The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1879-07-23
NIAGARA SENSATIONS.

NIAGARA SENSATIONS.
ca'" Pato1.'s Leap-Blondtn's Tight Rom
Pedest'ta'stsns, and Peers Jump.
niagara Falls Correspondence Globe Democrat
IN April last think it was on the Dist
2 Canadian named Harmon Peer. took hi,
stand upon platform jutting out from til
center OF the foot and carriage bridge at thil
point, and prepared himself for drop into
the river which PUSHES along with such mac
fury nearly 200 feet below. In order to pre-
vent sutfocation or suspension of respiration
inseparable from the rapid passing through
the air of his descending body, Harmon
fastened sponge over his mouth and nose
ae then sprang boldly into the air, and in
TOUR seconds from the time he left the plat
FORM, disappeared below the surface OF the
rlver. de was picked up, uninjured, by one
Oh Inc boats which were waiting for him af-
ter his hazardous descent. 8&2E&T'
Inc falls of Niagara are among the most
sublime of spectaoles. Americans Iono aoo
selected these falls, the rapids preceedi6p
the rivers headlong leap. and the whirlpool
below, as scenes for the exhibition bv men Of
caring athletic feats. It is lust fiftv wears
ago since that intrepid swimmer, Sam Patch.
UNDERTOOK to leap from ladder, suspended
at the foot of precipice, upon Goat island.
below. "'0A' W.
AZ iength," says a descriptive reporter
OF that day, 'Sam Patch reached the pin
nacie from which his plunge was to be made.
ano' clothed from head to foot in white, sat
tor moment like seagull upon cloud. Hav-
ing mace ms tremendous leap amid the
GREATNESS silence of those who watched him
with little expectation that they would
ever see him again, the bold
adventurer sank into the seethino
cauldron which closed over him and hid him
from their sight. A boat was at hand tn
PICK him up, but nothing was seen of him
until he was discovered clamberinp up the
rocks on the rivers bank, some hundreds of
teet below the falls. He sustained no sort
of injury, although it is said that among
those who have been carried by accident
over the falls, no survivor ever escaped in
sta 1taneous death.''
Then came Blondin, who twenty Years or
SO ago was the hero. He electrified a vast
concourse of spectators by walking across
the turbulent and boiling river upon a single
rope, stretched above the abyss from bank
10 bank. 10 one who has studied the falls
under the full light of the MONDAY sun, or
peneatn the MOONS pale beams, these sense
less exhibitions are strangely out of harmony
with the surroundings. No one can possibly
describe the overpowering sensation produc-
ed upon his mind by tho appearance of the
river which affords vent for the four
mlghtlest fresh water lakes in the world. as
tney discharge their overflow through the
awful gorge of Niagara into the fifth lake
winch connects them with the St. Lawrence
rlver' Americans yield to no people in love
OF honest outdoor sports, but they must be
leglt'mate games and contests of skill, not
Sam Patch jumps, like the one this fellow
6eer Is ABOUT to repeat, or like that of the
roman who climbed the Tarquin rock and
eternity.
There is we'll authenticated story of an
Indian chief who was once caueht in his
canoe while padding across the rapid river
above the falls, and before he was aware of it
ne vortex of the descending st ream sucked
him in. Folding his arms with the charac-
teristic imperturability of his race, he was
carried over the brink, and his dead
body was picked up in the whirl-
pool some two or three miles below.
wnere the river is twisted at right angles in
It's hurried course toward Lake Ontario. The
canoe In which the hapless sachem made the
plunge was torn into thousand fragments,
attestlng the irresistible force and furv of
the cataract, which has often tempted men
weary OF life to plunge into the devourine
abyss as means of committing suicide.
Many years ago the Buffalo Advertiser
printed sensational story to the effect that
"the falls of Niagara, the unmatched phe-
nomenon of nature, the Capitalization of DOW
or, grandeur and beauty, the theme of poesy
and the inspiration of the traveller, the re-
sort OF the ennuye and the delight of the
susceptible; are no more.'' It was represent
Cd that the ''bastion of Goat island'' had fall
en- into the stream below, and that the SUD-
porting fabric of the great cataract
had persisted under the ceaseless battery of
the tremendous body of water carried over
Its edge. The Horseshoe Tower and the
Motel on the American side were said to have
disappeared and for many weeks biologists
and scientific men in all parts of the world
exhausted themselves in speculations upon
the causes which had led to this prodigious
convulsion.
But the marvellous cataract still exists,
surrounded by natural features of SO sub
lime and magnificent character that it is
IN contemplation to create park or pleas
ure ground upon both sides of the stream.
such an lnternatlnal park would do away
with the money making fellows who now
charge for everything under the sun.