The Carbon advocate. [volume] (Lehighton, Pa.) 1872-1924, 1879-09-13
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENCE.
'sSIorIey's'' Lcttersl from New York
NEW YoRK, Sept 9th 1879.

:
other rivers in America, and is worth a long
Journey. Think, in the first place, of river
five miles wide in many places Such is its
extreme width in the vicinity of the Thousand
Islands. Think, again, OF sailing forty miles
down the river amidst an archipelago, whose
islands are studded here and there with sum
mer cottages and summer camps. and whose
winding and endessly varied channels open
up vstas here and there Of exquisite beauty.
Think ofliterally
sAILiNG DOWN HILL
for nine miles at one stretch, and of repenting
the experience for shorter distances several
times. Think of river losing itselfin lake
thirty miles long and twelve miles wide, and
finding its way out again only to repeat the
operation twice over, once on even larger
scale. All this and more does that King of
Rivers, the ST. Lawrence.
Americans cannot accustom themselves to
looking northward and calling it "down the .
river;' sailing "down north,n or "up SOUTH" "
is utterly opposed to all our ideas Of geogra-
phical proprety; but this is another novelty |
20 be encountered on the St. Lawrence, where .
the further down you go the further north
you find yourself
the celebrated
LONG sAULT RAPIDS,
nine miles long, through which the water
runs down hill at the rate of twenty miles an
hour. During much of this distance the des-
cent is so marked that you are perceptibly
sailing down hill at tremendous speed. The
water is quite smooth except at four or five
places but in these it rushes and eddies and
whrls till the angry waves are dashed in white
| swirling billows up straight in the air dis
| tance OF twelve or fifteen feet, and-unlike
| the ocean waves, which ''travel''-these thick
and formidable masses Of toamy water stand
! there, inmovabIe, across the steamers path
like vast snow heaps awfully convulsed by
some mighty internal force. As the boat
nears these places steam is shut off, and pro-
PEELED only by the force of the current, the
steamer plunges in among these heaving
snow heaps where she sways and shivers and
rolls till you cling to the rail and shout with
enthusiasm, or hold your breat for fear, just
according to the kind of nerves which Provi-
dence and your own habits have provided you
with. Few people are afflicted with fear,
however; the sensation caused by the staunch
and trustworthy steamer buffeting with the
angry waves being usually one of exhileration
aside from the impression created by the
grandeur of the waters. Indeed one of the
ladies Of our party, possessing so sensitive
and delicate a nervous organization that the
thought of the rapids for a week before had
kept her swallowing those awful "lumps in
the throat" which often aftlict nervous peo-
pie in the presence of real or fancied danger,
fairly screamed with delight where the waves
were dashng the highest.
At two points between Ogdenshurg and
Montreal the river widens into lakes Of no
mean size, though they do not generally ap-
pear on the maps One of these, Lake St.
Francis, is thirty miles long and twenty miles
wide. The other, Lake st. Louis, which is
not so large is just above the little town of
) Lachlne, and the famous Lachinc Rapids, the
; widest and most difficult of the entire series.
Our boat did not attempt the passage of these
rapids, but we were disembarled at Lachine,
a and an half hour later stepped from the rail.
road train in Montreal. The Lachine Rapids
are so great an attraction to tourists that tive
- excursion trains run daily from Montreal tC
IS Luchine where the eXcursionists take small
i steamer and "shoOt the rapids,' making the
q round trip in an hour and a-halC The fall O
the river here is much greater than at any O
the preceding rapids, and the channel is st
narrow that at one spot the steamer passes
between two huge walls of black rock but a
q few feet from her sides: within these marrow
8 bounds the water rushes and surgcs with ap
> palling speed. estimated by some authorities
- at
@ FORTY MILES AN HOUR,
while the surface of the river beyond is sew
. cral feet higher than the channel through
q which we are being whlrled, making what il
poe really valley in the river The Indian pilot
4 taken on at Lachne, directs the course Of thC
o vessel, and four stout men at the helm obey
Il ing his directions keep her in the valley o
:. water, through all its winding course, along
1t which she pitches an rolls like drunker
= man.
is Around each rapid is constructed a shor
Ie canal, through which the steamer return vi
ic the river. Travelling up the river is rendered
n, extremely tedious by the numerous locks
which, owing to the abrupt descent of thu
river bed, sometimes follow one another il
! quick succession for almost n mile.
II Near the foot of the Long Sault lies TIL
lie Indian village of st. Regis, whose little churcl
,r edihce, plainly visible from the steamer
i deck is intimately associated by a curious cir
cumstance with the
FAMOUS INDIAN MASSACRE
at Deerfeld, Mass, the story of which use'
~ TO curdle our youthful blood and make us draw
" the bed-clothes over our heads, $50 man
'e years ago." These Indians, through the el
forts Of French priests, had become sufficient
ly Christianized to build church, and ha
- sent to France for n bell. On its way acros
= the sea it was captured by an English cruise
:. and brought to Salem, Mass, where it wa
u sold to the Deerheld people for their ne'
t. church. Word was taken to ST. Regis tina
" their bell was in Deerheld; an expedition wa
ls organized, and these dusky crusaders marcl
go ed across the wild. country intervening, at
p, tackled the town, killud many citizens recaI
- tured their bell and carried Off into captivit
; over hundred people, including the paste
'lI and his family. The bell still hangs in tn
G. steeplc of st. Regis church, a striking testi
IL mony to the effect, that if the Indian ofto-da!
To after a century's contact with the pale-iact
.rs is an utterly degraded being, the red-skin
=, a hundred and twenty years ago had some Ii
y; tie sentiment, a tolerable sense of what wa
u' Just, and enough clearness and energy TO d,
OK wise and carry out vigorous plan for secu
il ing what belonged TO him. Our present owe
nd bearing Secretary Of the Interior may than
nd Providence that, with his and his predece
sors record of heartless wrongs, hoaped an
- multiplied upon the tribes, the old spirit
o' the ST Regis Indians and their opportunil
pie have both together passed away!
'Nt MORLEY
NJ
~, Our letter from washington
he WASHINGTON, d. O., September g..
his The n omnation, by the New York Repu