Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1877-08-25
Niagara Falls.

We and in the New York Express letter
lv CoL. J. FAIRFAX McLAcoHLIY, graphically
por,rsying the wonders of Niagara Falls, and
we regret we have space !or only brief ex-
tracts:
Cheap enough, in all conscience,
for the whrliug maze of wonders such as burst
forth on all sides Of you, above and below, on
fieer end shore. and in air anu sky, speaking
If the everlasting might Of God III way
which neither pen nor tongue can convey IN
any possible description. Shakespeare alone
among the children Of men could have done
any sort Of Justice 10 Niagara Falls. Sound,
movement. color and form, cannot be transfer
red 10 paper or described adequately aud here
Won have them all In ten thousand changeinl
moods bursting on you with the Niagara itself,
as il plunces one bundled and siXty-four feet
down from the American side, and one hun
dred and Rfty-eight feet at the Horseshoe, or
Crescent Fall. Ii is a phenomenon Of nature
uniaue aud sublime. "All the pictures you
may see says audubon, all the descrip-
,ions YOU may read, OF these mighty falls, can
only produce in your mind the faint shmmer
Of the glOw-wOTm compared with the over
towering glory Of the meridian sun"
Our breath was fairly taken away when we
razed up. from the row-bOat on the river te-
low. at the descending cataracts. The waters
DO not tumble down like senseless thiugs,
merely tbeliug the laws Of gravity but bound
ing Grward from The rapids above. they rush,
as if instinct with angry life, TO the brink Of
the awful gorge, aud from there leap down
like liens, terribly graceful, springing on their
prey. The mist and spray which rise up out
Of the asitated abyss form one Of the most
beautiful sights in the world. From our poiuI
Of observation we could see the white foamy
column soaring away up over the upper bed OF
The river. here ascending in immense masses,
diluted with sunbeams, and there shooting up
IN pyamilal shape like the lava Of some vol
canic eruption-a thing at once OF beauty and
terror. These mists are some times visible at
a distance Of forty or fifty miles from Maya
"a.
The lar,cs,-sized American eagles delight to
hover around the Falls, and are often killed,
stuffed aud sold TO visitors Fish, varying
inc from one TO seventy pounds in weight, are
swcpt over The Falls, aud Sea-gulls, hsh-hawks
looms and eagles capture aud feed on them
The Gull skins down with the utmost grace
into the mist and spray-almoSt into the rush
log waters. For a moment 1t seems TO be
swallowed 10 the torrent, but IN the next II
,mcrses with its funny prize. The hawk, more
wary, scizes larger fish a little further OIL
while the eagle proud, solitary and tyrannical
sits on some lonely, distant rock or lofty tree
top, watching them with keen eye and fierce
interest as they sc0uT the waves below Now
a hawk flies upward with his captured prey
aud makes off to take a dainty meal. Down
swoops the eagle 10 hot pursuit the chase /;
but short. the hawk drops the fish, u,ters q
scream Of despair, aud is gone; while the
eagle falling perpeudicularly with lightning
speel catches the fish before it reaches the wa
ter and soars Oft disdaiufully with its predato-
~ booty. | have seen something like this
among Others than eagles. Your birds o.
prcy are not confined 10 the feathery tribe
Some Of our Republican statesmen know how
to play eagle after this fashion TO great per
| fiction.
When one remembers the vast resources o
/ the Niagara river, it is not surprising that Mrs
! Sirourncy should have wreakcd herself or
/ that glowing expression about its everlasting
undecaying tide" Just think Of it, \ sinai
river, thirty-fve miles in length, aud only
/ ejeh, mills 10 width at its widest point, anC
\ that but very short distance, actually receives
| the waters Of all the upper lakes Of America
/ Erie. St. Clair Huron, Michigan, Superior, anC
others Of less magnitude. The great Lake
/ Erie discharges itsclfinto the Niagara, or rattle
4 into Lake Ontario through this wonderful
river. lust as Ontario discharges itself into thu
/ Atlantic Ocean through the st. Lawrence. The
J four great inland seas or lakes above the Fall
/ of Niagara, with the hundreds Of ri7ers grea
and small that flow into them, cover surface
Of l5O. 900 square miles and contain nearly
/ half The fresh water on the surface Of thu
globe. Is IL any wonder such eXhauStleS
watersheds should produce even the Ma
| cara Fals-tlat marvel Of nature whicl
rests not uisLtor day. The quantity o
aater constantly pouring over the falls IS com
putel on competent authority at $40, go ton
per minute, q low estimate. DR.. Dwight com
putcs it from the depth, width and velocity @
current at So coo 600 Of tons per hour, and b.
another calculation, surprising swliter cur
rent be computes the quantity at lO2O93.I5
tons per hour PickeuS estimates It az ll3,
$4,000 tons per hour, and Darby at 1872,
100000 cubic feet per hour. These writer
are approved authorities in natural sciences.
The celebrated Father llenuepiu, rnissionar
and traveller who visited the Falls two hun
bred years ago, might well exc'aim with par
donable surprise " could not conceive how
C .me to pass tia, four great lakes, the leas
of which is four hundred leagues in compass
should empty themselves into one another
and then an center and discharge themselve
az this great fall, aud yet not drown goo
part Of America" But enough.