Mountain Lake (Virginia)

BW

Dries temporarily out completely

The Mountain Lake is one next to the Lake Drummond to the only two natural freshwater lakes in the U.S. state of Virginia. For all other lakes in the territory of which it is man-made reservoirs or water storage.

The Mountain Lake is located in the town of Pembroke in Giles County, Virginia. The lake lies at 1181 meters above sea level has a size of around 0.2 km ² (320 acres) and an average depth of 5 m, but can grow up to 35 m at high tide. He probably created by a large rockfall that dammed around 6000 years before the draining water. The Giles County is considered the most active seismic area in Virginia, so that an earthquake could have caused the rockslide. When the Mountain Lake overflows, the water flows through a drain ( drain Pond ) in the Little Stony Creek and eventually into the New River. The edge of the lake held the erosive forces was such that no drainage ditch was built and the lake was totally empty.

The Mountain Lake 1751 was discovered by Christopher Gist of the Ohio Company of Virginia, as he explored the country for the Company and the lake described in his report. In the spring of 1768 arrived settlers and drove their cattle in a valley with lush meadows. They discovered salt deposits as a dietary supplement for cattle, but no lake and called the place Salt Pond Mountain. The Lost Lake allowed the settlers the veracity of Christopher Gist doubt report. From 1950 to about 1990, the lake was filled, but from 1998 to 2002, the surface shrank by more than half. In 2003, he filled up again until it almost completely dried up in September 2008, despite above-average rainfall. The cause of a large number of leaks and crevices in the ground. If silt and leaves closes the openings, the level of the lake rises. The continuous draining of water can erode the sludge, and opens the cracks in the ground again, so that the drain exceeds the inflow. At times, the lake dries out completely, as happened in 2008 and apparently also from 1751 to 1768. Another cause for this phenomenon could be the constant smaller earthquakes in this region be causing the opening and closing of crevices.

Circa 1856 a hotel and a sawmill was built on the lake. Travelers arrived by stagecoach and later with the Norfolk and Western Railway to Mountain Lake. The hotel has been remodeled several times over the years and often changed hands. In 1987 it was the location for the U.S. feature film Dirty Dancing with Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey.