This column is inspired in part by an old news article contributed by Kevin Savick and by the television program on the Discovery Channel (cable 56 on the local system) called “Mythbusters.”

Like those five fine folks on this program, we’re going to take a printed myth with a local connection and find out if it can be confirmed, is plausible, or gets busted. And our basic target is Albert Lea Lake.

The news article Kevin found was on Page 4 of the June 3, 1926, issue of the Freeborn County Standard. It had the headline of “Lake Albert Lea big body of water.” Here’s that complete article:

“Albert Lea is a larger body of water than most people think. President Alfred Christopherson of the First National Bank, who several years ago with H.E. Skinner bought ‘New York Point’ and renamed it ‘Morraine Point’ has a fine cottage at the beautiful point and has become interested in the lake.

“Last winter he made a trip on the ice around the shore line of the lake and was surprised to find the trip measured 25 miles. It is about two and a half miles from Albert Lea to Morraine Point, or the same distance to Juglans. Then there is another large body of water to the east of the ‘island’ nearly as large as the part of the lake we are most familiar with.

“Mr. Christopherson also finds that parts of the lake — off Morraine Point have a rock and gravel bottom, although most of the lake bottom is of washed-in mud. The water in this part of the lake averages around six to eight feet in depth. Unlike the waters of Fountain Lake, Lake Albert Lea water never becomes covered with green scum that becomes so offensive in hot weather.

“When the city sewage, now emptying into the upper part of Lake Albert Lea, is disposed of otherwise, this lake will be not only one of the most beautiful of Minnesota’s ten thousand, but will also be one of the cleanest.”

This Lake Albert Lea name has a rather strange connection with local history. It’s the original name selected for this community! Thankfully, it was soon changed. Yet, a few folks persisted in the backward usage of this name, as the 1926 news article clearly indicates.

Within this news article is a statistic that’s a candidate for a possible myth. According to Alfred, the shoreline of Albert Lea Lake is 25 miles in length. (Please note that the 1926 news article spells shoreline as two words. The Tribune’s spell checker clearly indicates this is one word.)

I’m not sure how this bank president determined this 25-mile statistic. It’s doubtful he had a pedometer. Anyway, this statistic is a prime candidate for either being confirmed or busted. We’ll forget the plausible part.

There are several ways to check out the lake’s shoreline distance.

One is based on the length and width of a lake shaped somewhat like the contour of a deep dish. The lake’s length is about five miles and the width may be three miles or so at the widest point. In reality, this doesn’t answer anything at all.

According to Matt Levorson, water patrol deputy, the Web site for Albert Lea Lake says it’s 2,685 acres in size. Divide this number by 640 and the answer is 4.15 square miles. That again doesn’t result in a solution to the length of the lake’s shoreline.

Then there’s the string method to follow the rather crooked shoreline on a map to determine the distance involved. The answer I obtained with this rather crude gimmick is 19 miles.

There’s still another way to check on the shoreline dimensions of this lake. It involves driving around the lake. To do this I went to the corner of East Front Street and Frank Avenue and reset the car’s speedometer to zero. Then I drove south to Frank Hall Drive and onto South Shore drive (County Road 19) on a trip to the east. The route next went north on County Road 26 through Hayward to County Road 46 and a turn to the west. In an effort to stay closer to the general outline of the lake, a turn was made to the south on County Road 38 (780th Avenue, the route to the state park). Not too far on this roadway a turn was again made to the west on County Road 91 which soon evolves into S.E. Marshall Street. Then this research trip went on St. Peter Avenue to Eberhart Street, Garfield Avenue to East Front Street and back to where this mileage check started.

The total result shown on the speedometer is 16.8 miles. Thus, the myth about the 25-mile shoreline for Albert Lea Lake is busted.

Ed Shannon’s column has been appearing in the Tribune every Friday since December 1984.