NIAGARA FROZEN.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 13397, 14 April 1909, Page 7

NIAGARA FROZEN.

EXTENSIVE DAMAGE AND LOBS TO INDUSTRY. United Pz&ss Association—By Electric Tei*sr_pft- .^oiirnght. (Received April 13th, 9.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, April 13. Niagara is frozen from bank to bonk. The electrical companies have lost a quarter of a million sterling by tho stoppage of power for many works. Wharves and piers aro being crusned hy the ice, ami railways are submerged. Ihe damage amounts to £300,u00. The bridge over thu river is threatcnea.

A message to the "Daily Mail" from | New _©r_ on leuruary loth said:— ;"V aii crowds are -locking to-day to 'Niagara Fails, which aie no iong-r 'tj.'„ng, beitii. icebound. Only twice since the wn:te iunn reached America is such a condition recorded —on tlarcn ; 29th, l-4_, and on March 22nd, liKl3. .since Friday a bitter north-east, wind ha_ been driving back the waters, with the result that the cataract is damii.cd by an impregnable wall of ice stretching from Uoat Island to tne American bank, and ior 200 feet across the Canadian channel. The American Falls are dry with the exception of a tiny ankle deep in the centre. 1 is possible to walk across the brink o- .the precipice. The Horseshoe Falls are blcckcd on both sides and reduced in the centre to less than half. the normal volume. In the gorge below, Hugo hummocks of ice forty and sixty feet high are piled up the face of the falls. The furious rush of tbe rapids is stilled, the whirlpool is almost motionless, and rocks old rivermen have not seen for forty years are bare. A phenomenal and grandiose spectacle is expected when the ice-wal's burst." Several companies obtain power from Niagara, and the possible effect of further tapping the Falls has caused a good deal of apprehension. Three years ago rights had been granted affecting nearly a quarter of the whole volume. The power is transmitted to Buffalo and other places. Factories which utilise the power stretch along the river for several miles.