Stevens County tribune. (Morris, Minn.) 1877-1880, 1879-07-24
NIAGARA SENSATIONS.

PedeStriGnisan, and PEERS Jump.
Niagara Falls Correspondence Globe Democrat.
In April last think it was on the 21st-
Canadian named Harmon Peer, took his
stand upon platform jutting out from the
center of the foot and carriage bridge at this
point, and prepared himself for drop into
the river which rushes along with such mad
fury nearly 200 feet below. In order to pre-
vent suffocation or suspension of respiration
inseparable from the rapid passing through
the air of his descending body, Harmon
fastened sponge over his mouth and nose.
He then sprang boldly into the air, and in
four seconds from the time he left the plat
form, disappeared below the surface of the
river. He was picked up, uninjured, by one
of the boats which we're waiting for him af-
ter his hazardous descent.
The falls of Niagara are among the most
sublime of spectacles. Americans long ago
selected these falls, the rapids proceeding
the rivers headlong leap, and the whirlpool
below, as scenes for the exhibition by men of
daring athletic feats. 1t is just fifty years
ago since that intrepid swimmer, Sam Patch,
undertook to leap from ladder, suspended
at the foot of precipice, upon Goat Island,
into the boisterous and whirling waters be-
below.
SAT length" says descriptive reporter
of that day, "Sam Patch reached the pin
nacle from which his plunge was to be made,
and, clothed frem head to foot in white, sat
| for moment like seagull upon cloud. Hav-
ing made his tremendous leap amid the
breathless silence of those who watched him
with little expectation that they would
ever see him again, the bold
adventurer sank into the seething
cauldron which closed over him and hid him
from their sight. boat was at hand to
pick him up, but nothing was seen of him
until he was discovered clambering up the
rocks on the rivers bank, some hundreds of
feet 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 ltaneous 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 single
rope, sire. ched above the abyss from bank
to bank. To one who has studied the falls
under the full light of the MONDAY sun, or
beneath the moons pale beams, these sense
less exhibitions are strangely out of harmony
with the surroundings. No one can possibly
describe the empowering sensation produc-
ed upon his mind by the appearance of the
river which affords vent for the foul
mightiest fresh water lakes in the world, as
they discharge their overflow through the
awful gorge of Niagara into the fifth lake
which connects them with the St. Lawrence
river. Americans yield to no people in love
of honest outdoor sports, but they must be
legitimate games and contests of skill, not
| Go Date il1a% hn folI
Peer is about to repeat, or like that of the
Roman who climbed the Tarquin rock and
thence threw an immortal flip flop into
eternity.
There is we'll authenticated story of an
Indian chief who was once caught in his
canoe while padding across the rapid river
above the falls, and before he was aware of il
he vortex of the descending st ream sucked
him in. Folding his arms with the charac
teristic imperturabiIity of his race, he was
carried over the brink, and his deaG
body was picked up in the whirl
pool some two or three miles below
where the river is twisted at right angles il
its hurried course toward Lake Ontario. Tit
canoe in which the hapless sachem made the
plunge was torn into thousand fragments
atte-ting the irresistible force and fury o.
the cataract, which has often tempted me1
weary of life to plunge into the devourins
abyss as means of committing suicide.
Many years ago the Buffalo Ad0ertGsel
printed sensational story to the effect tina
''the falls of Niagara, the unmatched phe
nomenon of nature. the Capitalization of pow
er, grandeur and beauty, the theme of poes.
and the inspiration of the traveller, the re
sort of the ennuye and the delight of tn
SUI ceptible, are no more" It was represent
ed that the s.bastion of Goat island' had fall
en- into the stream below, and that the sup
porting fabric of the gteat cataract
had persisted under the ceaseless battery o
the tremendous body of water carried owe
its edge. The Horseshoe Tower and the
hotel on the American side were said to hav'
disappeared and for many weeks geologist
and scientific men in all parts of the work
exhausted themselves in speculations upo1
the causes which had led to this prodigiou
convulsion.
But the marvellous cataract still exists
surrounded by natural features of SO sub
lime and magnificent q character that it il
in contemplation to create park or pleas
ure ground upon both sides of the stream
Such an international park would do ava.
with the money making fellows who nov
charge for everything under the sun.