Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1872-03-04
A WRESTLE WITH NIAGARA.

was standing about thirty or forty
yards in advance of Clifton, that is,
thirty or forty yards nearer to the Horse
shoe along the brink of the rocks, and
opposite the American fall The ground
must have been about the same height
as the opposite fall, but, owing to the
immense hill down which the rapids
rush, it was impossible to distinguish any
object of the size of boat a considera-
BILE distance above the fall, so that, now
it was pointed out to me, l saw, in the
middle of the rapid, huge log of wood,
the trunk of a tree, which had lodged
there some years before, and upon it
black speck. This, after some observa-
tion, perceived to move. 1t was man.
Yes he and his two companions had,
on a previous night, been rowing about
some distance above the fall. BY some
means or other they had ventured too
near the rapids, had lost all command of
their boat, and had been hurried away
to destruction. 1t was supposed that
about a half mile above the fall they
had upset, and, with two wretched men
still clinging to it, went over the fall at
about nine or ten o'clock at night, while
the third man was driven against this
log of wood, climbed upon it and sat
astride of it through the darkness of the
night, amid the roar, the turmoil, and
the dashing spray of the rapids.
[ crossed the river, assembled the rock
by the railway, and hurried to the spot,
where I found him so near that [ could
almost distinguish his countenance. He
was then lying along the log, grasping it
with both arms, and appeared exhausted
to the last degree. He was evidently as
wet from the spray as though he had
been standing under water. By this
time people were assembling, and differ
ent plans for his rescue were proposed
and discussed on all sides; already, in
deed, one effort had been made. A small
boat had been firmly lashed to strong
cable, and dropped down to him from
the bridge which crossed the rapid be-
tween the mainland and Goat Island,
about sixty yards above the log.
The boat had proceeded a few yards
in safety, was upset, spun round like a
piece of cork at the end of thread by
the force of the water, which finally
snapped the cable in two, and the boat
disappeared over the fall.
But now dispatch had been sent to
Buffalo "a distance of little more than
twenty miles) by telegraph, desiring that
a life boat should be sent by the first
train, $50 a. m., and this in time ar.
rived, borne on the shoulders of about
twenty men, and splendid boat she
was, large, built entirely of sheet iron
with air-tight chambers; a boat tha
could not sink. She was girt rounG
with strong ropes, and two new two-incl
cables brought with her. All this ar
rangement naturally took up much time
and the poor wretchs impatienee seemed
extreme so that it was thought advisable
to let him know what was going on
This was done by means of sheet, upol
which was written in large characters il
Dutch, (his native language 1.-The life
boat is coming He stood up, locke,
intently for a minute, and then nodde'
his head When the boat was at las
launched. the excitement was intense
; Two cables, each held by many mer
were let down from either end of tn
bridge, so that they might have som
command in directing the course of tn
boat down the river. She seemed Liter
ally to dance upon the surface of tn
water like cork.
The rapid consists of number {
small falls distributed unevenly over a
, parts of the river, so that there al
l thousands of cross-currents, eddies an
| whirlpools, which it would be utterly in
possible to avoid, and in which lies th
l transit for any boat between the bridg