Ashtabula telegraph. (Ashtabula, Ohio) 1874-1880, 1879-09-19
OUR GOTHAM LETTER.
From our Regular Correspondent.

Inc river OE. Lawrence OueFS rare a.
fractions to the tourists; it is different
from all 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 niles down the river
amidst an archipelago, whose islands are
studded here and there with summer cot
tages and summer camps, and whose wind
ing and endlessly varied channels open up
vistas here and there of exquisite beauty.
Think of literally
SAILING DOWN HILL
For nine miles at one stretch, and Of re-
peating the experience for shorter distances
several times. Think Of river losing it
self in 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-St. Law
renee.
i AuEElC1LS CduAlOG dCCuolOL1 ll4CLuoClN CO
to looking northward and callingi it down
the riyer;'' sailing ''dOwn north" or ''up
SOUTH" IS utterly opposed to all our ideas
of geographical propuety; but this is an
| other novelty to be encountered on the st.
Lawrence, where the further down you go
the further north you find yourself
Twenty-eight miles below Ogdehsburg
are 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 descent is so marked that you are per-
ceptibly sailing down hill at a tremendous
speed. The water is quite smooth except
at four or fye places; but in these it rush
es and eddies and whirls till the angry
waves are dashed in white swirling billOws
| up straight into the air distance of twelve
or fifteen feet, and-unlike the ocean waves
which ''travel"-these thick and fOrmid-
able masses of foamy water stand there,
immovable, 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, apd, pro-
PEELED only by the force of the current, the
steamer plungeS in among these heaying
snow-heaps where she Sways and shivers
and rolls till you cling to the rail and shout
with enthusiasm, or hold your breath for
fear, Just according TO the kind of nerves
which Providence and your own habits
have provided you with. Few people are
afflicted with fear, however; the sensation
caused by the staunch and trusted steamer
buffeting with the angry waves being
usually one of exhileration, aside from the
impressions 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 week before had kept her
swallowing those awful ''lumps in the
throat" which sometimes affiict nervous
people in the presence Of real or fancied
danger, was most enthusiastic Of the num-
Der, and fairly screamed with delight where
the waves were dashing the highest.
At two points between Ogdensburg and
Montreal the river widens into lakes of
no mean size, though they do not generally
appear on the maps. One of these, Lake
st. Francis, is thirty miles long and twelve
miles wide The other, Lake St. Louis,
which is not so large is Just above the little
town of Lachine, and the famous Lachina
Rapids, the widest and most difficult of
the entire series. Our boat did not ale
tempt the passage Of these Rapids but we
were disembarked at Lachine, and half an
hour later stepped from the railroad train
in Montreal. The Lachine Rapids are so
great an attraction to tourists that two eX-
cursiOn trains run daily from Montreal to
Lachine where the excursionists take a
smaller steamer and shoot the Rapids
making the round trip in an hour and
half. The fall of the river IS much great
er here than at any of the preceding Rap
ids and the channel is so narrow that at |
one spot the steamer passes between two |
huge walls of black rock but few feet |
from her sides; within these narrow bounds |
the water rushes and surges with appalling |
speed, estimated by some authorities at
FORTY MILES AN HOUR,
While the surface of the river beyond is |
several feet higher than the channel |
through which we are being whirled, max |
ing what is really a valley in the water. |
The Indian pilot, taken on at Lachine, di |
rects the course of the vessel, and four 1
stout men at the helm Obeying his direc- |
tions keep her in this valley of water, |
through all its winding course, along 1
which she pitches and rolls like a drunken |
man.
Around each Rapid is constructed a
short canal, through which the steamers /
return up the river. Travelling up the |
river is rendered extremely tedious by the |
numerous locks, which, owing to the abb
rupt descent Of the river bed, sometimes |
follow one another in quick succession for |
almost mile.
Near the foot of the Long Sault lies the
Indian village of st. Regis, whose little
church edifce. plainly visible from the |
steamers deck, is intimately associated by |
curious circumstance with the
FAMOUS INDIAN MASSACRE
At Deerfeld, Mass, the story of which used |
to curdle our youthful blood and make US |
draw the bed-clothes over our heads, $50 |
many years ago." These Indians, through !
the efforts of French priests, had become |
sufficiently Christianized to build a church, !
and had sent to France for a bell. On its
way across the sea it was captured by an
English crusier and brought to Salem,
Mass, where 1t was sold to the Deerfield
people for their new church. Word was
taken to St. Regis that their tell was in
Deerfeld; an expedition was organized,
and these dusky crusaders marched across
the wild country intervening, attacked the
town, killed many citizens, recaptured |
their bell and carried off into captivity over
one hundred people, including the pastor
and his family. The bell still hangs in the
steeple of St. Regis church, a striking
testimony to the effect, that if the Indian
of to-day, after a century's contact with |
the pale-face, is an utterly degraded being, |
the redskin of a hundred and twenty years
ago had some little sentiment, a tolerable !
sense of what was Just, and enough clear |
ness and energy to devise and carry out a
vigorous plan for securing what belonged |
to him. Our present oYerbeaung Secretary !
Of the Interior may thank Providence that, |
with his and his predecessors record Of
heartless wrongs, heaped and multiplied |
upon the tribes, the old spirit of the st. |
Regis Indians and their opportunity have
both together passed away! MORLEY.
New York, Sept Is, 1879.