It
may very well be that Wall Lake got it’s name from a prominent stone Wall that
once extended a hundred yards or so east-to-west in front of the cottages
between Reahm’s Place on the west and McCreary’s on the east. The Wall appeared even more prominent during
those years of low rainfall when the stones became visible well above the
waterline forming a rock jetty 30 yards off shore. The residents behind the wall could then
traverse a continuous wall of stone, walking with dry feet from one end to the
other; even fishing perched upon any of a number of substantial rocks that rose
above the waterline.
Geologically speaking the Wall might
best be described as a dense ridge of
glacial till dominated by boulders, some the size of basketballs, others
irregular shaped, and measuring a full four feet in diameter; all with smooth
rounded edges, The east-west
orientation of the Wall lent further credence to it’s glacial origins, left
behind some 9,000 to10,000 years ago. The Great Lakes and most inland lakes of the
Southern Peninsula of Michigan were
carved out by the same scouring action of glacial meltwaters
that advanced and receded over the millennia. A thorough investigation of
Michigan soils further supports this glacial theory.
This prominent Wall of stone was
admittedly a genuine landmark, but presented a number of challenges. During years of abundant rainfall the rock
Wall lay just below water level and motorboats quite often bottomed-out on the
rocks causing considerable damage to boat and motor. Those years when the lake level was down
residents behind the Wall had difficulty getting their boats beyond the
Wall. This was remedied one summer by
clearing a narrow gap in the very middle of the Wall where boats could pass
more freely from the encompassed cove to the open body of water. During those drier years the shoreline in
front of the 6 or 7 cottages receded leaving behind a diminished waterfront and
a mass of rotting seaweed, which offered very little opportunity for swimming,
unless you ventured beyond the Wall.
It was during
a three year span of record low rainfall that the residents behind the Wall
(Ken Reahm, Ken Miller, Jesse Mack, Art Cook, Bill McCreary and others) hatched
a plan to hire “Baldwin Brother’s
Excavating” from Hastings to remove the Wall which had become an undesirable earthen
dam. In advance of the actual removal a team of visiting geologists from one of
the State Universities came out to properly survey the Wall. They were shown
the principle wall and told of our suspicion that the rocks extended even
further out-of-sight below the surface. This peaked their interest, and they
returned a couple days later with diving gear. We took them in our family
rowboat to a point well beyond the shore and they dove down and just as
predicted: found a continuous column of rocks that extended clear across the
lake. Their final report stated that although the Indians may have used the
Wall in front of our cottage, it most certainly was NOT manmade. It was in fact
a glacial deposit ‑‑ extending eastward across the lake, and
consisting of comparable granite boulders of considerable size.
As the cottage owners made plans to
remove the Wall it was rumored that nearby (unaffected) residents on the lake
were seeking an injunction against removal of the Wall, on grounds that it
should remain a landmark, but the Baldwin Brothers of Hastings arrived early
one Saturday morning and began work unhindered, with only a few protesting
onlookers. They laid heavy wood planks
atop the Wall so that their crane could creep into position and begin the tedious
removal of rock. Once in place the crane operator removed truckload upon
truckload of rock, which was then hauled away by truck drivers to a location on
the north side of the lake. I was about
ten years old that summer and watched the entire project unfold in front of our
cottage (now owned by the Deboer family).
I remember some of the rock being so large it practically over turned
the crane. Once a truck was loaded it disappeared down Cortez Rd to the
dumpsite. By the end of that day, and
many many truckloads later, the Wall was completely removed, and the residents
were left with a bona fide waterfront, not unlike other residents on the lake.
I can recall summers when weeds and
cattails had grown on the Wall, so the unobstructed view after the removal of
the Wall made the Lake even more beautiful to behold. It took that summer and the next for the lake
bottom to adjust to the excavation work of that summer (circa 1962). I guess you could say my brothers and I were
the last explorers of the Wall on Wall Lake.
We would miss pulling away boulders to hunt crayfish or catch a Rock
Bass in the nooks and crannies of the Wall.
We swam in front of our cottage nearly every day and can attest to the
gouges in the lake bottom where the Wall had once been. What remained were large pockets of slippery
gray clay that would squish between your toes. I’ve visited the lake in recent
years and the current residents have beautiful lakefront properties.
As for legends of an Indian encampment
behind the Wall: I can attest to that, for in the early 1950’s we found
arrowheads and hand tools on the beach behind the Wall. One can imagine the usefulness of the Wall
100 or 200 years ago, when the aboriginals used the shoreline for drinking,
bathing, fishing, and basket weaving.
The absence of a small portion of glacial rock doesn’t diminish the rich
lore that lies “asleep” on the shores of Wall Lake. I envy today’s youth that have the lake as
their idyllic wonderland, and would encourage them to explore the shorelines. Surely we left behind a few undisturbed rocks
with arrowheads yet to be found.
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