The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1869-08-13
MiscellaMRnlls.
Correspondence the -Ags Dc InteAigencer.
GARAFALLS.
July 22d, 1869.


MEssRs. EDITORS Although many of
your readers have been visitors at this
place, and perhaps are much more familiar
with this, the greatest ofwonders, where ma
ture seems to have exhausted herself, than
am, yet there are those who have never
enjoyed this privilege, and to them this
plain statement may not be altogether un-
interesting. The Northern Central Rail
road is the most direct route from Balti-
more to the Falls and 1 may here add the
most interesting also. But as commenced
this letter simply for the purpose of men,
tioning some of the most notable objects
in and around Niagara, will leave the mat
tiers of interest along the route for the pres
ent. BY taking the 10 o'clock, P. NJ, train
at the Calvert Station, Baltimore, you arrive
at the Suspension Bridge on the next even
ing at about 6 o'clock. This bridge, which
was built for the use of the Great Western
Railway of Canada, is beyond all question
one of the most astonishing triumphs of
human skill and ingenuity to be found any
where. Mr.. RGbling, of Trenton, New
Jersey, was the engineer. 1t is of wire,
with single span of eight hundred and
forty feet. The towers over which the
ropes are hung that support the whole
structure are 80 feet high, built upon and
into the solid rock. The aggregate length
of wire employed in this work is stated to
be more than four thousand miles in
length, while the weight of the bridge is
estimated at 12,400 tons.
This bridge is one and half miles below
the Falls and $50 feet above the surface
of the water. The lower floor is used
for the common road travel, while the up
per floor is used exclusively for the pas
sage of railway trains, was informed by
the United States Revenue officer station
ed at the American end of the bridge, that
the annual toll paid to the Bridge Com
pany by the combined railroads that use
it is $4,000 in gold. From this bridge
you have a good view ofthe Falls, although
SO farbelow. Nearly under this bridge is
the wharf from which the little steamer
"Maid of the Mist" used to embark her
passengers before taking them up under
the spray of the Falls. This little boat, a
few years ago, escaped from the hands of
the sheriff, by taking the rapids and pass
ing successfully through the whirlpool and
into Lake Ontario, feat which it was up
to that time supposed no sane man would
have attempted. Above this bridge and
near the breast of the Falls, is another wire
suspension bridge built in 1850, under the
superintendent of Mr.. E. w. Sorrell, of
Canada East. Although it is wonderful
work, it is of much Trailer character than
the railroad bridge referred to. 1t is mar.
row, admitting the passage of but one car
! riage at time, and subject to considerable
motion when the wind is high 1t is sup
ported by five cables upon each side.-
Each cable is composed of $50 strands of
number ten wire, 1,245 feet in length. The
extreme capacity of the bridge is estimated
at eight hundred and thirty-fve tons. II
is the joint property of company of Ca
nadians and Americans, and from it per
feet and full view of the Falls can be had
About three miles below the falls is wild
spot, called the whirlpool, from which it is
supposed there is a subterraneous current
and about half mile lower down is large
chasm in the river bank called the "Dcvil's
Hole" into which stream called the
"Bloody Run" falls, said to have been Sc
named from sanguinary engagement be.
tween two tribes Of hostile Indians.
Some idea of the magnitude of this, the
| grandest of all natures efforts may be form
ed when it is stated that it has been com.
puted that twenty millions cubic feet Of
water per minute passes over the Horse
Shoe Falls, on the Canadian side alone, to
say nothing of the Falls on the American
side. The Horse Shoe Falls are 1900 feet
wide and 1853 feet in height; the American
Falls arc 908 feet wide and 1874 feet high
No person can forget his first sight of this
astounding spectacle, or rid himself of the
impression which the first approach to il
makes upon him. 1 have no adequate
language to convey to the visitor an idea
of his wonder and amazement, when he
looks for the first time upon this stupen.
dous work ofnature. / Therefore reproduce
here the thoughts of Mr.. Charles Dickens
clothed in his own language, written nearly
thirty years ago, on his first visit to Niagara
Falls:
"When we were seated in the little ferry.