Grand River times. [volume] (Grand Haven, Mich.) 1851-18??, 1853-04-06
THE NIAGARA MILL. SEAT.

If1E NlAGARA MlLlrSEAl.
The project of converting the falling torrents
of Niagara to prosaic and practical purposes,
seems to be taken hold of with earnestness and
zeal. The glorious old cataract has hitherto re-
manned Embarrassed No one has dared to In
sert, curb or snaffle between her massive jaws.
In the pride of her unrestrained and unrestrain-
able power, she has played her fantastic freaks,
dancing in her rapids, shaking the earth in her
momentous tumbling, speaking her incessant
thunder to two empires, and tossing her name,
with the most defiant air, to the puny mortals
who tremble on her awful verge. But her time
is coming. The hours Of her sport are drawing
to a close. Man is compelling everything ami
mate. and inanimate, to labor in his train. The
ground works to draw up and concentrate its
nutriment in the veins of plant and tree. What
enormous tasks are every Gay delegated to wood
and iron. Even cider barrels are not permitted
to remain inactive. Heat itself, always work.
ing to keep men warm, is now pressed into an
other department, and tugs with all its might
Shall the lightning bend its fiery neck to the
collar, ard the cataract 60 free? Shall the heav-
ems send down their electric fire for our errands,
and the foamng volume Of Niagara refuse to
pour its energies into satinet and broadcloth
Shall the sun come to sketch our portraits, and
labor at his easel, and the unseen winds be CON-
missioned to speed our ships or grind our grain,
and yet the rebelous waters of the Upper
Lakes claim solitary exemption from toll
Besides, where is there stream In the land
that is not disciplined in some species of labor.
The falls Of Genesee turn out much -FOUR The
majestic current of the Hudson bears q contin-
uous fleet; the Ohio and Mississippi, think what
labors they perform-great or small, from the
Missouri to the Saquot, all are put in requisi-
tion--the stout to carry enormous loads-the
small and weak to be damned and dashed thro'
water-whees. The Lakes, too, are yoked, and
the Seas acknowledge the dominion of man.
Niagara alone laughs at all attempts to convert
her floods into utility But let her beware
The yankee is abroad. Already has her terrific
ry been seriously trenched upon. Above, COM
merce reaches to her rapids; below, the Maid
of the Mist marches boldly up to her fluid ava
lanche art has spanned her vast abyss with an
avenue of iron gauze-and she may soon find
her indignant foam twirling million spindles,
in the 'prson-house of the Phistnes.
1t would undoubtedly wound many a roman
tic heart to see those now joyous waters fetter-
ed, and steadily toiling at the wheel. Many
will regard it as an unjusti6able dissertation
The lovers of the grand and sublime have cross
ed oceans TO see this eighth wonder of the
world. Will they now come to see an endless
row of grist-mills? The pencils of artists have
been busy in the impossible attempts TO trans
fer an adequate image of the mighty scene.-
Will it not be brought within the limner's skill
of numerous factories to set themselves down
under its shadow and appropriate its power 3
Poets have dashed their tagging muses. in vain,
but will they try it more, if the sound of the
grinding mingles with roar of a cataract! But
= frt,a Ia,,r hao
ty, poetry, sublimity, in seeing this resistless
agency straining at the wheels of life, working
for practical uses, preparing raiment and food,
than to see it squander its resistess, but eifec-
tual energies! The lighting has lost none of
its dignity by reason of having condescended to
transport the mail, nor has the thunder impair
ed its majesty, because it whispers at the end of
a wire. But however the war of opinion may
wage between the ldealists and the Utilitarans,
let us hope that, though some audacious painter
may yet catch and enchan the fleeting coors Of
that mystic Bow which has so long arched the
raging waters, it may never be drawn down from
its native home to work in studies and look out
of sky-lights.
That there is really power enough at this
great Mill Privilege to carry all the lathes and
millstones in ehristendom, no one who has been
under the watery sheet can doubt. Four inland
seas here concentrate their might, and join their
forces in common leap. 1t would be curl
Gus speculation to calculate the size of the
wheels these foods would turn, or to estimate
its value in horse power. And how must the
Miller or Fabricator mourn over the loss of
power here daily wasted. The extravagant prod
igaity of Nature awakes surprise. For many
thousand years this great display Of energy has
been disturbing the slumbers of the woods, be-
fore there was an Indian or bear to hear or see
it. The force that has tumbled over this preci-
pce, if gathered into an available and practica-
Bile form, would carry all the machinery in the
world for hundred years. 1t has never slept,
or frozen over, or dried up, or given OUT
Ceaselessly, night and day, summer and winter,
the constant current has billowed over the ire
mendous gulf, and yet wasted its power, meet
ing no adaptation of machinery by which it
could subserve the interests of our race. II
has played the truant long enough. Now letit
work. s IN. Y. Times.
Women should rule, but not govern.