Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1873-04-08
Niagara.
"Nl.sarAi How profound

Aho gun! Aod Row the giant element,
From Rock to rock leaps with dsi,rous bound,
Crushing the ellis
Horribly beautiful and on tue verge,
From side to side, beneath the slittsrlng morn,
Az Iris ats amid the internal surge,
Like hope upon death.b ed aud unvsru.
It steady dies, while around 10 torn
By the distracted waters, bears serene
Its brilliant hues with all their beAnss unshorr:
Resembling mid the torture Of the scene,
Love watching Madness with unal.sred misu."
Important changes are taking
place in the leading features of this
wondrous cataract, and if The rea-
sening of biologists are well founded
still greater are to follow.
Not far back 10 the memory of
those who visited Niagara years ago,
Table Rock projected over the ter
rible chasm, aud was one of the great
points of attraction but now sd we
see on the Canada side is sheer per.
pendicular wall without fascination.
Old citizens who have long watched
the slow, but continuous changes GO
ing on at the Falls, can see that
they are changing locations, wear.
ing constantly back, at least on so
average of six inches every twelve
months. Notches have appeared
which were not there years ago, and
are annually growing deeper and
deeper, and the depth of the fall less.
Prof. Cunning figures in this wise.
that if the falls recede, on an aver
age six inches every year, measure.
ment of the channel would place the
falls at Lewiston, sevent y -four thous.
and years ago. Hall aud Lyell rea.
son, that as the Falls lose thirty-fve
feet in height to every mile cut
away to the southwark, that eventu-
ally they will dwindle down into a
succession of rapids and cascades.
Let them cut back but swo miles in
their present course, they Gay, and
the Falls will have passed the ra pids
This theory is objected to by Gun
ming, however, so far as the direction
OF cutting away is concerned. for he
claims that after q few more hun
dred Of feet have been cut back, the
direction of the horse shoe will
char ge, and both Fails will move
eastward Above Goat Island they
will unite and move on, one Fall, Of
immense width, till Navy Island
cuts it in two. The greater Fall
Wall Then be on the American side,
and it's recession still eastward. A
little Fall on the Canada side will re.
treat southwark around around Navy
Island. and then Grand Island.
About q mile above the northern
point of Grand Island, this Fall will
move southwark far enough to leave
the shale and have the precipice all
of limestone. Then will the water
TaasaeE Away ntsh the rim faster than the
come simply Succession or p.ossy
cascades and rapids. According to
the Popular Science Monthly about
$500 cubic miles of early
half the fresh water on the globe
are in the upper lakes, aud 18,900,-
600 cubic feet of this plunge over
Niagara Falls every minute, all the
water of the lakes making the cir
cult of the Falls, the st. Lawrence,
the ocean, vapor, rain. and lakes
again, in 152 years. Through the
Illinois Canal about 5000 cubic feet
of water are taken every minute
from lake Michigan to the Illinois
River; through the LELAND Canal
$4,000 cubic feet fow every minute
from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario.
aud through the Erie Canal 1000
cubic feet pass every minute from
the same lake into the Hudson.
Thus, SO 900 cubic feet of water,
which nature would give 70 Niagara,
are diverted every minute by arti6-
cial channels, some into the Mexican
Gulf and some into the bay of New
York. This added to $4,000. 900
would be but drop in the bucket,
and make no appreciable difference
10 the character of the Falls or their
rate of recession.