Lysander, NY--Hampered by visibility, New York State Police used sonar this morning to try to find Benjamin L. Hodgson, the North Syracuse man who disappeared into Beaver Lake Tuesday afternoon while swimming alongside a canoe. Two men in a small boat, one looking at sonar, moved slowly between two orange buoys in Beaver Lake’s calm water looking for signs...
State Police and other rescue workers set off to look for a North Syracuse man who was missing Tuesday after a friend said went swimming off his canoe on Beaver Lake. Lysander, NY--Hampered by visibility, New York State Police used sonar this morning to try to find Benjamin L. Hodgson, the North Syracuse man who disappeared into Beaver Lake Tuesday afternoon while swimming alongside a canoe.
Two men in a small boat, one looking at sonar, moved slowly between two orange buoys in Beaver Lake’s calm water looking for signs of Hodgson, 25, of 118 Lynnhaven Drive.
Hodgson disappeared about 2:20 p.m. Tuesday while swimming in the lake, which is part of the Beaver Lake Nature Center in Lysander. Swimming is not allowed in the small murky lake.
Visibility in the water is less than 3 feet, said State Police Commander Ed Foster. State police used divers and a helicopter Tuesday to look for Hodgson.
This morning the helicopter returned performing several flights over the lake, but with no success, Foster said.
“The sonar is allowing them to see through the murk and search a wider area,” he said.
This is the first drowning at Beaver Lake since the nature center opened about 40 years ago, said Bruce Stebbins, the center’s director.
The lake, called a kettle lake, was formed by glaciers 10,000 years ago, he said. It is fed by springs for the most part, and is an average of 6 to 8 feet, with its deepest section about 12 to 13 feet, Stebbins said.
The lake is slowly receding as it’s filled in by decaying plants, he said. Stebbins called the lake bottom “soft.”
“It’s more of a middle-aged pond,” Stebbins said.
The lake is a part of an education and recreation center designed to bring visitors closer to nature, and swimming is not allowed, he said. “It’s not part of our mission.”