Alexander Lake (Connecticut)
| Alexander Lake | ||
|---|---|---|
| Geographical location | Killingly , Connecticut | |
| Drain | → Mashamoquet Brook → Five Mile River | |
| Data | ||
| Coordinates | 41 ° 51 '37 " N , 71 ° 54' 10" W | |
|
||
| surface | 87 hectares | |
| length | 1.6 km | |
| width | 800 m | |
| Maximum depth | 15 m | |
| Middle deep | 8 m | |
The Alexander Lake is a lake in the district Danielson of the city Killingly , Windham County , Connecticut . One often finds the spelling Alexander's Lake. The Indian name is Mashapaug .
The lake is not accessible to the public via the banks as the surrounding land is privately owned. Although the houses and gardens do not extend to the lakeshore, there are trees and shrubs up to the shore as a protection zone between the lake and the houses. There is a possibility to launch a boat on the southeast coast. However, this must not have an engine of more than 196 cm³.
history
The Native American name of the lake is Mashapaug . This is a common Native American water body name. According to a Nipmuck legend, a powwow was held at a time of prosperity through good hunting . A sandy hill with tall pine trees was chosen as the location for this . The wildness of the four-day celebration enraged the Great Spirit to such an extent that it lowered the hill deeply. All the Indians drowned from the water shooting up, except for a good old woman who, depending on how the legend was retold, sat on the summit or one of the highest places. At this point there is now an island called Loon's Island .
The name Alexander Lake is taken from the waters of Nell-Ellick Saunders, who later took the name Alexander , a Scottish peddler who settled in Killingly in 1720. Since he owned large pieces of land in the lake area, the lake is still often called Alexander's Lake . The names Great Pond , Mashapaug Pond , Mashipaug , Sanders Pond and Saunders Pond are also common for the lake .
In 1903, Connecticut Electrical Railway opened a lakeside recreational facility, Wildwood Park, which was popular for family vacations until the mid-1980s. A tram line was opened connecting Wildwood Park with the surrounding areas. At first, swimming in the lake was forbidden because it served as a reservoir for the Kilingly industrial area of Williamsville with the local branches of, for example, the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company . However, you could navigate the lake on small boats. Swimming was later allowed.
Flora and fauna
flora
In July 2005, the Connecticut State Agricultural Experiment Station conducted a plant census. The most common plant found in the lake is the coniferous swamp rush , a swamp plant that belongs to the sour grass family. On the edge of the lake in shallow water, you will encounter a gramineous plant of the type Eriocaulon aquaticum together with the Tännelgewächs Elatine minima , the hyssop GRATIOLA aurea and arrow herbs . A neophyte in the lake is the juggler flower plant Glossostigma cleistanthum , which is found in dense growth throughout the lake in water up to two meters deep. The mermaid herb Najas guadalupensis is just as common . Less often we find the pondweed Potamogeton bicupulatus , Potamogeton epihydrus , the Ordinary dwarf pondweed , the ordinary water hose that quillwort Isoetes acadiensis , the thousand leaves humile Myriophyllum and Myriophyllum tenellum and algae and the Wild celery called frogbit greenhouse Vallisneria americana . Of the plants on the water surface, the bull's head pond rose and the fragrant water lily occur in small isolated bays of the lake . The depth of visibility according to Secchi was 5.8 meters at the count, the oxygen content at a depth of 15 meters was 4.1 mg / L at a water surface temperature of 24.6 degrees Celsius and a temperature of 13.5 degrees Celsius at a depth of 15 meters. The bottom of the lake consists of sand and the water is unusually clear.
fauna
The fish stock in Alexander Lake includes American river perch , American char , brown trout , brook char , blue sunfish , largemouth bass , common sunfish , catfish , chain pike , rainbow trout and black bass .
Web links
- Alexander Lake (Connecticut) in the Geographic Names Information System of the United States Geological Survey (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ The retelling that it was only one of the highest points can be found in John Warner Barber's History and Antiquities of Every Town in Connecticut , p. 432 from the year 1832: “ ... except one good old squaw , who occupied one of the peaks ... ". In Benson J. Lossing's Pictorial Field Book of the Revolution - Volume 1 , Chapter 26 of 1850 it says: " ... except one good old squaw, who occupied the peak ... ".
- ↑ Hayward's New England Gazetteer of 1839 (English)
- ↑ Article Alexander's Lake in the Killingly Journal OnLine # 4 of the Killingly Historical Society from June 2003 (English)
- ↑ Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station's Aquatic Plant Counting (English)