REVERSING FALLS UNIQUE
CURIOUS PHENOMENON. SUBJECT OF INDIAN LEGEND. Saint John, N. 8., Canada. Twice every twenty-four hours there is witnessed in Saint John one of the earth’s most curious phenomena. It is the famous reversing falls, which is the subject of quaint Indian -tradition and has been- described by explorers and writers since the days of Champlain. On the outskirts of Saint John the St John River narrows to a width of 350 feet and runs between limestone banks 100 feet high before it empties into the harbour. Down this channel at low tide pours a huge volume of water, running swiftly over the rocky ledges which form the river bed.
The tide in Saint 7 John harbour rises between 20 and 30 feet, and In its ascent it meets and conquers the flow of the river with the result that the current is reversed, and salt water of the Atlantic pours up the falls until it in turn is overcome by the downward current. This happens, of course, twice-daily, and at other times the waters a,re quiet. Until last year this was supposed ‘to be the only reversing falls in the world. However a Canadian hydrographic survey discovered a similar curiosity in an' unchartered fjord on the south-eastern coast of Baffin Land, in the Canadian Arctic. New Brunswick Indians have a legend that the falls developed out of a quarrel between an Indian god, “Glooscap,” and a mythological character “Big Beaver.” Big Beaver, says this tale, built a dam across the river, Glooscap smote it with; a mighty rock, and since then the Water has run both ways. < ’ C
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TDN19340523.2.113
Bibliographic details
Taranaki Daily News, 23 May 1934, Page 7
Word Count
271REVERSING FALLS UNIQUE Taranaki Daily News, 23 May 1934, Page 7
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Taranaki Daily News. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.