New-York tribune., 1842-04-08
l]r. LyeIrS Lectures on Geology.-so. VIII
Ira...,rte. 61r The Tribune.
[Reportr,l for The III
psc,n1 or THE FALLs OF NIAGARA

pFcESS1ON OF THE FALLS OF NIAGARA
Va, ~ NJ have learned from what said in my
lnst Lecture respecting the relative position ana
tho age of the different rocks of which inc harts
cr,,st !. couposed that the rocks OF which the
Niagara district is composed, ana OF @h'ch tfieh
said something, belong TO period OF great anti
ouitv in the Eurth's history.. below them IS only
one stratum in which may be observed traces OF
fo,siliferous remains, and we may regard this
group of rocks az the most ancient respecting
which we have any authentic information Though
W. are the habit, therefore, of calling this The
New World, from the grea, developement of an
cient rocks and the remarkably perfect state and
tee richness Of their fossils, it is to this New
World that the geological antiquary is compelled
TO resort for Il knowledge OF the most ancient
rocke. Not only the pyramids themselvcs, but even
the limestone rocks out of which the pyramids are
built, arc things Of yesterday compared with the
nncieut rocks found in this State OF New-iork.
The rock of which the pyramids are made belongs
10 the upper par, of what is called the Secondary
series the prmary being the lower and formerly
supposed to be older than any that contain fossil
remains, though w. now know that this Is un-
founded and that they are igncous rocks that have
come up u, difi;.rcn, periods. The fessilifcroua
rocks, however, named Secondary az being
supposed to be newer than the Primary. When
Some other fossil!terous strata discovered III
Gerlnany-rocks with but faint traces of organic
remains-WERsER, requiring for them some new
name To distinguish them from both the others
called them Transition rocks, because they
seemed 10 form passage between the crystalline
primary and the earthly, uncrys;alline, secondary
rocks Of Germany. In the first were foHd no or
ganic remains while the latter teemed with them
prnury and transition strata in the district he cx
amined were highly inclined while the newer fos-
siliferous rocks horizontal, he named these
f0i- or fiat rocks. His nomenclature would then
run thus:
Horizontal,
Transtive,
Secondary.
"a strange transition this, says al eminent Eng
lish gcologst, from primogeniturc to horizontal
ty" and in fact its strangeness is not is only OBJ
lection; for, as Itod you in my last Lecture, the
fossifcrous rocks arc, in many districts, no more
horizontal than the transition rocks und tins
may be seen through this country to Iowa-tllrougl
northern Russia and Sweden. The others are not
vertical there, as Werner found them in parts of
Germany.
The appeation of Siluran has been given to
these rocks by my friend Mr. MvRcHlsoS, because
they characterize the ancient district of Silura in
Wales and on the borders of England. We have
r Il !.
posed of the most ancient rocks vet discovered in
the Earhs crust, and yet rich in organic remains.
1 have here map of the district between Lake
Ontario and Lake Erie You see represented the
Proteun group, as it has been named by Mr.. EAs.
UxEM, and above that is II bed of soft shacs some
eighty feet in thickness and upon the top Of that is
the Niagara limestone. That limestone extends
for sevcn miles from It's termination in the cScarp-
ment to point near the rapids. The River Nil-
garu flows out of Lake Erie in Il tranquil. akc-likc
state, and runs gently along all the way by Grand
Island being on a level with Lower Canada ON
one side and New-Iork on tie other. SO nearly
level is it that were the river to rise thirty feet,
district of country sn its border
would be under water. From Lake Erie TO The
rnpids-a distance of sixteen miles-thc fall of
the river, believe, is not more than twenty feet:
% that it quite resembles the expansion of an
Of Lake Erie. The hight of Lake Erie above the
level of the sea is 5Gj feet; its hight above Lake
On,urio is 334 feet. Thi, fall is divided first into
the fall of twenty feet in the sixteen miles from
Lake Erie to the rapids then comes fall offorly
feet in half u mile at the rapids; at the Falls i,
punges at once l64 feet: then, between the buSc
of the Falls and Lewiston, distance of seven miles
it rushes rapidly along and falls l0l feet 1t lis evi-
dentt that ul attempts representing the beauty and
grandeur of this scene by any drawing must be per
tectly unayailing. have cndeavored in this sketch
re give you notion merely of the geological situation
o(the country. 1t will Of course seem to- those
quainted with it most inadequate and in false pro-
portion; but it must be remembered that it is
birds eye view-such you would actually get ii
you were raised above it in balloon. The first
idea of this drawing suggested by MIR
BAKEwELI. son of the eminent English geologis
of that name, who visited the falls ton or twelve
yoars ago. Hepubshed his drawing in the Gen
sleman's Magazine On my arrival in this coun
try considered in what manner could introduce
into his view the geological structure of the coun-
try: and being able to make myself master ii the
rocks in that region, by having Mr.. HALL, nt
the State Gcelogisls, for i travelling companions.
sooner than could Otherwise have done, pre-
pared such one, which has been copied, you
now sec il by Mr.. Russell Smitl, of Philadcrhiu =
who, though unacquainted with the country,
tered completely into the conception that he has
given an eNcelen, representation of lis prominent
geological features.
Three miles below the Fall is the Whirlpool;
and just below that is deep ravinc, called tAc
Bloody Run, from an Indian fight which occurred
there; there is also another ravinc some ten miles
below of which shall have occasionto speak. The
tirs, feature which strikes you in this region is the
Escarpment or line OF inland cliff, one of which
runs to great distance East from Queenstown
On the Canadian side il has hight OF more ,h,n
300 feet The other is found n, the junction of
the Black Rock of Buffalo with the shales-and
.Irusenn. ,,norls flo,. nra lnd- xhnll ~,