No, it’s not the conning tower on a submarine! This early picture shows a fisherman and his calm companions in a rowboat near one of Lake Papakeechie’s artesian wells which at the time rose above the water line.

News Release

SYRACUSE — The creation of Lake Papakeechie by the Northern Indiana Improvement Company led to the development of the Wawasee State Fish Hatchery.

The Syracuse-Wawasee Historical Museum will present a Centennial program featuring this chain of events in the early 1900s at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 8, at the Syracuse Community Center, North Long Drive.

The lives of highly motivated men like Charles Sudlow, George Xanders and George Miles intertwined to create a serene lake which in turn provided an ideal location for a fish hatchery to stock lakes in the area with game fish, primarily bass. Just southeast of Lake Wawasee there was a large tract of inaccessible territory with high hills, deep holes full of water, swamps and razorback ridges. Separated by low marsh lands, six little lakes were scattered about the valley.

You will be captivated by the “re – creation” of what originally may at one time have been a large single lake from which the water receded. About the time the waters of Lake Papakeechie were rising behind its dam and embankments, the state of Indiana started funding state fish hatcheries. The ideal location was right there at the marshy area between the dam and Lake Wawasee.

Master Gardener and Papakeechie resident Joyce Arleen Corson will share her efforts in mitigating the nearby wetlands.

Mark your calendar now for “A Sportsman’s Paradise,” at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 8. in the Syracuse Community Center. Take time also to visit the Syracuse-Wawasee Historical Museum. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.