The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1875-08-26
Stability OF Niagara.
Correspondence Of the N. Y. Times.I

The inquiring and speculative visitor
ut Niagara has read many items in the
papers about changes in the physical as
pect of the falls, and from the appear
ance of the irregular line of the Ameri-
can fall and the deep angle of the Horse
shoe he is apt to imbibe erroneous notions
in regard to the rapidity of the change.
He often supposes that if he were to re-
turn here next year, and annually for
years following, he would be able to mark
the progress of the cataract on its back
ward journey to buffalo, to the extent of
some feet. But this is erroneous. The
oldest residents of the vicinity can see
hardly any appreciable difference be-
tween the falls, as they are now, and as
they were fifty yearsag tits true that
the constant friction of the water loosens
and chafes away the limestone rock at
the edge of the fall; but the process is so
slow that its effects cannot be said to Wis
IDLY alter the general appearance. AT
rare intervals great masses of rock are
detached, and piles of them may be seen
below, except, of course, within the
horseshoe, where the water is of vast
depth, and the mist always hanging like
ways the same. 1t is difficult for an
old habitue of the place to point out any
particular feature in the whole face of
Niagara that is substantially different
from what it has been in the past.
Biologists tell us that taking long
series of years together, the rate of the
recession may be about one foot per year;
but, considering the stability of the pres
ent location for very long series Of
years past, this seems, after all little bet
ter than mere conjecture.
The earliest visit to the Falls of which
we have any record was that of Father
Hennepin, about two hundred years ago.
The good priest was so wonderstruck
with the sight that he estimated their
height at about the actual truth. He
left sketch of the scene, showing their
appearance at that time, and it does not
materially differ from the views of Mag
ara at the present day, excepting as to
one feature, described as follows: This
is third fall from the Canada side to.
ward the east, facing the line Of the main
fall, and caused by a great rock that
turned the divided current in this direc-
ton" In 1850, Swede, one Kahn,
visited the place, and found that this
rock had fallen, and that this side chan
mel had thereby turned back into the
great stream. And this is really the on
ly marked change in the appearance of
Niagara that can be discovered from the
first day that it was known to white
men; and this made no difference in the
position of the cataract. The rude
sketches of the French missionary exhibit
the same Niagara which we see to-day,
and apparently in the same place. / do
not apprehend that our elaborate en-
cravings of the scene will lose much of
their fidelity when examined two. cen.
turtles hence. 1t is unquestionable that
at some time, cycles ago, the falls were
seven miles north of their present posi-
ton, and poured their waters over the
face of the mountain ridge at Lewiston;
and the best contemporary authorities
agree that cycles hence they will have
worn their way to point about four
miles up the river, where, in the course
of other indefinite cycles, their character
will entirely change. The wearing away
process will then be confined entirely to
the crown of the fall so that after the
lapse of sufficient number of hundreds
of centuries there will be no cataract at
all, but an immense inclined plane, down
the bed of which the volume of water
will shoot with an amazing velocity I'M
known to the rapids of the present
Niagara. .V "a N
These are the well-founded speculations
of geology. which are supposed to be
well known to every hotel-keeper, hack
man, guide and trinket seller here, and
which are regarded by them with smiling
complacency. They should he no less
comforting to the general public of tour
lists and sightseers. The stability OF
such grand works of nature is not the
least wonderful of their attributes. Were
Methuselah himself alive, and permitted
! to approach Niagara by way of the Pros
pect Park entrance ION payment of twen-
ty-fve cents), it would be great salts
faction to him to know that he could re-
turn in five hundred or six hundred
years and find no special change in the
appearance of the cataract; and in less
degree we may enjoy the same assurance.