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1 2 3

NIAGARA.

C
ci

■ >-•

fcfl

^Ol

FA LI..:-, 0!~

THE

FALLS OF NIAGARA

AND

OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS.

GEORGE W. HOLLEY.

m\X\ mxixL |IIustr!tti0««.

HODDER AND STOUGHTON,

27, PATERNOSTER ROW.

MDCCCLXXXII.

' 7 n

Hazell, Watbon, and Viney, Printers, London and Aylesbury.

CONTENTS.

PRKFACE,

PAGE

. xiii

Part I.— History.

CHAPTER I.

pin's first and scLcf vishs ?o thePm ~ ^^'"^^ "^""^•

CHAPTER II.

Baron La Hontan's description of the Falls — M Ch^.u ■ . i
Madame M aintenon- Number of tLSkr^S-T''!,' '^"^'' '«
Great projection of the rock in Fn/jl. h ^^^?'°?'^^' indications -
Winds -Rainbows. ^^^^' Hennepin's time-Cave of the

CHAPTER III.

and the surrounding countrr'P ^°" °^ '^^ ^'^^••' '^^ Falls,

CHAPTER IV.

V \

VUl

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER V. PAGE

The lower Niagara— Fort Niagara-Fort Mississauga— Niagara yil-
laee—Lewiston— Portage around ihe Falls— The first railroad m the
United States— Fort Schlosser— The ambuscade at Devils Hole—
La Salle's vessel, the Griffin — IhQ Niagara frontier 25

Part II.— Geology.

CHAPTER VL

America the old world -Geologically recent ongin of the Falls-E^a■■
dence thereof- Captain Williams's surveys for a ship-canal -Former
extent of lake Michigan-Its outlet into the Illinois River -The
Niagara Barrier-How broken through-The birth of Niagara 32

CHAPTER VII.

Composition of the terrace cut through-Why retrocession i^ PO^siWe-
Three sections from Lewiston to the Falls — Devd's Hole— Ihe
Mna group -.Recession long checked-The Whirlnool-The nar-
rowest part of the river-The mir.or-Depth of tW water in the
Chasm — Former grand Fall '+

CHAPTER VIII.

Recession above the present position of the Falls -The Falls will be
higher as they recede— Reason Why — Professor Tyndall s predic-
tion—Present and former accumulations of rock -Terrific power of
the elements— Ice and ice bridges — Remarkable geognosy of the lake
region

Part III.
LOCAL History and Incidents.

CHAPTER IX.

Forty years since- Niagara in winter- Frozen spray -ice foJI^ge and
ice apples -Ice moss -Frozen fog- Ice islands — Ice statues -
Sleigh-riding on the American Rapids — Boys coasting on them— Ice ^^
gorges

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER X.

PAGE

Judge Porter— General Porter— Goat Island — OrJmn ^r •,

Early dates found cut in the bark of trPP<f^n7; .# °f ''« "ame—
KaliA's wonderful story- Bncfges to the Isknd Met? ^'^~r^''°^"''°''

CHAPTER XI.

^"^fSlap'lnliTescJeof'lTien-^
the WlSrlpool- ult^l^p^nVo^^llfZ?,^^^^^^^^^
ical notice— His grave unmarked

■ Effect upon Robinson— Biograph-

«S

CHAPTER XII.

A fisherman and a bear in a canno FriVi^ff,,! „ • ., ^

Early farming on the Niagara - ? ut griwi ?'' Th;!!''^ ^°^''?S ice -
Testimony of the trees — The firsNnn J r ^~, iifu^^^inal forest-
House - Distinguished visitnrf r " ^^"^?^ Whitney- Cataract
bank-OntarioCu:L"a!?torH'^^r^'^^°''>"" '''' ^^^"^^'^^

Termination Rocks — Burni

The Museum— Table and

dotes isurnmg bprmg— Lundy's Lane— Battle Anec-

CHAPTER XIII.

theFalls^A first Tew of 3 e Fnllf ^'^ ^' r ' ^^ ^'^^ ^°™Pa^s at

bow-Golden snraP-^u^lSaS^rSlf'iSri^^^^^

ever known at tfie klls-The Hern"t of th^pS ^^^"'' ''"'"'" .

lOo

CHAPTER XIV.

"" RS^Swanlti^^^ ^^^?i Pr---I Joke-Death of Miss

havfsurvivecl the detenT ^"^"''^^ ""'' ^''^ ^alls-Why dogs

118

CHAPTER XV.

"^'S^^l^^^^^I^^-^^f « ^o t'^^ ^°^? Islands-Railw.,
Other accidents ^ ''^''° ^^''^ '^^^" carried over the Falls-

125

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER XVI.

PAGE

The first Suspension Bridge -The Railway Suspension Bridge— Extraor-
dinary vibmtion given to the Railway Bridge by the fall of a mass of
rock— De Veaux College -The Lewiston Suspension Bndge-The
Suspension Bridge at the Falls 37

CHAPTER XVH.

Blondin and his « ascensions ''-Visit of the Prince of Wajes -Grand
illumination of the Falls-The steamer Carohne-The Water-power
of Niagara— Lord DuflFerin and the plan of an international park. . . . I44

CHAPTER XVni.

Poetry in the Table Rock albums — Poems by Colonel Porter, Willis G.
aark, Lord Morpeth, Jose Maria Heredia, A. S. R.dgely, Mrs. Sigour-
ney, and J. G. C. Brainard *53

Part IV.
OTHER Famous Cataracts of the World.

CHAPTER XIX.

Yosemite-Vernal~Nevada-Yellowstone-Shoshone-St. Maurice
— Montmorency "*

CHAPTER XX.

Tequendama-Kaiteeur-Paulo Affonso-Keel-fos-Riunkan-fos-
Sarp-fos-Staubbach- Zambesi or Victoria -Murchison- Caver y-
Schaff hausen

CHAPTER XXI.

Famous rapids and cascades -Niagara -Amazon -Orinoco -Parana

— jsjiig — Livingstone '^

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

NuoAK. FAu. PKOM THE Cax.oz.. Sihk Fkoxtxspieck.

THE HOKSKSHOE Fa.. pkom Goat Islano Opposite page 6.

l^UNA Pall and Island in Winter

The Rapids above the Falls

The Youngest Inhabitant

Mouth of the Chasm and Brock's Monument...

Niagara Falls from Below

Great Icicles under the American Fall

Winter Foliage

Ice Bridge and Frost Freaks

Coasting below the American Fall

Second Moss Island Bridge

Joel R. Robinson

The Maid of the Mist in the Whirlpool

Fisher and the Bear

Fall of Table Rock

Rock of Ages and Whirlwind Bridge

The Three Sisters or Moss Islands

How THE Suspension Bridge was Begun. . .

" 17

" 22

((

« 29

" 54

60.

((

" 69

' 70.

« t

* 76

« «

f t

' 91

" «

' 97

« «

109

« »

114

«« «

I2S

« «

i37

:>cii LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Blondin Crossing the Niagara Opposite

Indian Women Selling Bead-work

YosEMiTE Falls

Bridal Veil Fall

Vernal Falls •

Nevada Falls

Lower Falls of the Yellowstone

Upper Falls of the Yellowstone

The Staubbach, Switzerland

Victoria Falls, Zambesi

Map of the Niagara Region

page

145
148
164
166
168
171
172
174
176
L78

PREFACE.

pHE wnter, having resided in the village of Niagara
Falls for more than a third of a century, has had
opportunity to become thoroughly acquainted with the
locahty, and to study it with constantly increasing
mterest and admiration. Long observation enables him
to offer some new suggestions in regard to the geological
age of the Falls, their retrocession, and the causes which
We been potent in producing it; and also to demon
strate the existence of a barrier or dam that was once
he shore of an immense fresh-water sea, which reached
from Niagara to Lake Michigan, and emptied its waters
into the Gulf of Mexico.

Whoever undertakes to wr^t ■ comprehensively on
this subject will soon become aware of the weakness of
exclamation points and adjectives, and the almost ire.

XIV

PREFACE.

sistible temptation to indulge in a style of composition
which he cannot maintain, and should not if he could.
So far as the writer, y'.elding to the inspiration of his
theme, and in opposition to all resolutions to the con-
trary, may have trespassed in this direction, he bares
and bows his head to the severest treatment that the
critic may adopt. His labor has been one of love, and
in giving its results to the public he regrets that it is
not more worthy of the subject.

As it is hoped that the work may be useful to
future visitors to the Falls, and also possess some
interest for those who have visited them, it seemed
desirable to avoid the introduction of notes and the
citation of authorities. For this reason several para-
graphs are placed in the text which would otherwise
have been introduced in notes. This is especially true
of the chapters of local history.

The writer is especially indebted to the Hon. Or-
samus H. Marshall, of Buffalo, for a copy of his
admirable "Historical Sketches," and for access to his
library of American history. The Documentary History
and Colonial Documents of the State of New York,
"The Relations of the Jesuits," the works of other
early French missionaries, travelers, and adventurers,
made familiar to the public by the indefatigable labors
of Shea and Parkman, have all helped to make the
writer's task comparatively an easy one.

PREFACE.

Several years ago, the body of this work, which has
mce been revised and considerably enlarged, was pub-

ri^ B ; !"■='" ™'"-' *- -^as long been out of
pnnt Bel,ev,ng that the interest of the volume would
be enhanced for the reader if he were able to co ,

and rap.ds. the writer has added chapters, describing the
most noted of these in all parts of the world.

Niagara Falls, N. y. ^* ^- H.

September, 1882.

PART I.— HISTORY.

CHAPTER I.

Mrs. French oxpcdWo„-Jacq„es Carlicr-He first hear., of Ihecca. CH.a

JN .534, Jacques Cartier, a shrewd, enterprising, and
Atlantic 7' ^="'-; "-d« >- first voyage acrol the
rnl r u "^ '' Newfoundland, and exploring the

Car: ir 'n^"r '"""k T'" "' '" "^"^ '-°— ^^ ^f
Carfer called ships by the historians of the period were

each of only forty tons burden. '

On the return of Cartier to France, so favorable was
h.s report of the results of the expedition, that Franci I

age, and m May, 1535, after impressive religious cere
mon,cs, he sailed with three vessels thoroughi; equippid"
contlTle T: T"" ™^^^^ "' Cartier? b/LescaTot

Niagara Th "' ""'"' "' "'^ <=^'--' °

J^iagara The navigator, in answer to his inquiries con

cern,ng the source of the St. Lawrence, ■■ was told tha";

2 NIAGARA.

after ascending many leagues among rapids and water-
falls, he would reach a lake one hundred and forty or
fifty leagues broad, at the western extremity of which
the waters were wholesome and the winters mild ; that
a river emptied into it from the south, which had its
source in the country of the Iroquois ; that beyond the
lake he would find a cataract and portage, then another
lake about equal to the former, which they had never
explored."

In 1603, a company of merchants in Rouen obtained
the necessary authority for a new expedition to the St.
Lawrence, which they placed under the direction of
Samuel Champlain, an able, discreet, and resolute com-
mander. On a map published in 1613 he indicated the
position of the cataract, calling it merely a water-fall
(santd^cau), and describing it as being "so very high
that many kinds of fish are stunned in its descent." It
does not appear by the record that he ever saw the Falls.

During the sixty years that elapsed between the
establishment of the French settlements by Champlain
and the expedition of La Salle and Hennepin, there can
be little doubt that the great cataract was repeatedly
visited by French traders and adventurers. Many of the
earlier travelers to the region of the St. Lawrence
believed that China could be reached by an overland
journey across the northern part of the contined.
Father Vimont informs us (" Relations of the Jesuits, '
1642-3) that the Jesuit Raymbault "designed to go to
China across the American wilderness, but God sent him
on the road to he^vVen." As he died at the Saut Ste.

HISTORY.
FalLs wthout seeing them. In ,648, the Jesuit father

cataract of frightful height- '"°' °"^'' ^

In some important manuscripts relating to the earliest

-pedmons of the Freneh into Canada,! diseoveda

"ear its mouth, and within hearing of it, f, n • '

yet did not turn aside to see the catal f'u? *"'"'•
he says : " We found n " """ ""'"^^

-aa^and e.t:en::;rra ^r^rXg t^lttV^^^^^^

rririrrtSr" ^"^ °"-"'- ^-Xtt

of water. This outlef ^fl.« m- sixteen fathoms

lor all the Indians of whom I ha^rf^ ;r,« • j , ''""^^"j

that the river falls at 7hZ ! 7 ^"''^"^ ^^°"^ ^^ «^3^

the tallest pTnes 1 ^k'' ^'""^ " ''"^^ ^'^h^'" ^han
'lest pmes-that ,s, about two hundred feet I„

NIAGARA.

fact, wc heard it from the place where we were, although
from ten to twelve leagues distant, but the fall gives such
a momentimi to the water that its velocity prevented our
ascending the current by rowing, except with great
difficulty. At a quarter of a league from the outlet,
where we were, it grows narrower, and its channel is
confined between two very high, steep, rocky banks,
inducing the belief that the navigation Avould be very
difficult quite up to the cataract. As to the river above
the Falls, the current very often sucks into this gulf,
from a great distance above, deer and stags, elk and
roebucks, which, in attempting to swim the river, suffer
themselves to be drawn so far down-stream that they are
compelled to descend the Falls, and are overwhelmed in
its frightful abyss.

" Our desire to reach the little village called Ganas-
toque Sonontona (between the west end of Lake Ontario
and Grand River) prevented our going to view that
wonder. * * * j ^^m leave you to judge if that must
not be a fine cataract, in which all the water of the large
river (St. Lawrence) * * * falls from a height of two
hundred feet, with a noise that is heard not only at the
place where we were, — ten or twelve leagues distant, —
but also from the other side of jl.ake Ontario, opposite its
mouth" (Toronto, forty miles distant).

Of the rattlesnakes on the mountain ridges he says:
"There are many in this place as large as your arm, and
six or seven feet long, and entirely black."

From Ganastoque Sonontona the party separated, the
two priests, with their guides and attendants, designing

ilthougli
/es such
ited our
h great
: outlet,
mnel is
banks,
be very
r above
lis gulf,
slk and
r, suffer
:he)' are
Imed in

Ganas-
Ontario
tw that
lat must
tie large
: of two
r at the
stant, —
osite its

le says:
rni, and

ited, the
;;signing

HISTORY. ^

to move to the west, along the north shore of Lake Erie,
and La Salle apparently to return to Montreal, but in
reality, as is supposed, to prosecute by a more south-Hy
route the grand ambition of his life—the discovery of the
Mississippi River— a purpose which he executed with
even more than the "bigot's zeal," and literally, as it
proved in the end, with the " martyr's constancy," for he
was assassinated on the plains of Texas, some few years
after, while endeavoring to secure to France the benefits
of his great discovery.

After separating from his companions at the Indian
village, he probably returned to Lake Ontario and the
Niagara River, which he crossed, no doubt, on his way to
some of the Iroquois villages, in search of a guide and
attendants to assist him in his explorations. It may be
assumed that he visited the Falls at this time, but his
journal of this expedition has never been found

The first description of the Falls by an eye-witness is
that of Father Hennepin, so well known to those con-
versant with our eariy history. He saw it for the first
time ,n the winter of 1678-9, and his exaggerated account
of It IS accompanied by a sketch which in its principal
features is undoubtedly correct, though its perspective
and proportions are quite otherwise. He says: "Betwixt
he lakes Ontario and Erie there is a vast and prodigious
cadence of water, which falls down in a surprising and
astonishmg manner, insomuch that the universe does not
afford Its parallel. Tis true that Italy and Switzeriand
boast of some such things, but we may well say they are
sorry patterns when compared with this of which we now

NIAGARA.

speak. # # # It [^thc river] is so rapid above the
descent, that it violently hurries down the wild beasts
while endeavoring to pass it, * * * they not being
able to withstand the force of its current, which inevitably
casts them headlong above six hundred feet high. This
wonderful downfall is composed of two great streams of
water and two falls, with an isle sloping along the middle
of it. The waters which fall from this horrible precipice
do foam and boil after the most hideous manner imagi-
nable, making an outrageous noise, more terrible than
that of thunder; for, when the wind blows out of the
south, their dismal roaring may be heard more than
fifteen leagues off.

"The river Niagara having thrown itself down this
incredible precipice, continues its impetuous course for
two leagues together to the great rock, above mentioned
[in another chapter as lying at the foot of the mountain
at Lewiston], with inexpressible rapidity. * # *
From the great Fall unto this rock, which is to the west
of the river, the two brinks of it are so prodigiously high,
that it would make one tremble to look steadily upon the
water rolling along with a rapidity not to be imagined."

On his return from the West, in the summer of 1681,
the Father informs us that he " spent half a day in con-
sidering the wonders of that prodigious cascade." Refer-
ring to the spray, he says: "The rebounding of these
waters is so great that a sort of cloud arises from the
foam of it, which is seen hanging over this abyss even at
noon-day." Of the river, he says: " From the mouth of
Lake Erie to the Falls arc reckoned six leatrues. * * *

* *

The Horseshoe Fall, from Goat Island.

Opposite pajfe 6.

HISTORY. ~ 7

The lands which lie on both sides of it to the east and
west are all level from the Lake Erie to the great Fall."
At the end of the six leagues "it meets with a small
sloping island, about half a quarter of a league long and
near three hundred feet broad, as well as one can guess
by the eye. From the end, then, of this island it is that
these two great falls of water, as also the third, throw
themselves, after a most surprising manner, down into
the dreadful gulph, six hundred feet and more in depth."
On the Canadian side, he says: " One may go down as far
as the bottom of this terrible gulph. The author of this
discovery was down there, the more narrowly to observe
the fall of these prodigious cascades. From there we
could discover a spot of ground which lay under the fall
of water which is tc» the east [American Fall] big enough
for four coaches to drive abreast without being wet ; but
because the ground * * * where the first fall
empties itself into the gulph is very steep and almost
perpendicular, it is impossible for a man to get down on
that side, into the place where the four coaches may go
abreast, or to make his way through such a quantity of
water as falls toward the gulph, so that it is very prob-
able that to this dry place it is that the rattlesnakes
retire, by certain passages which they find under-
ground."

Finding no Indians living at the Falls, he suggests a
probable reason therefor: "I have often heard talk of
the Cataracts of the Nile, which make people deaf that
live near them. I know not if the Iroquois who formerly
hved near this fall * * * withdrew themselves

I lilil

NIAGARA.

from its neighborhood lest they should likewise become
deaf, or out of the continual fear they were in of the
rattlesnakes, which are very common in this place. * * *
Be it as it will, these dangerous creatures are to be met
with as far as the Lake Frontenac [Ontario], on the
south side; and it is reasonable to presume that the
horrid noise of the Fall and the fear of these poisonous
serpents might oblige the savages to seek out a more
commodious habitation." In the view of the Falls
accompanying his description, a large rock is represented
as standing on the edge of the Table Rock. This rock is
mentioned by Kalm, a Swedish naturalist, who visited
the Falls in 1750, as having disappeared a few years
before that date. Father Hennepin's reference to the
animals drawn into the current and going over the Falls,
iand to the rattlesnakes, indicates unmistakably his pre-
vious acquaintance with Father Gallinees's narrative.

CHAPTER II.

Baron La Ilontan's description of the Falls -M. Charlevoix's letter to
Madame Maintenon — Number of the Falls -Geological indications-
Great projection of the rock in Father Hennepin's time — Cave of the
Winds — Rainbows.

PVEN more exaggerated than Father Hennepin's is
J^ the next account of the Falls which has come
down to us, and which was written by Baron La
Hontan, in the autumn of 1687. Fear of an attack from
the Iroquois, the relentless enemies of the French, made
his visit short and unsatisfactory. He says : "As for the
water-fall of Niagara, 'tis seven or eight hundred feet
high, and half a league wide. Toward the middle of it
we descry an island, that leans toward the precipice, as
if it were ready to fall." Concerning the beasts and fish
drawn over the precipice, he says they '• serve for food"
for the Iroquois, who "take 'em out of the water with their
canoes"; and also that "between the surface of the
water, that shelves off prodigiously, and the foot of the
precipice, three men may cross in abreast, without further
damage than a sprinkling of some few drops of water."
father Hennepin, it will be remembered, makes this
space broad enough for four coaches, instead of three men.
From the Baron's declaration as to the manner in
which the Indians captured the game which went over

NIAGARA.

\i I'

the Falls, it would seem that the bark canoe of the
Indian was the precursor of the white man's skiff and
yawl, that serve as a ferry below the Falls. And the
timid traveler of the present day. who hesitates about
crossing in this latter craft, will probably pronounce the
Indian foolhardy for venturing on those turbulent waters
in his light canoe, whereas, in skillful hands, it is pecul-
iarly fitted for such navigation.

A more correct estimate of the cataract than either of
the preceding is that of M. Charlevoix, sent to Madame
Maintenon, in 1721. After referring to the inaccurate
accounts of Hennepin and La Hontan, he says: " For my
own part, after having examined it on all sides, where it
could be viewed to the greatest advantage, I am inclined
to think we cannot allow it [the height] less than one
hundred and forty or fifty feet." As to its figure, "it is
in the shape of a horseshoe, and it is about four hundred
paces in circumference. It is divided in two exactly in
the center by a very narrow island, half a quarter of a
league long." In relation to the noise of the falling
water, he says: "You can scarce hear it at M. de
Joncaire's [Fort Schlosser], and what you hear in this
place [Lewiston] may possibly be the whirlpools, caused
by the rocks which fill up the bed of the river as far
as this."

Neither Baron La Hontan nor M. Charlevoix speaks
of the number of water-falls. But Father Hennepin,
it will be remembered, mentions three, two of which
were to the south and west of Goat Island. And the
Rev. Abbe Picquet, who visited the place in 175 1,

•e of the

skiff and
And the
:es about
unce the
nt waters
is pecul-

either of
Madame
[accurate
* For my
where it
inclined
han one
-e, " it is
hundred
cactly in
ter of a
; falling
M. de
in this
, caused
r as far

: speaks
:nnepin,
f which
^nd the

» I75i>

Luna Fall and Island in Winter.

Oppc ,..e page ii.

IIISTUKY.

seventy years after Father Hennepin, says (Documentary
History, I., p. 283): "This cascade is as prodigious by
reason of its height and the quantity of water which falls
there, as on account of the variety of its falls, which are
to the number of six principal ones divided by a small
island, leaving three to the north and three to the south.
They produce of themselves a singular symmetry and
wonderful effect"

The geological indications are that Goat Island once
embraced all the small islands lying near it, and also
that it covered the whole of the rocky bar which
stretches up stream some hundred and fifty rods above
the head of the present island. At that period, from the
depressions now visible in the rocky bed of the river,
it would seem probable that the water cut channels
through the modern drift corresponding with these
depressions. In that case there would then have been a
third fall in the American channel, north of Goat Island,
lying between Luna Island and a small island then lying
just north of the Little Horseshoe, and stretching up
toward Chapin's Island. On the south side of Goat
Island, there would have been a fall between its southern
shore and an island then situated about two hundred
feet farther south.

The highest point in the American Fall, the salient
and beautiful projection near the shore at Prospect
Park, is upheld by a more substantial foundation than is
revealed at any other accessible portion of the face of
the precipice. This is made manifest on entering the
"Shadow-of-the-Rock," where the spectator sees a mass-

MACARA.

ivc wall of th()roii<rhly inihiratcd limcstonp, disposed in
regular layers more than two feet in thickness, with faces
as smooth as if dressed with the chisel. Passing in front
of this, across the American I^all, under the Horseshoe
and Table Rock, there must have been formerly a broad
cleft of soft, friable limestone, to the disintegration and
removal of which was due the great overhanging of the
upper strata noticed by Father Hennepin and Baron
La Hontan.

For three miles above the Falls, the course of the
river is almost due west. But after leaving the precipice
it makes an acute angle with its former direction, and
thence runs north-east to the railway suspension bridge.
The formation of the rapids — one of the most beautiful
features of the scene — is due to this change of direction.
At no point below its present position could there have

been such a prelude — musical as well as motional to

the great cataract. And when these rapids shall have
disappeared in the receding flood it is not probable that
there will be other rapids that can equal them in length,
breadth, beauty, and power.

The declivity in the lower channel through the gorge
is ninety feet; but on the surface of the upper banks
there is a rise of more than one hundred feet in the same
direction — that is, down the river. Hence, when the
Falls were at Lewiston they were more than two hundred
and fifty feet high. Now the greatest descent is one
hundred and sixty-eight feet, the diminution being the
result of retrocession in the line of the dip— from north-
east to south-west — in the bed-rock. It is owing to this

IIISTOKV.

dip th;it the surface of the water on the American side is
ten feet higher than it is on the Canadian. The con-
tinuous cokimn of water, however, is longest in the center
of the Horseshoe, because of the fallen rock and debris
lying at the foot of the other portions of the Fall. At
this time the upward slope of the bed-rock is such that —
if it shall prove to be sufficiently hard— the Falls, after
receding four miles farther, will be two hundred and
twenty feet high.

It is evident from the descriptions of Father Henne-
pin and of Baron La Hontan, that the upper stratum
of rock over which the water falls must have projected
beyond the face of the rock below much farther than it
now does. The large masses of fallen rock lying at the
foot of the American and Horse-shoe Falls are evidence
of this fact. Travelers still go behind the sheet on the
Canadian side, and into and through the Cave of the
Winds, on the American side. But they do not expect to
keep dry in so doing, nor to sun themselves on the rocks
below, like the " rattlesnakes " of former days. Never-
theless, there is no more exciting nor exhilarating excur-
sion to be made at the Falls than that through the Cave
of the Winds.

Nowhere else are the prismatic hues exhibited in such
wonderful variety, nor in such surpassing brilliancy and
beauty. And although a rainbow is not a spraybow, it
may be admitted that a spraybow is a rainbow, formed of
drops of water, large or small. So here rainbow dust and
shattered rainbows are scattered around; rainbow bars
and arches, horizontal and perpendicular, are flashing and

NIAGARA.

forming, breaking and reforming, around and above the
visitor in the most fantastic and delightful confusion of
form and effect And if his fancy prompts him, he may
arrange himself as a portrait, at half or full length, in an
annular bow. The enamored Strephon may literally place
his charming Deha in a living, sparkling rainbovz-frame,
flecked all over with diamonds and pearls.

CHAPTER III.

The name Niagara-The musical dialect of the Ilurons— Niagara one of the
oldest 01 Indian names— Description of the river, the Falls, and the sur-
rounding country.

^HERE is in some words a mystic power which it is
1 not easy to analyze or define ; they fascinate the
car even of those who do not understand their mean-
ing. The very sound of them as they are enunciated by
the human voice touches a chord to which the heart
instinctively responds. So it is with the name of the great
cataract. No one can hear it correctly pronounced with-
out being charmed with its rhythmical beauty, or without
feeling confident of its poetical aptness and significance
in the dialect from which it was derived.

And although we have no means of deterraining the
correctness of any of the fanciful or poetical interpreta-
tions which have been given of the word, still we cannot
doubt that it must have had a peculiar force and justness
with those who first applied it. Baron La Hontan, who
spent several years among the Indians, noticed the remark-
able fact concerning their language that it had no labials
" Nevertheless," he says, " the language of the Hurons ap-
pears very beautiful, and the sound of it perfectly charm-
ing, although, in speaking it, they never close their lips "

NIAGARA.

The most voluminous and among the earliest existing-
records connected with the River St. Lawrence, and the
great lakes which it drains, are the well-known " Relations
of the Jesuits," so called, comprising a yearly account of
the labors of the Missionary Fathers sent out by the Col-
lege at Paris to Christianize the Indians. In 1615, they
established their mission at Quebec, and from thence
extended their operations westward. In 1626, they
reached the large and powerful tribe of Indians which
occupied the splendid domain which may be described
with proximate accuracy as bounded by a line commenc-
ing at a point on the southerly shore of Lake Ontario,
about thirty miles west of the mouth of the Genesee
River, and running thence parallel to that river to a point
due west from Avon ; thence nearly due west to Buf-
falo ; thence along the north shore of Lake Erie to the
Detroit River ; thence up that river to a point directly west
from the west end of Lake Ontario ; thence east to that
lake, and finally along the southern shore of it to the place
of beginning.

The oldest and most notable name in all this tcrritorv
is Niagara, as would naturally be inferred, when we con-
sider the varied and wonderful features of the mighty river
which flows across this country. Taking leave of Lake
Erie, its clear waters gradually spread themselves out in
a broad, bright channel, over a plain, open country, hav-
ing a slight decHvity, just sufficient to make a gentle cur-
rent, thereby adding the living beauty and force of motion
to the broad expanse of a lake-like surface, that surface
itself diversified and relieved by the pleasant islands, large

t existing'
;, and the
Relations
ccount of
' the Col-
615, they
n thence
•26, they
.ns which
described
ommenc-
Ontario,
Genesee
o a point
t to Buf-
rie to the
:ctly west
;t to that
the place

territory
n we con-
^hty river
: of Lake
'■es out in
itry, hav-
sntle cur-
of motion
at surface
nds, large

i'l

The Rapids above the Falls.

Opposite page 17.

and
eve:
mo)
sere

A f

hun

deni

ing

foan

ing;

ing(

then

theii

gran

HISTORY.

and small, which are scattered over it. Eddying into
every quiet bay, coquetting with every salient angle,
moving to the melody of ,, own murmurs, it flows ''oii "
serenely and musically.

But after a time this holiday journey is interrupted
A fearful change takes place. The careless waters are
hurried down a long and sharp descent, over the rough,
denuded, bowlder-studded bed-rock of the stream. Break-
ing and bounding, surging and resurging, flashing and
foaming, rushing fiercely upon some huge bowlder, recoil-
ing an instant, then madly leaping entirely over it, rush-
ing on to others huger still, then breaking wildly around
them, the troubled waters hurry on until, culminating in
their subhmest aspect, they plunge sheer downward in the
grandest of cataracts.

And now the scene and the effect it produces on the
beholder both change. The rapids are beautiful; the
falls are grand ; those are exhilarating, these are inspiring-
those are noisy, turbulent, fickle; these are calm, resist'
less, mexorable.

After the water has made the final plunge over the
precipice the cataract acquires its most impressive charac- •
teristics; the majestic monotone, the bow, the " cjoud ^
which IS Its veil by night, its crowning glory anl3 beaiHj^
by day. The combinations of grandeur and beauty Mve ^
reached their climax in the fall, the foam, the voice, the
spray, the bow.

The chasm of the river from the Falls to Lewis-
ton will be sufficiently described in treating of the geol-
ogy of the district. From Lewiston to Lake Ontario,

NIAGARA.

seven miles, the waters of the river flow on through
an elevated and fertile plain, in a strong, calm, majestic
current, smiling with dimples and reversed in occasional
eddies, but neither broken by rapids nor impeded by
islands. Finally it is lost in the lake -^.fter pas':ing an
immense bar formed by the enormous of sediment-

ary matter carried down by its own curr„iit. The land-
scape, as seen from the top of the terrace above Lewiston,
is one of the finest and most extensive of its peculiar
character which can be found on the continent, ail its
features being such as appertain to a broad, open country.
The visitor at Niagara, as he looks at the Falls, will
have a profounder appreciation of their magnitude by
considering that it requires the water drainage of a
quarter of a continent to sustain them, and that the
remoter springs, which send to them their constant trib-
ute, are more than twelve hundred miles distant.

CHAPTER IV.

Xiagnra n tribal name— 0,h„ „a„,e, given to i],c t,-il„, Tl, ^T■

.™perior „ce-The ,™e ,>4u„c,a,i„'';:;tir. ™£"»"""' "

T''LrZ ''■'^"' "?' '"'"' '° thoroughly identified
A n,th the river and the Falls that the question
« >cther ,t was also the name of an Indian nation or be
has been quite negleeted. It is proposed now to ^ve
the question so,„e eonsideration, assuming, at onee ,t!
affir,„at,ve to be true. This, it is believed we sha 1 be

occupted this region of country, so abounding in lakel

nd nvers, to g.ve ,hc name of the nation or tribe to o

o ..ame them afte,-, the most prominent bodied

courses of water found in their territnr,. q ,

fart <,Mtl, ,1, c territory. Such was the

':^Hlrhe1rrnatT:;?t''^^'°^

both in a lake and J ZT Th Moh 7 'T'"''''

tribe of the Six N;„l„ i' Mohawks, the warrior

their bouldarfe" l^T ' ''"?^ "° "°'''' '^^- "''-'Wn
in the name f 1 ''■'/P"""' """"""^^ "^ themselves

-embered i„ the lake w'hich bears theLTre'. "^ ""

liV'*

NIACIARA.

With the Niagaras the river and the cataract were the
most notable and impressive features of their territory.
Their principal village bore the same name ; and when we
recall the proverbial vanity of the race, we can hardly
doubt that this must also have been their tribal name.
That it should have been perpetuated in reference to the
village, the river, and the falls, and that the use of it, in
reference to the tribe, should have lapsed, can be readily
understood when we recollect that they had two substi-
tutes for the tribal name. One of these substitutes is
explained at page 70 of the "Relations" of 1641,
in a passage which we translate as follows: "Our Hurons
call the Neuter Nation Attonajideronks, as though they
would say a people of a little different language : for
as to those nations that speak a language of which
they understand nothing, they call them Attoiiankes,
whatever nation they may be, or as though they spoke
of strangers. They of the Neuter Nation in turn,
and for the same reason, call our Hurons Attoiuin-
deronks."

Thus it would seem that this was a mere title of con-
venience used to indicate a certain fact, namely, a differ-
ence of language. The other substitute by which the
nation was best known among their white brethren will
be understood by an extract from a letter contained in the
same "Relations," and written from St. Mary's Mission
on the river Severn, by Father Lalement. In it he gives
an account of a journey made by the Fathers Jean dc
Brebcuf and Joseph Marie Chaumont to the country ot
the Neuter Nation y as the Niagaras were called by the

HISTORY.

Hiirons on the north and the Iroquois on the south of
them, learning it, as they did, from the French. The
letter says: "Our French, who first discovered this
people, named them the Natter Nation, and not without
reason, for their country being the ordinary passage by
land, between some of the Iroquois nations and the
Hurons, who are sworn enemies, they remained at peace
with both; so that in times past the Hurons and the
Iroquois, meeting in the same wigwam or village of that
nation, were both in safety while they remained. There
arc some things in which they differ from our Hurons.
They are larger, stronger, and better formed. They
also entertain a great affection for the dead. * * *
The Sonontonheronons [Senecas], one of the Iroquois
nations the nearest to and most dreaded by the Hurons,
are not more than a day's journey distant from the east-
ernmost village of the Neuter Nation, named Onguiaahrp
[Niagara], of the same name as the river."

It would seem, then, that this name, Neuter Nation,
as applied to this tribe, was an appellation used merely
to indicate a peculiarity of its location, or of the rela-
tion in which it stood to the hostile tribes living to
the north and south of it. The Indians, it is needless
to say, were not philologists, and seem not to have
objected to the names applied to them, nor to have
criticised the erroneous pronunciation of words of their
own dialects.

In the extract given above, the name of our river first
appears in type. Its orthography will be noted as pe-
culiar. It ,s one of forty different ways of spelling the

''\

NIAGARA.

Ill

Hlii

numc, thirty-nine of which are given in the index volume
of the Colonial History of \e\v York, and the fortieth,
the most pertinent to our present purpose, in Drake's
" Book of the Indians," seventh edition. Prefixed to
"Book First" is a "Table of the Principal Tribes," in
which we find the following":

" Nicariagas, once about Michilimakinak ; joined the
Iroquois in 1723."

M. Charlevoix, apparently using the facts stated in
one of LalemtMt's letters and quoting also a portion
of its language, says : "A people larger, stronger, and
better formed than an)- other savages, and who lived
south of the Huron country, were visited b}' the
Jesuits, who preached to them the Kingdom of God.
They were called the Neuter Nation, because they took
no part in the wars which desolated the countr)-
But in the end the)- could not themselves escape entire
destruction. To avoid the fury of the Iroquois, they
finally joined them against the Hurons, but gained nothing
by the union." Later, he says they were destroyed
about the year 1643. But we have before observed that
Father Raugeneau states that their destruction occurred
in 165 I. The tribe mentioned by Drake was probably a
remnant that escaped in the final overthrow of their nation
ill this last-named year, and sought refuge at Mackinaw,
among the Hurons. who had previously retreated to this
almost inaccessible locality, in order, also, to escape from the
all-conquering Iroquois. After the lapse of nearly three-
quarters of a century, when the hostility of the latter had
subsided, and they had themselves been weakened and

--*-<^

Opposite page ». The YoungCot Inhabitant.

,1^'

Ill

l!«

5uL

\vh(

con

tow

nati

con

call

"hi

thai

nia|

cry;

villc

Thii

thai

ci'd

a c(

thrc
how
cad(
rath
ancc.
was
(
was

HISTOKY.

subdued by the whites, the wrctclicd remnant of the
Niagaras, with that strong Jove of home so characteristic
of the Indian, returned to their native hunting-grounds,
where they remained for a few years, and then joined their
conquerors in that mournful procession of their race
toward the setting sun. If there were a Nemesis for
nations as well as for individuals, it would be fearful to
contemplate the time when the Anglo-Saxon should be
called on to pay the "long arrears" of the Indians'
"bloody debt."

Returning to the orthography of our name, we find
on Sanson's map of Canada, published in Paris in 1657,
that it is shortened into " Oniagra," and on Coronelli's
map of the same region, published in Paris in 1688, it
crystallizes into Niagara. There is also on this map a
village located on or near the site of Buffalo, designated
as follows: '' Kah-kou-a-go-gah, a destroyed nation:'
This name bears a closer resemblance to the true one
than several of the forty to which we have just referred.
a"d if it be reduced to Kahkwa it would still be only
a corrupt abbreviation of Niagara.

More than fifty years ago, while leisurely traveling
through western New York, the writer well remembers
how his youthful ears were charmed with the flowing
cadences of the better class of Indians, as they intoned
rather than spoke the beautiful names which their
ancestors had given to different localities. Every vowel
was fully sounded.

O-N-E-I-D-A was then Oh-nc-i-dah; C-A-Y-U-G-A
was Kah-yu-gah; G-E-N-E-S-E-E was Gen-e-se-e;

NIAGARA.

C- A-N- A-N-D- A-I-G-U- A was Kan-nan-dar-quah,
and N-I-A-G-A-R-A was Ni-ah-gah-rah.

In regard to the name, the pronunciation nearest to
the original which it may be possible to perpetuate is Ni-
ag-a-rah ; the accent on the second syllable, the vowel in
the first pronounced as in the word nigh; the a in the
third and fourth syllables but slightly abbreviated from
the long a in far, and that in the second syllable but
slightly aspirated.

i|ii

CHAPTER V.

The lower Niagara— Fort Niagara— Fort Mississauga — Niagara Village —
Lewistoii — Portage around the Falls — The first railroad in the United
States — Fort Schlosser — The ambuscade at Devil's Hole — La Salle's
vessel, the Griffin — ^\iQ Niagara frontier.

•I
I.

FROM the earliest visit of the French missionaries
and voyageurs to the lal<e region, the banks of the
lower Niagara were to them a favorite locality. Very
early they were cleared of the grand forest which covered
them, and the genial, fertile, and easily worked soil, en-
riched by the deep vegetable mold that had been accu-
mulating upon it for centuries, produced in lavish abun-
dance wheat, maize, garden vegetables, and fruits, large
and small. " On the 6th day of December, 1678," says
Marshall, " La Salle, in his brigantine of ten tons, doubled
the point where Fort Niagara now stands, and anchored
in the sheltered waters of the river. The prosecution of
his bold enterprise at that inclement season, involving- the
exploration of a vast and unknown country, in vessels
built on the way, indicates the indomitable energy and
self-reliance of the intrepid discoverer. His crew con-
sisted of sixteen persons, under the immediate command of
the Sieur de la Moite. The grateful Franciscans chanted
' Tc Dcinn laiidanms ' as they entered the noble river,
fhc strains of that ancient hymn of the Church, as they

« ',1/

t'%;

^
*

NIAGARA,

rose from the deck of the adventurous bark, and echoed
from shore and forest, must have startled the watchful
Senecas v^th the unusual sound, as they gazed upon
their stVange visitors. Never before had white men, so
far as history tells us, ascended the river."

La Salle rested here for a time, but no defensive work
was constructed until 1687, when the Marquis De Non-
ville, returning from, his famous expedition against the
Senecas, fortified it, after the fashion of the time, with
pahsades and ditches. The small garrison of one hundred
men which he left were obliged to abandon it the follow-
ing season, after partially destroying it. By consent of
the Iroquois it was reconstructed in stone in 1725-6.

Opposite to Fort Niagara, which is on the Ameri-
can side at the mouth of the river, are Fort Missis-
sauga and the village of Niagara, formerly Newark, on
the Canadian side. The village was captured by the
English in 1759, and occupied for a time by Sir
William Johnson, who completed here his treaty with
the Indians by which they released to him the land
on both sides of the river. The first Provincial Par-
liament was held here in 1792, under the authority of
Lieutenant-Governor Simcoe. In the same year the place
was visited by the father of Queen Victoria. The pioneer
newspaper of the Province was published herein 1795, and
although it ceased soon after to be the seat of government,
which was removed to York (now Toronto), still it was a
thriving village of about five thousand inhabitants mtil
the completion of the Welland canal, which entirely di
verted its trade and commerce, and left it to the uninter-
rupted quiet of a rural town. Several Americans have

HISTORY

purchased dwellings in the place for summer occupation.
A mile above was Fort George, now a ruin.

Seven miles above the mouth of the river, at the head
of navigation, nestling at the foot of the so-called mount-
ain, is Lewiston, named in 1805 in honor of Governor
Lewis, of New York. Here, in 1678, La Salle " con-
structed a cabin of palisades to serve as a magazine or
storehouse." And this was the commencement of the
portage to the river above the Falls, which passed over
nearly the same route as the present road from Lewiston,
which is still called the Portage Road. Here, too, the
first railwa}' in the United States was constructed. True,
it was built of wood, and was called a tram-way. But a
car was run upon it to transport goods up and down the
mountain The motion of the car was regulated by a
windlass, and it was supported on runners instead of
wheels. This was a very good arrangement for getting
freight down the hill, but not so good for getting it up"^
But the wages of labor were low in every sense, since
many of the Indians, demoralized by the use of' those
two most pestilent drugs, rum and tobacco, would do
a day's work for a pint of the former and a plug of the
latter.

The upper terminus of this portage was for many
years merely an open landing-place for canoes and boats.
In 1750, the French constructed a strong stockade-work
on the bank of the river, above their barracks and store-
houses. This they called Fort du Portage. It was burnt,
'" 1759. by Chabert Joncaire, who was in command of it
when the British commenced the formida' le and fatal
campaign of that >'ear against the French. After Fort

f <1

f ■>

f %

NIACIARA.

Niacrara was surrendered to Sir William Johiisun, Joncaire
retired with his small garrison to the station on Chippewa

Creek.

In less than two years the work was rebuilt in a much
more substantial manner by Captain Joseph Schlosser, a
German who served in the British army in that campaign.
It had the outline of a tolerably regular fortification, with
rude bastions and connecting curtains, surrounded by a
somewhat formidable ditch. The interior plateau was a
little elevated and surrounded by an earth embankment
piled against the inner side of the palisades, over which its
defenders could fire with great effect.

When the writer first saw its remains, the outlines and
ditches of the work were distinct. Only some slight
inequalities in the surface now indicate its site. Captain
Schlosser was afterward promoted to the rank of colonel,
and died in the fort. An oak slab, on which his name
was cut, was standing at his grave just above the fort as
late as the year 1808.

Some sixty rods below is still standing what is believed
to be the first civilized chimney built in this part of the
country. It is a large and most substantial stone struct-
ure, around which the French built their barracks. These
were burnt by Joncaire on his retreat. A large dwelling-
house was built to it by the English, which afiforded shel-
ter for many different occupants until it was burnt in 181 3.
Its last occupant, before it was destroyed, kept it as a
tavern, which became a fawrite place for festive and holi-
day gatherings. What hath been may be again. When the
Falls shall have receded two miles, the brides and grooms

'il'p

Mouth of the Chasm, and Brock's Monument.

Opposite page sg.

HISTORY

of that age will find their Cataract House near the site of
old Fort Schlosser.

To the west of this old stone chimney stand the few
surviving trees of the first apple orchard set out in this
region. As early as 1 796, it is described as being a "well-
fenced orchard, containing 1200 trees." Not fifty are now
standing.

Across th§^/ver from Lcwiston is Queenston, so named
in honor of Queen Charlotte. The battle which bears its
name was fought on the 13th of October, 18 13, between
the American and British armies. The former crossed the
river, made the attack, and carried the heights. The com-
mander of the British forces, General Brock, and one of
his aids, Colonel McDonald, were killed. The British
were reenforced, and the American militia refusing to cross
over to aid the Americans, the latter were obliged to
return across the river, leaving a number of prisoners in
the hands of the enemy. Some years afterwartl, the Colo-
nial Parliament caused a fine monument to be erected on
the heights to the memory of General Brock. It presents
a conspicuous and imposing appearance from the terrace
below.

Two miles and a quarter above Lewiston is the Devil's
Hole, famous as the scene of a short supplementary cam-
paign, made against the English, by the Seneca Indians,
in 1763. Though doubtless instigated by French traders,
it was a purely Indian enterprise, gotten up among
themselves, and commanded b}- Farmer's Brother, one of
the Seneca chiefs, who was a fighter as well as an orator. It
was one of the best planned and most successfully exe-

NIACiAKA.

cutcd military stratagems ever recorded. It was calculated
upon the nicest balancing of facts and probabilities, and
executed with unrivaled thoroughness and celerity.

It was known to the Indians that the English were in
the habit, almost daily, of sending supply trains, under
escort, from Fort Niagara to Fort Schlosser. After unload-
ing at the latter post, they returned to the former. They
knew also that there was a smaller supporting force of one
or two companies at Lewiston, which could join the escort
from Fort Niagara, in case of an extra valuable train, and
that the whole force at both places was not large enough
to furnish an escort of more than four hundred men ; they
knew that the narrow pass at the Devil's Hole was the
best point to place the ambuscade ; also that when the
train went up they could see whether its escort was large or
small, and so they would know whether they should con-
centrate their force to attack the larger escort, or divide
it and attack the train and small escort first and the reliev-
ing force afterward. They conjectured that the train would
have a small escort ; but if it should have a large one, so
much the better, as there would be a larger number in
a small space for their balls to riddle. They conjectured
also that, if the escort were small, the firing on the first
attack would be heard by the soldiers at Lewiston, and
that they would hurry to the relief of their comrades,
not dreaming of danger before they should reach them.

The fatal result demonstrated the correctness of their
reasoning. They made a double ambuscade : one for the
train and escort, the other for the relieving force ; and
they destroyed them both, only three of the first escaping
and eight of the latter. This event occurred on the 14th

HISTORY.

of September, i7;3. John Stedman commanded the
supply train. At the first fire of the Indians, seeing the
atal snare, he wheeled his horse at once, and, spurring
h.rn through a gauntlet of bullets, reached Schlosser in
safety. A wounded soldier concealed himself in the
bushes, and the drummer-boy lodged in a tree as he
ell down the bank. Eight of the relieving force escaped
to Port Niagara to tell the story of their defeat

Three miles above Schlosser is Cayuga Creek, near
the mouth of which La Salle built the Griffin, a vessel of
s^'ty tons burden, the first civilized craft that floated on
the upper lakes, and the pioneer of an inland commerce
of unnvaled growth and value. She .reached Green Bay
salely, but on her return voyage foundered with all on
board in Lake Huron.

The French also built some small vessels on Navy
sland The reenforcements sent from Venango for the
^rench. during the siege of Fort Niagara by Sir William
Johnson, in 1759, were landed on this island. To the
east of It there is a large deep basin, formed at the foot
of the channel, between Grand and Ruckhorn islands
Ihe upper part of this channel being narrow, the basin
appears like a bay. In this bay the French burnt and
sunk the two vessels, as is supposed, which brought
down the Venango reenforcements; hence the name
_ Burnt Ship Bay." The writer has seen the ribs and
timbers of these vessels beneath the water, and caught
many fine perch which had their haunts near them The
^«iagara frontier was the theater of great activity during
the War of 1812. ' ^

r 4|

« ::li

^ ">

^%:

PART II.— GEOLOGY.

CHAPTER VI.

■'!|!.

.i'lii

America the old world — Geologically recent origin of the Falls — Evidence
thereof — Captain Williams's surveys for a ship canal — Former extent of
Lake Michigan — Its outlet into the Illinois River— The Niagara barrier
— How broken through — The birth of Niagara.

IF Professor Agassiz and Elie De Beaumont are cor-
rect in their geological reading, America is the old
world rather than the new, and the northern portion of
it, stretching from Lake Huron eastward to Labrador and
northward toward the Arctic, was the first to be lifted into
the genial light of the sun. And Professor Lyell has re-
course to the vast stellar spaces for a standard by which
to estimate " the interval of time which divides the human
epoch from the origin of the coralline limestone over
which the Niagara is precipitated at the Falls." "The
Alps, the Pyrenees, the Himalayas," he continues, "have
not only begun to exist as lofty mountain chains, but the
solid materials of which they are composed have been
slowly elaborated beneath the sea within the stupendous
interval of ages here alluded to."

A little more than thirty years ago. Professor Agassiz

GEOLOGY.

made a tour to the Upper Lakes with a class of students
for the purpose of giving them practical lessons in
geology and other branches of natural science. The
day was devoted to outdoor examinations of different
localities, and in the evening was given a familiar lecture
expository of the day's work. One of the places thus
visited was Niagara, and it was the writer's good-
fortune to be able to listen to the instructive lecture which
followed the examination. Professor Agassiz concurs
with other geologists in the opinion that the Falls were
once at Lewiston, and one of the most interesting portions
of the lecture was his animated description of the retroces-
sion of the Falls, traced step by step back to their present
position. From this oral exposition, from other high geo-
logical authorities, and from personal observation extend-
ing through a quarter of a century, the writer has derived
the facts herein presented.

There can be no doubt that at a comparatively recent
geological period the Falls of Niagara had no existence
It may suffice to mention two facts which are conclusive
on this point. Dr. Houghton, geologist of the State of
Michigan, stated in his report that the elevation of Lake
Michigan above tide-water is five hundred and seventy.

Jl' %"'- 7^"' '^ ^'^' ^^''''' '' ^hown by the surveys
of the Erie Canal, is five hundred and sixty-eight feet, the
difference of level between the two being ten feet. The
fall or descent in the Niagara River from Lake Erie to
'^ill Creek, a few rods above the site of old Fort Schlosser
IS twenty feet. Hence we learn that the surface of the
water in Lake Michigan is thirty feet higher than that
o •

I i

i K

NIAGARA.

4 1

of the Niagara River near the mouth of Gill Creek. If,
therefore, we find anywhere below the Falls a barrier
drawn across this river that is more than thirty feet high,
its water would thereby be set back to Lake Michigan.
A moderate elevation above this thirty feet would serve
as a safe shore-line for still water.

The existence of this barrier has been demonstrated.
In the year 1835. by direction of the War Department,
Captain W. G. Williams, of the United States Topograph-
ical Engineers, surveyed three routes for a canal around
Niagara Falls. The first of these routes was run from the
river nearly in a straight line to the head of Bloody Run,
and thence a portion of the way over the terrace laid bare
by the rapid subsidence of the water after the barrier had
been broken through. The second route, commcnang at
the same point with the first,-the old Schlosser Store-
house, just above Gill Creek,- was run up the valley of
the creek, through the ridge above Lewiston, at a slight
depression in the general line of the hill, and thence to
Lake Ontario by two different routes. The highest point
in the ridge was found to be sixty feet above the surface
of the water in the river at the starting point. Here then,
is found the requisite barrier-a dam thirty feet higher
than the water in Lake Michigan, and having a base as
will be seen by reference to the map, of two and a half
miles in breadth. This was its breadth at the time of the
survey But a careful observance of the topography of
the banks on both sides of the river will show that it must
have been originally not less than twice that breadth and
that the depressions now existing are the results of the
denudation caused by the removal of the barrier.

IIEOLOOY.

\Vh,lc this barrier wa., unbroken, Lake Erie as extended
«;ould have covered all land .hat was not twenty-six feet
u«her than the present level of the river at old Schlosse

1 verof'L'r% ''T ""~" '= ^'^'^- f-' "elow the
kvel of Uk-e Er,e. It is not difficult to trace this barrier

on a good map. From old Fort Grey it stretches easf
ward a short distance past Batavia, and thenc turn.t
I.C sou h through Wyoming into Cattaraugus County
In the latter county it forms the summit level of th^
Genesee Va ley Canal. This summit is a swamp ^xteen
hundred and twenty-three feet above tide water, a"d the
wa er runs rom it northerly through the Gene ee Rive
■no the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and southerly, through the
Alkghany mto the Gulf of Mexico, while within a hor
distance rises Cattaraugu.s Creek which flj .

Lake Erie. ^ ^*'^^' '"*°

Wi Ls Bv th r^,"""':' "" ''"' '"'^'y^ °f Captain
e evatio, ■ h^ r ^''"^ """ *° ^ewiston he found its

=et. By the Cayuga Creek line to Pekin it was sixtv
four feet, and by the Tonawanda Creek line to LocW
;; - e,ghty.four feet, as is also shown by the sur^yfof

menMo''th"'H "\''""" ""*^"^^ f™"" ^'^^^'^ Monu-

X'or' tL-Xtwa Cr fn: T'' ''' °^ "-^
header ukeO„ta':Lnto'rsim:oeHr ^™""' '''

valley\vt\rbme' ed ''^^T' '" *^ ^'^^-^ ^--
of the rl '"""'I'^g^''- T- he lower sections of the valleys
ot the Chippewa, Cavucra. Tnnaw=nda a- ^ " -' i T

. ^ , A _iia\.„ijaa, aiiu r>unaio creeks

NIAGARA.

^liii

I i|

Urr^^rcTf^A The site of Buftalo was, probably,
were also submerged, me buv- u
a small island, and many other similar island, were scat

"„ ite D P a nes: Kankakee, Illinois, and Missis
valleys of the Ues riain evidence of

sippi rivers, into he ^ulf ° Me-o. ^^^^^^.^ ^^^^^^^
this fact .s abundant The survey ^^^^

Railroad shows tl.t the sur^ce of Lak^^^M^^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^^

t""'"Vc:lo whe* t n the Mississippi. It also
River at Cairo, wnere u j v-nnkakee where

r^l^ tL" ae'::^ t'Ltthf ru'rface of
the "•'/-'' "°f^;.;';;^ ^„^,,,, fo^s the north-eastem
tlnlfof th^e'^lU: 'rises in the |- of Indi.^^^^^^^^
South Bend, two miles ^^_^^^tis a shallow

very ^°--f'=^"!"/''rswatnp- called on the maps
channel in the m.ddle of a swamp ^.^^^ ^^^^_

the "Kankakee ^Y^'J^'^^o On its north side, in
and from two to f'^l^J^^' ^J^\2 a small stream i.

r::id^srorii^:i::: cip . d. ^^^^^^^^

Michigan. . ., i-^aveUng by stage

More than thirty yea.s "go, wh. e travelmg y
from Logansport, Indiana, to Ch cago. ib. wnt ^^^^^_^^
told by a fellow-passenger tha. u ««= n- -

CIEOLOGY.

thing, on the occurrence of a strong north wind during
the spring floods, to cross with boats from this branch of
the East Calumick into the Kankakee Pond through this
cove. We have not been able to obtain any authentic
topographical survey which shows the elevation that
must be overcome in order to effect this meeting of the
waters.

Again : The river Des Plaines rises near the northern
line of the State of Illinois, and running south parallel
with the lake shore, at its junction with the Kankakee
forms the Illinois. The Des Plaines is only ten m'es west
of Chicago. One of its eastern tributaries rises very near
the head-waters of the south branch of the Chicago
River, and often, when flooded by heavy rains, its waters
flow over into the lake. At this point, also, the Jesuits
and tne early settlers were in the habit of crossing in
their boats to the Des Plaines, and thence into the Illinois.
The writer was informed by Colonel William A. Bird the
last Surveyor-in-Chief of the Boundary Commission, that
when the party was at Mackinaw, in the spring of 1820,
Mr. Ramsey Crooks, the adventurous and enterprising
agent of John Jacob Astor, came up to that place from
Johet on the Illinois in one of the big canoes so gener-
ally used at that day for navigating the lakes, and that
Mr. Crooks informed them that he crossed from the Des
Plaines into Lake Michigan without taking his canoe out
of the water. The deep cut in the Illinois and Michigan
Canal, recently excavated by the city of Chicago in order
to improve its sewer drainage, is quite uniform at its up-
per surface, and is sixteen to eighteen feet deep for a dis-
tance of twenty-six miles. The bottom of this cut is six

\ 4

NIAGARA.

i ■ ,ii|

*i f

feet below the lowest water-mark ever noted m the lake.
At the point where the deep cut reaches the Des 1 lames,
it is ten feet lower than the bottom of the river. It .s
sixteen miles further down before the bottom of the cut
and the river coincidewith each other. Nearly the vvho c
of this distance it is necessary to maintain a guard-bank,
to protect the canal from the inundations of the nver.
Here we find there is a dam, only about twelve feet h,gh
that once separated the waters of the lake from those of

the Gulf of Mexico. , ■ , ^i

There were, therefore, two courses through which the
waters of Lake Michigan could once have passed into the
lllinois-the first through the Des Plaines, and the second
from the head-springs of the East Calum ick into the
great north cove of the Kankakee Pond. When we con-
sider the immense drainage which must have been dis-
charged through these channels into the valley of the
Illinois, we can well understand the gigantic proportions
of that valley when compared with the stream wn.ch now
flows through it. The perpendicular and water-wom
sides of Starved Rock, below Ottawa, attest the inagm-
tude of the lake-like floods which must once have dashed

around them.

Having established the existence of the Niagara hai-
rier it remains to analyze its structure, and then to search
out the agencies by which it was broken down. Hrst,
in regard to its organization. An examination of the
locality reveals the fact that the portion of the ndge
lying between old Fort Grey and Brock's Monument was
of a peculiar character. At the former point the hard,
compact clay had in it but u slight mixture of gray loaiu

GEOLOGY.

cind sand. At the latter point, fine gravel was plentifully
mingled with this loam. This latter mass, being quite
porous, would rapidly become saturated with water, and
its component parts be easily separated. The decliv-
ity of the high, hard, clay bank, down to the rock at
the edge of the precipice, is abrupt on the American
side, while on the opposite side the ascent toward
Brock's Monument and above is gradual. This forma-
tion extends upward about one mile and a half, when the
gravel and loam disappear, and the hard clay succeeds
and continues upward with a gradual downward slope
nearly to the Falls.

This upper drift was about twenty feet thick, and rested
on a laminated stratum of the Niagara limestone. This
stratum, though quite compact, and having its seams
closely jointed, was not so thoroughly indurated as the
lower strata of the Niagara group, and its thin plates
were more easily displaced and broken up. The depres-
sion marked in the sixth mile of the profile referred to
was evidently cut out by the waters of Fish Creek, after
the barrier had been removed, since the land near the
head-waters of this stream is higher than at the point
where the line runs through the ridge. It is also notice-
able that the ridge, at this point, approaches the brink of
the escaipment more nearly th^n at any other, and the
sharp declivity of its northern face is clearly shown on
the profile in the accompanying map.

Within the last century there have been two, and per-
haps more, large tidal waves on the Great Lakes. There
have also been many severe gales, which have inundated
the low lands around their shores, and attacked, with de-

•9 ■■■;

''^:

NIAGARA.

!|ii ;s

liii

structive effect, their higher banks. On- of these gales
is mentioned in another place. It came from about two
points north of west, and, as noted, raised the water six
feet on the rapids above the Falls. In the narrow por-
tions of the river above, it must have elevated the water
still more. Of course a much higher rise would have
been produced by the force of such a gale acting upon
the vastly increased surface of the larger lake.

The first serious impression upon the Niagara barrier
must have been made by these two mighty forces. By
them, undoubtedly, was made the first breach over its
top, thus commencing that slow but sure denudation
which finally reached the rock below. And by their aid
even the rock itself was removed.

Here, then, is the composition and structuic of our
dam. It is thirty feet high, with a base two and a half
miles certainly, and probably five, in width. How to
break through it is the problem to be solved by the great
inland sea which laves it, so that the water may flow
onward and downward to the Atlantic.

Fortunately we have, all along the shores of our inland
lakes, an annual demonstration of the method by which
such problems arc solved. A constant abrasion of their
banks is produced by the action of water, frost, and ice.
And these are the resistless elements which, by their
persistent and powerful action during the lapse of ages,
excavated a channel for the waters of the Niagara. The
gradual upward slope of the rock and the thick upper
drift broke the force of the huge waves that were oc-
casionally dashed upon them. Their position could not

GEOLOGY.

have been more favorable to resist attack. It was a
Malakoff of earth on a foundation of rock. Little by little
the refluent waves carried back portions of the crumbled
mass, and deposited them in the neighboring depres-
sions. Slowly, wearily, desultorily, the erosion and des-
quamation went on. At last the upper drift was broken
down, and its crumbled remains were swept from the
rock.

Then the insidious forces of heat and cold, sun and
frost became potent. The thin lamina, of limestone were
loosened by the frost, broken up and disintegrated. At
last a thin sheet of water was driven through the gorge by
some fierce gale. The steep declivity of the counterscarp
was then fatally attacked, and after a time its perpen-
dicular face was laid bare. Thenceforth the elements had
the top and one end of the rocky mass to work on, and
they worked at a tremendous advantage. The breaking
up and disintegration of the rock went on. It was gradu-
ally crumbled into sand, which was washed off by the
rains or swept away by the winds. Finally a channel
was excavated, of which the bottom was lower than the
surface of the great lake above ; the sparkling waters
rushed in, dashed over the precipice, and Niagara was
born.

As the water worked its way over the precipice
gradually, so it would gradually excavate its channel
to Lake Ontario, and it is not probable that any great
inundation of the lower terrace could have occurred

< i5'

;*'

^'%,

CHAPTER VII.

Composition of the terrace cut through -Why retrocession is possible-
Three sections from Lewiston to the Falls - Devil's Hole -The Medma
group -Recession long checked -The Whirlpool -The narrowest part
of the river — The mirror — Depth of the water in the chasm— former
grand Fall.

THE water having laid bare the face of the mountain
barrier from top to bottom, we are enabled to exam-
ine the composition of the mass through which it slowly
cut its way. After removing the thin plates of the upper
stratum, as we descend, according to Professor Hall, we

find:

Niagara limestone— compact and geodiferous.

Soft argillo-calcareou': shale.
Compact gray limestone.
Thin layers of green shale.

Gray and mottled sandstone, constituting with
those below the Medina group.

6. Red shale and marl, with thin courses of sandstone

near the top.

7. Gray quartzose sandstone.

8. Red shaly sandstone and inarl.

Before reaching the Whirlpool the mass becomes,
practically, resolved into numbers three, four, and five,

I.
2.

3-
4-
5-

GEOLOGY.

the limestone, as a general rule, growing thicker and
harder, and the shale also, as we follow up the stream.

The reason why retrocession of the Falls is possible
is found in the occurrence of the shale noted above as
underlying the rock. It is a species of indurated clay
harder or softer according to the pressure to which it
may have been subjected. When protected from the
action of the elements it retains its hardness, but when
exposed to them it gradually softens and crumbles away.
After a time the superstratum of rock, which is full of
cracks and seams, is undermined and precipitated into
the chasm below. If the stratum of shale lies at or near
the bottom of the channel below the Falls, it will be
measurably protected from the action of the elements.
In this case retrocession will necessarily be very gradual
If above the Falls the shale projects upward from the
channel below, then in proportion to the elevation and
thickness of its stratum will be the ease and rapidity of
dismtegration and retrocession. The shale furnishes
therefore, a good standard by which to determine the
comparative rapidity with which the retrocession has be^n
accomplished at different points.

From the base of the escarpment at Lewiston up
the narrow bend in the channel above Devil's Hole, a
distance of four and a quarter miles, the shale varies in
thickness above the water, from one hundred and thirty
feet at the commencement of the gorge, to one hundred
and ten feet at the upper extremity of the bend. Here
although there is very little upward curve in the lime-
stone, there is yet a decided curve upward in the Medina

< t

.:■»:-*

• ' ,;'"

f .; •:<:

?!».,

NIAGARA.

1;.
f

group, noticed above, composed mainly of a hard, red
sandstone. It projects across the chasm, and also ex-
tends upward to near the neck of the Whirlpool, where
it dips suddenly downward. The two strata of shale,
becoming apparently united, follow its dip and also
extend upward until they reach their maximum elevation
near the middle of the Whirlpool. Thence the shale
gradually dips again to the Railway Suspension Bridge,
three-quarters of a mile above. For the remaining one
and a half miles from this bridge to the present site of
the Falls the dip is downward. We may then divide
this reach of the Niagara River into three sections :

First. From Lewiston to the upper end of the Bend
above Devil's Hole.

Second. Thence to the head of the rapid above the

Railway Suspension Bridge.

Third. Thence to the present site of the Falls.

We are now prepared to consider these sections
with reference to the retrocession of the fall of water.
Through the first section the shale, as before noted,
lying much above the water surface, and the superposed
lime'^stone being rather soft and thinner than at any point
above, the retreat was probably quite uniform and com-
paratively rapid, about the same progress being made
in each of the many centuries required to accomplish its
whole length. Professor James Hall, in his able and
interesting Report on the Geology of the Fourth District
of the State of New York, suggests the probability of
there having been three distinct Falls, one below the
other, for some distance up-stream, when the retrocession
first began. The average width of this section between

GEOLOGY.

the banks is one thousand feet. About one mile below
its upper extremity is "Devil's Hole," a side-chasm
cut out of the American bank of the river by a small
stream called "Bloody Run," which, in heavy rains,
forms a torrent. The "Hole" has been made by the
detrition and washing out of the shale and the fall of the
overlying rock. A short distance above, on the Cana-
dian side, lies Foster's Glen, a singular and extensive
lateral excavation left dry by the receding flood. The
clifif at its upper end is bare and water- worn, showing
that the arc or curve of the Falls must have been greater
here than at any point below.

Near the upper end of this section there is a rocky
cape, which juts out from the Canadian bank, and reaches
nearly two-thirds of the distance across the chasm. At
this point the great Fall met with a more obstinate and
longer continued resistance than at any other, for *:he
reason that the fine, firm sandstone belonging to the
Medina group, as has been stated, here projects across
the channel of the river, and, forming a part of its bed,
rises upward several feet above the surface of the water.
And here this hard, compact rock held the cataract for
many centuries. The crooked channel which incessant
friction and hammering finally cut through that rock is
the narrowest in the river, being only two hundred and
ninety-two feet wide, and the fierce rush of the water
through the narrow, rock-ribbed gorge is almost appall-
ing to the beholder. The average width between the
banks of this section is about nine hundred feet.

In the second section is found the Whirlpool, one of
the most interesting and attractive portions of the river.

!«■■

II V''

Aj^ NIAGARA.

The large basin in which it lie^ nas cut out much more
rapidly than any other part of the chasm. And this for
the reason that, in addition to the thick stratum of shale,
there was, underlying the channel, a large pocket, and
probably, also, a broad seam or cleavage, filled with gravel
and pebbles. Indeed, there is a brc ad and very ancient
cleavage in the rock-wall on the Canadian side, extending
from near the top of the bank to an unknown depth below.
Its course can be traced from the north side of the pool
some distance in a north-westerly direction. Of course
the resistless power of the falling water was not long
restrained by these feeble barriers, and here the broadest
and deepest notch of any given century was made. The
name, Whirlpool, is not quite accurate, since the body of
water to which it is applied is rather a large eddy, in
which small whirlpools are constantly forming and break-
ing. The spectator cannot realize the tremendous power
exerted by these pools, unless there is some object float-
ing upon the surface by which it may be demonstrated.
Logs from broken rafts are frequently carried over the
Falls, and, when they reach this eddy, tree-trunks from
two to three feet in diameter and fifty feet long, after a few
preliminary and stately gyrations, are drawn down end-
wise, submerged for awhile and then ejected with great
force, to resume again their devious way in the resistless
current. And they will often be kept in this monotonous
round from four to six weeks before escaping to the rapids

below.

The cleft in the bed-rock which forms the outlet
of the basin is one of the narrowest parts of the river,

GKOLOGY

being only four hundred feet in width. Standing on one
side of this gorge, and considering that the whole volume
of the water in the river is rushing through it, the specta-
tor witnesses a manifestation of physical force which
makes a mor vivid impression upon his mind than even
the great Fall itself No extravagant attempt at fine
writing, no studied and elaborate description, can exag-
gerate the wonderful b auty and fascination of this pool.
It is separated from the habitations of men, at a dis-
tance from any highway, and lies secluded in the midst
of a small tract of wood which has fortunately been pre-
served around it, in which the dark and pale greens of
stately pines and cedars predominate. Within the basin
the waters are rushing onward, plunging downward, leap-
ing upward, combing over at the top in beautiful waves
and ruffles of dazzling whiteness, shaded down through
all the opalescent tints to the deep emerald at their base.
It is ever varying, never presenting the same aspect in
any two consecutive moments, and the beholder is lost in
admiration as he comprehends more and more the many-
sided and varied beauties of the matchless scene. No one
visiting the Whirlpool should fail to go down the bank to
the water's edge. On a bright summer morning, after a
night shower has laid the dust, cleansed and brightened the
foliage of shrub and tree purified and glorified the atmos-
phere, there are few more inviting and charming views.

The remaining portion of this section is the Whiripool
rapid, a beautiful curve, reaching up just above the Rail-
Jdy Suspension Bridge. It was the most tumultuous and
dangerous portion of the voyage once made by the Maid

'■'>,

4«

MAdARA.

1
11 \

of the Mist. The water is in a perpetual tumult, a perfect
embodiment of the spirit of unrest. Owing to the rapid-
ity of the descent and the narrowness of tlie curve, the
water is forced into a broken ridge in the center of the
channel. There, in its wild tumult, it is tossed up into
fanciful cones and mounds, which are crowned with a
flashing coronal of liquid gems by the isolated drops and
delicate spray thrown off from the whirling mass, and
rising sometimes to the height of thirty feet. Standing
on the bridge and looking down-stream, the spectator will
see near by, on the American shore, a very good illustra-
tion of the manner in which the shale, there cropping
out above the surface of the water, is worn away, leaving
the superposed rock projecting beyond it.

In the third and last section the shale continues its
downward dip, and at several places entirely disappears.
The rock lying upon it is quite compact, and some of it
very hard. The deep water into which the falling water
was formerly received partially protected the shale, so
that many centuries must have elapsed before the excava-
tion of this section was completed. Its average width is
eleven hundred feet.

Sixty rods below the x\merican Fall is the upper Sus-
pension Bridge. From this bridge, looking downward, no
one can fail to be impressed with the serene and quiet
beauty of the mirror below, reflecting from the surface
of its emerald and apparently unfathomable depths life-
size and hfe-like images of surrounding objects. The calm,
majestic, unbroken current is in striking contrast with the
fall and foam and chopping sea above.

GKOr.OOV.

The greatest depth of the water in mid-channel between
the two Suspension Brid^^es, as ascertained b>- measuring
IS two hundred feet. But it must be borne in mind thai
this IS the depth of the water flowing above the immense
mass of rock, stones, and gravel which has fallen into the
channel. The bottom c,f the chasm, therefore, must be
more than a hundred feet lower, since the fallen rocks
Iiavmg tumbled down promiscuously, must occupy much*
more space than they did in their original bed There
are isolated points, as at the Whirlpool and Devil's Hole
wiicre the river is wider than in any part of this section'
but the depth is less. Taking into consideration both
depth and width, this is the finest part of the chasm
And for this reason chiefly, when the great cataract was
at a point about one hundred rods below the upper
bridge, it must have presented its sublimest aspect The
secondary bank on each side of the river is here hi^h
and firm, whereby the whole mass of water must have
been concentrated into a single channel of greater depth
at the top of the Fall than it could have had at any other
point. And here the mighty column exerted its most
terrific force, rolling over the precipice in one broad
vertical curve, water falling into water, and lifting up. per-
petually, that snowy veil of mist and sprav which con-
stitutes at any point its crowning beauty.

^'%.

ciiArTi-:R vni.

^ u .nAionu^r na.nnula.io.s of vook-Tcvrino po.-er of t k:
danll-l- a.ul Kv ,.n.l,cs-^^ Re ..kablc ,co,„usy ..1 the laUc

u'i',i>'n.

Ul'.Rl': is pro

l>al)lv little foundation for the appro

hension \v

hich has been expressi

il that the recession

U uUimately reach Lake Krie and lower

of the chasm wi

its level, or that the bed <>f the rivei

will be worn into an

inclined plane !)>"
perpendicular l-all into a

1)V nradual detrition, thus changin

tumultuous rapi

the

d. And for

those reasons

rhe contour or arc o

f the Fall in

its prose

nt location »s muc

z\\

«'re

;iter than it ct)uld hav

been at any point below. C onseci

uen

tly a much smaller

bodv of water, less effoc

live in force, is passed over any

uiven

portiiUi o\' the precipice,

.1 Luna is

divided b\' Cnnit anc

beil increases in width abovi

the current boiui; also
ilands. Also, the river
the Fall initil it reaches

Grand Island, which, boino- twelve mi

les in lent^th by

;i«vht i»^ ^^'''■

Uh. divides the river i

nto two broad channe

thus still further diminis

,hinu" the wei

vht and force of tin

falling: w

•ater. The avoratjje wa

Ith of the channel from

Lewiston upward is one thousaiu

.1 feet. The present

(ilOOLOCiY.

curve formed bv the F-iIlc 'im.i ; 1 1 • ,.

lumdrcd feet. O -„„ "' ' "'' " ' " '"'"■ "■""^•''"^' '*°

-1 fo.e below :r:.tu-,;'''""'";7'"' "■ "■•'■^•^

-ill be more tl.J, , ,, ' ' ""''-■ f""''-''- the curve

.1.C bed-rocl. fron, .^'^[H'Z!: " ""'" ^'""' '"^"
In referenee to this reeession, Professor Tyndall in
i'e Uosnisr i>aragraph of a leeh.re o„ Ni-,,,-,,-,
.We .he Ro,a, ,„.it.,te. after l.i/r'r';:; : S'

,:^:..:?:;:;^T;:;i-r'-- r T"- '''^

■:-K"ecl to it by Sir Charles L;e 1 „ t " i^^"'"'"""
livo thousand years will earrv l'„ , .i' ^'-'"'■'

.;i^.r.,,a„ooatisia„d. ;:xt«l':::"rr''i":

land. . . . 'V '" '''"•■ "■"- become cul.ivatable

"i.nns hence I I, T' "''" '^'■"«^"-^' '"'^'^ ">illen-

nlencneave the verification of this prediction."

P •' % Sir a,:; , "u'"' "^"^•^•■' '■" '«4--'' -"• '.
latcd fir.f ;., fi r >^^" ^^'ly;^- ^Vlr. Bakewell cacu-

''t c tlut. .a the forty years precech-n^r ,830 the Nii^^nr.

probable conjecture." ' '' '"""^

of .^ol'V^^r''"" ?'■■" "'' ""•' ^"S^"'"' *<•■' the result

« Hue . " "'"' "" ■•' ^"""- '■''•°'" -■"-■> oral and
"^•"-> ^tatcn.e„t. which we have been able to collect

,1?^

5-2

NIAGARA.

tlJS

we have made an estimate of the time which was required
to eseavate the present ehasr.i-channel from Lew.ston
upward. During the last hundred and seventy-five years
certain masses of rock have been known to fall from the
water-covered surface of the cataract, and a statement as
to the surface-measure of each mass was made. In using
these data it is supposed that each break extended to the
bottom of the precipice, although the whole mass did
not fall at once. Of course, the substructure must have
worn out before the superstructure could have gone
down. Father Hennepin says that the projection of the
rock on the American side was so great that four
coaches" could "drive abreast" beneath it. Seven years
later Baron La Hontan, referring to the Canadian side
Its "three men" could "cross in abreast.' We cannot
a?sign less than twenty-four feet to the four coaches
moving abreast. The projection on the Canadian side
L diminished but little, whereas the overhang on
American side has almost entirely fallen, as is abundanth
^"wn by the huge pile of large bowlders now ymg a
e Lt of the precipice. Authentic accounts o sum .u
Abrasions are the following: In ,8.8 a mass one m^ied
and sixty feet long by sixty feet wide ; -dam th.
same year a huge mass, the top surface of "l"c!> -
estimated at half an acre. If this estn^ate was correct ,
would show an abrasion equivalent to nearly one foot ...
hTwhole surface of the Canadian I-ah. In ,839two otne,
™ equal to the Srst that fell in i8 ,8, went down,
r 8.'o1l ere fell a smaller mass, about fifty feet Ion,
Lti-f^^wiCc. m ,853, a triangular mass fell, which

(JEOLOGY.

was about six hundred feet Ion- extending south from
Goat Island beyond the Terrapin Tower, and havin<r an
average width of twenty feet, f lere we have approximate
data on which to base our calculations. In addition
to these, it is supposed that there have been unob-
served abrasions by piecemeal that equaled all the others
Combining these minor masses into one grand mass and
omittmg fractions, the result is a bowlder containing some-
thmg more than twelve million cubic feet of rock. If this
were spread over a surface one thousand feet wide and one
hundred and sixty feet deep— about the average width
and depth of the Falls below the ferry — it would make a
block about seventy-eight feet thick. This, for one hun-
dred and seventy-five years, is a little over five inches
a year. At this rate, to cut back six miles — the pres-
ent length of the chasm — would require nearly sixty
thousand years, or ten thousand years for a single mile,
a mere shadow of time compared with the age of the
coralline limestone over which the water flows. So, if
this estimate is reasonably correct, two millenniums will
be exhausted before Professor Tyndall's prophecy can be
uilfilled.

As to the "entire drainage of the American branch"
of the river, we must be incredulous when we consider the
fact that the bottom of that branch, two and a half miles
.ibove the Falls, is thirty-two feet higher than the upper
surface of the water where it goes over the cliff, and that
there IS a continuous channel the whole distance varying
^rom twelve to twenty feet in depth; and the further fact
that, m the great syncope of the water which occurred in

'-t.'i'

■

NIA(iARA.

1848. the topography, so to speak, of the river bottom
was clearly revealed. It showed that the water was so
divided, half a mile above the rapids, as to form a hup
Y through both branches of which it flowed over the
precipice below, thus showing that nothing but an entire
stoppa-e of the water can leave the American channel
. dry But even if this part of Professor Tyndall's pre-
diction should be verified, it is to be feared that his
-vision" of " cultivatable land" in the case supposed
will prove to be visionary. "To complete my knowledge,"
says Professor Tyndall, "it ^. xs necessary to see the
Fall from the river below it, and long negotiations were
necessarv to secure the means of doing so. The only
boat fit' for the undertaking had been laid up for the
winter, but this difficulty * * * was overcome." Two
oarsmen were obtained. The elder assumed command,
and "hugged" the cross-freshets instead of striking
out into tTe smoother water. I asked him why he did
so • he replied that they were directed outward and not
downward." If Professor Tyndall had been at Niagara
during the summer season, he would have had the oppor-
tunity, daily, of seeing the Fall "from below," and ot
going up or down the river on any day in a boat. All
the boats (four) at the ferry are "fit for the undertaking."
and all of them are, very properly, "laid up ip the
winter," since they would be crushed by the ice if left in
the water. The oarsmen do not consider themselves very
shrewd because they have discovered that it is easier to
row across a current than to row against it. The party
had an exciting and, according to Professor Tyndall s

'%.

"1'1-ite pa,re 54. Niagara Fall., from Helow.

ac(
str,
has

ent
der
dec
hui
cur
fad
wa]
pla'
lim
eas:

wrii

dwi

the

sou

rocl

tion

the

leve

Tron

for 1

the

rock

Gen

five

GEOLOGY.

account, a perilous trip. It is an exciting trip to a
stranger, but the writer has made it so frequently that it
has ceased to be a novelty.

"We reached," he says, "the Cave [of the Winds] and
entered it, first by a wooden way carried over the bowl-
ders, and then along a narrow ledge to the point eaten
deepest into the shale." He also speaks of the "blinding
hurricane of spray hurled against" him. This last cirt
cumstance, probably, prevented him from noticing the
fact that no shale is visible in the Cave of ^he Winds'!^ Its
wall from the top downward, some distance beneath the
place where he stood, is formed entireh, of the Niagara
limestone. But it is checkered by many seams, and is
easily abraded by the elements.

Long-continued observation of the locality enables the
writer to offer still other reasons why the Fall will n-ver
dwindle down to a rapid. As has already been noticed
the course of the river above the present Falls is a little
south of west, so that it flows across the trend of the bed-
rock. Hence, as the Falls recede there can be no diminu-
tion in their altitude resulting from the dip of this rock
On the contrary, there is a rise of fifty feet to the head of
the present rapids, and a further rise of twenty feet to the
level of Lake Erie. During 1 871-2, the bed of the river
from Buftalo to Cayuga Creek was thoroughly examined
for the purpose of locating piers for railway bridges over
the stream. The greatest depth at which they found the
rock— just below Black Rock dam — was forty-five feet.
Generally the rock was found to be only twenty to twenty-
five feet below the surface of the water.

ill"

56 NIAGARA.

About five miles above the present Tails there is, in
the bottom of the river, a shelf of rock stretching, in
nearly a straight line, across the channel to Grand Island,
and having, apparently, a perpendicular face about six-
teen inches deep. Its presence is indicated by a short
but decided curve in the surface of the water above it,
the water itself varying in depth from eleven to sixteen
feet. The shelf above referred to extends under Grand
Island and across the Canadian channel of the river, under
which, however, its face is no longer perpendicular. If
the Falls were at this point, they would be fifty-five feet
higher than they are now, supposing the bed-rock to be
firm. Now, by excavations made during the year 1870
for the new railway from the Suspension Bridge to
Buffalo, the surface rock was found to be compact and
hard, much of it unusually so. As a general rule it is
well known that the greater the depth at which any given
kind of rock lies below the surface, and the greater the
depth to which it is penetrated, the more compact and
hard it will be found to be. The rock which was found
to be so hard, in excavating for the railway, lies within
six feet of the surface. The deepest water in the Niagara
River, between the Falls and Buffaki, is twenty-five feet.
At this point, then, it would seem that the shale of the
Niagara group must be at such a depth that the top of it
is below the surface of the water at the bottom of the
present fall. Hence, bcmg protected from the disin-
tegrating action of the atmosphere, and the incessant
chiseling of the dashing spray, it would make a firm foun-
dation for the hard limestt)nc which would form the per-

GEOLOCiY,

pcndicular ledge over which the water would fall. Sup-
l)Osintr the bottom of the channel below this fall to have
the same declivity as that for a mile below the present
fail, the then cataract would be, as has been before
stated, fifty- five feet higher than the present one. If we
should allow fifty feet for a soft-surface limestone, full of
cleavages and seams which might be easily broken down,
still the new fall would be five feet higher than the old
one. But, .so far as can now be discovered, there is no
geological necessity, so to speak, for making any such
allowance. In the new cataract the American Fall would
still be the higher, and its line across the channel nearly
straight. The Canadian Fall would undoubtedly present
a curve, but more gradual and uniform than the present
horseshoe.

But there might possibly occur one new feature in the
chasm-channel of the river as the result of future re-
cession. That would be the presence in that channel of
rocky islands, similar to that which has already formed
just below the American Fall. The points at which
these islands would be likely to form are those where the
indurated rock of either the Medina or the Niagara group
lies near the surface of the water. This probably was the
case at the narrow bend below the Whirlpool, before
noticed, and from thence up to the outlet of the pool.
After considering what must have occurred in the last
case, we may form some opinion concerning the proba-
bilities in reference to the first.

^ ^ We can hardly resist the conclusion that masses of
iailen rock must have accumulated below the Whirlpool

. ^^

t'^k

5»

NIAC.ARA.

ii?tt

as wc now see them under the American Fall. lUit if so,
where are they ? The answer to this (luestion hrinijs us
to the consideration ()f the most remarkable phenomenon
connected with this wonilerful river. To the beholder it
is matter of astonishment what can have become of the
^reat mass of earth, rock, gravel, and bowlders, lar^e and
small, which once filled the immense chasm that lies below
him. He learns that the water for a mile below the Falls
is two hundred feet deep, and flows over a mass of fallen
rock and stone of ^reat depth lying below it ; he sees a
chasm of nearly double these dimensions, more than half
of which was once filled with solid rock ; he beholds the
larije quantities which have already fallen, which are still
defiant, still breasting the ceaseless hammering of the de-
scending flood. lH)r centuries past this process has been
going on, until a chasm seven miles long, a thousand feet
wide, and, including the secondary banks, more than four
hundred feet deep, has been excavated, and the material
which filled it entirely removed. How ? By what ?
I'rost was the agent, ice was his delver, water his car-
rier, and the basin of Lake Ontario his dumping-ground.
Although there is little likelihood that islands similar to
Goat Island have existed in the channel from Lewistoii
upward, still it is probable that, when the Fall recedeti
from the rock}' cape below the Whirlpool up to the pool,
it left masses of rock, large and small, lying on the rocky
floor and projecting above the surface of the water. As
there were no islands above, there w^ere no broken, tumul-
tuous rapids. As has been before remarked, the water
poured over in one broad, deep, resistless flood. When

tlEOUJGY.

hozcn by the intense cold of winter, the great cakes of ice
would descend with crushing force on these rocks The
smaller ones would be broken, pulverized, and swept down-
stream, the ciiannel for the water would be enlarged
gradually, and the larger masses thus partiallj- undei mined.
Then the spray and dashing water would freeze and the
ice accumulate upon laem until the>' were toppled over.
Then the falling ice would recommence its chipping
labors, and with every piece of ice knocked off. a porti(Mi
of the rock would go with it. Finally, as the cold contin-
ued, the master force, the mightiest of mechanical powers
would be brought into action. The vast quantities of icJ
pouring over the precipice would freeze together, agglom-
erate, and form an ice-bridge. The roof being form'^d, the
succeeding cakes of ice would be drawn under, and, raising
It, be frozen to it. This process goes on. Kvcry jjiece
of rock above and below the surface is embraced in ... re-
lentless icy grip. Millions of tons are frozen fast to;';ether.
The water and ice continue to plunge over the precipice.
The principle of the hydrostatic press is made effective.
Then commences a crushing and grinding process which
IS perfectly terrific. Under tiie resisdess pressure brought
to bear upon it. the huge mass moves half an inch in one
direction, and an hundred cubic feet of rock are crushed to
powder. There is a pause. Then again the immense
structure moves half an inch another way, and once more
the crumbling atoms attest its awful power. This goes
on for weeks continuously. Finally the temperature
changes. The sunlight becomes potent; the ice ceases
to form ; the warm rays loosen the grip of the ice-bridge

'1)

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-S)

^4^

:/.

f/.

r/.

1.0 ^1^ l^

1.1 I "^ IIIM

11.25

1.4

1^
1.6

Photographic

Sciences
Corporation

23 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) 872-4503

r'>.^

NIAGARA.

It:

along the borders of the chasm below. The water be-
comes more abundant ; the bridge rises, bringing in its
icy grasp whatever it had attached itself to beneath ; it
breaks up into masses of different dimensions : each mass
starts downward with the growing current, breaking down
or filing off everything with which it comes in contact.
Fearful sounds come up from the hidden depths, from
the mills which are slowly pulverizing the massive rock.
The smaller bits and finer particles, after filling the inter-
stices between the larger rocks in the bottom of the
chasm, are borne lakeward. The heavier portion! make
a part of the journey this year ; they will make another
part next year, and another the next, being constantly
disintegrated and pulverized.

This work has been going on for many centuries.
The result is seen in the vast bar of unknown depth
which is spread over the bottom of Lake Ontario around
the mouth of the river. On the inner side of the bar the
water is from sixty to eighty feet deep, on the bar it is
twenty-five feet deep, and outside of it in the lake it
reaches a depth of six hundred feet.

And finally, to the force we have been considering,
more than to any other, it is probable that all the coming
venerations of men will be indebted for a grand and per-
pendicular Fall somewhere between its present location
and Lake St. Clair ; for it must be remembered that the
bottom of Lake Erie is only fourteen feet lower than the
crest of the present Fall, and the bottom of Lake St. Clair
is sixty-two feet higher. It may also be considered that
the corniferous limestone of the Onondaga group — which

Great Icicles under the American Fall.

Opposite page 60,

4'|

i:P

4-m

GEOLOGY.

succeeds the Niagara group as we approach Lake Erie-
is more competent to maintain a perpendicular face than
is the Hmestone of the latter group.

We may here appropriately notice a remarkable feat-
ure in the geognosy of the earth's surface from Lake
Huron to the Gulf of St. Lawrence. We have before
stated that the elevation of that lake above tide-water is
five hundred and seventy-eight feet. But its depth,
according to Dr. Houghton, is one thousand feet. If
this statement is correct, the bottom of it is four hundred
and twenty-two feet below the sea-level. The elevation
of Lake St. Clair is five hundred and seventy feet. But
its depth is only twenty feet, leaving its bottom five hun-
dred and fifty feet above the sea-level. The elevation of
Lake Erie is five hundred and sixty-eight feet. But it is
only eighty-four feet deep, making it four hundred and
eighty-four feet above the sea-level. From Lake Erie to
Lake Ontario there is a descent of three hundred and
thirty-six feet. But the latter lake is six hundred feet
deep, and its elevation two hundred and thirty-two feet.
Hence the bottom of it is three hundred and sixty-eight
feet below Ihe sea-level. From the outlet of Lake Onta-
rio the St. Lawrence River flows eight hundred and twenty
miles to tide-water, falling two hundred and thirty-two
feet in this distance. The water from the springs at the
bottom of Lake Huron is compelled to climb a mountain
nine hundred and eighty feet high before it can start on
this long oceanward journey.

3 ■%

PART III.
LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS.

CHAPTER IX.

<i:

iBfi

Forty years since — Niagara in winter— Frozen spray — Ice foliage and
ice apples — Ice moss — Frozen fog — Ice islands — Ice statues — Sleigh-
riding on the American rapids — Boys coasting on ihem — Ice gorges.

IF the first white man who saw Niagara could have
been certain that he was the first to see it, and had
simply recorded the fact with whatever note or comment,
he would have secured for himself that species of immor-
tality which accrues to such as are connected with those
first and last events and things in which all men feel a
certain interest. But he failed to improve his oppor-
tunity, and Father Hennepin was the first, so far as
known, to profit by such neglect, and his somewhat
crude and exaggerated description of the Falls has been
often quoted and is well known. So long as "waters
flow and trees grow" it will continue to be read by
successive generations. The French missionaries and

LOCAI, HISTORY AND INCIDENTS.

traders who followed him seem to have been too much
occupied in saving souls or in seeking for gold to spend
much time in contemplating the cataract, or to waste
much sentiment in writing about it. And so it happens
that, considering its fame, very little has been written,
or rather published, concerning it.

Seventy years ago, the few travelers who were drawn
to the vicinity by interest or curiosity were obliged to
approach it by Indian trails, or rude corduroy roads,
through dense and dark forests. Within the solitude
of tneir deep shadows, beneath their protecting arms,
was hidden one of the sublimest works of the phys-
ical creation. The scene was grand, impressive, almost
oppressive, not less sublime than the Alps or the
ocean, but more fascinating, more companionable, than
either.

Niagara we can take to our hearts. We realize its
majesty and its beauty, but we are never obliged to
challenge its power. Its surroundings and accessories
are calm and peaceful. Even in all the treacherous
and bloody warfare of savage Indians it was neutral
ground. It was a forest city of refuge for contending
tribes. The generous, noble, and peaceful Niagaras— a
people, according to M. Charlevoix, "larger, stronger,
and better formed than any other savages," and who
lived upon its borders— were called by the whites and
the neighboring tribes the Neuter Nation.

The crafty Hurons, the unwarlike Eries, the invin-
cible league formed by the six aggressive and con-
quering tribes composing the Iroquois confederacy,— the

"#'

j(-**

NIA(iARA.

l»!l

Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagas, the Cayugas,
the Scnccas, and the Tuscaroras, — all extinguished the
torch, buried the tomahawk, and smoked the calumet
when they came to the shores of the Niagara, and sat
down within sight of its incense cloud, and listened
to its perpetual anthem. In succeeding contests between
the whites, on two occasions only was nature's repose
here disturbed by the din of battle — first, in the run-
ning fight at Chippewa, and again at the obstinate and
bloody struggle of Lundy's Lane,

During the War of 1812, in which these actions
occurred, the dense forest which lay outside of the
old belt of French occupation was first extensively
and persistently attacked, the sunlight being let in
upon comfortable log-cabins and fruitful fields. The
Indian trail and corduroy ** shake" were superseded
by more civilized and comfortable highways. Post
routes were opened and public conveyances established.
For many years, however, the two principal ways of
access to Niagara were by the Ridge road, from
the Gcnessee Falls — now Rochester — and the river
road on the Canadian side from Buffalo to Drum-
mondville.

Some forty years ago, and for many years thereafter,
Niagara was, emphatically, a pleasant and attractive
watering-place ; the town was quiet ; the accommo-
dations were comfortable ; the people were kind, con-
siderate, and attentive ; guides were civil, intelligent,
and truthful ; conveyances were good, and were in
charge of careful and respectable attendants; com-

LOCAL niSTOkV AND LN'CIDENTS.

missions were unknown; "scalping" was left to the In-
dians; nobody was annoyed or importuned; the flowers
bloomed, the birds caroled, the fulUleaved trees furnished
refreshmg shade, and the air was balmy. Then the
lowing of cows in the street, the guttural note of the
swme, and the voice of the solicitor were not heard
Elderly people came to stay for pleasant recreation and
quiet enjoyment; younger people to "bill and coo" and
dance. Now all that is changed. A contemporary
orator once described the moral status of a famous
stock-jobbing locality by saying that " ten thousand a
year is the Sermon on the Mount for Wall street." The
same gospel is popular at Niagara.

Whoso has seen Niagara only in summer has but
half seen it. In winter its beauties are not diminished,
while the accessories due to the season are numerous and
varied. After two or three weeks of intensely cold
weather many beautiful and fantastic scenes are presented
around the Falls.

The different varieties of stalactites and stalagmites
hanging from or apparently supporting the project-
ing rocks along the side walls of the deep chasm,
the ice islands which grow on the bars and around the
rocks in the river, the white caps and hoods which are
formed on the rocks below, the fanciful statuary and
•statuesque forms which gather on and around the trees
and bushes, are all curious and interesting. Exceedingly
beautiful are the white vestments of frozen spray with
^vhich everything in the immediate vicinity is robed
and shielded ; and beautiful, too, are the clusters of ice

NIAGARA.

1 ♦ ,.

apples which tip the extremities of the branc}\cs of the
evergreen trees.

There is something marvelous in the purity and
whiteness of congealed spray. One might think it to be
frozen sunlight. And when, by reason of an angle or a
curve, it is thrown into shadow, one sees where the
rainbow has been caught and frozen in. After a day of
sunshine which has been sufficiently warm to fill the
atmosphere with aqueous vapor, if a sharp, still, cold
night succeed, and if on this there break a clear, calm
morning, the scene presented is one of unique and
enchanting beauty.

The frozen spray on every boll, limb, and twig
of tree and shrub, on every stiffened blade of grass,
on every rigid stem and tendril of the vines, is
covered over with a fine white powder, a frosty bloom,
from which there springs a line of delicate frost-
spines, forming a perfect fringe of ice-moss, than which
nothing more fRnciful nor more beautiful can be im-
agined.

Then, as the day advances, the increasing warmth
of the sun's rays dissolves this fairy frost-work and
spreads it like a delicate varnish over the solid spray,
giving it a brilliant polish rivaling the luster of the
rarest gems ; the mid-morning breeze sets in motion this
flashing, dazzling forest, which varies its color as the
sunlight-angle varies; and finally, when the waxing
warmth and growing breeze loosen the hold of the
icy covering in the tree-tops, and it drops to the still
solid surface in the shade beneath,— the tiny particles

tit

1 ■*■ J

■>,

'J*,

Opposite page 66.

Winter Foliage.

•Ij

ii;

LOCAL IlISTOKY AND LN'CIDENTS. 67

With a silver tinkle and the larger pieces with the

h rp rattlmg sound of the castanet,-the ear is charmed

«ith a wid, dashmg rataplan, while a scene of

strange enchantment challenges the admiration of the

spectator.

Even more beautiful and fairy-like, if possible, i, the
g rmen of frozen fog with which all external objects are
adorned and etherealized when the spring advances and

h temperature of the water is raised. As the sharp,
St 11 n.ght wears on. the light mists begin to rise, and
when the morning breaks, the river is buried in a deep
dense bank of fog. A gentle wave of air bears!
andward; ,ts progress is stayed by everything with

h,ch .t comes in contact, and as soon as its motion

■t touches. So ,t grows upon itself, and all things are

n?su„ .1 f '.. '' '""^' "' ^""'" ^°S- The morn,
■ng .un dispels the m,st, and in an hour the gay frost-
work vanishes. ^ '

The ice islands arc sometimes extensive. In the
year ,856 the whole of the rocky bar above Goa
I land was covered with ice, piled together in a rough

the V'! 7" r," °^ "*"'" '''''" °" Goat Island afd
the three Moss Islands lying outside of it, all of which
-n.- v.3,ted by different persons passing over this 'L

strJi'J'" '""""''' °" '^'"^^' ''^'°^^the American Fall
wretched upward, reached the edge of the precipice iu f
"orth of the Little Horseshoe, continued u.ZrZlC

NIAGARA.

» 11

Chapin's Island, spread cut laterally from that to Goat
Island on the south, and over nearly half of the American
rapids to the north. At the brow of the precipice it
accumulated upward until it formed a ridge some forty
feet high. About fifteen rods up-stream another ridge
was formed of half the height of the first. Every rock
projecting upward bore an immense ice-cap. Around
and between these mounds and caps horses were driven
to sleighs, albeit the course was not favorable for quick
time. The boys drew their sleds to the top of the large
mound, slid down it, up-stream, and nearly to the top of
the smaller hill.

On the lower or down-stream side, they would have
had a clear course to the water below, at the brink of
the Falls, and might have made "time" compared with
which Dexter's minimum would have seemed only a
funeral march. But with all Young America's passion
for speed, he declined to try this route. The writer
walked over the south end of Luna Island, above the tops

of the trees.

The ice-bridge of that year filled the whole chasm
from the Railway Suspension Bridge up past the American
Fall. When the ice broke up in the spring, such immense
quantities were carried down that a strong northerly wind
across Lake Ontario caused an ice-jam at Fort Niagara.
The ice accumulated and set back until it reached the
Whirlpool, and could be crossed at any point between the
Whirlpool and the Fort. It was lifted up about sixty feet
above the surface, and spread out over both shores, crush-
ing and destroying everything with which it came hi

roat
can
e it
)rty
dge
ock
unci
iven
Liick
irge
3 of

lave
i of
kvith

[y a
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riter
tops

lasm
ican
ense
wind
jara.
the
I the
' feet
ush-
e hi

Opposite page fig.

Ice Bridge and Frost Freaks.

LOCAL HISTORY Ax\D INCIDExNTS.

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contact. Many persons from different parts of the cosntrv
visited the extraordinary scene.

At Lewiston the writer, with many others, saw a most
remarkable illustration of the terrific power of this hydro
static press. Just below the village, on the American side
there stood, about two rods from high-water mark, a sound'
thrifty, tough white-oak tree, perhaps a hundred years
old, and two feet in diameter. The ice, moved by the
water, struck it near the ground and pressed it outward
and upward, until it was actually pulled up by the roots
-or rather some of the roots were broken and others
were pulled out-and landed twenty feet farther away
from the chasm. '^

Those who watched the operation stated that, from
he time the ,ce touched the tree until it was landed on
the bank above, the motion of the ice could not be
detected by the eye.

Slowly, steadily, surely it pressed on. Suddenly there
would be an explosion, sharp and loud, when a root gave
way. No motion in the ice or tree could be discovered
After a lapse of two or three hours another sharp erack
would give notice of another fracture. Thus the ice
pressed gradually on, and in ten hours the work was done
A thousandth part of this force would pulverize a bowlder
of adamant. We need not wonder, therefore, that the
river Niagara keeps its channel clear.

In the ice-gorge of 1866 the ice was set back to the
upper end of the Whirlpool, over which it was twenty
feet deep. The Whirlpool rapid was subdued nearly to
an unbroken current, which all the way below to Lake

^ '^K

NIAGARA.

i It'

Ontario was reduced to a gentle flow of quiet waters.
Never was there a sublimer contest of the great forces of
nature. The frost laid its hand upon the raging torrent
and it was still.

The winter of 1875 was intensely cold. The singular
figures represented in the illustrations — the eagle, dog,
baboon, and others — are exact reproductions of the real
chance-work of the frost of that season. The long-con-
tinued prevalence of the south-west wind fastened to
every object facing it a border or apron of dazzling
whiteness, and more than five feet thick. The ice mount-
ain below the American Fall, reaching nearly to the top
of the precipice, was appropriated as a "coasting" course,
and furnished most exhilarating sport to the people
who used it. A large number of visitors came from all
directions, and, on the 22d of February, fifteen hundred
were assembled to see the extraordinary exhibition.

In the coldest winters, the ice-bridges cannot be less
than two hundred and fifty feet thick. The ice-bridge of
1875 formed on the 6th and 7th of May, was crossed on
the 8th, and broke up on the 14th— the only one ever
known in the river so late in the spring.

Coasting below the An... on Fall.

\ ''^s w

'ti

1
I

1 iHH

?T1

11.^

CHAPTER X.

Judge Porter — General Porter — r^, ri ,

dates found cut in the bark of tret ,„H I T "' "" "'»' " Early
wonderful story- Bridges to thtrtf" "^k - Professor Kalm's
-R«lJacket-Anec^otr-Gra'^,'S -*'="■'"' "' '""^'ruction
Jerusalem -Tie Stone Tolerl The B^t";,'^" ^^ '"" *= ''-
of water on the Horseshoe-Shiplten^teure F^iis""" ^""-^P'"

I'fortreriii';'' r""^^- ^""^ '^"'-''- ••-'' ^e good

Peter B.PortetLtLT: "'!■'"' *''^ '"^ «-"^'
connected witli The t^" "'" 'f""*'"'^ ^"'' •""""■'-bly

Judge Porter, afterhaving spent several v«r •

Canandaigua to Ni^^ Fanr:!,;^ '1^-^' '"""
•806. where he continued to ivlttShkT':."" "'""''
fifty years afterward. " ''^^*' "^"'x

General Porter settled as a lawyer at Can.nH,- ■
'795. removed to Black Rnrt • o ''''"'»"''="g"a m
Falls in ,838 '" '*'°' ^"^ *« Niagara

I'T

1 iii*

NIAGARA.

?H|!' t'

%i\

I ►>,

Ihlii-

four lots in the Mile Strip lying both above and below
the Falls.

A few years later, they purchased not only the interest
of their partners in these lots, but other lands at different
points along this strip. In 1814, they bought of Samuel
Sherwood a paper since named a float — an instrument
given by the State authorizing the bearer to locate two
hundred acres of any of the unsold or unappropriated
lands belonging to the State. This float they fortunately
anchored on Goat Island and the islands adjacent thereto
lying "immediately above and adjoining the Great

Falls."

The origin of the name of Goat Island is as follows :
Mr. John Stedman, who came into the country in 1760,
had cleared a portion of the upper end of the island, and
in the summer of 1779 he placed on it an aged and
dignified male goat. The following winter was very
severe, navigation to the island was impracticable, and
the goat fell a victim to the intense cold. Since which
the scene of his exile and death has been called Goat

Island.

By the terms of the Treaty of Ghent, December 24,
1 8 14, the boundary line between Great Britain and the
United States, on the Niagara frontier, was to run through
the deepest water along the river-courses and through the
center of the Great Lakes. As the deepest water, at this
point, is in the center of the Horseshoe Fall, the islands
in the river fell to the Americans. General Porter, acting
as Commissioner for the United States, proposed to call
the largest one Iris Island, and it was so printed on the

LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 73

One of the early chronicles states that the island con

tamed two hundred and fifty acres of land. At the pre "

cnt t,me there are in it less than seventy A strio snl

ten rods wide by eishtv rods lnn„ r, u ^ "

from the southern^de of it "^ \^T ""™ '•'"''>'
Porf<.r ,r,S .1 1 ' ^'""^ '^'^' ^hcn Judge

i-orter made the first road around it

The earliest date he found on the island was 176,

carved on a beech-tree. The earliest date cut in the rock

on the mam-land was ,645. Human bones a"d arrow

heads were found on the island. The Indians went toi't

v.th the.r canoes, which they paddled up and down in

the comparatively quiet water lying on the rockT bar

.reil:r'^"''™'''--'^^--'-'>ovetheht^':;

Notwithstanding this fact, the Swedish naturalist
Ka m, who vs.ted the place in ,750, relates a febulo„ '

tte Fal s taik r' r"? 7 ■•• '""""^ ^'"="-°" ^^^^^

stzra^r*""^"^^^^-™'""^^^^^^^

The canoe swung off shore and floated doxvn-stream
Neanng the rapids, the noise awakened one of I"
who had apparently been more fortunate in learle
tribe W '":'' '""" *^ '"■^"^■^ '"- "-t ofh"

slT ^ ■ ^"' '^' '^™ P"^<» 'heir paddles with

such abongmal v.gor that they succeeded in landing o„

■i '">U^

•^

?^,

NIAC.ARA.

Its

Goat Island. From the sequel it would seem that they
must have destroyed or lost their canoe. Finding no
houses of refreshment, nor cairns of stores left by former
explorers, and most naturally getting hungry, they con-
cluded it would be desirable to get back to the fort — a
wish more easily expressed than accomplished.

But it was necessary for them to "do or die." So, as
the story runs, they stripped the bark from the bass wood
trees, and with it made a ladder long enough to reach
from a tree standing on the edge of the precipice at the
foot of the island down to the water below.

After dropping their ladder they followed it down-
ward. Reaching the water, and being good swimmers,
they plunged in with great glee, expecting to be able to
swim across to the opposite shore, which they could
easily climb. But the counter current forced them back
to the island.

After being a good deal bruised on the rocks, they
were compelled to abandon the attempt to cross, and then
returned up their ladder to the island. There, after much
whooping, they attracted the notice of other Indians on
the shore. These reported the situation at the fort, and
the commandant sent up a party of whites and Indians
to rescue them. They brought with them four light pike-
poles. Going to a point opposite the head of the island,
they exchanged salutations with the new Crusoes, and
began preparations for their rescue. Two Indians volun-
teered to undertake the task. "They took leave of all
their friends as if they were going to their death." Each
Indian rescuer, according to the wondrous fable, took two

tOCAl. IIISTORV AND INCIUENTS. 7.

pike-polcs and waded across the channel to the island
gave each of the Crusoes a pike-pole, and the he fo';
waded back to the main-land, where they were M
received by the,r anxious, waiting friends, after having
been " nine days on the island." "

Remembering that the water in mid-channel is twelve
tt to be";h " '"'■"■'""'-" "'"™'' - "-' -"cede

I I '!! 'l'^ ■'".''^'' ^°'"-" ''"'" "'<= fi«t bridge to Goat
and about forty rods above the present bridge In

bovt nr'h'?""' t '"^^ '^""^ "' '- f™- ''<= riv !
strXh of ra^'lH^ '""^'"""^ ''™'^^" "? '»' «''e short
br dge wi h tr fi 7' "''"'' *■=>' P^'-"^' ^'^-^k the

F„!l! H .u ^ ""'■^2'= ""<! enterprise of a New-

farther do' "f ""°" he constructed another bridge
farther down, on the present site, rightly judgine that th!
jce would be so much broken up bffore^ Lc?;:fg fit

That bridge, with constant repairs and one almost
entire renewal, stood firm in its place until the year 85?

ened^ and !r ?"? *"'= '""^'' ^"'"g^'' ='"d strength-
ened, and also raised about three feet higher to receive

the first bridge was carried over the turbulent waters a
brief description of the process may be acceptable F^st
a strong bulkhead was built in the shallow water nex to
the shore; a solid backing was put in behind th" and

4^1

; , i-

ii:

1 •-..

NIAC.ARA.

the upper surface properly graded and well floored with
plank. Strong rollers were placed parallel with the stream
and fastened to the floor. In the old forest then standing
near by were many noble oaks, of different sizes and
great length. A number of these were felled and hewed
"tapering," as it was termed, so that, when finished, they
were about eighteen inches square at the butt, fifteen at
the top, and eighty feet long. Through the small ends
were bored large auger-holes. These sticks were placed,
as required, on the roHers, at right angles to the stream,
the small ends over the water, and the shore ends heavily
weighted down.

The first stick being properly plated, levers were
applied to the rollers and the stick was run out until the
small end reached an eddy in the water. Then another
similar stick was run out in like manner, parallel to the first,
and about six feet from it. A few light, strong planks
were placed across and made fast Two men were pro-
vided each with strong, iron-pointed pike-staffs, each staff
having in its upper end a hole, through which was drawn
some ten feet of new rope. Thus provided, they walked
out on the timbers, drove their iron pikes down among
the stones, and tied them fast to the timbers. Thus the
whole problem was solved. Around these pike-staffs the
first pier was built and filled with stone Then other
timbers were run out, all were planked over, and the firs'
span was completed. The other spans were laid in the

same way.

The great Indian chief and orator. Red Jacket, occa-
sionally visited juds^e and General Porter — the latter

IP'

Second Moss-Island Bridge.

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LOCAI, HISTORY AND INCIDKNTS. 77

then living at Black Rock. Judge Porter told this
anecdote of the chief: He visited the Falls while the
mechanics were stretching the timbers across the rapids
for the second bridge. He sat for a long time on :. pile
of plank, watching their operations. His mind seemed
to be busy both with the past and the present, reflectmg
upon the vast territory his race once possessed, and
mtensely conscious of the fact that it was theirs no
longer. Apparently mortified, and vexed that its pale
face owners should so successfully develop and improve
It, he rose from his seat, and, uttering the well-known

Indian guttural "Ugh. ugh!" he exclaimed: " D n

Yankee! d n Yankee!" Then, gathering his blanket-
cloak around him, with his usual dignity and downcast
eyes, he slowly walked away, and never returned to the
spot.

Before parting with the distinguished chief, we will
repeat after General Porter two other anecdotes charac-
tcnstic of him. He lived not far from Buffalo, on the
Seneca Reservation, and frequently visited the late Gen-
eral Wadsworth, at Geneseo. Indeed, his visits grew to
be somewhat perplexing, for the great chief must be
otUcrtauied personallj- b>- the host of the establish-
ment.

Of course he was a "' teetotaler "-only in one way.
VMicn he got a glass of good liquor he drank the whole
ot It He was very fond of the rich apple-juice of the
Geneseo orchards. Having repeated his visits to General
V\adsworth. at one time, with rather inconvenient fre-
quency, and coming one day when the Genera! saw that he

(/■'

NIAGARA.

Hi-.

had been drinking pretty freely somewhere else, his host
concluded he would not offer him the usual refreshments..
In due time, therefore, Red Jacket rose and excused him-
self As he was leaving the room the orator said, " General,
hear!" "Well, what, Red Jacket?" To which he replied
with great gravity : " General, when I get home to my
people, and they ask me how your cider tasted, what
shall I tell them ? " Of course he got the cider.

His determined and constant opposition to the sale of
the lands belonging to the Indians is well known. At
the council held at Buffalo Creek, in i8ii,he was se-
lected by the Indians to answer the proposition of a New
York land company to buy more land. The Indians
refused to sell, although, as usual, the company only
wanted "a small tract." To illustrate the system, after
the speech-making was over, Red Jacket placed half a
dozen Indians on a log, which lay near by. They did
not sit very close together, but had plenty of room. He
then took a white man who wanted "a small tract," and
making the Indians at one end "move up," he put the
white man beside them. Then he brought another "small-
tract " white man, and making the aborigines " move
up " once more, the Indian on the end was obliged to rise
from the log. He repeated this process until but one
of the original occupants was left on the log. Then sud-
denly he shoved him off, put a white man in his place,
and turning to the land agent said : " See what one
small tract means; white man all, Indian nothing.''

Colonel William L. Stone, in his " Life of Red Jacket,"
relates the following: In 1 8 16, after Red Jacket took up

LOCAL HISTORY AND LVCIDENTS. 79

his residence on Buffalo Creek, east of the city, a youn^
French count traveling through the country made a brief
stay at Buffalo, whence he sent a request to the sachem
to visit him at his hotel.

Red Jacket, in reply, informed the young nobleman
that If he wished to see the old chief he would give him
a welcome greeting at his cabin. The count sent again
to say that he was much fatigued by his journey of four
thousand miles, which he had made for the purpose of
seeing the celebrated Indian orator, Red Jacket, and
thought It strange that he should not be willing to come
four miles to meet him. But the proud and shrewd old
chief replied that he thought it still more strange, after
the count had traveled so great a distance for that pur
pose, that he should halt only a {^^y miles from the
home of the man he had come so far to see The
count finally visited the sachem at his house and
was much pleased with the dignity and wisdom of
h.s savage host. The point of etiquette having been
satisfactorily settled, the chief accepted an invitation to
dinner, and was no doubt able to tell his people how the
count's " cider " tasted.

In 1819, when the boundary commissioners ran the
ine through the xNiagara River, Grand Island fell to the
IJnited States, under the rule that that line should be in
the center of the main channel. To ascertain this, accu-
rate measurements were made, by which it was found that
1 2,802,750 cubic feet of water passed through the Canadian
channel, and 8,540,080 through the American channel
10 test the accuracy of these measurements, the quantity

NIACiARA.

passing in the narrow channel at Black Rock was deter-
mined by the same method, and was found to be
21,549,590 cubic feet, thus substantially corroborating the
first two measurements.

The Indian name of Grand Island is Owanunga. In
1825, Mr. M. M. Noah, a politician of the last generation,
took some preliminary steps for reestablishing the lost
nationality of the Jews upon this island, where a New
Jerusalem was to be founded. Assuming the title of
" Judge of Israel," he appeared at Buffalo in September
for the purpose of founding the new nation and city. A
meeting was held in old St. Paul's Church, at which,
with the aid of a militia company, martial music, and
masonic rites, the remarkable initiatory proceedings took

place.

The self-constituted judge presented himself arrayed
in sorceous robes of office, consisting of a rich black cloth
tunic, covered by a capacious mantle of crimson silk trim-
med with ermine, and ^having a richly embossed golden
medal hanging from his neck. After what, in the account
published in his own paper of the day's proceedings, he
called "impressive and unique ceremonies," he read a
proclamation to " all the Jews throughout the world," in-
forming them "that an Asylum was prepared and offered
to them," and that he did "revive, renew, and establish
(in the Lord's name), the government of the Jewish
nation, * * * confirming and perpetuating all our
rights and privileges, our rank and power, among the
nations of the earth as they existed and were recognized
under the government of the Judges." He also ordered

LOCAL IIISTORV AND INCIDENTS. gl

a census to be taken of all the Hebrews in the world .n ,
levied a capitation tax of three shekels T ! f

lar and sixty cents— "tn "'^f, '^^^^^^— ^bout one dol-
ino- fi,. cents— to pay the expenses of re-oreani/

•ng the government and assisting emigrants " U u]
prepared a " foundation stone " wh^ch r ^"^

erected on the site of t}J • ""^^ afterward

following inscriptio:.- "^^^ ^'^^' '-^"^ ^'"'^'^ ^^ ^he

" Hear, O Israel, the Lord
isourGod-theLordisone."

"ARARAT,
A CITY OF REFUGE FOR THE JEWS

FOUNDED BY MORnp^Ar ., .

'^ORDECAI xMANUEL NOAFr

11^^ THE MONTH OF TISRI cc«^ !l
IN THE FIFTIETH YEAR OF
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE."

n.ler of his nation, he on^;!? , t td of f""-*^"'^

he never crossed to the island. P™""'"' ^=

The strong round tower, called the Terraoin T™

The Biddle Staircase was named for Mr Nfrh .
e, Of Philadelphia, who contributed a sum of money

'iiti

i,mi

NIAGARA.

toward its construction. It was erected in 1829. The
shaft is eighty feet high and firmly fastened to the rock.
The stairs are spiral, winding round it from top to bot-
tom. Near the foot of these stairs, at the water's edge,
Samuel Patch, who wished to demonstrate to the world
that " some things could be done as well as others," set up
a ladder one hundred feet high, from which he made two
leaps into the water below. Going thence to Rochester,
he took another leap near the Genesee Falls, which
proved to be his last.

The depth of water on the Horseshoe Fall is a subject
of speculation with every visitor. It was correctly deter-
mined in 1827. In the autumn of that year, the ship Mic/n-
gan, having been condemned as unseaworthy, was pur-
chased by a few persons, and sent over the Falls. Her hull
was eighteen feet deep. It filled going down the rapids,
and went over the Horseshoe Fall with some water above
the deck, indicating that there must have been at least
twenty feet of water above the rock. This voyage of the
Michigan was an event of the day. A glowing hand-bill,
charged with bold type and sensational tropes, announced
that '• The Pirate Michigan, with a cargo of furious ani-
mals," would "pass the great rapids and the Falls of
Niagara," on the "eighth of September, 1827." She
would sail " through the white-tossing and deep-rolling
rapids of Niagara, and down its grand precipice into the
basin below." Entertainment was promised "for all who
may visit the Falls on the present occasion, which will,
for its novelty and the remarkable spectacle it will present,
be unequaled in the annals of infernal navigation." Con-

LOCAL lIIsrOKV AXD INCIDENTS. .,3

sidering that the Falls could be reach, -,1 , u
conveyances, the gatherintr of n , ^ ^^' '■"'"'

The voyage was sufccssf lyMde aT^,"! '"' '"''■
animals - duly deposited J Ao-^'i^Tn t' ^^fSoofhVe
bear which left the ship near the center of T' 'T"' ^
swam ashore, but was recaptured "''"'' ^"'^

Two enterprising individual. „,., 1

tables. When their Letl'^ ""'■■ P'^^^^ =" 'he

- given that the hi '^7r'-'--'>',-'i^fied, notice

departed hurriedly, forgetZ ,,'"''' "''"'''"P"" ""=>-
"aif-dollar for the LeToTtI Z^s ''' ''"'-'""

"shed here onrottnT ^ h l^f;;!^'''--— ab-
his heirs an ample fortune ~""''^' ""^ ^'^'*

A few geese in the cargo were onlv h,^,
by their unusual plunge anlw °"'^,''*^'>' '=°"f"sed
"P from boats. It w"" Itt H ,! '"''^"^ P'^^ed
lar that geese whilh^r ^ K^ ^t ^■"^"-

nrrr '"' -'' ^' -travagantpHcctalf r

Another condemned vessel of ah,^„f r 1
burden, the Det>-oi^, which hid L,.' ""'^'"^ '°"'
Perry's victorious fle t as sent d ^"^l '° Commodore
A -ge concourse of p:::;^~rLT^;;--

^''}^,

:♦,

NIAGARA.

the country to witness the spectacle. Her rolling and
plunging in the rapids were fearful, until about midway
of them she stuck fast on a bar, where she lay until
knocked to pieces by the ice. From Baron La Hontan
we know that the Indians went on the water, just below
the Falls, in their canoes, to gather the game which had
been swept over them. For more than a hundred years
there has been a ferry of skiff and- yawl boats at this
point, and in all that time not one serious accident has
happened.

CHAPTER XI.

Wi,iV«l - H com fo„s ■ K r, " ''""'", '^ * -""' ""-e" "-
.o,icel„,,,,„e„Zarke; "P"" ■«*"-- Biopaphicnl

'pHE history of the navigation of the Rapids of Nia.Tara

A n,ay be appropriately concluded in this chaDtr

u uch ,s devoted to a notice of the remark-able man '^^ho

-;::.itbitr^'^-^'-"-'^^' ----""

In the summer of ,838, while some extensive repairs
were bemg made on the main bridge to Goat Island a
mechame named Chapin fell from the lower side of "into

I J f "T"' ^°'' '"■" '°^^''^ «'- first small island
b'mg below the bridge. Knowing how to swim, he madf
.' desperate and successful effort to reach it. It i, h^rdl^
n>ore than thirty feet square, and is covered with cedars

*: falT :S- T'-' ''"'" ^™-'"^' - seemed it;

urned l Roh' ''^"f""' ^" *°"Shts were then

1 eht red f «-'<"""■ f"' ""' '" '''"■ "^ '-""-hed his
I'eht red skiff from the foot of Bath Island, picked his

nZ mrch '""""^ '''""'' ''' '^^^' '^

.sland, took Chapm u, and brought him safely to

«*

nia(;aua.

I fir.

the shore, much to the rehcf of the spectators, who gave
expression to their appreciation of Robinson's service by
a moderate contribution.

In the summer of 1841, a Mr. Allen started for Chip-
pewa in a boat just before sunset. Being anxious to get
across before dark, he plied his oars with such vigor that
one of them broke when he was about opposite the middle
Sister. With the remaining oar he tried to nake the
head of Goat Island. The current, however, set too
strongly toward the great Canadian Rapids, and his only
hope was to reach the outer Sister. Ncaring this, and
not being able to run his boat upon it, he sprang out,
and, being a good swimmer, by a vigorous effort suc-
ceeded in getting ashore. Certain of having a lonely if
not an unpleasant night, and being the fortunate pos-
sessor of two stray matches, he lighted a fire and solaced
himself with his thoughts and his pipe. Next morning,
taking oft" his red flannel shirt, he raised a signal of dis-
tress. Toward noon the unusual smoke and the red flag
attracted attention. The situation was soon ascertained,
and Robinson informed of it. Not long after noon,
the little red skiff was canned across Goat Island and
launched in the channel just below the Moss Islands.
Robinson then pulled himself across to the foot of the
middle Sister, and tried in vain to find a point where he
could cross to the outer one. Approaching darkness
compelled him to suspend operations. He rowed back to
Goat Island, got some refreshments, returned to the
middle Sister, threw the food across to Allen, and then
left him to his second night of solitude. The next day

^,*

Opposite page 86. Joel R. RobinSOH.

ii:

IBI

J
c
ii
h
ii
n
b

fr
sil
ai

an
Gi
lar

ICcI

do
Isl
the
we
clo
if ]
son

LOCAL HISTORY AND LVCIDENTS.

«7

Kob.nson too - w. h him two long, light, strong cords.

,Tound P"^"^^^^^^r' ^"'"^ ^' '^"^ ^^'^'^hing about a
pound. Ty.ng the lead to one of the cords he threw it
across to Allen. Robinson fastened the other end of
Allen s cord to the bow of the skiff; then attaching his
own cord to the skiff also, he shoved it off Allen drew
It to hnnsclf, got into it, pushed off, and Robinson drew
h.m to where he stood on the middle island. Then seat-
•n^' Allen in the stern of the skiff he returned across the
rapids to Goat Island, where both were assisted up the
bank by the .spectators, and the little craft, too. which
seemed to be almost as much an object of curiosity with
the crowd as Robinson himself

This was the second person rescued by Robinson
from islands which had been considered wholly inacces-
sible^ It IS no exaggeration to say that there was not
another man in the country who could have saved
Chapm and Allen as he did.

In the summer of 1855 a canal-boat. with two men
and a dog m it. was discovered in the strong current near
Grass Island. The men, finding they could not save the
arge boat, took to their small one and got ashore
Icavmg the dog to his fate. The abandoned craft floated
down and lodged on the rocks on the south side of Goat
Island, and about twenty rods above the ledge over which
the rapids make the first perpendicular break. There
were left in the boat a watch, a gun. and some articles of
clothing. The owner offered Robinson a liberal salvage
>i he would recover the property. Taking one of his
sons with him, he started the little red skiff from the

■h

)

SU^'tillfi ?««•*?»?»!«

NIAC.AUA.

head of the hydraulic canal, half a mile above the island,
shot across the American channel, and ran directly to the
boat. Holding the skiff to it himself, the young man got
on board and secured the valuables. The dog had es-
caped during the night. Leaving the canal-boat, Robinson
ran down the ledge between the second and third Moss
Islands, and thence to Goat Island. On going over the
ledtie he had occasion to exercise that quickness of
apprehension and presence of mind for which he was so
noted. The water was rather lower than he had calcu-
lated, and on reaching the top o( the ledge the bottom
of the skifT near the bt)W struck the rock. Instantly he
sprang to the stern, freed the skiff, and made the descent
safely. If the stern had swung athwart the current, the
skiff would certainly have been wrecked.

in the year 1846, a small steamer was built in the
eddy just above the Railway Suspension Bridge, to run up
to the l^^ills. She was very appropriately named T/te
Maid of the Mist. Her engine was rather weak, but she
safely accomplished the trip. As, however, she took
passengers aboard only from the Canadian side, she could
pay little more than expenses. In 1854 a larger, better
boat, with a more powerful engine, the new ATiud of the
Mist, was put on the route, and as she took passengers
from both sides of the river, many thousands of per-
sons made the exciting and impressive voyage up to the
Falls. The admiration which the visitor felt as he passed
quietly along near the American Fall was changed into
awe when he began to feel the mighty pulse of the great
deep just below the tower, then swung round into the

I.OCAI. msToKV ANI, INCIDENTS. Jjy

white foam directly i„ fn,„t „f tho Horseshoe and saw
I.C sky of waters falling toward him. And he eemed t!

^^Z:T T ■'""' ''-''' ^"- "" frr^in:
.ream tlnough a baptism of spray. To many person,

ll- Z;' •■""""'"' "'""' '•' '"'-" '"^"ced'tL^m o
otU"t" ""^ T '"^'^ '■"" ••"' -PP^fni'y to do

nfin^d her t T% T '" '■" •^Pl-"'tn,ents: which
conhncd he. t,. the Canadian shore for the reception of
passengers she becan.e unprofitable. Her owner' rin.
< ceded to leave the neighborhood, wished to se 1 h r at
she lay at her dock. This he could not do bu he
rcce,ved an offer of something n.ore than ha 1 o her
St. ,f he would deliver her at Niagara, opposi Z

Rohi u" ,''''"'"' '" ^"' "'■'^■'- consultation with

Kobmson. uho had acted as her captain and pilot on

r tr,ps below the Falls. The boat required for her

...;v.gat,on an engineer, who also acted as fireman, and a

Mr. Robinson agreed to act as pilot for the fearful

hnn. A courageous machinist, Mr. Mclntvre
volunteered to share the risk with them. They SL;
■" complete trim, removing from deck and hold 1
superfluous articles. Notice was given of the ime fo
s ^tmg and a large number of people assembled to lei
>hc fearul plunge, no one expecting to see the crew
agajn ahve after they should leave" the dl Th
dock, as has been before stated, was just above the
Ra.w.ay Suspension Bridge, at the place where she wa!
bu,lt, and where she was laid up fn the win ter-tllt

■ h.

ii:

3 ♦

NIAGARA.

too, being the only place where she could lie without
danger of being crushed by the ice. Twenty rods below
this eddy the water plunges sharply down into the head
of the crooked, tumultuous rapid which we have before
noticed as reaching from the bridge to the Whirlpool.
At the Whirlpool, the danger of being drawn under was
most to be apprehended ; in the rapids, of being turned
over or knocked to pieces. From the Whirlpool to
Lewiston is one wild, turbulent rush and whirl of water,
without a square foot of smooth surface in the whole
distance.

About three o'clock in the afternoon of June 15,
1 86 1, the engineer took his place in the hold, and,
knowing that their flitting would be short at the best,
and might be only the preface to swift destruction, set
his steam- valve at the proper gauge, and awaited — not
without anxiety — the tinkling signal that should start
them on their flying voyage. Mclntyre joined Robinson
at the wheel on the upper deck. Self-possessed, and
with the calmness which results from undoubting courage
and confidence, yet with the humility which recognizes
all possibilities, with downcast eyes and firm hands,
Robinson took his place at the wheel and pulled the
starting bell. With a shriek from her whistle and a white
puff from her escape-pipe, to take leave, as it were, of
the multitude gathered on the shores and on the bridge,
the boat ran up the eddy a short distance, then swung
round to the right, cleared the smooth water, and shot
like an arrow into the rapid under the bridge. Robin-
son intended to take the inside curve of the rapid, but a

'<?*!

ii;

LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 91

fierce cross-current carried him to the outer curve and
when a third of the way down it a jet of water struck
against her ruddc a column dashed up under her star-
board side heele. her over, carried away her smoke-
stack, started her overhang on that side, threw Robinson
flat on his back, and thrust Mclntyre against her star-
board wheel-house with such force as to break it through
Every eye was fixed, every tongue was silent, and everv
looker-on breathed freer as she emerged from the fearful
baptism, shook her wounded sides, slid into the Whirlpool
and for a moment rode again on an even keel. Robinson
rose at once, seized the helm, set her to the right of the
arge pot in the pool, then turned her directly through
he neck of it. Thence, after receiving another drenching
from its combing waves, she dashed on without further
accident to the quiet bosom of the river below Lewiston

Thus was accomplished one of the most remarkable
and perilous voyages ever made by men. The boat was
seventy-two feet long, with seventeen feet breadth of
beam and eight feet depth of hold, and carried an en-
gine of one hundred horse-power. In conversation with
Robinson after the voyage, he stated that the greater
part of It was like what he had always imagined must
be the swift sailing of a large bird in a downward flight •
that when the accident occurred the boat seemed to be
struck from all directions at once ; that she trembled like
a fiddle-string, and fdt as if she would crumble away and
drop into atoms ; that both he and Mclntyre were hold-
ing to the wheel with all their strength, but produced no
more effect than they would if they had been two flies •

!i<ii

NIAGARA.

that he had no fear of striking the rocks, for he knew that
the strongest suction must be in the deepest channel, and
that the boat must remain in that. Finding that Mclntyrc
was somewhat bewildered by excitement or by his fall, as
he rolled up by his side but did not rise, he quietly put his
foot on his breast, to keep him from rolli;: ' "^und the
deck, and thus finished the voyage.

Poor Jones, imprisoned beneath the hatches before
the glowing furnace, went down on his knees, as he re-
lated afterward, and although a more earnest prayer wa?
never uttered and few that were shorter, still it seemed to
him prodigiously long. To that prayer he thought they
owed their salvation.

The effect of this trip upon Robinson was decidedly
marked. As he lived only a few years afterward, his
death was commonly attributed to it. But this was in-
correct, since the disease which terminated his life was
contracted at New Orleans at a later day. '* He was,"
said Mrs. Robinson to the writer, "twenty years older
when he came home that day than when he went out."
He sank into his chair like a person overcome with weari-
ness. He decided to abandon the water, and advised his
sons to venture no more about the rapids. Both his man-
ner and appearance were changed. Calm and deliberate
before, he became thoughtful and serious afterward. He
liad been borne, as it were, in the arms of a power so
mighty that its impress was stamped on his features and
on his mind. Through a slightly opened door he had
seen a vision which awed and subdued him. He became
reverent in a moment. He grew venerable in an hour.

LOCAL HISTORY AND INX'IUENTS. 95

Yet he had a strange, almost irrepressible, desire to
make this voyage immediately after the steamer was put
on below the Falls. The wish was only increased when
the first Maid of the Mist was superseded by the new
and stancher one. He insisted that the voyage could
be made with safety, and that it might be made a good
pecuniary speculation.

He was a character-an original. Born on the banks
of the Connecticut, in the town of Springfield, Massachu-
setts, It was in the beautiful reach of water which skirts
that city that he acquired his love of aquatic sports and
exercises and his skill in them. He was nearly six feet in
stature, with light chesnut hair, blue eyes, and fair com-
plexion. He was a kind-hearted man, of equable temper
itv^ words, cool, dehberate, decided ; lithe as a Gaul and
gentle as a girl. It goes without saying that he was a
man of " undaunted courage." He had that calm, serene
supreme equanimity of temperament which fear could not
reach nor disturb. He might have been, under right
conditions, a quiet, willing martyr, and at last he bore
patiently the wearying hours of slow decay which ended
his hfe His love of nature and adventure was paramount
to his love of money, and although he was never pinched
with poverty, he never had abundance.

He loved the water, and was at home in it or on it as
he was a capital swimmer and a skillful oarsman. Espe-
cially he delighted in the rapids of the Niagara. Kind and
compassionate as he was by nature, he was almost glad
when he heard that a fellow-creature was. in some way
entangled in the rapids, since it would give him an cx-

J-^>

NIAGARA.

cuse, an opportunity, to work in them and to help him.
As he was not a boaster, he made no superfluous exhi-
bitions of his skill or courage, albeit he might occasionally
indulge — and be indulged — in some mirthful manifesta-
tion of his good-nature ; as when, on reaching Chapin's
refuge for his rescue, he waved from one of its tallest
cedars a green branch to the anxious spectators, as if to
assure and encourage them ; and when he returned with
his skiff half filled with cedar-sprigs, which he distributed
to the multitude, they raised his pet craft to their shoul-
ders, with both Chapin and himself in it, and bore them
in triumph through the village, while money tokens were
thrown into the boat to replace the green ones.

He never foolishly challenged the admiration of his
fellow-men. But when the emergency arose for the
proper exercise of his powers, when news came that
some one was in trouble in the river, then he went to
work with a calm and cheerful will which gave assurance
of the best results. Beneath his quiet deliberation of
manner there was concealed a wonderful vigor both of
resolution and nerve, as was amply shown by the dangers
which he faced, and by the bend in his withy oar as he
forced it through the water, and the feathery spray which
flashed from its blade when he lifted it to the surface.

In all fishing and sailing parties his presence was in-
dispensable for those who knew him. The most timid
child or woman no longer hesitated if Robinson was to go
with the party. His quick eye saw everything, and his
willing hand did all that it was necessary to do, to secure
the comfort and safety of the company.

LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 95

It is doubtful whether more than a very few of his
neighbors know where he hcs, in an unmarked grave
in Oakwood Cemetery, near the rapids. Robinson went
forth on a turbulent, unrcturning flood, where the slightest
hesitancy in thought or act would have proved instantly
fatal. Benevolent associations in different cities and coun-
tries bestow honor and rewards on those who, by unselfish
ettort and a noble courage, save the life of a fellow-being
Ihis Robinson did repeatedly, yet no monument com-
memorates his worthy deeds.

^ ;i«"r

«>

. :)

liitif

CHAPTER XII.

i ■! nl'i !

A fisherman and a bear in a canoe — Frigluful experience with floating ice —
Early farming on the Niagara — Fruit growing — The original forest
— Testimony of th" trees — The first hotel — General Whitney —
Cataract House — Distinguished visitors — Carriage road down the
Canadian bank — Ontario House — Clifton House — The Museum —
Table and Termination Rocks — Burning Spring — Lundy's Lane —
Battle Anecdotes.

ii:

III

SOON after the War of 1812, a fisherman — whose
name we will call Fisher — on a certain day went
out upon the river, about three miles above the Fall ;
and while anchored and fishing from his canoe, he saw a
bear in the water making, very leisurely, for Navy Island.
Not understanding thoroughly the nature and habits of
the animal, thinking he would be a capital prize, and
having a spear in the canoe, he hoisted anchor and
started in pursuit. As the canoe drew near, the bear
turned to pay his respects to its occupant. Fisher, with
his spear, made a desperate thrust at him. Quicker
and more deftly than the most expert fencer could have
done it, the quadruped parried the blow, and, disarming his
assailant, knocked the spear more than ten feet from the
carK)e. Fisher then seized a paddle and belabored the
bear over his head and on his paws, as he placed the
latter on the side of the canoe and drew himself in. The

est

the

of
id
id
ar
th
er
ve
lis
he
he
he
he

i.:'i#'

ii:

LOCAL lIlSroRY AND INCIDENTS. 97

now frightened fisherman, not knowing how to swim, was
in a most uncomfortable predicament. He felt greatlr
re heved, therefore, when the animal deliberately sat hirn^
self down, faemg him, in the bow of the canoe. Resolving
m h.s own mmd that he would generously resign the
whole canoe to the creature as soon as he should reach
the land he raised his paddle and began to pull vigor-
ously shoreward, especially as the rapids lay just

noZy '"'' "" ^'"' """" ™"'"S n'ost omi-

Much to his surprise, as soon as he began to paddle
Brum began to growl, and, as he repeated his stroke the
occupant of the bow raised his note of disapproval an
octave higher, and at the same time made a motion as
If he would attack him. Fisher had no desire to culti-
vate a closer intimacy, and so stopped paddling

Brum serenely contemplated the landscape in the direc-
.on of the island. Fisher was also intensely interested in
the same scene, and still more intensely impressed with
their gradual approach to the rapids. He tried the pad-
dle again But the tyrant of the quarter-deck again
emphatically objected, and as /« was master of the
situation, and fully resolved not to resign the command
of the craft until the termination of the voyage, there was
no alternative but submission. Still, the rapids were
frightfully near and something must be done. He gave a
tremendous shout. But Bruin was not in a musical mood,
and vetoed that with as much emphasis as he had done
the paddling. Then he turned his eyes on Fisher quite
uiterestedly, as if he were calculating the best method of
7

■'t.

NIAGARA.

*^ iii

dissecting him. The situation was fast becoming some-
thing more than painful. Man and bear in opposite ends
of the canoe floating — not exactly double — but together
to inevitable destruction. But every suspense has an end.
The single shout, or something else, had called the atten-
tion of the neighbors to the canoe. They came to the
rescue, and an old settler, with a musket which he had
used in the War of 1812, fired a charge of buck-shot into
Bruin which induced him to take to the water, after
which he was soon taken, captive and dead, to the
shore. He weighed over three hundred pounds.

A son of the settler who shot the bear had a frightful
experience in the river many years afterward. He was
engaged in Canada in the business of buying saw-logs
for the American market. Coming from the woods down
to Chippewa one cold day in December, at a time when
considerable quantities of strong, thin cakes of ice were
floating in the river, he took a flat-bottom skiff to row
across to his home. This he did without apprehension,
as he had been born and brought up on the banks of
the Niagara, understood it well, and was also a strong,
resolute man.

As he drew near the foot of Navy Island, intending
to take the chute between it and Buckhorn Island,
two large cakes between which he was sailing suddenly
closed together and cut the bottom of his skiff square
off. Just above the cake on which his bottomless skiff
was then floating there was a second large cake,
at a little distance from it, and beyond this a strip
of water which washed the shore of Navy Island. In

LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 99

loon'ir f !" • ' ^'^ ''^'" '° *""= ••"=• he sprang
upon the first p.ece of ice, ran across it with desperate

speed, cleared the first space of water at a single' eat
ran across the next cake of ice, jumped with all hU
m.ght. and landed in the icy water within a rod "f the
shore to which he swam. He was soon after warm ng
and drymg himself before the rousing fire of the only
occupant of the island. ^

His father had a fine farm on the bank of the river
which he cultivated with much care. But before the
drainage of the country was completed the land was

cal found h,m plowmg The water stood in the bottom

thosei:;?"' I, • "' ^"T"""" "■■'^ ''^^" p-g--'- --

pu° uif And " T V '"' '" '•"''^'^ °f => >"-'«

pursuit. And nowhere north of the equator is there a

c imate and soil so genial and favorable for the growth '
of certam kmds of fruit, especially the apple and the
peach, as are those of Niagara County. Many person!
da,m that they can tell from the pecuHar consL"

he pulp, and by its flavor and iou.ua. on which side o
the Genesee River an apple is gnwn

It is said that the winter apples of Niagara are as well
known and as greatly prized above all others of their kind
on the docks of Liverpool, as is Sea Island cotton above
all o her grades of that plant. The delicious little
russet known as the Po,«,.e Gris, with its fine aromatic

as rioH " M- ^""^ "°"'"^" ^'^^ '° ^"<='> P-feetion
clebratfn .'m"^"" ^""- ^" '»^5. at the grand
celebration held to commemorate the completion of the

III*'

„KV

lOO

NIAGARA.

8 II i

Eric Canal, the late Judge Porter made the first ship-
ment east of apples raised in Niagara County. It con-
sisted of two barrels, one of which was sent to the
corporation of the city of Troy, and the other to that
of New York. They were duly received and honored.
From this small beginning the fruit trade has grown
to the yearly value of more than a million of dollars for
Niagara County alone.

With reference to the forest which once covered this
country, an erroneous impression prevails as to its
age. Poets and romancers have been in the habit of
speaking of these "primeval forests" as though they
might have been bushes when Nahor and Abraham were
infants. But this is a great error. Since the discovery
of the country only one tree has been found that was
eight hundred years old. This is mentioned by Sir
Charles Lyell as having grown out of one of the ancient
mounds near Marietta, Ohio. But the great majority of
them were not over three hundred years old. The testi-
mony of the trees concerning the past is not quite so
abundant as that of the rocks, but that of one tree grown
in central New York is of a remarkable character. It was a
white oak, which grew in the rich valley of the Clyde River,
about one mile west of Lyons' Court House, and was cut
down in the year 1837. The body made a stick of tim-
ber eighty feet long, which before sawing was about five
feet in diameter. It was cut into short logs and sav '^d
up. From the center of the butt-log was sawed a piece
about eight by twelve inches. At the butt end of this
piece the saw laid bare, without marring them, some old

LOCAL HISTORY AND INClnENTS. loi

scars made by an ax or some other sharp instrument.
These scars were perfectly distinct and their character
equaUy unmistakable. They were made, apparently.

otV /l""^ ''" "'^ "'"'"' ''"^ '"•=>>-= in diameter
Outs,de of these scars there were counted four hundred

certamty one year's growth of the tree. It follows that
.^ choppmg was done in ,374, or one hundred and

tie At,:„r^ '''"'' ''' ''-' ™^^^'^ °^ ^«-''- —

It has been questioned whether the rings shown in a
truly the number of years it has been growing. A singular

wTs fZsh" f '"' """'"''"''' °' '"'^ "'^'^''^ °f -- "
was furnished some years since.

In the latter part of the last century the late Judge
Porter surveyed a large tract of land lying east of the
Genesee R.ver, known as " The Gore." Some thirty-five
years afterward it became necessary to resurvey one o

Ir/T /""°"'"' ^"' ^""^ *" 'he original surveys
Most of the forest through which the first line had been

iriirt "t f ' "'' ""=" ''^^^ - ^^'^ b-" " blazed "
as Ime-trees had overgrown the .scars. One tree was

found which was declared to bean original line-tree On

cutting into it carefully the old " b.a^e " was b ught ^o

light and on counting the rings outside of it. they were

Ss^trfiittui'S"---^-----

I02

NIAGARA.

II"

l»l-
? -i!-

S|§ :

by forty feet in its dimensions, that stood in the center of
the front of the International block. In the latter part of
l8iS the inhabitants returned, and the late General P.
Whitney put a board addition to the log-house, and
opened the first hotel. From that has grown up the
present International. The immediate predecessor of the
International was the Eagle Tavern, which was, for some
years, in charge of a genial and popular landlord, the
late Mr. Hollis White. It was formed by the addition
to the old frame structure of a three-story brick building,
of moderate dimensions. Across the front of this addition
was a long, wide, old-fashioned stoop. This was well sup-
plied with comfortable arm-chairs, which furnished easy
rests for guests or neighbors, and were well patronized by
both, and especially during the summer season by the
genial humorists of the place. On the opposite side of
the street was a small house, a story and a half high,
belonging to Judge Porter, and to which he built an
addition. Then, as now, there were occasionally more
visitors than the hotel could accommodate, and the
neighbors assisted in entertaining them. Judge Porter
did this frequently, and among his guests were President
Monroe, Marshal Grouchy, General La Fayette, General
Brown, General Scott, Judge Spencer, and other distin-
guished strangers.

The first building erected on the ground where the
Cataract House now stands was of a later date — 1824 —
a frame house about fifty feet square. It was purchased
by General Whitney in 1826, and formed the nucleus of the
great pile which constitutes the present Cataract House.

LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 103

In 1829, the carriage road down the bank to the ferrv
on the Canadian side was made. For several years pre-
vious the principal hotel at the Falls was also on that
side It was called the Pavilion, and stood on the high
bank just above the Horseshoe Fall. It commanded a
grand view of the river above, and almost a bird's-eye
view of the Falls and the head of the chasm below The
principal stage-route from Buffalo was likewise on that
side, and the register of the Pavilion contained the names
of most of the noted visitors of the period. But the erec-
tion of the Cataract House and the establishing of stage-
routes on the American side drew away much of its
Pf ''■°"'^f.'/"""^"5'' °" 'he completion of the first half
of Ae Clifton House, in 1833. it was quite abandoned.
A few years later the Ontario House was built, about
half-way between the Clifton and the Horseshoe Fall
toward which it fronted. There was not sufficient busi-'
ness to support it, and after standing unoccupied for
several year., it took fire and was burned to the ground.
Ihe Chfton was greatly enlarged and improved by
Mr. S Zimmerman in 1865. The Amusement Hall and
several cottages were built and gas-works erected The
grounds were handsomely graded and adorned

Near the site of Table Rock is the Museum, its val-
uable collection being the result of several years' labor
by Its proprietor, Mr. Thomas Barnett. It contains sev-
eral thousand specimens from the animal and mineral
kingdoms, and the galleries are arranged to represent
a torest scene.

Just above the Museum the visitor steps upon what

HI;.,

Iji;:

its Jli;

V *.. .

IC4

NIAGARA.

remains of the famous Table Rock. It was once a bare
rock pavement, about fifteen rods long and about five
rods wide, about fifty feet of its width projecting beyond
its base at the bottom of the limestone stratum nearly
one hundred feet below. Remembering this fact, we can
more readily credit the probable truth of the statement
made by Father Hennepin — which we have before
noticed — that the projection on the American side in
1682, when he returned from his first tour to the West,
was so great that four coaches could drive abreast under
it. On top of the debris below the bank lies the path by
which Termination Rock, under the western end of the
Horseshoe, is reached. It is a path which few neglect
to follow.

The Table itself has always been, and must continue
to be, a favorite resort for visitors. The combined view
of the Falls and the chasm below, as well as the rapids
above, is finer, more extensive, here than from any other
point. Moreover, the nearness to the great cataract is
more sensibly felt, the communion with it is deeper and
more intimate than it can be anywhere else. The view
from this point can be most pleasantly and satisfactorily
taken in the afternoon, when the spectator has the sun
behind him, and can look at his leisure and with unvexed
eyes at the brilliant scene before him. However long he
may tarry he will find new pleasure in each return to it.

Two miles above, following round the bend of the
Oxbow toward Chippewa, and down near the water's
edge, is the Burning Spring. The water is impregnated
with sulphureted hydrogen gas, and is in a constant state

P
I(

LOCAL HISTORY AND L\CIDENTS. 105

of mild ebullition. The gas is perpetually rising to the
surface of the water, and when a lighted match is applied
It burns with an intermittent flame. If, however, a tub
with an iron tube in the center of its bottom is placed
over the spring, a constant stream of gas passes through
It. On being lighted it burns constantly, with a pale
blue, wavering flame, which possesses but little illuminat-
ing or heating power. The drive is a pleasant one
affordmg a fine view of the Oxbow Rapids and islands
and the noble river above.

A mile and a quarter west of Table Rock is the
Lundy's Lane battle-ground. On the crown of the hill
where the severest struggle occurred, are two rival
pagodas challenging the tourist's attention. From the
top of each he has a rare outlook over a broad level
plam, relieved on its northern horizon by the top of
Brock's Monument, and to the south-east by the city of
Buffalo and Lake Erie.

The obliging custodian of either tower will enlighten
his hearers with dextrous volubility, and. according a«
he is certain of the nationality of his listeners, will the
Stars and Stripes wave in triumph, or the Cross of Saint
George float in glory, over the bloody and hard-fought
field. If he cannot feel sure of his listeners' habitat
like Justice, he will hold an even balance and be blind
withal.

It was the writer's privilege to go over the field on a
pleasant June day with Generals Scott and Porter, and to
learn from them its stirring incidents. General Scott
pointed out the location of the famous battery on the

io6

NIAGARA.

'tl

I' i

lip I

British left which made such havoc with his brave
brigade, and in taking which the gallant Miller converted
his modest " I'll try, sir," into a triumphant "It is done."
The General also found the tree under which, faint from
his bleeding wound, he sat down to rest, placing its pro-
tecting boll between his back and the British bullets, as
he leaned against it. Plucking a small wild flower grow-
ing near it, he presented it to one of the ladies of the
party, telling her that " it grew in soil once nourished by
his blood."

General Porter showed us where, with his volunteers
and Indians, he broke through the woods on the British
right, just as Miller had captured the troublesome bat-
tery, thus aiding to win the most obstinate and bloody
fight of the war. Its hard-won trophies, however, were
too easily lost, as, by some misunderstanding or neglect of
orders, the proper guard around the field was not main-
tained, and, in the darkness proverbially intense just before
day, the British returned to the field and quietly removed
most of the guns. So our English friends claim it was a
drawn battle.

Nearly half a century later a dinner was given at
Queenston by our Canadian friends, to signalize the
completion of the Lewiston Suspension Bridge. On this
occasion a British-Canadian officer, the late Major Wood-
ruff, of St. David's, who served with his regiment during
the war, was called upon by the chairman, the late Sir
Allan McNabb, to follow, in response to a toast, the late
Colonel Porter, only son of General Porter. In a mirth-
ful reference to the stirring events of the war he alluded

LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. loy

to the British retreat after the battle of Chippewa, and
condensing the opposing forces into two personal pro-
nouns, one representing General Porter and the other him-
self, he turned to Colonel Porter and said : " Yes sir I
remember well the moving events of that day, and how
sharp he was after me. But, sir, he was balked in his
purpose, for although he won the victory I won the race
and so we were even." *

i : 'i

It If

liiil

CHAPTER XIII.

Incidents — Fall of Table Rock — Remarkable phenomenon in the river —
Driving and lumbering on the Rapids — Points of the compass at the
Falls — A first view of the Falls commonly disappointing — Lunar bow
— Golden spray — Gull Island and the gulls — The highest water ever
known at the Falls — The Hermit of the Falls.

»»5 ,„

*!«

OF incidents, curious, comic, and tragic, connected
with the locality the catalogue is long, but we must
make our recital of them brief.

We have before referred to Professor Kalm's notice of
the fall of a portion of Table Rock previous to 1750.
Authentic accounts of like events are the following : In
18 18 a mass one hundred and sixty feet long by thirty
wide; in 1828 and '29 two smaller masses; also in 1828
there went down in the center of the Horseshoe a huge
mass, of which the top area was estimated at half an acre.
If this estimate was correct, it would show an abrasion
equivalent to nearly one foot from the whole surface of
the Canadian Fall. In April, 1843, a mass of rock and
earth about thirty- five feet long and six feet wide fell
from the middle of Goat Island. In 1847, just north of
the Biddle Stairs, there was a slide of bowlders, earth, and
gravel, with a small portion of the bed-rock, the whole
mass being about forty feet long and ten feet wide. About

ver —

at the
r how
r ever

;cted
nust

:e of

750.

: In

lirty

1828

luge

icrc.

ision

e of

and

fell

hof

and

hole

t)OUt

|:h

ii:

lis

I i

()|>|H*itf i>H»;e i»<).

1-all of Tabic Kock.

C'X

UjCAI, llIhKJKV AND INCIDKNTS.

every third return t)f

spring; has increased tile al

at tliese two j)()ints. At the lirst-nanied

10[>

)rasi()n

twenty feet in widtli iias d

»e road cn-ssin.; tilt- isiand. I

point more tlian
iHa|)peared, with tl>e wlioje of

near tile i^iddle Stairs, wineii

Voni the latter point,

tile liorsi'slioe l-'aH, t|„. seat

was a fivorite one f<

llu- trees wliich shaded tlu in jjave fall

provided for visit

or viewiiij.',

ors and

en.

On tjj.- 25th of Jnne. 1K50,
fall which ii'dticed T.ihio Rock t
the hank. The portion which fell

occnrred tile jrreat dow

o a

narrow bench alon^
was one inmieiise solid

ii>ek two luin.lred feet lon^. sixty feet wide, and ..ne 1
«lred leet deep where it separated from tlu' bank. Tl

inn-

noi.se of the crash was heard lil
mil

miiffl

eti thunder for

I'S

It:

•H"«'iid. I'ortiinalely it fell at noonday, when I

w people were out, and no lives were lost. The d

of an omnibns, who had tal

but

river

ken off his horses for tl
midday W-vd, and was washin|.; hjs vehicle, felt the
liniinary cracking and escaped, the vehicle itself I
pliinj^ed int.) the i-ulf below.

leir

pn.'

In 1H50, a canal-boat that became detached I
raft, went down the Canadian Rapid

roni ,)

across the river bef

puis, turnetl broadsidi

ships a^^ain.st a rock

ore reachinj.^ the I<'alls, struck

amid

lodged It remained th

projectiiH; up from the bottom and

It went down took with it

about ten feet wide and fort)- feet 1

ere more than a year, and wh

piece of the rock apparenti)'

(ioat Island some smaller ma.sses have f;
extensive earth-slides have occurred.
In the .sprin^^ of 1852 a trian<,Mil
1 was just beyond or south o( the 1

on^r. At the foot of

illen, and tin

wliicl

ir mass, the vertex of
errai)in Tower,

NIAGARA.

ii:

j'^

««§ I'-

while its altitude of more than forty feet lay along the
shore of the south corner of Goat Island, fell in the night
with the usual grinding crash. And with it fell some
isolated rocks which lay on the brink of the precipice in
front of the tower, and from which the tower derived its
name. Before the tower was built, some person looking at
the rocks from the shore suggested that they looked like
huge terrapins sunning themselves on the edge of the
Fall. A few days after the fall of the triangular mass,
a huge column of rock a hundred feet high, about four-
teen feet by twelve, and flat on the top, became separated
from the bank and settled down perpendicularly until its
top was about ten feet below the surface rock. It stood
thus about four years, when it began gradually to settle,
as the shale and stone were disintegrated beneath it, and
finally it tumbled over upon the rocks below, furnishing an
illustration of the manner in which we suppose the rocks
which once accumulated below the Whirlpool must have
been broken down. In the spring of 1871 a portion of the
west side of the sharp angle of the Horseshoe, apparently
about ten by thirty feet, went down, producing a decided
change in the curve.

On the 7th day of February, 1877, about eleven
o'clock of a cold, cloudy day, there occurred the most
extensive abrasion of the Horseshoe Fall ever noted.
It extended from near the water's edge at Table Rock,
more than half the distance round the curve, some
fifteen hundred feet, and at the most salient angle the
mass that fell was from fifty to one hundred feet wide.
By this downfall the contour of the Horseshoe was

LOCAL HISTORY AxND INCIDENTS. m

decidedly changed, the reentering angle being made

acute and very ragged Le<;Q ^hJl ^u ,

wnr.1 fT, u . '^ssea. Less than three months after-

The trembling earth and muffled thunder gave evi
dence of the immensity of the mass of fallen rocrbut no
one saw it go down. For several months after the fall

of the F TV ™'' ^°' "'°™"e'">' -«'^d in the bed
of the Falls, the exhibition of water-rockets ,.nV

hundred feet above the top of the Loir ce'" " "
anrl hM„f;f..i t-i precip ce, was unique

and beauhfu 1 The greatest angle of retrocession which
had previously been wearing toward Goat Island i Igli„
turnmg toward the center of the stream ^

On the 29th of March. 1848, the river presented a
remarkable phenomenon. There is no record of a
s.m.lar one nor has it been observed since. The Jnter
had been mtensely cold, and the ice formed onTake
sho esT; :r *'*. ™^ *- '— " -ound h

he lake' A^ T t ""'' '"°'^' *^ """'^ <"-" "P

ound and bl " ,°7' "" ™"'' ^''°PP«'' -^denly

he vast tl., T ' ^f '■■°'" '"^ "^^'- This brought

*rceX t fiir/d '" .f "" ?^"" "'* ^"^h '— dous

impfdel^^ft z i f„: ""^: r ^"^^^ ^-^">^

^r^. , course, it only needed a short soace

The consequence was that, wh^n we aro«;^ m ,u
morning at Niagara, we found 'our riverias nl'l^ ha'f

:^i

112

NIAGARA.

'i;

It;

gone. The American channel had dwindled to a respect-
able creek. The British channel looked as though it
had been smitten with a quick consumption, and was fast
passing away. Far up from the head of Goat Island and
out into the Canadian rapids the water was gone, as it
was also from the lower end of Goat Island, out beyond
the tower. The rocks were bare, black, and forbidding.
The roar of Niagara had subsided almost to a moan.
The scene was desolate, and but for its novelty and the
certainty that it would change before many hours, would
have been gloomy and saddening. Every person who
has visited Niagara will remember a beautiful jet of water
which shoots up into the air about forty rods south of the
outer Sister in the great rapids, called, with a singular
contradiction of terms, the " Leaping Rock." The writer
drove a horse and buggy from near the head of Goat
Island out to a point above and near to that jet. With a
log-cart and four horses, he drew from the outside
of the outer island a stick of pine timber hewed twelve
inches square and forty feet long. From the top of the
middle island was drawn a still larger stick, hewed on
one side and sixty feet long.

There are few places on ti»e globe where a person
would be less likely to go lumbering than in the rapids
of Niagara, just above the brink of the Horseshoe Fall.
All the people of the neighborhood were abroad, explor-
ing recesses and cavities that had never before been
exposed to mortal eyes. The writer went some distance
up the shore of the river. Large fields of the muddy
bottom were laid bare. The shell- fish, the uni- valves,

s
t
r
e

n
fi
fc

LOCAL HISTORY AND L^CIDENTS. 113

and the bi-valves were in despair. Their housekeeping
and domestic arrangements were most unceremoniously
exposed. The clams, with their backs up and their open
mouths down in the mud, were making their sinuous
courses toward the shrunken stream. The small-fry of
fishes were wriggling in wonder to find themselves
impounded in small pools.

This singular syncope of the waters lasted all the day
and night closed over the strange scene. But in the
mornmg our river was restored in all its strength and
beauty and majesty, and we were glad to welcome its
swellmg tide once more.

It is a curious fact that nine out of every ten persons
who visit the Falls for the first time, are on their arrival
comp etely bewildered as to the points of the compass •
and this without reference to the direction from which
they may approach them. All understand the general
geographical fact that Canada lies north of the United
States Hence they naturally suppose, when they arrive
at the frontier, that they must see Canada to the north of
them. But when they reach Niagara Falls they look
across the river into Canada, in one direction directly
south, and in another directly west. Only a reference to
the map will rectify the erroneous impression. It is cor-
rected at once by remembering that the Niagara River
empties into the south side of Lake Ontario.

One other fact may be regarded as well-established
namely that most visitors are disappointed when they
first look upon the Falls. They are not immediately and
forcibly impressed by the scene, as they had expected to

114

NIAGARA.

lis .„

be. The reasons for this are easily e:'plaiiied. The chief
one is that the visitor first sees the Falls from a point
above them. Before seeing them, he reads of their great
height; he expects to look up at them and behold the
great mass of water falling, as it were, from the sky. He
reads of the trembling earth ; of the cloud of spray, that
may be seen a hundred miles away ; of the thunder of
the torrent, and of the rainbows. He does not consider
that these are occasional facts. He may not know he is
near the Falls until he gets just over them. At certain
times he feels no trembling of the earth ; he hears no
stunning roar; he may see the spray scattered in all
directions by the wind, and of course he will see no bow.
Naturally, he is disappointed. But it is not long before
the grand reality begins to break upon him, and every
succeeding day and hour of observation impresses him
more and more deeply with the vastness, the power, the
sublimity of the scene, and the wonderful and varied
beauty of its surroundings. Those who spend one or
more seasons at Niagara know how very little can be
seen or comprehended by those who "stop over one

train."

They are fortunate who can see the Falls first from the
ferry-boat on the river below, and about one-third of the
way across from the American shore. The writer has fre-
quently tried the experiment with friends who were will-
ing to trust themselves, with closed eyes, to his guidance,
and wait until he had given them the signal to look

upward.

Those who may be at Niagara a few nights before and

Rock of Ages and Whirlwind Bridge.

Opposite paj^e 114.

(i:

lis

LOCAL HISTORY AND LNCIDENTS, ijc

after a full moon should not fail to go to Goat Island to
see the lunar bow. It is the most unreal of all real
thmgs — a thing of weird and shadowy beauty.

Another striking scene peculiar to the locality is wit-
nessed in the autumn, when the sun in making its annual
southmg reaches a point which, at the sunset hour is
directly west from the Falls. Then those who are east
of them see the spray illuminated by the slant rays of the
smkmg sun. In the calm of the hour and the peculiar
atmosphere of the season, the majestic cloud looks like
the spray of molten gold.

In 1 840 there was a small patch of stones, gravel, sand
and earth, called Gull Island, lying near the center of the
Canadian rapid and about one hundred rods above the
Horseshoe Fall. It was apparently twenty rods long
by two rods wide, and was covered with a growth of
willow bushes. It was so named because it was a
favorite resort of that singular combination of the most
delicate bones and lightest feathers called a gull

The birds seem large and awkward on the wing but
as they sit upon the water nothing can appear more
graceful. They are far-sighted and keen-scented Their
eyes are marvels of beauty. They are eccentric in their
habits, the very Arabs of their race- here to-day and
gone to-morrow. They are gregarious and often assem-
ble m large numbers. At times in a series of wild, rapid
devious gyrations, and uttering a low, mournful murmur'
they seem to be engaged, as it were, in some solemn
festival commemorative of their departed kindred One
moment the air will be filled with them and their sad

116

NIAGARA.

I <

* ii«

ii:

li? J,

'ill,

1j..„

refrain ; the next moment the cry will have ceased and
not a gull will be seen. They come as they go, summer
and winter alike. In thirty years the writer has never
been able to discover when nor whence they came. In
winter they generally appear in the milder days, and
their disappearance is followed by cooler weather.

In the spring of 1847 a long and fierce gale from
the west, which drove the water down L.ake Erie, caused
the highest rise ever known in the river. It rose six feet
on the rapids, and for the first time reached the floor-
planking of the old bridge. The greater part of Gull
Island was washed down in this flood, and ten years
later it had wholly disappeared.

The vague tradition — the origin of which cannot
be traced — that there is a flux and reflux of the
waters in the Great Lakes, which embraces a period of
about seven years, is not confirmed by our observa-
tion, if it be intended to affirm that the ebb and flow
arc both completed in seven years. Our observation
shows that there is a flow of about seven years, and a
reflux, which is accomplished in the same period. The
water in the Niagara was very low in 1843-4, again in
1857-8, and again in 187 1-2. This last is the lowest
long continued shrinkage ever known. Ic is, however,
altogether probable that the general level of the lakes will
fall hereafter, owing to the destruction of the forests and
the cultivation of the land along their shores. In this
case the waters of the Niagara and Detroit rivers may, in
the far future, meet in the bed of Lake Erie, and their
mareins be covered with orchards and vineyards more
extensive and productive than those along the Rhine.

LOCAL niSTOKV AM, INCIDENTS. n/

The Hermit of the J.-alls, ,,„ called. Mr. Francis Ab
bott earnc t,. the village in J„„e. ,829. He was" rUt

intetitre' rra::it'''''Tr"''; '^ " -"'' ^°™ "^
eccentric hu ""S"'"^"'' Though his manner ,va.,
eccentric, h,s conduct was harmless, and it is prob.blc

espe tLr"'"\"'°' ' "^^ "^'"--'' -certained e
he rri l„s desire to travel, and furnished him

and H " ! r''' ""■''• ''''°'" ">^ '^'-"d, both night

!outh ^^h' '"r r '" "'"'"' "^'^'"^^ "- ""''-- fell o" Ac-
south side of Goat Island, near its head. He lived alone

th.s fall unfl about the first of April, ,831 when hi
removed to a httle cabin of his own^^ bui.di'ng: Tn'^oin

Ten 1 T T"''' "■'"'•' •'^*'"e '^^'°- the ferry
Ten days after, his body was found at Fort Niagara'
brought back, and buried in the God's-acre at the al k

CHAPTER XIV.

ii;

lis

M-

*'^

Avery's descent of the Falls - TIk- fatal pnu-tical juko - 1 Knuh of Miss Rvt^'
-S^v.ns- Katies -Cows -Ducks ovcv the Kails - W hy dogs Imve

survived ihc desceiU.

ON the morning of the 19th of July. 1853. a man was
discovered in the middle of the American rapul.
about thirty rods below the bridge. He was chngmg
to a log, which the previous spring had lodged agamst
a rock. He proved to be a Mr. Avery, who had untler-
taken to cross the river above the night before, but,
getting bewildered in the currcMit, was drawn into the
rapids. His boat struck the log. and was overturned,
yet, by some extraordinary good fortutuN he was able to
hold to the timber. A large crowd soon gathered on the
shore and bridge. A sign, painted in large letters, •' We
will save you," was fastened to a building, that the rc<ad-
ing of it might cheer and encourage him. Hoats and
ropes were provided, with willing hands lo use them.
The first boat lowered into the rai)ids filled and sank
just before reaching Avery. The next, a life-b.ut,
which had been procured from liuffalo, was let down,
reached the log, was dashed off by tlu^ reacting waters,
upset, and sank beside him. Another light. clinkcM-built
boat was launched, and reached him just right. But. in
some unaccountable manner, the rope got caught be-

,'as
ul,

tn^^
list
or-

)Ut,

llic

C(l,

lo
i\\c.
VVc
ad-
and
cm.
auk
oat,

iWll,

;crs.

)iii

t, in

l)C-

twccn the rook aiul tlu- I,,.. I
a. I'oor

» iNf»'li>i:NTs,

I It)

^vory tn^r^n.,1 .„„, ^v,,rki«,l

K It was ImposHJbli- to I

Ol ISCIl

xiiluMluiman riu-i>;y (oi 1
••t the rope until it |)n,I,

lours.

•d it Willi ainiust

»iti/.cMi.H above pulled

Hy lliis li

""' a ralMi.ul I

cask fa.stciK'd to i«a»l

»tviin.iistruete,l. wifh., stn.iij.

very could tio j,

> i^nirr. and r,.prs atlatlu-.l h.> tl

reached li

imseir to it. It

HI)

•dely. 111. ;.ot

was

loweivi

»at

very heart ^mvw Ii.v|,t

'»n it and

Sf|/C(

I tl

tin- I

M'lter as the r

>t* lOpt'.H,

•»wer [Mit oi- Hath Island d

escuers moved aero.su

tile raft .swu

UK easily toward (

. «lrawin}; in th,. ,-o,„.^ ^^,|,i|,

leached the hea.l ..f d

'«>at Island. Mut wl

dashed

lapin's

Isl,

in tl
ehttt(

le roc!

'•K.iin. Tlu. rope attaclu'd

ind

all

len It

hopes were

Ks as It was passinjr b,.i„^^, .^ i,
w i.r. All ..n- ..i , .

to the rail ^;ot ( aiinhl

»'•'■• All ein.rts to I

eflectiial. Another l.oat was I

e in a swift
oostii ii \v(.|,. j,,.

«t'eam. It reached til
^rcrness to seize it <|

mnched

and

taft all rinhi,

H'l down

ami Avery, in I

hold

">^;. Sleppr.l t.. the cl^v of tl

"•oppe.l the roprs he had |

lis

)een

e.vtended to catch the I

>'• laft. with his hand>

we|.;ht. .settled in tl

»<>at, when tli<

all.

lie was .swept into tli<' rapid

"' uater, and. just nii

mulcr his

f Ch,

ipm s

Isl;

•"^^iiiH his hold,
pids. w( lit down tlur north siMe

''allow that h

'^i^^\, almost i

l»is hand

e re};aine<l his r.-ct |i„-

" ''at h of it, in wal

l''all. The t

« "« ' span-, Tell hackward. and

>'» instant, threw up

•av.'dy lasted einhtrcn |

wcriil over the

lours,

I'' naiiurs connected with tl

prcs.sed, out of

''^ K^ven as a

in;ard for the fed
warnin^r to futim

HIID-

" att(;mpt any mirthliil

I'" iic.xt incident an
ii>k''^ olHiiiviviuji friends,
• visitors to Niairara not

■'Xl)crimcnts around the I-

I20

NIAOARA.

«h

A party of ladies, gentlemen, and children were on Luna
Island, near a small beech tree, since destroyed, called
"the Parasol." A young girl of ten was standing near
her mother, just on the brink of the water, when a young
man of twenty-two stepped up beside her and seized her
playfully by the arms, saying. " Now, Nannie, I am going
to throw you in," and swung her out over the water.
Taken by surprise and frightened, she struggled, twisted
herself out of his grasp, and fell into the rapid within twenty
feet of the brink of the precipice. Instantly the young man
plunged in after her, seized hold of her dress, and swung
her around toward her half-distracted mother, who almost
reached her as she slipped by and went over the Fall,
immediately followed by the young man. The young
girl was found some days afterward, lying on her back,
on a large rock, holding her open parasol above her head,
as though she had lain down to rest. A few weeks after-
ward the father of the young man was coming up the
river, on the Maid of the Mist, from the lower landing.
A body was discovered floating in the water, and, by the
aid of a small boat, was brought on board the steamer. It

was that of his son.

On the 23d of August, 1844, Miss Martha K. Rugg
was walking to Table Rock with a friend. Seeing a
bunch of cedar-berries on a low tree, which grew out
from the edge of the bank, she left her companion, reached
out to pick it, lost her footing, and fell one hundred and
fifteen feet upon the rocks below. She survived about
three hours. Pilgrims to Table Rock used to inquire
for the spot where this accident happened. The follow,
ing spring, an enterprising Irishman brought out a table

LOCAL IIISTOKY AM) I.VCIDBNTS. ,21

of suitable cli„,ensions, set it down on the banic of the
nver, and covered it with different articles, which ho

iTn dTt'i : a:,r TH "^- "'-• ^""'" "^ -^ -^

„K.,i- I u \- ^'"^ -"S" "'as a monumental

obel sk about five feet high, made of pine boards and
pamted wh.te On the base he painted' in black lett^ s'
the followjnf; mscription :

" Ladies fair, m.ist bc.iutcous of the race
Uewarc and shun a dangerous place '
Miss Martha Rugg here lost a life.
Who might now have been a happy wife."

An envious competitor, one of his own countrymen

above the ong.nal mourner. Thereupon, the latter, de-
tcrmtn.ng that his rival should not have the benefit o his

tT; r°rfr " ';'°"'"^ °"" ""''•'■ ''-'"g fi-t -noved
tlie table ttself as far down as circumstances would permit

Then he added his master-stroke of policy. Up to t"at
.me the monument had been stationary' Th'entfor
ward every day on quitting business he put it on a
wheelbarrow and took it home, bringing if out again
on resuming operations in the morning ^

Previous to the War of ,8,3, the Niagara River
abounded in swans, wild geese, and ducks. Since thit
war none of the swans have been seen here, except two
pair which came at different times. One of each Zt

.ntlnr ;• f u""'° "'''''' ^^^" ^'«" ""ile watch-
ing and waiting for their return.

..liJMOPftt

122

NIAGARA.

n u

m >

III ,

Eagles have always been seen in the vicinity, and a
few have been captured. A single pair for many years
had their aerie in the top of a huge dead sycamore tree,
near the head of Burnt Ship Bay. It was interesting to
watch the flight of the male bird when he left his brood-
ing mate to go on a foraging expedition. Leaving the
topmost limb that served as his home observatory, he
would sweep round in a circle, forming the base of a regu-
lar spiral curve, in which he rose to any desired height.
Then, having apparently determined by scent or sight, or
by both, the direction he would take, he sailed grandly off.
How grandly, too, on his return, he floated to his lofty
perch with a single fold of his great wings, and sat for a
few moments, motionless as a statue, before greeting
his mate. When the young eaglets had but recently
chipped their shells, passing sportsmen were content to
view the majestic pair at a respectful distance. A pair of
eagles, each carrying ten talons, a hooked beak, a strong
pair of wings, and an unerring eye, all backed and pro-
pelled by an indomitable will and courage, are not to be
recklessly trifled with.

Early in July, 1877. two farmers riding in a buggy
from Bergholtz, in the easterly part of the town of
Niagara, toward the town of Wilson on Lake Ontario,
saw a large gray eagle sitting on a fence by the roadside,
and watching with much interest some object in a field
beyond. Leaving their buggy, they ascertained that the
object of its solicitude was an eaglet sitting on the
ground, unable to fly, his wings and feathers having been
drenched by a heavy shower. One of the men who first
reached the young bird found it rather bellicose, and

LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. t2J

while attempting to secure it was surprised by a vigorous
thump on the head from the old bird, accompanied with
a sensation of sharp claws in his hair which nearly pros-
trated h,m. His assailant then rose quickly some forty
feet m the air, and, turning again, descended upon the
man w,th such force as to compel him to relinquish his
game. H,s friend joined him, and for nearly half an
hour the two were engaged in a fierce fight with the
resolute bird, which they estimated would measure
eight feet across the extended wings. The eagle would
-soar quickly upward as at first until it reached the
desired range, when it would turn upon them with
great fierceness, thumping with its wing, and striking
with ,ts talons at their very faces. Finally, securing a
number of good-sized cobble-stones, they advanced again
upon the eaglet, and were at once attacked by the parent.
But they used their stone artillery with vigor, and suc-
ceeded in getting the eaglet to their buggy, leaving its
gallant dciender still unconquered and soaring in the air
with a slightly injured wing.

_ liefore the War of the Rebellion, Niagara was a favor-
ite resort of that winged scavenger, the crow, and at
times, they were very numerous. But after the first
year of the war they entirely disappeared. Snufling the
battle from afar, they turned instinctively to the South
and did not re-appear among us until several years after
the war had ended.

Large numbers of ducks formerly went over the Falls
but not for the reason generally assigned, namely, that
they cannot rise out of the rapids. It is true that they
cannot rise .rom the water while heading up-stream.

124

NIAGARA.

Ill .,

When they wish to do so, they turn down the current,
and sail out without difficulty. No sound and Hving
duck ever went over the precipice by dayHght. Dark
and especially foggy nights are most fatal to them. In
the month of September, 1841, four hundred ducks were
picked up below the Falls, that had gone over in the fog
of the previous night. In two instances, dogs have been
sent over the Falls and have survived the plunge. In
1858 a bull-terrier was thrown into the rapids, also near
the middle of the bridge. In less than an hour he came
up the ferry-stairs, very wet and not at all gay.

The reason why the dogs were not killed may be
thus explained. From the top of the Ripids Tnver, be-
fore its destruction, the spectator could get a perfect view
of the Canadian Fall. On a bright day, by looking
steadily at the bottom of the Horseshoe, where water
falls into water, he could see, as the spray was occasion-
ally removed, a beautiful exhibition of water-cones, ap-
parently ten or twelve feet high. These are formed by
the rapid accumulation and condensation of the falling
water. It pours down so rapidly and in such quantities
that the water below, so to speak, cannot run off fast
enough, and it piles up as though it were in a state of
violent ebullition. These cones are constantly forming
and breaking. If any strong animal should fall upon one
of these cones, as upon a soft cushion, it might slide
safely into the current below. The dogs were, doubtless,
fortunate enough to fall in this way, aided also by the
repulsion of the water from the rocks in the swift chan-
nel through which they passed.

a
e

if t i a iw tifsg .nfME^S

CHAPTER XV.

Wedd

accident;. '^ ''° '""" '^™ ""■"«• °^" ">= Falls _ Other

^>- for bndal tounsts, who in a crowd of strangers can

ciiarmingly improper they are.

The three fine, graceful bridges which unite Goat

: t"he^hr:'%'r T"^^^^^-^-the Moss Island
oi the Ihree Sisters — yin? south ,.,- :t u ■, .

,o,„ T, , '•'"'s s°""> oi It weri. built in

IS58. They opened i,p a new and attractive feature of

he locality with which all visitors are charmed. T ose

w d T 1 T" "" "'^"' "'■" '■'^■"^™''- -hat a brok-en
wild, tangled mass of rocks, wood, and vine, they

are. Nothing „„ Onalaska's wildest shore could be more
thoroughl)- primitive.

A rude path with steps cut in the slope of the bank
was for several years the only way of getting down to the
waofs edge at the ferry. In ,835 several fligMst

the task quite safe ,„«, .asy. The double railway-track

the obi "ro;-r:;"^? '"'^'"'''- -'> P^P'^ were toll
the object of ,t, the scheme met no approval from those

Vw-,'^^-;-^i,«-

126

NIAGARA.

'^^ »1.

conservative persons who have no faith in new things.
The idea of a railway "to go by water" was not con-
sidered a brilliant one. Indeed, the greater number
shru--ed their shoulders at the thought of riding
dowTtkat hill. But as soon as the lumber cars were
started for the convenience of the workmen, and people
saw how expeditious and easy was the trip, it was
difficult to keep them off the cars. Hundreds of thou-
sands of passengers have ridden in them without accident
or injury. The motive po^ver is a reaction water-
wheel set in a deep pit,, and as all the machinery is
concealed, it has quite the appearance of a self-working
aoparatus. There is alongside of the railroad a straight
stair-way of two hundred and ninety steps, for those who

prefer to use it.

The number of victims whom carelessness or tolly
has sent over the 7alls is large, and, it may be believed,
is quite independent of the Indian tradition that the
great cataract demands a yearly sacrifice of two human
victims.

Over the Falls.

In 1810 the boat Independence, laden with salt, filled and
sunk while crossing to Chippewa. The captain
and two of the crew went over the Falls. One
of the crew clung to a large oar, and was saved
by a small boat from Chippewa.
182 1 Two men in a scow were driven down the cur-
rent bv the wind, and went over the Falls.

■j.««iiM(*«,-<-5»«i»nj3iS

LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. ,27

182S Two men i„ a boat from Grand Island went

isl Two' "'" """' °^"' '■" ""^^ *«"«=^«nt canoes

«... eurrent; one went over. One was found
dead on Grass Island.
- Two men who were carrying sand in a scow

18.7 IT. T? '"'" '"" <=""'="' ^"^ --t over
■«47 A lad of fourteen undertook to row across on a

Sunday morning, and v ent over
1848 la August, a man in a boat passed under tl>e
Goat Island Bridge, within ten feet of the sho e
he asked of persons on the bridge "cL T h;
saved P" Soon after the boat tpsetand h
went over, feet foremost, struck on he"
below, and was never seen afterward
- A httle boy and girl were playing i„ a skiff
wh,ch swung off the shore; the' m'other wad d
mto the water and rescued the girl. Th» bov
s,tt,ng m the bottom of the ski«; Lh a htndTn
each side, went over

hir/d V '' "'"' ""^^'!"="'"t-d with the river
h,red a boat to cross, were drawn into the ranids
and went over. ranias

,s7, p"-i"'^" r? ■""" '" ^ ''Outwent over.

■873 Fnday, July 4th, a young man and woman and
a boy twelve years of age, brother of the btto
h-red a boat in Chippewa, ostensibly for a a l'

128

NIAGARA.

III

« '

on the river. Not understanding the currents,
they were drawn into the rapids and carried
over the Horseshoe Fall. The bodies were not
recovered. It was afterward ascertained that
the young man had taken $500 from his father,
in Ohio; had come to Chippewa to meet the
young woman, who was from Toronto, to whom
he was married on the day preceding their
death.

1874 September 19th, a young man connected with
the Mohawk Institute, at Brantford, Canada —
whether as student or instructor was not known
— walked deliberately into the rapids above
Table Reck, and was carried over the preci-
pice, never to be seen again.

1875 September 8th, Captain John Jones — at that
time marine surveyor for a New York insurance
company — jumped into the rapids below Goat
Island Bridge, and went over the cliff, before the
eyes of many excursionists. Ill-health was sup-
posed to be the cause. The body v/as not found.

1877 March 5th, Mr. G. Homer Stone, aged twenty-
four, a school-teacher, living near Geneva, N. Y.,
leaped into the rapids, near the upper end of
Prospect Park, and -vas carried over the Falls.
The body was not recovered.

July 1st, three men went out in a sail-boat from

Connor's Island, during a high wind and very
rough water. Attempting a starboard tack,
in order to reach Gill Creek Island, the boat was

LOCAL niSTORV AND INCIDENTS. ,29

upset, and two of them-after the three had tried

n vam to right the boat, and found it dffi u,t

■ to keep their hold -abandoned it and tr ^d to

t^r :: T„:, t^ -^7 - '"e rou^h ::!::

exhauld \i ^"^"^ ^'°"""g' *ey were soon
exhausted, and went to the bottom. The thinl
man d.vesting himself of everything except Ws
pan aloons, determined to swim for thrnl.e
^n the do,vn-floating boat should pat "pot

o rsmt c "^' °''' "^""^'' ''>' ""■- ^t-dy
he hTd be "^ "'' *' '"''• ^"-^■'1 '"m, after

' after the a"T T'^ ''''^"^'^^- ^hree days

near cl 1 ,'"' °"" °^ *^ ''"^'^^ "-as found
other ? . ?'- "''"^^ '"^ F^"^. and the

1877 O,^^ h ™. u^' '''^'' ■'" "'^ Whirlpool below

near the site of the old stone tower, and close t,

in., from =. °°''"°'=''> '" Canada, while suffer-
n, from a sudden attack of brain fever had
thrown herself into the raniMc , j
H,„ tr , „ rapids, and gone over

the Horseshoe Fall. She was a skilfful telir
rapher, and had some local literary reputation"
Her body was never recovered "^P"'^"''"-

.878 April 1st, John and Patrick Reilley, brothers
started from Port Day, above the F^l, to row

mtiuence of hquor, refused to row steadily and

130

NIAGARA.

Ill .,

quarreled witli his Vjrotlier, thus prevcntint^ him
from rowing. They were drawn over the Canadian
side of tlie Horseshoe Fall about four o'eloek
ih the afternoon. They were both skillful row-
ers, and well acquainted with the river, which
they had crossed and recrossed many times.
Their bodies were recovered several weeks later,

1878 April 6th, a young man, nineteen years of age,
from Woodstock, Canada, a member of the
Queen's Own, a volunteer regiment, which had
attended a recent military review at Montreal,
was on his return home, and crossed from Chip-
pewa to Navy Island to visit friends who kept
small boats on both sides of the river. After
finishing his visit, he declined to accept the
assistance of a young relative in recrossing the
river, and started alone. The result was that,
not understanding the force of the trcachcrou.s
current, he was carried into the great rapids and
went over the Horseshoe J^'all. His body was
found, two days afterward, below the ferry.

1879 June 2iat, the names of Monsieur and Madame
Rolland were registered at one of the hotels,
where they spent a night, but took their meals
at a restaurant kept by a I'renchman, because
Monsieur R. could not, as he said, speak
English. The following morning they went to
the Moss Islands. While near the lower end of
the outer island, so the husband claimed, madame
took a cup from him to get a drink of water

•■w-- ■yte*!*'

LOCAL HISTORY ANI, ISCUKSIS. ,3,

Horseshoe I.-all , ''P,- ,^'"-' *'••"' ""r the
every demon, ,„in "'"""' ^^-'''''i^t^-- and

he 4 r ~;\:: ;r vor.'r"'^'"-^'

had b^'n"'" • ■""' """' '" "■•"' "-' "- body
nad been reeovered. Monsieur R. sent thirty

t't.i%:r:h: h' '"'-' -" -"^■'•

'"•"self ,„to the rapids fron, IVospect Park • nd

:^-..e:L:thi:..frid:::iL:;tn

Whose body had been found some days b fo e

wis ^ w/ ™' "''"■■ ••'''^'•■"-i""" whether it
was a suicide or an assassination

- July .2th, the body of a woman was foun<l float
tnc nver above. Some female wcarinjj apnarel
Xslancl Br,dge, ,t was supposed belonged to the

,.«^..

^r^y:.

IMAGE EVALUATION
TEST TARGET (MT-3)

:/.

1.0

1.1

I^|2j8 |2.5

■ 50 ■"^" ■■■

1^ as, 12.0

2.2

1.8

m iu 11.6

Pliotographic

Sciences
Corporation

33 WEST MAIN STREET

WEBSTER, N.Y. 14580

(716) 872-4503

%'' A ^^

.<!^

^^^
^A^

£.

132

NIAGARA.

1 88 1 Dr. H. and Mrs. S., of good birth, education,
and social position, loved not wisely but too
well. Exposure was certain and near. They
met at Niagara, July 14th, and went over the
Falls together.
— September 5th, a man from Toronto plunged
into the rapids at Table Rock, and went over.
In a letter to a Toronto paper, he stated that
domestic trouble was the impelling motive.

Below the Falls.

;o''

111 5,

v»- \

.,i ■ S

In 1 841 A number qf British soldiers, stationed at Drum-
mondville, attempted to swim across the rapids
at the ferry at different times. None succeeded,
and two were drowned.

1842 A British soldier attempted to lower himself
down the bank, opposite Barnett's Museum, in
order to escape to the American shore. The
rope broke, and he was killed by the fall.

1844 In August, a gentleman was washed under the
great Fall, from a rock on which he had stepped,
against the remonstrances of the guide. He was
drowned.

1846 In August, a gentleman fell forty feet from a
rock near the Cave of the Winds, and was in-
stantly killed.

1875 August 9th, two young women and three young
men, residents of the village, went through the
Cave of the Winds, as they had often done

i/i

LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. ,33

•875 before^ to enjoy the exhilarating bath. One of
he young women. Miss P., stepped into one of
the eddying pools lying a little outside of the
usual track, and one of the young men, Mr. P
hmkmgshe might find the current stronger tha,^
she anfcpated, followed her, and while seeking a
sure footmg for himself to guard against acci-
dent the young lady lost her .balance and fell
mto the current. Mr. P. endeavored to seize her
bathmg-dress, but not succeeding, sprang at
■once ,nto the current, and both went over a
lec^ge some eight feet high, at the foot of which
Miss P. rose to her feet in an eddy, and soueht
support by leaning against a larg^ rockl^
adjacent to it. When Mr. P. rose to the surfec!
he swam to her, and thinking they would be
'.afer ,n an openmg among smaller rocks on the
opposite s,de of the eddy, he put his arm round

he desired shelter. But the current proved

rW r-p'"' ''°" *'^'" '^°* -' i"^ the
nver, Mr. P. swimming on his back, and sup

porting Miss P. with his right arm, while her
r^ht hand rested upon his shoulder. Suddenly
-^hey became separated. Miss P., apparently
. concluding that both could not be saved, disen-
gaged herself from him, and immediately sank
below the surface. Instantly her heroic friend
P-unged after her. A cloud of spray covered
the troubled waters for a moment and when t

'A- j

134

NIAGARA.

ll!

«^

passed nothing could be seen of the unfortunate
pair. The treacherous under-currents bore them
to their doom. Both bodies were recovered a
few days afterward from the Whirlpool.
1877 August 31st, Dr. Louis M. Stein registered at the
International Hotel. The following day, after
riding to different points on the American side
of the Falls, he alighted at the upper Suspen-
sion Bridge, and inviting a young bootblack
to accompany him, he started across the bridge,
talking rather incoherently on the way. When
near the Canadian end he stopped, took from his
pocket a ro^ of bills, gave the boy a dollar note,
and returned the others to his pocket. He
then started back, and when near the center of
the bridge dropped his hand-bag and shawl,
seized the boy, saying with an oath, " You have
got to come, too ! " and attempted to climb over
the railing. The boy successfully resisted, but
the man got over and dropped from one of the
wire stays into the river, one hundred and ninety
feet below. He was probably killed instantly,
and the body floated down the river, from
which it was taken some ten days afterward
and delivered to a son, who arrived from New
York city.
— December 25th, a man from Chatauqua County,
N. Y., suffering from ill-health and misfortune,
jumped from the new Suspension Bridge, and
was never seen again.

LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 135

The narrowest escape at the Falls was that of the man
who, m January, 185a, fell from the Tower Bridge into

brink of the precp.ce, whence he was rescued, nearly
exhausted, by means of a rope

I" 1 874, Mr. William McCullough, while at work
paintrng the small bridge between the first and second
Moss Islands missed his footing and fell into the mUd.e
of the channel ; he was carried down about fifty rods and
gomg over a ledge into more quiet water, got on hi; feet
and waded to a small rock projecting akove the wa er
upon wh,ch he seated himself to collect his senses and

h.m Mr. Thomas Conroy, a guide, then connected with
the Cave of the Winds, who had in the previous autum
conducted Professor Tyndall up to Tyndall's Rock pu
on a pa,r of felt shoes, and, holding to an inch ope
P eked h.s way w,th an alpen-stoek, from a point a shori
distance up-stream, through favoring eddies and pools to
McCul ough. After a short rest, he put the rope around
McCulloug , under his arms, and winding the en'd aro nd
h.s own r.ght arm, the two started shoreward. On reach
mg the deep water near the shore, both were taken off
he,r feet and, as the people pulled vigorously at the rope
the,r heads went under for a short distance, but they we're
safely landed. A contribution was taken up for ConrTv'!

sent him a five-pound note

draw" 1Z tf "" 'T ''" "'"''^ ''"'y y'^' P— -e
drawn mto the rap.ds and carried over the Falls, a New

r^m

■ i^Wi'

lit

136

NIAGARA.

York journalist suggested a most extraordinary method
of saving them. He proposed that a cable should be
stretched across the rapids, above the Falls, strong
enough to arrest boats, and to which persons in danger
might cling until rescued. But this kind and ingenious
person forgot that old canal-boats, rafts of logs, and large
trunks of trees, with roots attached, would be trouble-
some things to hold at anchor. As well hope to stay an
Alpine avalanche with pipe-stems.

lethod
lid be
strong
langer
anions
[ large
3uble-
tay an

lx¥

lit

l!" ,,

a
o

a>
</>

c
o

CHAPTER XVI.

n;^

-a
ii

a
o

The first Suspension Bridce — Thp Rnil^ro,, c

•en-

QN the partial completion of the Hydraulic Canal the
Vy pnnc.pal stockholders, with a number of in^ ted
guests, celebrated the event on July 4, ,85, ^y In
excursion fron, Buffalo in the cjj, tt firsf'steLe
that ever landed wthin the limits of the village of
Wmgara. The same route is followed during the season
of navigation by tugs towing canal-boats and rafts out
and in. No passenger boat, however, has been placed
°" *^^ '■°"'^' '''"'°"S'' *<= ^^" °» the river is a charm-

bridge over the chasm. He offered a reward of five dollars
to any one who would get a string across it. The ne.xt
windy day all the boys in the neighborhood were kiting
and before night a youth landed his kite in Canada and
received the reward. The first iron successor of the
string was a small wire cable, seven-eighths of an inch in
diameter. To this was suspended a wire basket in which
two persons could cross the chasm. The basket was
attached to an endless rope, worked by a windlass on
each bank. At an entertainment given on the occasion

138

NIAGARA.

U\J

\\i

of the completion of the bridge, the good people of the
embryo village at the bridge, elated with their new
acquisition, were inclined to regard their neighbors at the
Falls with patronizing sympathy. One of the latter said
to Mr. Ellet, "This bridge is a very clever affair, and you
only need the Falls here to build up a respectable village."
"Well," he replied, "give me money enough and I will
put them here." He had great faith in dollar-power.

This bridge was an excellent auxiliary in the construc-
tion of the present Railway Suspension Bridge, built by
Mr. John A. RoebUng. It was begun in 1852, and the
first locomotive crossed it in March, 1855. It is one of
the most brilliant examples of modern engineering, and
stands unrivaled for its grace, beauty, and strength.
Seizing at once upon the natural advantages of the
location, the engineer resolved to combine the tubular
system with that of the suspension bridge. The car-
riage way was placed level with the banks of the river
at the edges of the chasm. The railway track was
placed eighteen feet above, on a level with the top of the
secondary banks across which the two railroads were to
approach it. The plan was perfect, and perfectly and
faithfully executed in all its details. It is practically a
skeleton tube. As the traveler passes over it in a car-
riage or a railway car, from the almost total absence of
any vibratory motion he feels at once that he is on a
safe basis, and his sense of security is complete.

One feature of the construction of the bridge may be
noticed as having a bearing on the question of its
durability. It is well known that when wrought-iron la

I.OCAI, 1,-iSTORY AND I.VCIDKNTS. ,3^

exposed to long continued <,r oft rc,Kated and rapid
concussions, .ts fibers after a time becon.e granulated
whereby ,ts strength is greatly impaired .md finely
exhausted. It is also known that the elTect of rhythmical
or regular v.brations is more destructive than tlL Z

o thimt r '"'!"'"°"'°- -- "--Su'a.-. Because
of this, a body of men ,s never allowed to march to music
across a bndge, nor is a large number of cattle ever d7ve
cro a, „„, ,,,^ ,^^^ ^,,^^ ^,^^^,^ accident,"

mto a common step and so overstrain or break dow^ the
bndge. It ,s the difference between a single heavy biow
and an .rregular succession of light ones. Hence whel
harmonious regular vibrations can be broken up the
destmcfve .nfluence is greatly modified and retarded
side on. ^^' is supposed by two large cables on each
s.de, one pair above the other, the lower pair bein<.
nearer together horizontally than the upper pair, so that
a cross section of the skeleton tube would be shaped
somewhat like the keystone of an arch. Each of these '
arge cables .s ten inches in diameter, and is composed of
seven smaller ones, called strands. These smaller strands
are made of number nine wire, and each one contains five
hundred and twenty wires. Each of these wires was
bcled three several times in linseed oil, giving it an
oleagmous coating of considerable thickness and <.reat
adhesive power. Each wire was carried across the river
separately, from tower to tower, by a contrivance of the
engineers, the chief feature of which was a light iron pul-

Z^T 'rr ''"""=' '" '^'"""''''- ^"^P^"^^'' °" -hat
might be called a wire cord. This apparatus was called a

140

NIAGARA.

• 1

,5-

traveler, and curious and interesting was its performance
as seen from below. It looked like a huge spider weav-
ing an iron web.

Six of the seven strands forming each of the cables
were laid around the seventh as a center, and when
all were properly placed they were again saturated with
oil and paint. After this, by another contrivance of the
engineers, they were wound or wrapped with wire, like
winding a rope cable with marlin, and thus the whole
cable was made into a thoroughly compact, huge,
round, iron rope. This was covered with numerous coats
of paint to prevent the oxidation of the inner wires.
The oleaginous coating of the wires, together with the
small triangular spaces between them, would seem to
reduce the destructive power of the vibrations to zero.
But the vibrations are very greatly reduced and the stiff-
ness of the structur. .s greatly increased by the use of a
series of triangular sti.ys, the triangle being the only geo-
metrical figure whose angles cannot be shifted. There are
sixty-four of these triangles. Their hypothenuses are
formed by over-floor stays of wire rope reaching from the
tops of the towers to different points in the lower floor,
this latter, of course, forming their common base and the
towers their altitude. The stays are fastened to the sus-
penders so as to form straight lines. As the towers and
the floor are rigid and solid in the direction of the lines
they represent, it follows that the intersections of the
hypothenuses with the common base form so many sta-
tionary points in the latter. These stationary points pre-
sent a powerful resistance to vibrations. The side trusses,
with their system of diamond-work braces and the weight

5 , t

lOCAI. IIISTOKV ANl, INClOENTb. 141

smc^^fT '""^ "" "'^' "P^" '>"^P<=. ="» help to

Sncd L"^' """ "''^' '"'^^^ '° "- -^''^ below,
designed to prevent upward and lateral vibrations A

d Lrrr '""' r^^ '-^"^^ ^^^ p™'--'' ^

tenTC, T :':ra " loT" 1 '"^ "^^' °^ "^-'>'
only five inehcs ^ ''' ""'^^ ^ ''^P^'^^^'°" "^

In Part II., attention was directed to a point on tl„.
American ,s,dc of the riv.r, ju.st below this b'ridgl wh
the d,smteijrat,o„ of the shale and abrasion of the supe

SeSTii^,::^-' '- '"'^ ---:"nrsi::

the bridge wa's incalcu, b.^"; Je/t^n TT' '°

-rht-:::srT''n-^^^^^^^^^^

rorty rods bei:irbridJe':ndtrh":rT«r"' 't T

r-i;::rs:re^f-jrr"^^^^^^^^^^^^^
and might ^'^.S:^::^^^:-^:^^-^

dmary motion imparted to the bridrbv th "

■»- have been transmitted alot^'th^LdrrrZ

\.\i

N1A<. AN

iii

anrhorajM"* <>m

tho Amnirau sidr. llu'iuc through [Ur.

iho

r.iMrs ,\\u\ thr biiilj'.c .u loss to \\\c A\n\\ovi\\\v^ on
(■.Mi.»«li.«n siil>\ wluMUr il ivtimuMl to thr AiuiMii.m si-lo.

Ml, 1 )on. iM MoKrn.'ir. in.istn i.npciUn ami supci'-
itUt t\>WMU ol upaiis, w

ho li.is l>rrn «oniU'* tr«l with (ho

hvuli't' n

>t\staMtl\' siiur its <miv

«in

Ir- 1

lim .It thr timr, ri

tion. .ii\(l .ill lh«> nu>n

>nliiin thissti\tiMnrMt,.iml (UmI.hc it

IS m\|U>sHi

h\c to.\.UM'«i.it»'oi «lrsi riluMhr \v.iv<- liUr motion

which thrv ("NiMMi^Mwd whiK- isr.nun}', to thr shorr.

Hall. I i\uK> tiiitluM «l*»wn is I 'r \'rau\ rolU<j«<\ ,\ \\oh\c
chanty (MhIowchI 1>\ th<> l.itr I\Iv. Sanuirl 1 )i' Wmiin, I Io

tivi* husinoss ni.m .it Ni.ip.aia.

w.is loi m.uu NT. us .m .u

aiu

I l>\ his inti'^iiitv. iiuhistiy, anil wisr enterprise ac

en-

«\nil.ite<l a h.u\<lsoine lortnne

1 lis ileath oit uite»| in 1 85.

anil In his wi

II he lett nearly the whole o\' his estate to

eeit.nn ti\tste(s to e

;t.»bli>;h .m institution lor the eari

tiainin;:. aiul ethie.ition «>l orph.in
th

esv\ «>

thet pupils .ue reeeive«l who p.»\' a lixeil priee

l)ovs. In aililition to

lor

eir tuition.

ho.u.l. .iiul ineiilentals The in^l^tution has

ol it'

j;aitUHl ,\ hii^h leput.ition tt>i the thoroupjuiess i
instuietion ;\ud {\w exeelleiue ol" its «liseipline. One ol

It;

sounes *

>J iiUvMUe is the a«\»onnt veei

ixi'tl annu.illv lor

avlnussii>ns \o the \\'hiili>ool. hvery visitor to th.it
luterestiue loe.ilM\- will ilu-«Mtull\ pay thi> lee eharp,e»l

hen he uiuleistaiuls this t.u t.

The suspension briils^e bt^hnv the mountain nearl.ew

i^^ton. spanni
tlu^ t'e.uiul .ibv
n>il
iksimi

le ri\«M w luMi

the w.iter enteri;es Irom
thioui;h whii-h it il.ishes for live
OS. w.i^ bmlt in iS>(>. by Mi. V. V. Serrel. The ^uys
1 \o pri>teet it from the etVeet o\' the wind wore
fisteni\l in the roeks o\\ either side .it the water's eili^e.

I ' w "i i ' i ^' fc A^ijiiiw i ift i tjM gftgj-rtg-"'

•<'<'.AI iriSToNV AM

» INCIIU'IN IS.

TI.

'l.i

(rival

ICC

j'lin nl" i.Sf)h (nrc (

<<■ «»'!, III. Illy <>r Ihcsc

•> t'liilii j:alc ill III,. I
w.iy, severed some ,.r ih,. s

mill

};<iys. HcCniv iin.^

"""•^Vlnj.; am ,111111 |„n|.

llK'ir raslciiinj;

'i. (I

"^^^'yc re|>Iacc(|

'"<■ i> inelam holv

"^IH'M.Krs. aii.l l.n ||„. sini.i

'I'lic New S

^VKM'lv (laiinliiij- ill il

IC .III,

tile I

«'nv .11 111,' I.-.ill

Jir.it'efiil slriicl

«'l»"vc llic w.,1.-,, I,, I,.,,,.,',

">^|U'nsin„ Mii.ljM.. .,s i, is,. ,11,, I, j,„, ,„.,
'•' '•"''« '■" '<^"S. It is ., |i,.|

»"V. St. 1,1, III,.. ,,|„. ||,,||,|,,,,| ;,,„!

<»\v

r.Ki.

niiicly r,,.j

tl««- Hionlvlyn hrid};,. Ill

• '■' twelve llim,||-,,| I,,,. I _,c,

III

loi «am.,};e i,.;,v,.I. I', j,

""MM'^t Mi„.|,„v ,,r tl„. Ki.i.l

"<«' <lesi|;iu-(|

IC II. II, owes! ,.( tl,,

<»\vecl its s.i(,.|y I,.,,,,, ,1

whiil

> oec-uncl ill tli(> 1.

or (lo\vt>Is ol"

' "•" •■(.VVIless il |),-,,I,;,|,|y

.1 (ierce j.;||,.
ciiiiifiH

<'stnicli(.ii (I,,, it,

• 11 of ISO.,. r|„. (;,^,

were lorn out, ;m,| tlh.|,ii,|

<-vcra| ,.r th,. j.„y^ ,,„ ,1,,. ^v^i^,^^,

■an side

sli-tMin 111,,,,, tli.m its widil

K'' •" 'l''««„|,.,-,l,.(l,,.,j.,|,|

i);ul-

iiiidtil.it
h.il

ly c

1)1,1(1

1. s<» lil.ll III

ions Irom ,.„d |

'"*< !>'• ■'^•vii li.tlC iis |,.„^,,|, •(.,

ou'ii-

'iirlace <)(■ iis

sli.iken hetweeii t

«> end — lik,. ., s|.,ii-

lien ,ls

'■' time il xv.is j

U'o persons

K'^'t' way
in.ule last

Alt

»MitMl ili.ii ,.,j|

lei

vv th

«'.ll)lcs (>,• tow

*''"i|)et heiiifi

and f

<"rs 1,11, si

<' sr.il

snhsided tl.

c o

.lecl

•»!;-im. new one

:ii\'s were

\v«M«' added, aii.l two t

^•'Mineeted with the hridi-,. I

wo- inch
nk

H';«ms were an.-rward pl.iced „n th,. |

>y wire sl.iys. \Vr<.„j.|,i,

<Miamiel iroib

>otloi,i slriiu'-en

which w

"•1 the top lu..„ns of il„. sid,. i.vsti

and

iron

.'ind

IM-C St|-on^r|y |„)I|t.,| ,,,,,^.j,

cs, ail ol

inents added much to tl

iei-

hesc improvtN

.md

<i(

tied

rre.i
ion.

tly in

H> strenothoCthe whol,. stiMici

1 1 re

i-rc.iscd Its .ihility U> resist I

lori/ont.il

Wk^.

CHAPTER XVII.

I' h

*.i,

ill

Blomlin and his "ascensions "—Visit of the Prince of Wales— Grand
illumination of the Falls — The steamer Caroline— The water-power of
Niagara— Lord Dufferin and the plan of an International Park.

IN the year 1858, a short, well-rounded, fair-complex-
ioned, light-haired Frenchman made his appearance
at the Falls, and expressed a wish to put a tight-rope
across the chasm below them, for the purpose of crossing on
the rope and exhibiting athletic feats. He received little
encouragement, but, having a Napoleonic faith in his star,
he persevered, and finally obtained the necessary author-
ity to place his rope just below the Railway Suspension
Bridge. It was a well and evenly twisted rope, about
two inches in diameter ; and after stretching it as taught as
it could be drawn, it hung in a moderate catenary curve.
Commencing at the shore ends he secured stays of small
rope to the large one, placing them about eight feet apart.
These were made fast to the shore in such a manner that
all the stays on one side of the main rope were parallel
to each other from the center outward to the ends. They
were made tight somewhat in the manner that tent-cords
are tightened, and when the structure was complete it
looked like the opposite sections of a gigantic spider-
web.

5?'

-Grand
3wer of

iplex-
irance
t-rope
ingon
i little
is star,
uthor-
ension

about
ight as
curve.

small

apart,
er that
>arallel

They
t-cords
)lete it
spider-

i
II

«^.

-Wi.

Blondin Crossing the Niagara.

Opposite page 145.

LOCAL HISTORY AND LXCIDENTS. 145

whnf „,.vu 1 t "^ ""age lor its occupation during

what, with a shade of irony, he called his "ascensions "
Those who went within the inclosures and upoTThe
bndge paid a certain sum. A contribution was Tsked of
tlT "' "'"'^'^ '^^"'•''^>' - ^"^ clay for ftt

liSv Th""' 'f """'''''''' '"^ '"'™'^°- very
greaT sMi,f .' ^P'='="'^"°" ™^ successful and gave
great satisfaction to the spectators. He exhibited !
variety of rope-walking feats, balancing on the able

;ped^;:td-reeri,rdid-^^^^^^

declared, such as slipping astride '^L'catX"'::::
a stay rope, or dropping something into tke wafer l„

wfks ' f :r ; '"'"'' r "^'°" - •'°"- °f the ph L

;pato„^:c:Lri;t--^^^^^^^^^ -r

Ae oppo3,e side perfom,ing various feats on th ly^Z
The Pnnce shook hands with him as he stepped into the
shed and commended his courage and nerve

As Illustrating the power of the imagination over the

been stretched out anywh.r. on a level surface, and not

146

NIAGARA.

Hi-

ill

'u:

more than three feet above the ground, a dozen men in
any large community could have been found to walk it
as unconcernedly, if not as gracefully, as the famous
" ascensionist." Alter three years of successful labor at
Niagara, he sought other air-spaces.

The most notable occurrence, however, which empha-
sized the visit of the Prince of Wales in that year was the
illumination of the Falls late in the evening of a moonless
night. On the banks above and all about on the rocks
below, on the lower side of the road down the Canadian
bank, and along the water's edge, were placed numerous
colored and white calcium, volcanic, and torpedo lights.
At a signal they were set aflame all at once. At the
same time rockets and wheels and flying artillery were set
off in great abundance. The shores were crowded with
spectators, and the scene was a most remarkable one.
The steady, lurid light below and the intermittent flashes
and explosions overhead, the seething, hissing volumes
of flame and smoke rolling up from the deep abyss, the
ghostly appearance of the descending stream, the ghastly
swift turrent of white foam, the weird appearance of the
cloud of spray with a faint and fantastic illumination at
its base, which faded out in the dim light of the stars as
it ascended, the peculiarly deep but muffled and solemn
monotone of the falling water, the livid hue imparted to
the faces of the quiet but deeply interested spectators, all
made the scene memorable and impressive. When the
Marquis of Lome and the Princess Louise visited the
Falls in January, 1879, they saw them illuminated by
electricity, the light having the illuminating power of
^2,000 candles.

LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS ,^y

Wd ,„ an insurrection against the Canadiat G ;fr

McNabb, who had the good fortune to Xhis spTrs^^"
single almost bloodless campaign Rv ?, ' 'P"'' '" ""

ati:r tr t r ^^^^ ----~a;

*■ '■"'- o^<^' ocnlosser dock- Tn fVi« ,„^i' « "^

was killed. The steamer ;JL;n2farhtTf"
u^gs^musthavebeenburntaway.asalso:; to^^^^^,^^^^^^^
from ;« v' ""'"• '^" >'^^^^ '^'-. -Wle returnL

t tl bot""'^'r':'"'°"' ""°^^''='' •>- smoke-pipe ; „^
at tne bottom of the river in n nt,i„f i,., • V. *"

below the dock A crfil r ^ . ""' ""'''>' ^^^

peared To h7r' t °^ moderate dimensions ap-

peared to be keepmg house in it, and, with his head bareL
projectmg from one end, was serenely watch hTg the c" "^
^ent for whatever game it might bring^o his irL parlor'
After the new bridges were built connecting the Three
S,s ers w,th Goat Island, the guides and driver I their
desire to enhance the interest of tl,<. .
travelers h„ ;„r • "''^'^^st ol the scene, astonished
travelers by informmg them that it was the boiler of the
C«..A„.wh.ch caused the extraordinary elevation of the
water wh.ch we have before referred to' as thrLe:p4

tion''orfor^;:r„r,^:'= v^tt- ^---

tH.ee hundred and ^ftHndi^; tos^^^^ ^^

I^l^t^

148

NIAGARA.

1*-.

engaged in agricultural pursuits, which supply a portion
of their necessities. The Indian women who are seen at
the Falls in the summer season working and vending
different articles of bead- work belong to this community.
The Tuscaroras have not been more fortunate than others
of their race in bargaining with their white brothers, and
their lands are now stripped of the fine oak timber and
valuable wood which stood upon it a few years since, and
which was sold in large quantities at small prices.

As a compensation for this system of robbery we
maintained a Christian missionary among them for a
few years, and we boast that they are all Protestants.
The resident missionary, a very worthy man, but a
rather prosy preacher, always addressed his dusky
audience in the English language, his thoughts being
conveyed to tliem by an interpreter. For many years
the interpreter was a native Tuscarora, a fine specimen
of his race, six feet tall, with a tawny complexion,
dark, flashing eyes, and a musical voice. It was
interesting to note his manner w^hile acting as interpreter
for different clergymen. When interpreting the pious
but humdrum utterances of the passionless missionary,
he stood at the right side of the preacher, with his left
elbow resting on one end of the modest pulpit, and
delivered himself with an air that seemed to say, " It
does not amount to much, but I give it to you as it is."
But the change was magical when, as sometimes hap-
pened during the summer season, some eloquent preacher
addressed the congregation. The natural courtesy of
the interpreter led him, instead of putting his elbow^ on

opposite page 148. Indian Women Selling Bead-work.

ir \

lis

5h,

lii»

LOCAL HISTORY AND I.VCIDKNTS. 14^

the pulpit, to stand a little to the rear of the strange
preacher, respectfully waiting for his words. As the
pnest warmed into his subject the interpreter caught his
sp.nt, straightened his fine figure to its full hei^jht
advanced to a line with the speaker, and as the theme
was developed and the orator grew more and more
eloquent, the excitement became contagious ; the Indian
entered fully into its spirit, his face glowed with anima-
tion, his eyes shone with a warmer light, his long arms
were stretched forth, and with gestures energetic or sub-
dued, but always graceful, and the varied inflections of
his voice in harmony with the theme, he followed the
discourse to the end. His audience, too, woulc become
thoroughly aroused, and a little more animation would be
infused into the plaintive tones of the closing hymn

One of the future attractions of Niagara, to sportsmen
at least, may be the catching of California trout, twenty
thousand of the fry having been put into the rapids by the
writer in June, 1881.

Concerning the manufactories, shops, rubbish, and
htter along the race near the brink of the American
l^alls, which appear so uncouth and inharmonious, and
which are noticed by strangers as being a desecration of
the scene, it is only just to remark that the utilization of
the water-power here, in the easiest and most economical
manner, was one of the imperative necessities of the early
settlement of the country. For many years a large terri-
tory, lying on both sides of the river, was dependent
upon the manufacturing, repairing, and milling facilities
of this place. For furnishing these in those days, water-

ill

I50

NIAGARA.

power was the only agent. And the name — Manchester
given to the place by its early settlers only fore-
shadowed their hope that it would one day rival its great
English namesake.

There are fewer manufactories on the old race-ways
now than there were forty years ago, but many new ones
have been located on the hydraulic canal that has been
excavated at great expense, which leaves the river a mile
above the Falls, and empties into the chasm half a mile
below. The three years of unusual drought in the northern
half of the United States, from 1876 forward, demon-
strated how little dependence can be placed during the
summer season on the ordinary water-powers of that
region, and the attention of manufacturers has been newly
drawn to Niagara.

The early dream of growth in population and wealth
at Niagara seems likely to be realized. Already exten-
sive milling and manufacturing establishments have been
put in operation, and others are in contemplation. When
it is considered that engineers estimate the sum-total of all
the water-power in the northern portion of the United
States at less than 500,000 horse-power, and that, accord-
ing to data furnished by the United States Lake Su-vey
Bureau, the water-power of Niagara is equal to 1,500,000
horse-power, we can form some idea of the vast! ■ .^. ol
the force which awaits the enterprise of American aianu-

facturers.

•' I understand, Mr. President," said Daniel Webster,
in a speech prefacing a toast complimentary to the
citizens of Roc ^t;>ter for their generous hospitality at the

LOCAJ, HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 15,

New York State Fair in iSdA "tint tl,^ r
hi« -. fnii „f ,. r **' ""^ Genesee River

has a fall of 250 feet within the limits of the city of
Roehester. Sir, if the Thames had a fall of 350 feet wUht,
1.C hm,tsof the city of London. London would no be
a own_,t would be a-l-l t-h-e w-o-r-l-d !" and a h-
del,b,-rately stretehed out his great arms, and e.pa^d d
h.s broad chest, while slowly pronouncing the last thrle
words, one could almost see London gradually .nJr2t
.ts ample borders in all directions. When the , 00 o^
ho.e-power of Niagara is utilized for the economi wC

of a^rx: "'" "" '' ^ '-'-'' -•" '^ ^ '-^'^ p-

speech bef ''?. °^f '^P'*^'"''-' '87«. '- - after-luncheon

Lord Duff " r' """" ^"'''"'^ "' ^"'^'^ « Toronto,
Lord Dufferm, Governor-General of Canada, first publiclv

suggested the idea of creating an International Park from

lands to be taken from both sides of the river advent to

and „,clud,ng the Falls. He stated that he had conferred

nd twT°'' ^°''"^°" "' ^"^ ^"-^ "P- 'he sut;^'
and that the project was cordially approved by him

Governor Robinson, in his annual message the foLw Z^

wmter, commended the project to the ctnsidera ^ "f

the Legislature, by whom a commission of distinguished

gentlemen was appointed to investigate the subject and

Zrld "°"-, ^'T =" ^"■' ^''^'""'''- '"'= <=—
reported warmly m favor of the plan, and their recom-
mendation was cordially indorsed by a great many pror^
nent cfzens residing in different sections of the co'uZ
Ihe press, too, was almost unanimously for it. A major-
.ty of the membersofthe Legislature to whom the report was

152

NIAGARA.

made would have passed a bill for the further prosecution
of the scheme, but, unfortunately, it was ascertained that
any bill they might pass for this purpose would be vetoed
for economical reasons. It is hoped that better counsels
may ultimately prevail, and the plan be perfected.
Nothing else can save Niagara from total desecration and
disgrace, The fact that there is not a square foot of
land in the United States from which an untaxed view of
the great cataract can be obtained is a disgrace to the
State, the nation, and the civilization of the age.

\ti^

hi,

■-■-'ti.- ---■g jfeHa ;rj^haa]A t uW. WWi t»f n t 'mmm OM m^ 'fe^J*-^-

CHAPTER XVIir.
hiEourney, ami J. u. u Ufji„„j '""'""• '^^ '^^ '^"l6<--ly, Mrs.

JL/ upoa .t for many years a comfortable scmmcr-housc
here people eould take refuge fron, .he spray, look a^
the Falls, partake of luneheon, and proeure Jcles and
dresses to go under the sheet. In the sitting-roon, v s a
rge round table, on which wore placed a numb o
albums, as they were called. In these visitors could write
whatever thoughts or sentiments n,ight be suggested bv
the scene. With the grand reality before th 'nf ^ f^
persons attempted anything seriot.s, by far the greate
number adoptn,g the facetious vein. It was emphatica y
hght .tera ure. One or two collections of it have be „
P..bhshed, H,rn,shing the reader with only a n,odicum o
sense to an mtolerable quantity of nonsense

The following specimens are bettor than the average:

" Til view Niag.ma Falls, one day,
A I'aison ami a Tailor took their way
The Parson cried, wliile rapt in wonder
And hsfning to the cataract's thunder:
' Lord ! how thy works amaze our eyes,
And fill our hearts with vast surprise ! •'
The Tailor merely made this note ■
■Lord! what a place to sponge a coat!'"

154 NIAGARA.

" THOUGHTS OX VISITING NIAGARA.

" I wonder how long you've been a roarin'
At this infernal rate :
I wonder if all you've been a pourin'
Could be ciphered on a slate.

*' I wonder how such a thund'rin' sounded
When all New York was woods;
I suppose some Indians have been drownded
When rains have raised your floods.

" I wonder if wild stags and buffaloes
Hav'nt stood where now I stand ;
Well, 'sposc — bein' scared at first — they stub'd their toes,
I wonder where they'd land !

** I wonder if the rainbow's been a shinin'
Since sunrise at creation;
And this waterfall been underminin'
With constant spatteratioii !

" That Moses never mentioned ye, I've wonder'd,
While other things describin' ;
My conscience I how loud you must have thunder'd
While the deluge was subsidin' !

** My thoughts are strange, magnificent, and deep
While I look down on thee.
Oh ! what a splendid place for washing sheep
Niagara would be !

" And oh ! what a tremendous water power
Is wasted o'er its edge !
One man might furnish all the world with flour
With a single privilege.

'' 1 wonder how manv times the lakes have all
Been emptied over here ?

-•**W'_'T-JWf^ ^ |jj.. gj f-Jj|^ i

LOCAL HISTORY AND L\CIDExNTS.

Why Clinton didn't feed the Grand Canawl
From hence, I think is queer."

155

The most graceful verses on Niagara ever written bv
a resident are the following by the late Colonel Porter
who was an artist both with the pencil and the pen!
They were written for a young relative in playful ex-
Planation of a sketch he had drawn at the top of a pa"e
m her album, representing the Falls in the distance and
an Indian chief and two Europeans in the foreground

" An Artist, underneath his sign (a masterpiece, of course)
Had wntten to prevent mistakes, ' This repre;ents a Tore ' •
So ere I send my Album Sketch, lest connoisseurs should err
I think ,t well my Pen should be my Art's interpreter.

" A chieftain of the Iroquois, clad in a bison's skin.
Had led two travelers through the wood. La Salle and Hennepin
He pomts, and there they, standmg, gaze upon the ceasSow
Of waters falhng as they fell two hundred years ago.

" The"chierthe%^r "^ 'u''' '^^' °"^ ^^'°^^^'>' ^^^ - ^^ss-
On^ ^ f- u '' °^ '^' ^^"°''^' ^hc Soldier of the Cross

One died m battle, one in bed, and one by secret foe
But the waters fall as once they fell two hundred yel' ago.

" WhCtt J' f '"'"''' °' "'"' ""^^ ^^""' ^-- — '-^-1 gone •

liut the waters fall as once they fell two hundred years ago.

'•What troops of tourists have encamped upon the river's brink-
Wha poets shed from countless quills Niagaras of ink; '

What arfst armies tried to fix the evanescent bow
Of the waters falling as they fell two hundred years ago

15^

NIAGARA.

II'

Ml,

'- III

" And stately inns feed scores of guests from well replenished

larder,
And hackmcn drive their horses hard, but drive a bargain

harder ;
And screaming locomotives rush in anger to and fro :
But the waters fall as once they fell two hundred years ago.

*' And brides of every age and clime frequent the island's bower,
And gaze from off the stone-built perch — hence called the

Bridal Tower —
And many a lunar belle goes forth to meet a lunar beau,
By the waters falling as they fell two hundred years ago.

'' And bridges bind thy breast, O stream ! and buzzing mill-
wheels turn,
To show, like Samson, thou art forced thy daily bread to earn :
And steamers splash thy milk-white waves, exulting as they go.
But the waters fall as once they fell two hundred years ago.

** Thy banks no longer are the same that early travelers found

them.
But break and crumble now and then like other banks around

them ;
And on their verge our life sweeps on — alternate joy and woe;
But the waters fall as once they fell two hund.'ed years ago.

" Thus phantoms of a by-gone age have melted like the spray,
And in our turn we too shall pass, the phantoms of to-day :
But the armies of the coming time shall watch the ceaseless

flow
Of waters falling as they fell two hundred years ago."

On turning to the more serious poems that have been
written on the theme, the reader naturally experiences a
feeling of disappointment that a scene which has filled and
charmed so many eyes should have found so few inter-

LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. 157

prctcrs. Only tliose who sec Niagara know how fast the
tongue ,s bound when the thought struggles most for
utterance. One who seems to have experienced this
teelmg thus expresses it:

*' I came to see ;
I thought to write;
I am but dumb."

The late Mr. Willis G. Clark thus expands the same
sentiment :

**Hcrc speaks the voice of God-let man be dumb,
Nor with his vain aspiring hither come.
That voice impels the hollow-sounding floods
And like a Presence fills the distant woods '
These groaning rocks the Almighty's finger piled-
For ages here his painted bow has smiled,
Mockmg the changes and the chance of time —
Eternal, beautiful, serene, sublime!"

The following from the Table Rock Album was written
by the late Lord Morpeth :

NIAGARA FALLS.— RV LORD MORPETH.

" There's nothing great or bright, thou glorious Fall !
Thou mayest not to the fancy's sense recall
The thunder-riven cloud, the lightning's leap
1 he stirring of the chambers of the deep ;
Earth's emerald green and many tinted dyes,
The fleecy whiteness of the upper skies;
The tread of armies thickening as they come.
The boom of cannou and the beat of drum ;

158 NIAGARA.

The brow of beauty and the form of grace,

The passion and the prowess of our race ;

The song of Homer in its loftiest hour,

The unresisted sweep of human power ;

Britannia's trident on the azure sea,

America's young shout of Liberty !

Oh ! may the waves which madden in thy deep

There spend their rage nor cUmb the encirchng steep;

And till the conflict of thy surges cease

The nations on thy banks repose in peace."

I;i

c >

The extracts below are from a poem written after a
visit to the Falls by Jose Maria Heredia, and translated
from the Spanish by William CuUen Bryant :

NIAGARA.

*' Tremendous torrent ! for an instant hush
The terrors of thy voice, and cast aside
Those wide involving shadows, that my eyes
May see the fearful beauty of thy face !

" Thou flowest on in quiet, till thy waves

Grow broken 'midst the rocks; thy current then

Shoots onward like the irresistible course

Of destiny. Ah, terribly they ragc,^ —

The hoarse and rapid whirlpools there ! My brain

Grows wild, my senses wander, as I gaze

Upon the hurrying waters ; and my sight

A'ainly would follow, as toward the verge

Sweeps the wide torrent. Waves innumerable

Meet there and madden, — waves innumerable

Urge on and overtake the waves before,

And disappear in thunder and in foam.

LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS.

" They reach, they leap the barrier,— the abyss
Swallows insatiable the sinking waves.
A thousand rainbows arch them, and woods
Are deafened with the roar. The violent shock-
Shatters to vapor the descending sheets.
A cloudy whirlwind fills the gulf, and heaves
The mighty pyramid of circling mist
To heaven. * * * *

What seeks my restless eye.? Why are not here,
About the jaws of this abyss, the palms,—
Ah, the delicious palms,— that on the plains
Of my own native Cuba spring and spread
Their thickly foliaged summits to the sun.
And, in the breathings of the ocean air
Wave soft beneath the heaven's unspotted blue ?

**But no, Niagara,— thy forest pines
Are fitter coronal for thee. The palm,
The effeminate myrtle and pale rose may grow
In gardens and give out their fragrance there,
Unmanning him who breathes it. Thine it is
To do a nobler office. Generous minds
Behold thee, and are moved and learn to rise
Above earth's frivolous pleasures ; they partake
Thy grandeur at the utterance of thy name.

159

Dread torrent, that with wonder and with fear
Dost overwhelm the soul of him who looks
Upon thee, and dost bear it from itself —
Whence hast thou thy beginning ? Who supplies,
Age after age, thy unexhausted springs?
What power hath ordered that, when all thy weight
Descends into the deep, the swollen waves
Rise not and roll to overwhelm the earth.?

iGO NIAGARA.

♦' The Lord liath npiMicd his omnipotont hand.
Covered thy face with clouds and given his voice
To thy down-rushing waters : he hath girt
Thy terrible forehead v.'ith his radiant bow.
I sec thy never-resting waters run,
And I bethink n\e how tiie tide of time
Sweeps to eternity."

The lyric from which the following extracts are taken
was written by Mr. A. S. Ridgcly, of Baltimore, Md. :

'* Man lays his scepter on the ocean waste,
His footprints stiffen in the Alpine snows.
But only Ood moves visibly in thee,
O King of Floods ! that with resistless fate
Down plungest in thy mighty width and depth.
♦ * * Amazement, terror, fill.
Impress and overcome the gazer's soul.
Man's schemes and dreams and petty littleness
Lie open and revealed. Himself far less— ,
Kneeling Ijcfore thy great confessional
Than are the bubbles of the passing tides.
Words may not picture thee, nor pencil paint
Thy might of waters, volumed vast and deep ;
Thy many-toned and all-pervading voice;
Thy wood-crown'd Isle, f;ist anchor'd on tlie brink
Of the dread precipice ; thy double stream.
Divided, yet in beauty unimpaired :
Thy wat'ry caverns and thy crystal walls;
Thy crest of sunlight and thy depths of shade.
Boiling and seething like a Phlegcthon
Amid the wind-swept and convolving spray,
Steady as Faith and beautiful as Hope.
There, of beam and cloud the fair creation,
The rainbow arches its ethereal hues.
From flint and granite in compacture strong,

LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS. i6l

Not with steel thrice harden'tl-but with the wave
Soft and translucent — did the new-born Time
Chisel thy altars. Here hast thou ever poured
Earth's grand libation to Eternity;
Thy misty incense rising unto God —
The God that was and is and is to be."

Mrs. Sigourney wrote the following poem, it is said
during a visit to Table Rock :

"APOSTROPHE TO NIAGARA.

"Flow on, forever, in thy glorious robe
Of terror and of beauty. God has set
His rainbow on thy forehead, and the clouds
Mantled around thy feet. And He doth give
Thy voice of thunder power to speak of Him
Eternally, bidding the lip of man
Keep silence, and upon thy rocky altar pour
Incense of awe-struck praise.

And who can dare
To lift the insect trump of earthly hope,
Or love, or sorrow, 'mid the peal sublime
Of thy tremendous hymn ! Even ocean shrinks
Back from thy brotherhood, and his wild waves
Retire abashed ; for he doth sometimes seem
To sleep like a spent laborer, and recall
His wearied billows from their vicing play,
And lull them to a cradle calm : but thou',
With everlasting, undecaying tide
Dost rest not night nor day.

„„ ^ The morning stars,

When first they sang o'er young creation's birth
Heard thy deep anthem; and those wrecking fires
That wait the archangel's signal, to dissolve
The solid earth, shall find Jehovah's name
II

lit

\ \

162 NIAGARA.

Graven, as with a thousand spears,
On thine unfathomed page. Each leafy bough
That hfts itself within thy proud domain
Doth gather greenness from thy living spray,
And tremble at the baptism. Lo ! yon birds
Do venture boldly near, bathing their wings
Amid thy foam and mist. 'Tis meet for them
To touch thy garment here, or lightly stir
I The snowy leaflets of this vapor wreath,

i Who sport unharmed on the fleecy clovi,

And listen to the echoing gate of heaven
Without reproof. But as for us, it seems
Scarce lawful with our broken tones to speak
Familiarly of thee. Methinks, to tint
Thy glorious features with our pencil's point.
Or woo thee with the tablet of a song.
Were profanation.

Thou dost make the soul
A wondering witness of thy majesty ;
And while it rushes with delirious joy
To tread thy vestibule, dost chain its step,
And check its rapture, with the humbling view
Of its own nothingness, bidding it stand
In the dread presence of the Invisible,
As if to answer to its God through thee."

The following linea were written by the late John
G. C. Brainard, who never saw the Falls. They were
dashed off at a single short sitting, for the head of the
literary column of the Connecticut Mirror, of Hartford,
which he then edited :

"THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.

•' The thoughts are strange that crowd into my brain
While I look upward to thee. It would seem

LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS.

As if (iod pour'd thcc from his ' hoHow hand'

And hung his bow upon thine awful front.

And spoke in that loud voice which sccm'd to him

Who dwelt in I'atmos for his Saviour's sake,

'The sound of many waters,' and had bade

Thy flood to chronicle the ages back,

And notch his cen'tries in the eternal rocks.

** peep callcth unto deep. And what are we
That hear the question of that voice sublime?
Oh ! what are all the notes that ever rung
From War's vain trumpet by thy thundering side !
Yea, what is all the riot man can make
In his short life to thy unceasing roar !
And yet, bold babbler, what art thou to Him
Who drown'd a world and heap'd the waters far
Above its loftiest mountains.?— a light wave
That breaks and whispers of its Maker's might."

163

PART IV.

OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS
OF THE WORLD.

CHAPTER XIX.

Yosemite — Vernal — Nevada ■
Montmorency.

Yellowstone — Shoshone — St. Maurice —

FOR the purpose of comparison it may be interesting
to note other cataracts in the United States, and in
other parts of the world, and also some of the remarkable
rapids, which may be successors to what were once per-
pendicular falls. For descriptions of those in foreign
countries we are chiefly indebted to the geographical
gazetteers and the journals of Humboldt, Livingstone,
Bohle, and Stanley ; for information regarding the cata-
racts of Norway we are indebted to Murray's " Norway,
Denmark and Sweden."

In the United States, after Niagara, the first to claim
our attention are the Falls of the Yosemite, so graphically
and scientifically made known to us in the second vol-
ume of Professor J. D. Whitney's Geological Report for
California.

Opposite page 164.

Yosemite Falls.

I
I

OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS.

1 65

Before describing them it is necessary to note the
physical features of the region in which they are placed
The valley of the Yosemite forms a portion of the bed
of the Merced River, which flows through it and passes
from It by a wild, deep caiion into the San Joaquin It
IS about eight miles long and from half a mile to a mile
wide, with a sharp bend to the west, about two miles
from Its upper end. To this place the Merced and two
tributaries, called the North and South Forks, have
come through the most rugged canons, falling nearly
two thousand feet in the space of two miles.

Near the southerly end of the valley is the remark-
able rock El Capitan, an almost vertical cliff 3,600 feet
high, and one of the grandest objects in the valley.
Just above this is the imposing pile called the Cathedral
Rocks, and behind these,, connected with them, two
slender and beautiful granite columns called the Cathe
dral Spires.

Two miles above, on the opposite side, is the row of
summits, rising like steps one above another, named the
Three Brothers. On the other side, in the angle of the
valley, stands Sentinel Rock, so called from its fancied
resemblance to a watch-tower. Three-fourths of a mile
in a southerly direction from this is the Sentinel Dome
more than four thousand feet high and affording from its
summit a most magnilicent view. Following up the North
Fork, just at the entrance of the canon, rises the Half
Dome, the grandest and loftiest in the Yosemite Valley
an inaccessible crest of granite, having an elevation —
according to Prof Brewer- of 6,000 feet. On the oppo-

1 66

NIAGARA.

site side of the same caiion stands the North Dome,
another of those rounded masses of granite so charac-
teristic of the sierras. Appearing as a buttress to this
is Washington's Column, and below this the Royal
Arches, an immense arched cavity, formed by the
giving way and sliding down of portions of the rock»
and presenting, in the upper part, a vaulted appear-
ance.

In the angle formed by the Merced with the South
Fork is the symmetrical and beautiful North Dome,
This valley is the most remarkable basin thus far found
in the world, and in view of its gigantic and impressive
scenery we cannot but marvel at its size — a mere cup
or trough in the midst of one of the sublimest of
geological formations. This tiny strip of wonder-land
is, as we have seen, only eight miles long and less than
three-quarters of a mile average width.

Beginning at the south-westerly end of the valley we
first reach, in ascending it, the Bridal Veil, formed by one
of the torrents that feed the Merced River. It is i ,000
feet in height, the body of water not being large, but
sufficient to produce the most picturesque effect. As it
is swayed backward and forward by the force of the
wind, it seems to flutter like a white veil.

Near the head of the valley, where it turns sharply
toward the west, we have before us the Yosemite Fall.
" From the edge of the cliff to the bottom of the valley the
perpendicular distance is, in round numbers, 2,550 feet.
The fall is not one perpendicular sheet. There is first a
vertical tlescent of 1,500 feet, when the water strikes on

i!ll

Opposite paijfe i66.

Bridal Veil Fall.

it I

i ii '

Hi r^

«^,*'

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OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS.

167

what seems to be a projecting ledge, but which is in
reahty a shelf or recess about a third of a mile back from
the front of the lower portion of the cliff. Across this
shelf the ter rushes downward in a foaming torrent on
a slope, equal to a perpendicular height of 626 feet, when
it makes a final plunge of about 400 feet on to a low talus
of rock at the foot of the precipice. As these various
falls are in one vertical plane, the effect of the whole
from the opposite side of the valley is nearly as grand,
and perhaps even more picturesque, than it would be
if the descent was made in one sheet from the top to
the bottom. The mass of water in the 1,500 feet fall
is too great to allow of its being entirely broken up
into spray, but it widens very much as it descends,
and as the sheet vibrates backward and forward with
the varying pressure of the wind, which acts with
immense force on this long column of water, the effect
is indescribably grand."

The first fall in the canon of the Merced is the
Vernal, "a simple perpendicular sheet 475 feet high, the
rock behind it being a perfectly square-cut mass of
granite. Ascending to the summit of the Vernal Fall by
a series of ladders, and passing a succession of rapids and
cascades of great beauty, we come to the last great fall
of the Merced— the Nevada, which has a descent of 639
feet, and near its summit has a peculiar twist caused by
the mass of water falling on a projecting ledge which
throws it off to one side, adding greatly to the picturesque
effect. It must be ranked as one of the finest cataracts
in the world, taking into consideration its height, the

168

NIAGARA.

II!

;»■

volume and purity of the water, and the whole character
of the scenery which surrounds it."

The fall from end to end of the valley proper is about
fifty feet. *' Its smooth and brilliant color, diversified as it
is with jrroves of trees and carpeted with showy flowers,
offers the most wonderful contrast to t'r 'vc'ring masses
of neutral and light purple-tinted ro«. / which it is
surrounded. Its elevation above the sea is estimated
at 4,060 feet, and the cliffs and domes about it from
3,000 to 5,000 feet higher." It is a source of -reat
satisfaction to the lover of nature that this famous and
favored territory, so studded with grandeur and fretted
with beauty, has wisely been set apart by Governmental
authority to minister to the higher needs and better
instincts of man.

The valley of the Yellowstone east of the Rocky
Mountains in the north, like that of the Yosemite west
of the sierras of the Pacific slope, is another wonder-
land, presenting a bewildering variety of land and water
formations which, in turn, awe, charm, fascinate, or amuse,
but always astonish, the beholder.

Among the most interesting objects in the Yellow-
stone Valley are the upper and lower falls of the
Yellowstone River. " No language," says Professor
Hayden, "can do justice to the wonderful grandeur
and beauty of these scenes, and it is only through the
eye that the mind can gather anything like an ade-
quate conception of them. The two falls are not more
than a fourth of a mile apart. Above the upper fall
the Yellowstone flows through a grassy, meadow-like

Opposite page r68.

Vernal Falls.

' mi

'1 5 ' W

j:»i
':ii

III

OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS.

169

valley with a calm, steady current, giving no warning
until very near the fall that it is about to rush over
a precipice 140 feet high, and then, within a quarter
of a mile, again leap down a distance of 350 feet.
After the waters roll over the upper descent they flow
with great rapidity along the upper flat, rocky bottom
which spreads out to near double the width above the
falls, and continues thus until near the fall, when the
channel again contracts and the waters seem, as it were,
to gather into a compact mass and plunge over the
descent of 350 feet in detached drops of foam as white as
snow."

On the Snake or Lewis River, the largest tributary of
the Columbia River, are three falls, the greatest of which
is the Shoshone in Idaho, where the river, with a, width of
six hundred yards, is said to be of so great a depth that
it discharges nearly as much water as the Niagara, over a
precipice about two hundred feet high. This grand fall is
situated in the midst of magnificent scenery, and is sur-
rounded by a fertile country.

Another lesser Niagara is found in the north-east, in
the river St. Maurice, the largest tributary of the St.
Lawrence, which falls into it from the north below Three
Rivers and about twenty-two miles above its mouth. The
fall — the Shawenegan — is the same height as Niagara,
and while the width and depth of the river are not given,
the volume of water pouring over the precipice is said to
be forty thousand feet per second, a supply sufficient to
produce a grand and impressive cataract.

Eight miles below Quebec the river Montmorency dis-

w ^

170

NIAGARA.

charges directly into the St. Lawrence, over a cliff two
hundred and fifty feet high, with a width of one hundred
and fifty feet. The falling foam-flecked sheet presents
a beautiful and picturesque appearance. It is unique as
being the only known instance in which a tributary falls
perpendicularly into the main stream.

two
drcd
lents
ic as
falls

'Ni.Vi^'acX'.K!

Opposite page 171,

Nevada Falls.

CHAPTER XX.

Tequcmlama-Kaiteeur-Paulo AfTonso-Keel-fos-Riunkan-fos-Sarp-
fos — Staubbach — Zambesi or Victoria — M urchibon — Cavcry — SchaCu
hausen.

TN South America is the remarkable fall of Tcquen-
A dama, on the river Bogota, which, it this point, is only
one hundred and forty feet wide, and is divided into nu-
merous narrow and deep channels which finally unite in
two of nearly the same width, and make a perpendicular
plunge of six hundred and fifty feet to the plain below.
"The cataract," says Humboldt, "forms an assemblage
of everything that is subhmely picturesque in beautiful
scenery. It is not one of the highest falls, but there
scarcely exists a cataract which, from so lofty a height,
precipitates so voluminous a mass of water. The body,
when it first parts from its bed, forms a broad arch of
glassy appearance ; a little lower down it assumes a fleecy
form, and ultimately, in its progress, it shoots forth in
millions of smaller masses, which chase each other like
sky-rockets. The attending noises are quite astounding,
and dense clouds of vapor soar upward, presenting beauti-
ful rainbows in their ascent. What gives a remarkable
appearance to the scene is the great^ifference in the vege-
tation surrounding different parts of it." At the summit
the traveler "finds himself surrounded, not only with

»«;f

II!

1 .

»v

172

NIAGARA.

begonias and the yellow bark tree (Sandal), but with oaks,
elms, and other plants, the growth of which recall to mind
the vegetation of Europe, when suddenly he discovers, as
from a terrace and at his feet, a country producing the
palm, the banana, and the sugar-cane. The cause of the

difference is not ascertained, the difference of altitude

one hundred and seventy-five metres — not being sufficient
to exert much influence on the atmosphere."

Another and grander South American fall, of compara-
tively recent discovery, is the Kaiteeur, so called, in the
river Potaro, a large affluent of the Essequibo, the largest
river in British Guiana. The volume of water is greater
than that in the Bogota, and falls in a single column of
dazzling whiteness seven hundred and forty feet into a
vast basin below. The ascending cloud of spray, the
solemn monotone of the descending flood, the extreme
wildness of the primitive forest, and the luxuriant and
abundant growth of tropical vines and shrubs, and their
gorgeous colors, make the scene impressive.

" There is in Brazil," says Elisee Reclus, " not far from
Bahia, the wonderful cataract of San Francisco, known by
the name of Paulo Affonso. At the foot of a long slope
over which it glides in rapids, the river, one of the most
considerable of the South American continent, whirls
round and round as it enters a kind of funnel-shaped
cavity, roughened with rocks, and suddenly contracting
its width, dashes against three rocky masses reared up like
towers at the edge of the abyss ; then dividing into four
vast columns of water, it plunges down into a gulf two
hundred and forty-six feet in depth. The principal column.

9 *i * i m :* tmmmiv mn '

hi
■I

OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS.

^73

being confined in a perpendicular passage, is scarcely sixty-
six feet in width, but it mujt be of an enormous thickness
(depth), as it forms almost the whole body of the river.
Half way up, the channel which contains it bends to the
left, and the falling mass, changing its direction, passes
under a vertical column of water, which penetrates through
it from one side to the other, and breaking it up into a
chaos of surges, converts it into a sea of foam. Sometimes
the white, misty vapor may be seen, and the thunder
of the water may be heard at a distance of more than
fifteen miles." The spray and roar of Niagara are often
seen and heard at Toronto, forty miles away, across
Lake Ontario.

In Norway is found the highest perpendicular fall in
the world that is constantly supplied with water. It is
the Keel-fos, formed by a mountain stream that falls two
thousand feet into the Navoens Fjord near Gudhaven, but
the water becomes a mere billowy bank of mist before it
reaches the bottom.

The Riunkan-fos is another Norwegian cataract in the
outlet of Lake Mjosvard, which pours through a wild
rock-studded slope until it reaches a precipice, on the
brink of which it is divided by a huge mass of rock into
two channels. Thence it falls eight hundred and eighty
feet into a dark basin at its foot, from which water-
rockets and sharp jets of foam shoot up and out in all
directions. The intense whiteness of the fleecy column
is indescribable.

A still more famous Norwegian cararact is the Sarp-
fos in the Stor-Elven, form'jJ by the junction of the

174

NIAGARA.

811

I.; ,,

Lougen and Glommen, the largest of the Norwegian
rivers. Like the Riunkan-fos the stream is greatly con-
tracted in a rocky gorge, and at the edge of the cliff is
divided into two channels which, however, soon unite in
a fall of one hundred feet upon huge masses of rock,
through and over which it rushes tumultuously for a short
distance, and then flows quietly into the sea. The vol-
ume of water is unusully large for a purely mountain
river, being in the gorge at the top of the fall one hun-
dred and fifty feet wide and forty feet deep. The massive
and intensely white column contrasted with the dark green
foliage of the solemn pines, and the darker rocks about it,
and the deep blue water into which it falls, produce a
vivid impression on the mind of the beholder. The Stor-
Elven here presents the curious phenomenon of a stream
changing, not from a perpendicular fall to a rapid, but the
reverse, from a rapid to a perpendicular fall. A great
portion of the right bank of the river at the fall, and for a
considerable distance below, is chiefly composed of a stiff"
blue clay, and the river once flowed past Sarpsborg, a
mile below, in a succession of magnificent rapids. At
that time a superb mansion with numerous out-buildings
stood at the termination of the rapids. On the 5th of
February, 1702, the mansion, together with everything in
and about it, sunk into an abyss six hundred feet deep,
and was entirely buried beneath the water. The walls of
the house were of unusual strength and thickness, with
several high towers, but the whole was buried out of sight.
Fourteen persons and two hundred head of cattle were also
engulfed. The catastrophe was caused by the washing

Opposite page 174.

Upper Falls of the Yellowstone

U'\

III

Ill

OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS. 175

out of the blue clay, and the undermining of the bank
which then toppled over into the watery chasm.

In Switzerland is the Staubbach— dust- stream— a well
known fall in the canton of Berne. It has a sheer descent
of nearly nine hundred feet, in which the water is converted
into spray that is easily moved by the wind, thus giving it a
smgularly beautiful resemblance to a white curtain floating
m the air. ^

In South Africa, Livingstone has made the public
acquamted with that extraordinary hiatus in the crust of
the earth m which the great river Zambesi is swallowed
up. A stream more than a thousand yards wide, dotted
with islands, flowing between fertile banks clothed with
the luxuriant and gorgeous vegetation of the tropics, with-
out the least preliminary break or rapid, suddenly drops
into a dark chasm of unknown depth, which, repeatedly
doubling on itself, pursues its tortuous course some forty
miles through the hills before emerging again into the
sunlight. " From Kalai," says Livingstone, " after some
twenty minutes' sail we came in sight of the columns of
vapor appropriately called smoke. * * # pj^^
columns now arose, and, bending in the direction of the
wind, they seemed placed against a low ridge covered
with trees. The tops of the columns at this distance (six
miles) appeared to mingle with the clouds. The whole
scene was extremely beautiful." At the brink of the chasm
he found the river divided into two channels of unequal width
by a large island called the "Garden," on account of its
rich vegetation. - Creeping with awe to the ver-e I
peered down into a large rent which had been made from

176

NIAGARA.

bank to bank of the broad Zambesi, and saw that a stream
a thousand yards broad leaped down a hundred feet and
then became suddenly compressed into a space of fifteen
or twenty yards. In looking down into this fissure on the
right of the island one sees nothing but a dense, white
cloud. From tnis cloud rushed up a great jet of vapor
exactly like steam, and it mounted two hundred or three
hundred feet high ; then, condensing, it changed its hue
into that of dark smoke, and came back in a constant
shower. This shower fell chiefly on the opposite side of
the fissure, and a few yards back from the top there
stands a straight hedge of evergreen trees, whose
leaves are always wet. From their roots a number of
little rills run back into the gulf, but as they flow down
the steep wall the column of vapor in its ascent licks
them up clean off the rock, and away they mount again.
They are constantly running down, but never reach the
bottom."

In Northern Africa the Murchison Falls in the White
Nile, between lakes Victoria N'yanzi and Albert N'yanzi,
were discovered by Sir Samuel Baker, and are de-
scribed by him. " Upon rounding the corner a magnifi-
cent sight b^st suddenly upon us. On either side of the
river were MautifuUy wooded cliffs rj^ing abruptly to a
height of about three hundred feet; rocks were jutting xDut
from the intensely green foliage, and, rushing through a
gap that cleft the river exactly before us, the river itself,
contracted from a grand stream, was pent up in a narrow
gorge scarcely fifty yards in width; roaring furiously
throu-jh the rock-bound pass, it plunged in one ^eap of

I' i

Opposite page 176.

The Staubbach — Switzerland,

III

^'' M

OTHER FAMOUS CATAKAi:T». 177

about one hundred and twenty feet perpendicularly into
a dark abyss below. The fall of water was snow-white,
wh,ch had a superb effect, as it contrasted with the dark
chffs that walled the river, while graceful palms of the
tropics and w.ld plantains perfected the beauty of tl,e

V It* W t

A writer in Hamilton's "East Indian Gazetteer" gives
us an account of the cataract of Gungani ChuH in the
northern branch of the river Cavery, " Much the larger

^ZZ'% T •"'' "'"'"'''"^ '"^'''' "f '"-^^ '«° -"-

to ren "7™ '^'°"= ^°'"'"<= -"^ ^ree or four smaller
. to rents. The first plunges into the river below from, a
height vanously estimated at from one hundred to one
hundred and fifty feet, while the others, impeded in their
course by mtervening rocks, work their way with many
fantastic evolutions to a distance about two hundred feet
from the base of the precipice, where they all unite to
make a s.ngle final plunge, while the other branch of the
nver precipitates itself in two columns from a cliff of the
same height, and standing nearly at right angles with
he ma.n fall. The surrounding scenery is wild in

Sctlcfr"'' "' "' "'"'' p"""'^ ' ''"y ™p°-g

"A second cataract is formed by thesouthern arm of the
Cavery about a mile below. The channel here spreads
out nto a magnificent expanse, which is divided into no
less than ten distinct torrents, which fall with infinite variet^-
of configuration over a precipice of more than one hun-
dred feet but presenting no single body equal to the
Gungan, Chuki, but the whole forming an amphitheatre

rdK&, ..«

I
II. V

178 NIAGARA.

of catarrtcts, meeting the eye in every direction along a
sweep of perhaps 90°, and combined with scenery of such
sequestered wildness that for picturesque effect it is peihaps
without parallel in the world." This branch of the stream
is used to irrigate the province of Tanjore, and the com-
ing of its floods is celebrated by the natives with special
festivities, as they consider the river to be one of their most
beneficent deities.

The beautiful and picturesque fall of the Rhine below
Schaffhausen, where the vater falls sixty-five feet in a
single column, is the admiration of all travelers.

^i.

II!

CHAPTER XXI.

>amous Rapid, a„,l Cascades - Niagara _ A™az„„ _ Orinoo
Parana— Nile— Livingslone.

JN all its features and characteristics the great water-
^ course ,nch,di„g the great lakes, which feed to
Niagara, ,s peculiar and interesting. It is more than
two thousand miles long; its utmost surface-sources
are scarcely six hundred feet above tide-water ■ fe

fee bl^'i'.'' ^"''" '^P'"' •' """^"'han four hundred
feet below tide^water. I„ all its course it receives less than

Ze ^'=°7 "fj"""-*^. -d only two of these, the St. Man-
rice and the Saugeen, bring to it any considerable quantity
of water and no flood in any of them discolors its emerald
surface from shore to shore. Only fierce gales of wind
bring up from its own depths the sediment that can dis-
color its whole face. Far the greater portion of its water-
supply IS drawn from countless hidden springs, lying
deep in the bosom of the earth. In all the elements of
beautiful, picturesque, and enchanting scenery it is
unrivaled. -^

The rapids^ of the Niagara just above the Falls, from
the Leaping Rock down through the Witches' Caldron

width, and discharge ten million cubic feel of water
each minute. But for a combination of grandeur and

1 80

NIAGARA.

11!

u /

beauty, and for imparting a sense of almost infinite
power, nothing can surpass the Whirlpool Rapids below
the Falls, where the ten million cubic feet of water are
compressed into a tortuous, tumultuous channel, less
than four hundred feet wide.

There are many lesser rapids in the St. Lawrence,
from the Thousand Islands to Montreal, the passage of
which in the large lake steamers is an exciting voyage.
The constant changes of scenery at every turn and in
every rood of progress is almost bewildering. Then the
alternation of rapids and broad expanses of river, the
bird-like motion as the steamer sinks and sails down
through the rapids, and the sense of relief when it
seems to rise and glide over the smooth river, vary
and increase the excitement. There is developed in
one of those expanses a peculiar geological feature
called the Split Rock. The name is strictly accurate.
The descending steamer finds but one narrow chan-
nel, a little more than its own width, through which it
can pass in a stream more than half a mile wide. It
lies between the sharp corners of a broad, wedge-
shaped cleavage in an immense rock which, by some
convulsion of nature — not by any abrading process
of the elements — has been literally split downward more
than eighty feet. The last crooked and turbulent rapid
passed just before reaching Montreal is the terror of the
river pilots, and they never attempt its passage except by
daylight. From Montreal to the Gulf of St. Lawrence
the constantly deepening channel flows with an unbroken
current.

OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS.

I8l

It is a notable fact that the great river of rivers, which
drains a larger territory than any other on the globe, the
Amazon proper, has a fall of only two hundred and ten
feet in a course of three thousand miles, and while it has
a deep channel and a uniform current of three miles
an hour for its whole length, it has no broken rapids.
But in its many great affluents rapids are numerous,
though not so famous as those found in other South Am-
erican rivers.

The river Orinoco, more remarkable in some respects
than the Amazon, receives the waters of four hun-
dred and thirty-six rivers, besides two thousand smaller
streams. It is one thousand five hundred miles lonff. is
navigable for seven hundred and eighty miles, and at
Bolivar, two hundred and fifty miles from its mouth, it is
four miles wide and three hundred and ninety feet deep.
Its famous rapids of the Apure and Maypure were visited
by Humboldt. At the latter, the river is two thousand
eight hundred and forty yards wide, and plunges down an
inclined plane about three miles long, making a fall equal
to forty feet in vertical height. It is dotted with innum-
erable islands which furnish a striking contrast to the vast
sheet of white water, presenting the singular appearance
of an eruption of shrub-crowned rocks in a sea of foam.
These islands, and its great width, constitute the peculiar
characteristics of this chute.

In the grandest of the South American rapids, those
of the river Parana, a vast volume of water from a chan-
nel nearly two and a half miles in width is compressed
into a gorge only sixty-six yards wide, through which

1 82

NIAGARA.

II! !<

the flood clashes clown a slope of sixty degrees inclina-
tion and fifty-six feet perpendicular fall. Its roar— i
pcrpetnal monotone— is heard thirty miles away.

Hardly Jess remarkable than the rapids of the South
A,nencan rivers are those of the two ^reat African rivers,
the N.le and the Congo, or. as Mr. Stanley has re-chris-
tened the latter, the Livingstone. The Nile may be
conipared to a vast tree with its huge delta-roots in the
Mediterranean, its boll extending up through a rainless
desert nearly one thousand five hundred miles to meet its
nunierous branches which stretch up into the mountains
of Abyssmia. and the vast basin south of the equator
that contains the great lakes of Victoria N'yanzi and
Albert N yanzi. From these branches in each year at a
fixed season, are poured down the sediment-charged waters
winch irrigate and fertilize an immense valley that would
otherwise be only a parched and desert waste

Without specifying the data for his calculations. Mr
Stanley, who saw them both, states that the volume of
the Livingstone is ten times greater than that of the Nile
Its course !s interrupted by two series of cataracts, or
rather a combination of cascades and rapids The first
series, seven in number, occurs within four hundred
miles of Its source, and consists of the Stanley Falls
•occupying different points in a channel sixty-two miles
long. Its banks arc of moderate elevation above its bed
and in the long, bright, equatorial days the leaping'
^parkling. foaming waters present a scene of dazzling
brilhancy. In the second series, named by Mr. Stanley
the Livingstone Falls, there are thirty-two cascades, more

OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS.

183

•a

extensive and imposing tlian those of tlic first. Tlie
river, after a gentle descent of nearly one thousand miles,
and after receiving many large affluents, reaches the first
of these impetuous torrents where all its waters are com-
pressed into a narrow gorge only four hundred and fifty
feet wide, and at a single point near the right bank where
a sounding was possible, Mr. Stanley found a depth of
one hundred and thirty-eight feet.

The remaining thirty-one cascades are distributed
along a channel one hundred and fifty-five miles in
length, between banks from fifty to six hundred feet high,
and having a fall of one thousand one hundred feet. The
dimensions here given indicate that these rapids are
second, in power and impressiveness, only to those above
the Whirlpool of Niagara.

Hazell, Watson, and Viney, Printers, London and Aylcbbury.