River Falls journal. [volume] (River Falls, Pierce County, Wis.) 1872-2019, 1878-11-28

II Is horror Only; 10 has been so since tina
day when / hung on its very brink fo
hours, and thought Of it as one Nigh
think in a nightmare dream of som
hideous thing, inconceigable, unutterabl
that held one in Its awful grasp. Blu
mine was no vision CT the night to laugl
at when awakened. Those hours grizzIe,
the then brown of my Young head int
the iron gray you see it now. Their irol
entered into ny soul, as they say. 1t ha
lived there ever since. night and day
season and season. There ii will stay til
the death rattle kills the memory Of al
this side of Try coffin.
~ hunted and tished then. That's how
I lived. Visitors then came pretty plen
tiful to see this wonder. 1 could get {
ready sale for what | caught, whether Il
was fur or fin. | had canOed il from
when I could recollect any thing, and
was pretty spry, tell you, with the pad
dies, and pretty venturesome, too. be
= came, till thought was strong enough
4 and skilled enough to run risks here
ahouts that others would have sbuddered
from
+ II thought knew Niagara too well to
4 be in any danger from it, was 70 famil-
4 FAR with it. thought Of it wltn rome Of
/ the scare newcomers found in it. | used
! to laugh at their genuine fears ct the very
sight and sound oft, know it by night
; when the calm mo0n.li light poured down
Z light through the silvered spray clouds
/ that hung over II; by day, when the glad
! sun danced rainb0Ws above lis flashing
| Hoods. Then 1t was too old friend OF
nine 10 be dreaded by me.
I, 'One day changed all this, and knew
! il for the hungry monster that it is
pitlle.s, crayin. for its human prey.
1T was one Wednesday III August. The
+ hotels were full. Fish was il request, as
much as / could bring. Price didn'r
matter. Pleasure seekers bleed freely. /
vas paid wall for what could be charged
( tor as they liked I had found that the
nearer the rapids / got the finer seemed
what / caught, and the more freely the
bait was taken. hid so often gone
where most we're too timid to venture
that had come to believe / could skim
any where.
Even now I think, had my paddle
been. sound, | should have come off safe.
/ "Well, that morning ] was out ut sun
r Sc. md pretty successful I was. |
,teadied my course, letting the canoe
drift little hT little toward the rapids that
srothcd and raved some miles below.
:clt at any moment / could shoot it out
~ the strength of the current into the
smoother waters ty the shore.
II got iuly employed with my lines,
Tor, as I glided down stream, my take
vas rapid, and that of the finest. So
eager was that failed to pay that at
'ention TO the drift of my canoe which
was so ncedful.
'.It was with a start at last | felt was
lar too much in the full deep current of
Tue river, and that its strength would
need my utmost efforts to escape from
its grasp. For the first time felt real
Gread, for the boiling and hiss of the
seething waters could almost be heard
5clow ne. piled the paddles strongly
aud for while | had hopes of safety,
though I mad never known the need of
the excr.ions / was now using 70 1raw
rgyseIf out Of the mighty force of the
tiaad that sped onward 10 It's fearful fall.
Inch by inch | fought my way up
steam and towards the shore where
was TO sell my mornings takings. Every
iBCh was won Is strain that made the
Precipitation start from every pore. II
was for life | fought. for dear life It
vas death that / pulled against and
seeh a death! for it was as if curtain
vas suddenly Withdrawn 10 show me
9 the danger [ had so long been run
mug unconsciously. 1t flashed into my
thoughts how had played in the very
jaws OF destruction chat now seemed TO
hfgnger for me.
'.As ! toi,ed frantically against the
rushing waters, they were living things
whose clutch sought t. drag me with
them to share their awful doom. l had
grown 50 used to the roar of the cataract
Jas now recollected, 50 nearY that my
Thoughts had ceased to be cognizant Of
It NOW it almost stunned me.
Il talk s.aoilv, don't l? I tell you,
stranger, ii you wanr 10 wake up your
fancy really we'll, just try an hours pull
against Niagara. with the feeling that
DcIhaps late is against you. You'll be
fay from cool and commonplace IN
thalght or speech, if you think or ut
ter any thing
Minutes that had seemed hours had
passed, and still was struggling franti-
caI3y, steaming with my ffenzied cxer
tious I had won some way. had
edged some distance from The central
ru-h of the river, and safety would be
found in the slower waters that skirted
the bank. could / but reach them.
II bent still more madly to the effort.
In q moment 1 had lost my hold ON ex-
istence, and was rushing, helpless and
hopeless, to the dreadful fate had been
fighting against One of my paddles,
0vcfstrained, had broken, and, at the
mercy of the mighty flood, was speed
ing every minute more swiftly TO what !
kuaS so wcll-what I saw as plainly
with my mind eye as I had thousands
OF times seen it with my living sight
How | saw all we are looking
down on here! Not a 81. hit, not sound,
we are seeing and hearing, but was in
that moment heard and seen by me more
viv.dlv than now. I was literally be
wiliered with the roar I now hear so
calmly.
Il shrieked aloud in my agony as
claspcd my useless hands over my sight,
vaiT.lv, to shut out the smooth slide of the
inland sea, as saw it flashing back the
morning sun as it leap, into the misty
guilt into whose thunder it shot.
"A few moments bore me down to the
rapids. A few minutes. and was
through them-safely. How | escaped
wreck among them puzz,es me. | was
too paraly zed with horror to use my one
paddle, to in any way steer my light
craft through the foamiDg currents on
! which it tossed. Its lightness nnust have
saved it. Had it been a heavier bIilt
/ boat it would have 5een dashed to shreds
| a score of times before we reached smooth
water As ii was, it danced along frolick-
ing AZ il seemed to me, with CHASTITY de-
/ isn5e Of the destiny 10 which it so sure
/ il lurried.
Out of the kissing ous of the frothing
f9aal We were on the calm. majestic
mass of wat, rs-the sea tide, you mi2hi
surely call it, that was to hurl itself and
me 'O atoms.
"sIow oddly the mind acts in such
moments of horror! Would you believe
it'll i tradition of Niagara actually oc-
CURED to me as | flashed along. 1t was
an Indian legend. | remembered how
an indian sQuaw, long the fayorite Of 4
famous Chief, found young maiden was
to slpplaut her in her wigwam. Irtcol
lect I swear l saw it rs plainly as i
Imagination and reality were one-sh,
bore the best. loved child she had borne
Is its fa'her from her forest home til
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