The Disappearing Lake
Residents are baffled as the waters of Surprise Lake suddenly recede, leaving property owners high and dry.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
Surprise Lake is most appropriately named, for occasionally it performs peculiar stunts. This lake covers an area of about 500 acres and averages from 5 to 50 feet in depth. A few days ago the surf line of this body of water began to recede and residents say that the depth of the lake has decreased about five feet. Whether the lake, octopus-like, is withdrawing itself into some subterranean cavern, or whether it is being drained off by someone, it is difficult to say. The county commissioners will investigate the matter. The residents who bought property on the edge of the lake calculated to keep it as their companion, and to have it pull out this way without warning not only punctures their property values, but also hurts their feelings considerably.
“To have it pull out this way without warning not only punctures their property values, but also hurts their feelings considerably.”
Surprise Lake, located in what is now Milton, remains a site of hydrological mystery. The anxiety of residents seeing property values 'puncture' as water levels fluctuate remains a recurring tension in Washington's evolving landscape.
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