PATTERSON LAKE
NEWSLETTER
October
2004
www.magma.ca/~bowerman/pattersonlake/
Mid-Summer Lake Level
Proposed
A good discussion was held on mid-summer
lake levels at an open meeting of the Patterson
Lake Association a 636 Fairs Lane on August
8, 2004.
As could be imagined, there are a wide variety
of opinions. In the end, the meeting proposed
a mid-summer level of 8″ above the bottom of
the north culvert.
To be perfectly clear, the discussion and
proposed level deals with the mid-summer level
only. Historically the Lake starts at about 18″
(above the bottom of the north culvert) in the
spring, then goes down to 0″ in mid-summer,
and rises to 18″ again in late fall. The
Association is proposing retaining 8″ in mid-summer rather than letting it go to zero. This
will help all those who boat on the eastern end
which is quite shallow.
Dave MacCrimmon will be contacting the
Ministry of Natural Resources to find the
procedure of moving the proposal forward. It
may go; it may not. We will try.
Fall Culvert
Cleaning
Keeping the culverts open in the fall is essential
to ensuring a reasonable lake level with
minimum damage to the shore. It will also
ensure that the risk of road washout is kept to
a minimum. There is full agreement of owners
on this basic need.
Yes we know that the Township has the
responsibility to clean the culvert, and they will
be asked to do it when there is more than a bit
of debris or a small beaver dam. It needs day
by day surveillance and that cannot be expected
to come from the Township unless the road is
in danger.
At the Lake Association meeting, the following
cleaning times were agreed.
- 10 Oct to 23 Oct – Lakeside Rd;
- 24 Oct to 6 Nov – Fairs Lane/Way;
- Nov 7 to 20 Nov – Parsons Lane/Way;
- Nov 21 to Dec – Porcupine Way; and,
- 4 Dec to 18 Dec – Hardwood Ridge
Rd.
The cleaning within each time frame is left to
the discretion of each area. We used this area
method last year and it worked well.
Hazard
Marking
The marker buoys placed by the Association on
the shoal west of Mary’s Island and in
MacCrimmon Bay will be removed after
Thanksgiving and stored for the winter. They
will be given a fresh coat of paint and placed
out again in the spring.
Lake Steward
Appointed
From time to time the owners of property on
lakes get together under the leadership of the
various conservation agencies. For our area,
the Mississippi Valley Conservation
organization performs that function. It usually
features a day of workshops on good lake
management. The lead person from each lake
is called a Lake Steward.
Terry Wilkie of Fairs Lane was our Lake
Steward when he served on the Lake
Association executive. When Terry turned the
Association job over to another representative,
we had a problem because being a lake steward
requires continuity. Terry was requested and he
agreed to carry on.
We are very pleased to appoint Terry as our
permanent Lake Steward. He brings
dedication, determination, good research
skills, and a great interest in the subject to the
task. The Fairs Way/Lane representative will
act as the contact between Terry and the
Association.
Fish, the Lake Bottom, and
Thermoclines
For Christmas last year Lorne Bowerman was
given a fish finder/depth sounder. The unit was
designed for a large motorboat rather than
Lorne’s aluminum rowboat with a 5 HP Honda
motor. It took a while to adapt and provide
12V power for the unit, but it finally happened.
Yes it does spot fish. But what was far more
interesting was the profile of the Lake bottom.
We were startled to see the huge rock
outcroppings on the bottom near Mary’s
Island. We were expecting probably a flat
bottom, but it is really a continuation of the
surrounding rocks, hills, and valleys.
And it really falls off on the north side of the
shoal near Mary’s Island. At some time it
would have been a cliff with a good view of a
valley below.
The maximum depth we found was just over
60 feet, but it may be more in some lake
bottom valley.
The other thing that it shows is something
called a thermocline, which happened to be
about 40 feet. We were not quite sure what it
was, but Lorne and Connie’s daughter, Joy,
who did post graduate work on fresh water
lakes, provided information on the significance
of the thermocline.
In fresh water lakes there is a temperature
separation between the very cold lower water
and the warmer upper water. It is a sharp
separation rather than a gradual one and it is
generally in the order of a 10°C or more
change. It shows up on the sounder as a
broken line.
The thermocline is flat. So if you want to
measure it accurately, just head to shore and
find where the thermocline intersects the
bottom.
Nutrients gather at the bottom of fresh water
lakes where there is little aquatic life. To make
these nutrients available, lakes turn over once
or twice a year to bring the bottom water to
the top, and the top to the bottom.
We thought that was kind of neat. But in
millions of years, nature does work out
everything and it always seem to surprise us for
some reason.
We plan to record the depth of the thermocline
next summer just to see if we can tell when the
lake turns over. Maybe we should have a big
TURNOVER PARTY to celebrate.
A Mystery
Padlock
While playing down at the shore at 151
Lakeside Rd. six year old Alex Dee found an
old padlock. It
was well rusted
and looks at
least 75 years
old. It has the
key hole on the
front and a small
brass cover that
slides over the
key hole. It was
probably used to
padlock a boat
to the oak tree
on the shore.
Oh if it could only talk! Grandfather Lorne
Bowerman is attempting to find the origin of
the lock and hopes finally to see it go to a local
museum. Ideas?
Newsletter
This Newsletter was produced by Lorne
Bowerman. Comments, suggestions, or articles
are welcome.
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