GREAT CHANGES IN THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.

Timaru Herald, Volume XXVIII, Issue 2019, 22 April 1878, Page 4

GREAT CHANGES IN THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.

" Of all the sights on this earth of ours which tourists travel to see," says the übiquitous traveller, Mr Anthony Trollope, " I am inclined to give the palm to the Falls of Niagara. That fall is more graceful than Giotta's tower, more noble than the Apollo. The peaks of the Alps are not so astounding m their solitude. The valleys of the blue mountains m Jamaica are less green. The finished glaze of life m Paris is less invariable ; and the full tide of trade round the Bank of England is not so inexorably powerful." This great cataract, of which almost every traveller speaks with the same enthusiasm as Mr Trollope, is the pride of every American or Canadian. Its vast volume is unequalled m any part of the world. Not even the falls on the Livingstone or Congo, discovered by Mr Stanley, can claim comparison with this mighty torrent playing nearly two hundred feet into the chasm beneath. Few can appreciate its wonders at first sight. The absence of majestic surroundings disappoints the traveller, until he has learned that this is one of the secrets of its overwhelming influence on the beholder. No craggy mountains distract the gaze, but the mind m gradually attracted to the rolling flood with its varied shades of lustrous green, and the white masses of foam, and the irridescent spray tossed far m the air. Nojwonder the Americans are proudof their "falls,"and delight to escape from their crowded cities to the contemplation of their ever varying magnificence. The river Niagara connects the lakes of Erie and Ontario, and thus the outflow of the western lakes, the largest m the world, passes through this channel on its way to the mighty St. Lawrence, and thence to the Atlantic. After leaving Lake Erie, |the river runs for a few miles m a level plain, but for a mile before the great falls, it rushes with great force m a succession of rapids of great beauty. The falls are divided into two parts by Goat Island, which is about 1208 feet m width. On the American side is the lesser fall, aboutthe same width as the island. On the Canadian side is the great Horseshoe Fall, which is the subject of our illustration. It is quite double the width of the lesser fall, and its long curve gives it the appearance of a greater expanse than it really has. The height of this fall on the American side is 164 feet, on the Canadian 150 feet. Below, the river becomes comparatively narrow, passing through a goi'ge which its own force has cut out for six or seven miles, when it again meets with the open country and flowa on to Lake Ontario. A.little distance below the falls are some formidable rapids, which are spanned by two bridges, of such light construction, that a notice is said to be posted up warning musicians not to play while crossing. These rapid 3 were the scene of a very daring adventure some years ago. Thera was a light steamer,

the Maid of the Mist, which had been built on the river for the purpose of taking people to the foot of the falls ; for some leason her owner was m difficulty, and apprehended a sheriff's execution. With the aid of two others he took the steamer out as usual, and then dashed down the rapids, which no one had believed a boat could live m. The concussion knocked the funnels down, but the Maid of the Mist, arrived otherwise uninjured m the smooth water, and was taken down the river to Quebec, where she was sold. It is evident that m pa3t ages the position of the fall 3 has changed very materially. Five mile 3 down the river there are clear geological proofs that its level was at that point forty feet higher than the present head of the falls, and it is plain that the greater cataract was situated beyond this point, where the land dips down, and it must have been a height of nearly 300 ft. At the rate of retrocession, suggested by the data collected, this must have been thirty or forty thousand years ago. There are few records by which to measure the rate of these great [changes ; but it is clearly proved that the surface of the rock is breaking away very perceptibly. It is not a question of mere friction, but of vast masses of stone falling into the abysses below. Eighty or ninety feet of the rock on the top are hard lime-stone, but beneath there is shaly rock, which wears away with the continual dashing of the spray against it. Thus a hollow way is formed behind the falling waters, along which, with slipping steps, thetourists, enveloped m macintoshes, are invariably led. From time to time, vast masses of the overhanging rock are precipitated down. In 1818 one of these falls took place on the American side with a sound like that of a great earthquake. In 1828 there was a similar occurrence on the Horseshoe Fall, and since then there have been many masses detached, though not on the same scale. Owing to recent great changes m the appearance of the falls, the Horseshoe has lost its symmetry of form, and now is a right angle rather than a curve. Last October a large section of rock toward the Canada shore fell with a tremendous crash, and completely changed the face of the fall. An American editor quaintly remarks that visitors will have to pay more m consequence, as the public can scarcely expect that the owners can afford to have those rocks fall down without making a penny by it The earliest picture that is extant of the falls show very conclusively the great changes of two hundred years. In IG7B Father Louis Hennepy visited the spot, and m a book he subsequently published at Utrecht, he gives a quaint engraving of the falls, including himself and friends m the corner with hands raised up m an expression of admiration. On the Canadian side there is a third fall of small size, pouring down at right angles to thegreater falls. Nothing is seen of this at present, but another traveller who saw Niagara m 1750 says the table rock projected so far out that it diverted a portion of the stream m this manner, thus completely confirming the worthy Father's picture. Geological research, does not carry us back thirty thousand years to the time when Niagara flowed m undisturbed majesty some five or six. miles further than at present, but she ventures back into distant ages, and tells us of a period when the waters of the North Atlantic poured over these lands into the Gulf of Mexico, leaving what are now the Eastern States an island continent. A thoughtful scientific observer says : — "A corner of rock left exposed on Goat Island is polished like the top of the clif beyond the fall, and the directions of the marks leads to the conclusion: Ist. That when the rock was scratched it was under water, which moved towards Lake Erie, laden with many ice boulders and sand ; 2nd, that after a time the water ceased to flow m that direction, but flattened the sand bed, and overlaid it with gravel and clay ; 3rd, that fresh water began to flow towards Quebec, and re-arrange gravel, clay, and boulders. If the sea were (550 feet deeper it might flow from Spitzbergen past Quebec, and over Chicago to the Gulf of Mexico. The Goat Island document seems to record that it did." Science has taken up the work of nature. The Erie Canal and the Welland Canal open up the waterway from the Atlantic to the central lakes. "Vessels carry up the manufactures of the East, and load with corn at the jetties of Detroit and the wharves of Chicago. The great falls thus no longer hinder the progress of commerce, but serve even to invigorate the thousands who annually stand beside the whirl of waters. Let us turn again to the roaring tide, and listen to the last words Charles Dickens, then worn out with life-long labor, wrote of Niagara: —"I shall never forget the last aspect m which we saw Niagara yesterday. All away to to the horizon on our risjht was a wonderful confusion of bright green and white water. As we stood watching it with our faces to the top of the falls, our backs were towards the sun. The majestic valley below the falls, so seen through the vast cloud of spray, was made oJ rainbow. Nothing mMr Turner's finest water-color drawings, done m his greatest day, is so ethereal, so imaginative, so gorgeous m color as what I then beheld. I seemed to be lifted from the earth and to be looking into heaven."