled
lake is a beautiful body of clear water covering about one square mile,
and this action has gone on in that locality so long that in places along
its shores a regular wall appears to have been erected by the hand of
man. At Walled lake, also, the deposition of bowlders is of quite remarkable extent and compactness.
Some years ago, David Ward, who had a farm on the shores of Cass
lake, and other competent investigators, carefully looked into this matter.
The consensus of opinion was this: During the most intense of the freezing weather the ice sometimes accumulates on the surface of the water
to the thickness of two feet or more. This, under atmospheric changes,
expands from the center toward the margin of the lake with a force, in
the case of Walled lake, to move bowlders several tons in weight. Along
the southeast shore of Cass lake this action is distinctly marked, a permanent embankment having been formed parallel with the water. Along
the eastern shore of Orchard lake there is a broad ridge of lake sand, undoubtedly formed by the same action, and in places overgrown by scattering forest trees.
A very careful examination of the phenomenon at Walled lake seems
to substantiate the following propositions: During the geological Drift
period a large deposit of bowlders accumulated along the western margin
of the lake, and extended a long distance into the water, and on this was
formed the sand bar which extends into the lake for some sixty or eighty
rods. Near the center of the wall-like ridge the ground is some ten feet
above the surface of the lake, and here the ridge is wanting; but trending north and south from this high land the slope is gentle until the ridge
lies but a few feet above the surface. The soil of this vicinity is filled
with bowlders of various sizes, some being perhaps from one to three
tons in weight. The expansive action of the heavy ice has operated to
simply crowd the surface bowlders together; the movement operates