During their inhabitation of the region surrounding Lake Ronkonkoma, the Indians were known to be mystified and fearful of its waters. Situated near the geographic center of Long Island, the lake is completely surrounded by hills making it impossible for it to have an outlet overland, nor are there any ample visible inlets for supply.
Many natives thought the lake to be bottomless, as bodies would often drown and disappear into it depths. There were stories of people drowning only to have their bodies be found in distant waterways, furthering their beliefs of the bottomless theory.
Many Indians also thought that the lake was connected with the Great South Bay at a place called Pattersquash, which translated means little round place.
The bottomless tales continued after white men settled in the area during the 1700s and 1800s. One particular story describes men dropping as much as 1,000 feet of heavily weighted fishing line into the deep holes in the southwestern section of the lake and failing to reach bottom. Another account tells of a wagon that disappeared into one of the holes and was later found in the Great South Bay, prompting many to believe that the lake contained secret underwater connections to other bodies of water.
The bottomless theories were resurrected in the early 1900s when a diving platform was constructed at the right edge of the deep hole in the lake. An occasional drowning would occur when swimmers walked out from the beach and stepped into the hole, so ropes were later erected to warn swimmers. In the 1930s, the rumors again reemerged when the body of a Connecticut bootlegger, who was murdered and dumped into the Long Island Sound, surfaced along the banks of the lake with his hat, his wallet, and his flask.
Some locals also spoke of other oddities at the lake, including a powerful whirlpool in the center of the water. Additional curiosity was spurred among locals when a peculiarity concerning the temperature of the lake was uncovered. Under the impression that Lake Ronkonkoma was very cold, Dr. Fredrick Mather, superintendent of the New York Fish Commission, stocked the lake with bass, trout, and other cold-water fish. A dozen feet below the surface he found a temperature of sixty degrees, but the bottom of the lake was unusually ten to twelve degrees warmer than the surface temperature.
The origin of the lake and outlet remained a mystery for three centuries. In 1875, three men, Elais Lewis, Jr., James Baylis, Esq. and Captain Nat Dickerson, visited the lake with the sole purpose of measuring the depth. The men reported making 27 soundings and found the deepest portion of the lake to be 72 feet near the southwestern corner. At no time did they find the lake to be bottomless. However, they did find the lake floor to become shallower and more uniform in depth towards its northern part.
The bottomless theories were further halted when the City of Brooklyn, in search of additional sources of water supply, made an official survey of Lake Ronkonkoma and other various brooks and ponds on Long Island in the early 1900s. Hall Fullerton, a respected authority on Ronkonkoma, organized a team of engineers to employ deep-sea sounding methods in an effort to test the depth of the lake. Using the most sophisticated Navy equipment of the time, Fullerton found that the lake, at its deepest point, was about 92 feet, which was surprising since Ronkonkoma is only about 60 feet above sea level. This section was the source of the water supply of the lake, and was likely the bottomless abyss of the Indians. The survey also noted that fresh water was pouring in at such a pace that the sounding apparatus was sent whirling around at a lively rate.
Years later, the United States Government sent a man named A.C. Veatch to perform a survey on the underground water resources of Long Island. This project determined that Lake Ronkonkoma is essentially a natural well that taps the underground water table. Moreover, this particular water table is said to cover an area of 20 square miles. Veatch also concluded that the inland basin of Lake Ronkonkoma was just north of the topographical catchments area of the nearby Connetquot streams, and that the ground was somewhat connected.
Through this survey, Veatch theorized that Lake Ronkonkoma was doubtlessly formed during the glacial periods by an iceberg that bore the well and, when it melted, left the depression that filled with water from the underground water table. This accounts for the water always being fresh. It would be virtually impossible to drain Lake Ronkonkoma no matter what methods were attempted. Years of steady pumping would prove fruitless, as the lake would merely continue to fill itself.
According to a 1986 study, the groundwater flow system beneath Long Island is separated by a divide that extends across the approximate center of the island in an east-west direction. Lake Ronkonkoma is about two miles south of this point. The water recharging north of the divide flows in a northerly direction towards the Long Island Sound, while water recharging south of the divide generally flows in the southerly direction carrying groundwater to the lake and towards the Great South Bay and Atlantic Ocean.
Legend believers will contend that these subterranean passages beneath the floor of the lake could, in fact, explain the numerous tales of victims and objects disappearing into the lake and appearing in other nearby waterways. However, some experts challenge that a person would have to be smaller than a grain of sand to swim along the underground springs through the sedimentary layer of the island.
It is unknown whether these underground waterways are the answer to the various myths of a bottomless lake that falls forever into an unfathomable infinity. While science has solved certain questions regarding the depth of the lake, old legends detailing its ability to swallow bodies continue to arouse bewilderment. Even today, mystery surrounds the water as local police have consistently reported drowning cases at the lake where the body does not appear for two months or more and they have candidly admitted that this is unusual in a body of water so relatively small.
The above fishing map, originally published by New York Sprtsman Magazine in 1981, depicts the depths of Lake Ronkonkoma, including the two chasms in the southern section. The lake area labeled at 65 ft. has been documented at depths ranging from 65 to 92 feet in depth.
