Lake Jackson in northern Leon County has drained or dried up, this time amid an ongoing drought in the state capital, though it’s not known if the two are connected.
The lake has been a recent topic of conversation for the Leon County Commission as they reversed course on a controversial Comprehensive Plan change that would have allowed more development in the area.
Before the previous dry run in 2021, the last one was in 1999, which resulted in a massive mud removal in which dump trucks transported 100,000 loads of sediment.
It is a stormwater lake, its beds dotted with sinkholes that drain into the aquifer. The Porter sink, the sinkhole responsible for the dramatic drydowns, serves as a sort of bathtub stopper. By the time the sink catches again, there will be no lake, and with the ongoing drought, there is no telling when enough rain will fall to fill what is now a prairie.
Where is Lake Jackson?
Jackson Lake is located in north-central Leon County, Florida, northwest of Tallahassee, along US Route 27.
How often did the lake dry up?
Lake Jackson has drained, or dried up, at least a dozen times since 1837. Native Americans called it Okeeheepkee, or “disappearing waters.”
Hernando DeSoto’s writers made no mention of it when the conquistadors wintered in present-day Tallahassee in 1539. They described a savannah and a large plain where Lake Jackson is today. And a British trader who worked in northern Florida in the 1740s made no mention of the lake.
But the first settlers took note of the lake. Especially when it disappeared in 1836. And it repeated the feat in 1886, 1909, 1932, 1956, 1982, 1999 and 2006 and most recently in 2012.
Jackson Lake is a rain fed lake. Its beds are dotted with sinkholes that drain into the aquifer.
Why does drying occur? Is it just caused by drought?
Lake Jackson is a “closed basin” with no major creeks or streams to provide water. Drought is the main factor for the bottom of the lake to be exposed. The last time the limestone outcrops were revealed was in 2012, but only briefly.
A common misconception is that it dries up every 20 years or so, but the simple answer is that the bottom of the lake is exposed during extended local droughts; there is no specific schedule.
Lake waters leave the lake by evaporation from the surface, by transpiration of water vapor from emerging aquatic plants, and by infiltration of water into sinkholes (of which there are hundreds).
What are visitors saying?
Lake Jackson’s shenanigans have been widely reported over the years by the Tallahassee Democrat. Here’s a selection of reactions from previous stories:
“It’s magnificent,” Cora Fabian said as she stood atop Porter Sink, looking out at an alien landscape of canyons, crevasses and towering cliffs carved into the lake’s limestone bed. “Some of the rocks are masterpieces. I see all these little pictures in the rocks. Right there, it’s Groot from The Avengers. It’s amazing how the sun and water can create art.”
“It was just an opportunity to see it after the sinkhole opened,” said Mike Hamilton, who is from Tallahassee but now lives in St. Augustine.
“It’s so beautiful,” Kathy Ryan said. She and husband Joe moved to Tallahassee from Orlando. They had never heard of a lake that disappeared.
Are there caves under Lake Jackson?
One Monday morning in 1999, after Jackson Lake was reduced to a trickle of water, Tom Scott, Guy “Harley” Means and Mike Hill looked at the 20-inch gap where the water was pouring in and realized it was big enough to fit through.
Scott took a second ladder and “tied a rope around my waist, attached it to Mike’s truck and went down another ten feet and examined the limestone around the bottom.”
He found himself in a room that opened to caves that ran north, east, and west. They were carved by eons of flowing water dissolving the calcareous lake bed. Since this adventure, there have been no further efforts to explore the caves.
Was anything discovered when the waters recede?
The 2021 section of Jackson Lake revealed two human skulls in the mud of the 4,000-acre aquatic preserve along U.S. Highway 27.
After an evaluation by state archaeologists, it was determined that the two human skulls found in Jackson Lake are of Native American origin, possibly dating back five centuries.
In an email, Ryan Ash, assistant director of the Florida Department of State, said the skull originated in the midwestern United States sometime between the 1400s and 1600s.
He did not explain how the skulls ended up in the dry lake bed. Some county officials privately suspected it was a collector of artifacts who realized it was illegal to possess them, then dumped them in the lake.
This story contains previously published material that appeared in the Tallahassee Democrat.
This article originally appeared on the Tallahassee Democrat: Disappearing waters showcase the hidden beauty of Jackson Lake