Litchfield enquirer., 1855-11-15

us ample cdPdclty OF the caOieS VIII
be better appreciated when it is stated that
| the tota! weight of loaded train of double
freight cars covering the entire length of
the bridge, including the weight of the
locomotive, and added to the above weight
of the superstructure, would be less than
$500 tons.
| The successful completion of this bridge
! must be considered as new and most i'm
portans era in the history of scientific
achievement. 1t presents the suspension
principle in name. decidedly original,
and combines, in most astonishing degree,
strength, stiffness. durability. and beauty.
From the Bridge we went up on the
American shore, to the Falls, and crossed
Bath Island Bridge over the rapids. No
point commands so fine a view of the
rapids as this bridge. The waves break
into myriad fantastic forms. in every mo-
ment of time; in each successive change
catching the sunlight under some new va.
riety of condition, and throwing it back in
some new TRANSMISSION of hues The fall OF
the rivers bed, from the head of the rapids
to the verge of the precipce, is fifty-eigh,
feet. This gradual descent, by confusing
the lines of vision as you gaze up the
river, gives to the fur hest crest of the
rapids skyish, Indefinite appearance, sug-
gestive of The Infinite !; then turning from
this to where the river disappears in its
| hnll leap, you seem to have realized in
space the similitude of life standing
| 'twiXt two eternities."
| A short bridge leads to Goat Island,
considered the most beautiful island in the
Niagara. Long before it was bridged to
the American shore, it was visited from
time to time by the few 10 whom its at
fractions were of more potent consideration
than the peril Of reaching it. The late
Judge Porter, who visited it in 1905, re-
membered having seen the names of slran-
gers cut into the bark of beech near
Horseshoe Fall, with the dates of I'LL,
l772, and 1879.
Ascending the bank, we took tho north
| path, which leads TO the American Fall :;
crossing the island and passing over short
bridge brings us to Luna Island, on the
very verge of the precipice, from which
point in ls49 little girl fell into the rapids
and, with man who attempted her rescue'
| was carried over The Falls. Returning 10
| Goat Island few rods further on guide
| hoard points out Biddle's Stairs, erected in
| 1929 at the expense Of Nicholas Biddle,
the wel.known president of the United
States Bank. They are secured to the
solid rock by ponderous iron bolts, and are
said to be perfectly safe the perpendicular
| height Of the bank at this place is 1856 feet,
the staircase itself being eighty feet high,
and consisting Of ninety steps From tine
stairs to the river there is rude pathway +;
but it is seldom traversed In 1929, short
ly after the completion Of the stairs, the
eccentric Sam Patch, Of saltatory memory,
made his famous leap from scaffoldng
ninety-six feet high, erected in the water at
point between this and the Center Fall.
Continuing around the Island the pat h
leads along the verge of the precipice. 1t
is plain to see how the bank is gradually
wearing away by slides of land and crumb-
ling Of rocks from its side, and it is an in
| teres,ing fact clearly ascertained that the
Falls have worn their way seren miles up
stream through the solid rock of more than
one hundred and fifty feet in depth. In
gazing on the works of the Creator here
one is filled with Undesirable wonder
and awe, and the inconceivable sublimity
Of the roaring flood and awful abyss
is most eloquen,ly expressed by-silence
There are many descriptions of the Falls /;
but they are all too luckIessIy true 70 the
form Of their suhject-oceans of sublimi,y
falling into perilous depths Of bathos. 1t
may, howevcr,be remarked that, take what
ever point Of view we may, we find Nature
here expressing herself in bold and beauti-
full antitheses the Titanic strength and
majesty Of the cataract, and the soft, grovy
tendrils that battle their verdure in its
spray.-,he wild, distracted, maniac surge,
and the delicate rainbow shivering in its
embrace,-the whirwind roar of falling
floods. and the braided lullaby of lapsing
streams. Niagara is all antitheses, all
"contras,ed charms - This is commonly
called the Horseshoe Fall. name derived
from the shape that the curve formerly
assumed The gradual wearing away from
beneath, and falling down from above of
the rocks, has now changed the figure from
that of a horseshoe to something more
nearly resembling that of right angle
The width Of this fall is about IA rods
its height, 1853 feet; the depth of The water
in the center, or deepest par. OF the stream,
is estimated at twenty feet