Dewart Lake, (formerly Lake Wawasee before Turkey Lake became Lake Wawasee), is a natural lake southwest of
Syracuse
Syracuse most commonly refers to:
* Syracuse, Sicily, Italy; in the province of Syracuse
* Syracuse, New York, USA; in the Syracuse metropolitan area
Syracuse may also refer to:
Places
* Syracuse railway station (disambiguation)
Italy
* Provi ...
in
Kosciusko County, Indiana
Kosciusko County ( ) is a county in the U.S. state of Indiana. At the 2020 United States census, its population was 80,240. The county seat (and only incorporated city) is Warsaw. The county was organized in 1836. It was named after the Polis ...
, United States. It was formed during the most recent glacial retreat of the
Pleistocene era
The Pleistocene ( ; referred to colloquially as the ''Ice Age'') is the geological epoch that lasted from to 11,700 years ago, spanning the Earth's most recent period of repeated glaciations. Before a change was finally confirmed in 2009 by ...
.
Dewart Lake is a natural lake, located south of Syracuse and east of
Indiana State Road 15
State Road 15 (SR 15) is a north–south state road in northern part of the US state of Indiana. Its southern terminus is at U.S. Highway 35 (US 35) and SR 22 near Jonesboro and its northern terminus is the Michigan state line, north of Br ...
. 41 degrees 22' 03.31" North Latitude x 85 degrees 46' 18.22" West Longitude, above Sea Level. is the maximum depth with an average depth of . It lies within the
Elkhart River
The Elkhart River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed May 19, 2011 tributary of the St. Joseph River in northern Indiana in the United States. It is almost entirely ...
watershed and drains . Two small inlets enter on the east side and the outlet, Hammond Ditch, leaves the west side and flows to
Waubee Lake. Large areas on the north and south sides of the lake are less than deep. Hydraulic retention time is 601 days. Farming is the main watershed use, although woodlots and wetlands are present. Nearly all of the shoreline is residentially developed. Areas of natural shoreline and wetlands are present along the south shore and in the northeast corner adjacent to a private camp. A state-owned boat ramp is available in the northwest corner on CR 300E.
Dewart Lake is moderately fertile. Its trophic index is 36. Enough oxygen is present for fish 20 deep but levels drop too low below 20 feet (less than 4 ppm.). Water clarity varies from 6 through 13 1/2 feet. The bottom is mostly sand and muck, but boulders and gravel are also present. Eurasian Water Millfol is the dominant submerged aquatic plant. (The lake was treated for this non-indigenous plant in 2006.) Cattails, spatterdock and water lilies are the major emergent plants. In recent years, an extensive cattail stand along the south shore has been replaced with lilies. Some past management at Dewart Lake has been directed at maintaining the native fishery and creating walleye fishing opportunities.
Naming history
Surveyor's field notes dated February 21, 1835, describe the lake as "two square miles located in the southeast corner of Van Buren township known by the Indian name of Wa-we-as-see (pronounced Wawasee)".
The land in northern Indiana was opened for settlement on March 20, 1837. Shortly thereafter, President Martin Van Buren granted a land patent of 77.53 acres that contained the lake to Thomas and Matelene Lingle. Soon after this, the lake was renamed Lingle Lake.
The property changed hands several times. The Dewarts purchased the land for $1200 on May 8, 1844. The name Lingle Lake continued on some legal documents well into the early 1900s. Finally the Dewart name won out and the lake became officially known as Dewart Lake.
[Extracted from an article by Jack Elam published in the May 1993 DLPA newsletter then called "…dabbles of data from DEWART"]
References
*''Incorporates text from th
Dewart Lake Protective Association website used with permission.''
{{authority control
Lakes of Kosciusko County, Indiana
Lakes of Indiana