Beaver Lake (Newton County, Indiana)

Beaver Lake was the largest lake in Indiana. It was drained due to land speculation that followed the Swamp Land Act of 1850. Today, the dry lake bed is part of the Kankakee Sands nature preserve.

History
Beaver Lake was a shallow lake covering tens of thousands of acres and did not exceed fifteen feet in depth. It was home to scores of species of fish, waterfowl, and mammals. Among the animals native to the area was a healthy bald eagle population. Before the settlement of Newton County, Indiana it provided resources for Native Americans. During Indiana's frontier days, the lake continued to provide food and furs for the early settlers. Thanks to its remoteness, criminals were known to hideout at the infamous Bogus Island located on the Lake.

The name "Beaver Lake" was first recorded by U.S. surveyors in 1834, who deemed it and the surrounding area "of little value." Due to the Swamp Land Act of 1850, Indiana received 1,265,000 acres of wetlands, but only about 9,000 acres near Beaver Lake, consisting mostly of its surrounding marshland.

In 1853, state swamp land engineer Amizi Condi and state auditor John Dunn purchased the shoreline of the lake. They then sold this land to lawyer Michael Bright, brother of Jesse D. Bright, a U.S. Senator from Indiana. The drainage process began in 1854, when a ditch running from Beaver Lake to the Kankakee River was dug. The Indianapolis Journal correctly predicted that Michael Bright intended to drain the lake and claim ownership of the land. Indeed, once Bright purchased the entire shoreline of the lake, he declared that he owned, "the bed of said lake, and of all the islands covered by the waters thereof."

Decades of legal challenges and court cases followed, during which three-quarters of the lake bed was purchased by Lemuel Milk and his partners Algy Dean and Henry Cooley, who continued draining the lake. In 1873, U.S. Congress granted the title to the lands to the state of Indiana, and after more court challenges, Indiana divested itself of the land for cheap in 1889. At this point, the lake was gone and was being used for farmland.

Nature Conservancy purchase
The land was farmed until the late 1990s. At that time the Nature Conservancy purchased 7,200 acres in and around the Beaver Lake basin and began restoring the area to native prairie. The land where Beaver Lake once stood is now part of Kankakee Sands. Today, the Nature Conservancy maintains a trail along what was once the shore of Beaver Lake.