The rope pull is synonymous with Shadow Lake, so this week, instead of recalling rope pulls past, it’s worth considering the condition of the local mere. At left is our earliest view of what was once known as “The Laundry Pond,” taken before the class of 1891 built the dam which raised the water level by several feet and created the pond which we all know and love. This image was shot from in front of the original school laundry, on the far side of the lake, looking towards campus. Today’s lake is beginning to look like the lake in this view, albeit for a very different reason: plant life and silt are raising the level of the floor of Shadow Lake. 
From the creation of the dam, through the mid-20th century, the lake assumed the borders you see in this view from about 1915, though notably, in 1928, crews of student workers spent a weekend cleaning debris from the lake bed and marge. From that date until the mid-1960s, the lake was left to its own devices, and it slowly began 
to choke on natural siltration and burgeoning aquatic plant life. To save the lake, the dam was opened, and it was drained in the spring of 1965. Through much of the summer the lake bed was allowed to dry, and in August, dredging began. This view, taken on August 30, 1965, shows this was no small project.
These stark views of the rope pull from the fall of 1965 and the fall of 1966 (above at left and right) show the empty lake, and the time it took to refill during the next year or so.
For decades after this, the lake closely resembled the body of water shown in the 1915 image, above. But more than forty years have passed since that dredging project was undertaken, and, the present state of Shadow Lake, shown in this 2009 photograph by Craig Hefner, contrasts dramatically with that early view. Without intervention, the lake will slowly, but surely, disappear. The question now is, What should we do about Shadow Lake? Do we allow nature simply to run its course, or should we drain the lake and dredge again, or should we seek some less invasive but still effective means of recovering the beauty of the lake in our midst? Is there a viable middle course? What do you think we should do?
So great to see the pictures of the lake over time!
Shadow lake has been a priceless resource for the NMH Outdoor program. It provides sheltered water for canoe instruction in the fall and spring. Years ago it served as the home waters of a fly fishing minor course. The Winter in the Outdoors class has shoveled a skating rink over its deepest section for the past 4 years and every spring it is the centerpiece of the Adventure Challenge.
Thank you to Craig Hefner and Meg Donnelly for starting this conversation and thank you to Peter Weis for providing the historical context.
I heard that Shadow Lake is now zoned as a wetland, and so the decision to dredge or not is surrounded by bureaucratic red tape. Can somebody comment on this?