SHOOTING NIAGARA

Evening Star, Issue 14512, 2 November 1910, Page 12

SHOOTING NIAGARA

A MAD FEAT. Details are now to hand of tho sensational feat performed by Captain Klaus Larson, of Cleveland, Ohio, who shot tho Rapids of Niagara in a motor boat. That the dare-devil navigator should live to toll the tale astounds everybody who has seen tho maddening swirl of waters through which ho passed. Forty thousand people watched the feat. Captain Larsen was afloat for forty-five minutes. Ho put out from the foot of the cataract at 4.45 on the afternoon of September 18, and ended fiis fearful voyage at 5.30. Every second of that time there was peril, and the boat actually disappeared from view twice. At ono place tho terrific force of the current lifted it_clear from the water, and it took a flying leap of twenty feet and then skidded after the fashion of a flat stone. Tho spectators had a continuous thrill from start to finish. —Plaything of the River.— On approaching the great waves in the rapids tho boat again acquired a breakneck velocity, and as the spectators looked on in amazement it took its record leap of twenty feet clear of the water. Tho push that catapulted it into tho air happened to catch it on an oven keel, and this lucky chance enabled it to strike the water again right side up. Then it skipped along as if doubtful whether to remain afloat or turn into an aeroplane. Righting itself, it passed to the edge of tho pool, and got beyond that danger point without notable mishap. There had been so much bumping and tossing in the early stages of tho passage that Captain Larson was sure of little by this time except that he was alive, and that the boat was still under him. As lie emerged from tho pool, however, in_ a moment of comparative quiet, lie discovered that the engine bad broken down. Ahead of him wore waters scarcely less turbulent than those, through which he had struggled. From this point onwards the Ferro was a plaything for tho river. —Fast Between Two Boulders.— One wave spun it around until it pointed down stream stern first, and next gave it a broadside blow_ which tilted it. A third wave turned it completely over, and then as if tho sport were becoming too serious, a fourth righted it. In this somersault Captain Larson’s left leg was struck so hard that ho thought it was broken. With a useless rudder and an engine disabled, there was nothing for Captain Larson to do except to take his chance. Once through Devil’s Hole, the Ferro swung towards tho rocks on the American side. Captain Larsen saw his danger, but as ho had no means of controlling the boat, he could but simply wait in the hope that the worst? would not happen. There was a boulder right in the boat’s track, which almost spelt destruction for tho craft and its passenger, when a kindly wave got beneath and rolled them directly over that obstacle, but clear of it. Tho toss was so Herculean, however that it plunged the Ferro’s nose fast between two other boulders. —Sot Free.—■

Captain Larsen scrambled forward, and for five minutes worked desperately to got the boat clear. Ho was thou forty feet from shore. His strength counted for nothing in that predicament, and when ho was despoiling, and decided that ho must swim for it, a comb of water came along, lifted the Ferro out from between tho rocks, and sent her careering to mid-stream. This buffeting and cross-currout action supplied a fine example of continual motion without much progress until tho boat entered Dead Man’s Eddy, and went aground. A man on shore waded into tho water and threw a rope to Captain Larson, who hauled the boat after him, tied it it]), and then went home by tramcar.