PATTERSON LAKE
NEWSLETTER
November
2003
www.magma.ca/~bowerman/pattersonlake/
Newsletters
At our Executive Meeting on October 26,
2003, we decided to publish four newsletters
per year – April, June, August, and
October.
The newsletters will be distributed in both hard
copies and on the website, which is our
preferred method as it is the cheapest.
I have had several offers of help which I will
follow up for next year. There was
Association enough news for this edition to fill
it up.
Lake Level
Patterson Lake water levels is our burning
issue. We spent a long time discussing it at
our Executive Meeting but really couldn’t
come to grips with how high is high or how
low is low.
Lake level is important for some areas of the
Lake: the east end is shallow and needs higher
levels in the Summer for their motor boats; the
west end on the south side suffer considerable
damage undermining trees and washing away
shorelines from high Summer levels.
The water level is always high in the Spring
and late Fall, and low in the Summer and early
Fall. That is life on a headwater lake. For
Patterson Lake data kept by Connie & I since
1995 for the Canadian Lakes Loon Survey
shows there is an average of 560 mm (22″)
from the highest level to the lowest level. That
is a considerable variation for a lake full of
killer rocks.
Our data is based on a rock off the Crown
Point near where we have our cottage on the
north-central side. This summer, we managed
to obtain the level for the bottom of the
culvert at the east end and for the shoal
rock off Mary’s Island in the middle of
the Lake. With those two readings, we
were able to correlate our data.
The lowest readings since 1995 in
inches relative to the culvert bottom are
shown below:
| Depth (“) |
Week of |
| -0.4 |
21 Sep 95 |
| -1.0 |
14 Sep 96 |
| -0.8 |
14 Aug 97 |
| 3.9 |
28 Sep 98 |
| 5.1 |
‘7 Sep 99 |
| 9.8 |
7 Oct 00 |
| 3.4 |
14 Sep 01 |
| -0.6 |
14 Oct 02 |
| 6.6 |
14 Sep 03 |
Note
that the negative readings mean
that water level was below the culvert
so no water flowed out of the lake.
By the way, after going around this
issue for a while, I have come to the
conclusion that the only practical
common ground base point at the
moment is the bottom of the culvert at
the east end. Our favourite rocks, posts,
dock markers, etc. are not meaningful
to others on the Lake. Comments like
it was lower or higher last year without
giving a time or amount are not very
helpful. Good recorded data from some
known point is the best kind to keep.
And you can convert it to the culvert
bottom.
The graph below shows the 1995 to
2002 average versus the 2003 water
level. The beaver dam made a difference.
Finally on lake level, the Executive made the
decision to keep the culvert clear until next
July 1, and then meet and make a decision.
The cleaners for the rest of 2003 are:
November 1 to 7 – Martyn; November 8 to14 –
Lorne; November 15 to 21 – Terry; November
22 to 28 – Bill; November 29 to December 5 –
Dave. Now that doesn’t mean that we will do
it alone, it just means that our road areas will
be responsible for clearing during that week.
We will set another roster in April so expect
that some time next year help will be expected.
Silt Depth
On the opposite end of water level is the depth
of the silt at the east end of the Lake. From a
kayak, I easily pushed my double bladed
paddle down seven feet just off the creek
entrance, and I didn’t hit anything except
mush. It would be great to be able to walk on
water there because you sure can’t walk on the
bottom. It makes you wonder how deep it is,
and how long it has been there. Why has it
never hardened? Why does it not get harder to
push the further down you go? It is something
for next year, and hopefully as well I can take
a core sample to see what is there.
Hazzard
Marking
Martyn Howard has been busy looking at
marking our killer rocks, with the shoal rock
off Mary’s Island being the most known.
Most rocks are marked by somebody now so
Martyn would like to know who marks what
rocks. You can contact Martyn at his
address below or phone 278-2015.
And speaking of Martyn, we were
delighted to see him offer to run as the
Councillor for Ward 3. We wish him
the best.
Addresses – PIN on the
Lake
Well my 151 Lakeside Road is up on
my dock deck, thanks to my Son-in-law
Trevor Dee, a craftsman with the
router. So far that is the only one I’ve
seen.
Now that the boats and docks have
been taken out, we are really at a loss
trying to describe where we live on the
Lake. So how about a PIN sign for
Christmas?
Lake Association
Representatives
In the listing below, “(H)” means
“home” and “(L)” means “Lake”.
Rhodena Bell
Box 32
MacDonalds Corners, ON K0G 1M0
(H)267-5291 (L)278-2562
purdonbell@perth.igs.net
Bill Brooks
484 Porcupine Way
Box 61,
McDonalds Corner, ON K0G 3G0
278-2705
Lorne Bowerman
(L) 151 Lakeside Road
(H) 6 Lipstan Ave
Nepean, ON K2E 5Z3
(H)225-7904 (L)278-2813
bowerman@magma.ca
Dave MacCrimmon
399 Hardwood Ridge Road
RR3
Lanark, ON K0G 1K0
278-0184
Martyn Howard
521 Parsons Lane
RR3
Lanark, ON K0G 1K0
278-2015
Terry Wilkie
(L)636 Fair’s Lane
54 Helena St
Ottawa, ON K1Y 3N1
(H)729-1253
This Newsletter was produced by Lorne
Bowerman. Comments, suggestions, or
articles are welcome.
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