A map of the interconnected waterways. (Photo provided; click to enlarge)
Most locals know that LaPorte’s lakes were at one time more interconnected than they are now. But you might be surprised to learn just how many adjacent waterways are still navigable by small boat. Travel this remarkable waterpath as the LaPorte County Conservation Trust Inc. and the Northwest Indiana Paddling Association host the 5th annual Celebration & Boat Trek of LaPorte’s Chain of Lakes. This special event will take place Saturday, Sept. 27, starting at 9 a.m. at Stone Lake Beach in Soldiers Memorial Park.
Here is additional information provided by the organizations:
The event will begin at 9 a.m. with a paddling boat excursion, beginning at (New) Stone Lake Beach and following two different paths. One route will travel northward into Pine Lake. Because of the lower water levels now, this first route will likely be preferred this year. The other route will follow a southward trek through Hennessey Lake to the Weller Avenue bridge (culvert). Because this bridge is an impediment to further passage, we will turn around and return from there. Low water levels my make travel along this
Paddlers on Hennessey Lake during a past trek. (Photo provided; click to enlarge)
second route more difficult than in the recent past.
But … intrepid boaters are encouraged to trek the length of Lily Lake, from Hawthorn Street to the Weller bridge, on their own time. This will give you a perspective of how much additional territory could be added to this Blueway if passage under Weller Avenue were once again truly possible.
And we will also devote efforts during this trek to collecting any litter that has been strewn in the lakes and along the lakeshores.
Participants in the boat treks will meet at the shelter near the Stone Lake beach house. Boats and life jackets will be provided for those without their own, but prior we need notification to know how many extra boats are needed. You will be responsible for your own water, sunscreen and bug spray; old tennis shoes are far better to wear than sandals or flip-flops. An orientation session featuring safety and historical information will precede the launch. A potluck will be held at treks’ end at Cummings Lodge.
For further information and to make a reservation, please call Elizabeth McCloskey of LPCCT at 219-326-0700 or Dan Plath of NWIPA at (219) 871-9559.
The history of LaPorte’s lakes
Boaters on the Pine-Stone channel (with a rather scary-looking bridge in the background) in the early 1900s. (ebay postcard photo)
This piece on LaPorte lakes was written by Robert J. Boklund, vice president of LaPorte County Conservation Trust Inc.:
LaPorte — our City of Lakes — has been associated with its surface waters from its very beginnings. 19th- century historian Jasper Packard noted that these lakes were the very reason why the county seat was located here. And back most of a century before that,
Robert Boklund
in the Illinois Country period, the French habitants of this region had called them La Petite Lacs — “the little lakes” (in reference to Lake Michigan). Native Americans, particularly the Potawatomi, had a special reverence for lakes.
And LaPorte’s lakes have special qualities. They are located near the southern limit for sizable glacial lakes in the country. Most Hoosier “lakes” occurring much south of here are in fact dammed-up rivers and creeks. I remember well the “lakes” of the Hoosier Hill Country where I used to reside. A beautiful part of the state — but instead of the sky-blue water of our lakes, their “lakes” had water tinted green from a quadrillion Euglena. And what appeared from a distance to be a sandy beach would often turn out to be hard shale rock. Now, all of LaPorte surface waters, both disjunct and interconnected, are important and precious resources. But to have a chain of glacial lakes actually integrated into the fabric of a city is rare indeed south of Sweden, Canada or at least Minnesota. Yet, here in LaPorte, we have just that.
Boating on LaPorte’s chain of lakes is an ancient tradition. In historic times, it likely began when the Potawatomi or the Miami first plied their canoes or dugouts across these waters. They were probably looking for game or other sustainables. Since the establishment of the town here in 1832, boats of all kinds have long traversed these local waters — rowboats, speedboats, jon boats, rafts, pirogues, ice boats, pontoon boats, sailboats, catamarans, excursion boats, and more. I can recall in the 1970s when a transplanted Louisiana Cajun took his pirogue over the waters of Lily Lake every day when that lake was sufficiently ice-free. He collected snapping turtles from his traps for turtle soup. Countless boating fishermen have cast lines on these lakes for bluegill, red-ear, bass, perch, bullhead, catfish, walleye, pike and other fish species. In 1956, the National Ski Meet was even held here at Stone Lake, before such events were inextricably dependent upon television and other mass media.
But without a doubt, the most notable of all boat travel that ever took place here occurred from the 1870s until the early 1890s. This was the heyday of the steamboat on LaPorte lakes! From Lily Lake in the south to North Pine Lake in the north, these excursion boats plied their course, delighting their passengers along that long watery route. Clear and Lower lakes were then also part of our chain of lakes. The steamboats brought statewide fame to LaPorte. One summer, newspaper editors held a convention here. Having been treated to a nighttime cruise, they declared LaPorte “… the prettiest little city in Indiana.”
But chronically low water levels ended the steamboat by the 1890s. This lengthy period of low water levels occurring in the early 20th century precipitated a multitude of ills that would befall this lake system. Not the least of these was a kind of public “amnesia” about the lakes’ former areal extent. Too frequently, this “amnesia” resulted in our lakes being permanently fragmented by causeways, atop which streets, railroads and other thoroughfares were built. Often, the resulting smaller disjunct lake fragments were subsequently filled. When water levels rose again, the surface area of the lake system had been significantly diminished, creating floodwater situations.
Despite this, a considerable extent of the interconnectedness of these local lakes remained through the 20th century down to the present. But the public consciousness of that extensive interconnectedness never returned to what it was in the heyday of the steamboats. Pine and Stone, and to a lesser extent, Clear, retained their fame as recreational lakes. Not so the smaller quiet-water lakes such as Lily, Hennessey and Lower. Aside from the activities of local fishermen, these once essential parts of the steamboat itinerary have been forgotten, largely ignored, and too often abused.
Back in the 1970s, my brother and I pondered the recreational potential of the interconnected water of this chain of lakes. We decided to test it out by traveling by jon boat from Central Avenue to Johnson Road. In only two places did we have to portage. One was at Hawthorn Street (where the subsurface culvert pipe linking the two parts of Lily Lake is less than two feet in diameter). Ironically, during the lake flooding in the 1990s, we were then able to boat over the top of that inundated street. The other place was at the Weller Avenue bridge (really a giant culvert). Incredibly, in the 1950s, when water levels were much lower, fishermen would sometimes be able to traverse under that “bridge.” They would lie down in their boats and “hand walk” their vessels until they came out the other side. Certainly, no place for claustrophobics! But by the time we took our trip, that passage had been completely blocked by water and muck.
The trip via jon boat took about 2 1/2 hours. The characteristics of these interconnected lakes changed successively like a kaleidoscope as we traveled this route. Lily and Hennessey were quiet, with abundant wildness. Stone had choppy, open, deep water with the beautiful, heavily wooded shores of Soldiers Memorial Park. And from the instant we left the Stone Lake Channel, huge Pine Lake was abuzz with activity. So much so that our little jon boat had to practically hug the shore to avoid getting swamped by speedboats and skiers. But we plodded forward, rowing past Pine’s beaches, shoreline neighborhoods, commercial developments and parks.
A very small, slightly submerged island then still remained in North Pine Lake, just off the Holmes Island peninsula. It had been created from the dirt of a temporary road linking Holmes Island with Pine Lake Road, during the lakes’ dry-up in the 1960s. As water levels had begun to rise, the road was bulldozed into a pile. Eventually, as they rose further, that little island resulted. In later years, it must have posed a caution for water skiers and speedboaters. But for us then, upon reaching it, this “snag” provided us with mild amusement. We took turns standing upon it while other took pictures.
From there, we rowed to the tree-lined slopes below Johnson Road. Having completed then this curious trip, we headed back over to where Kiwanis-Teledyne Park is today and landed the vessel.
It was a most interesting, intriguing trip. But what stuck most in our minds was that we very well may have been the first people in the 20th century to take this particular boat route, even though it had been a routine course for steamboats in the 19th century.
But why? Why hadn’t someone else during those 80-plus years recognized and utilized the recreational value of all this interconnected water, which had been so well known and so frequently used, in the Gilded Age? Now, a small jon boat is a far cry from the luxury of an excursion boat, even one from the 19th century. Yet, just traveling that route gave us some feel for why those 19th-century editors raved about it, and the City of LaPorte, back then.