The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 1850-1873, 1869-09-17
The "Velocipede - Ride Across Nj.
agara.

THE Buffalo Express gives the following
account of Professor" Jenkins ride over
Niagara on bicycle.
The machine used by Professor Jenkins
is not in any sense velocipede. 1t is,
however a bicycle, and turned upside
down would resemble in some degree
modern velocipede. The wheels, three
inches wide, are made heavy and of wood
without tires, but in their places are
grooves one and three-quarter inches deep.
The front wheel is three feet two inches in
diameter. The connecting rods are iron,
as also the balance pole, which is eight
feet long and tipped with ten-pound balls,
and weighs twenty-eight pounds. The
whole thing, with the man thrown in,
weighs 29S pounds. The propelling power
is pinion cog-wheel made of brass, about
nine inches in diameter, which is made to
gear to cogs which surround the front
wheel at the bottom of the groove.
The 1000 feet of good twO-inch hemp
rope stretched across the chasm, 200 feet
above the boiling flood, was the first OBJ
ject to be gazed upon by the crowd, but
you could not reach it without paying 25
cents, which great many did, and were
rewarded by close inspection. The cable
was fastened securely and immovabiy on
the American shore, but on the Canada
shore coiled around a windlass to facilitate
the tightening, and then twisted and tied
around couple of cedar stumps. The de-
Election of the rope was about thirty feet
At 2:30 o'clock the Professor made his
appearance at the small house on the
Canada side with the pieces of his machine,
and at once proceeded to put them to-
gether, task of no small labor. With the
aid of his men he first placed the fore
wheel on the rope just at the edge OF the
precipice, and while one man balanced it,
another placed on the standard from the
under side, thus bringing two strong bars
of iron on either side of the rope. AL the
joints were securely fastened with bolts.
The braces or connecting rods extending
from the standard to the rear shaft in the
form of the letter o made the connection
complete and very strong. The Professor
then got outside of the rope, arranged the
pinion wheel and fastened the balance
pole across the o part ofthe braces. This
done, the seat, strip Of leather, was Sc
cured to the rear axle by means Of straps.
This arrangement, which it was seen at
once would throw the entire weight Ofthe
machine and the rider under the rope,
was a source of disappointment, if not Of
relief, to many of the spectators, who, not
consulting the inventive genius of the
Canadian Blondin, rather expected to see
him mounted on Greenwood velocipede,
which, of course, would give good chance
for ground and lofty tumbling
All being in readiness, the bicycle was
fastened by rope to the bank, and Jsn-
kins, who had superintended all the opera
tions, started for his hotel to robe. Dur
ing his absence the crowd viewed the ma
chine critically, and murmurs of " hum
bug" "sold," "who couldn't" ETC., were
heard, but, as general thing, the crowd
were pleased with the ingenious method
in which the great danger supposed to be
involved i'll the undertaking had been
avoided. az
The lion made his second appearance at
800 o'clock, dressed for the performance.
The machine moved slowly forward, the
rope swaying gently from side to side until
he had passed out about fifty feet, after
which he crawled along at snaiPs pace
to the middle of the abyss, where he raised
and waived his hat, and received a faint
cheer in response From the center to the
American shore it was evidently hard
work to propel the bicycle, but at last the
edge Of the cliff was reached, and then
the welkin did ring with the applause of
the people. The time occupied in passing
over the rope was just eleven minutes.