Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1880-07-09
Forzottan Phenomenon.

aow NIAGARA FALLS RAN DRY, MARCH ii,
lSiS-THE FACTS sUBsTANTIATED IN A
LETTER FROM THE RI. REV. DIR. FULLER
Of ONTARIO.
Under date of Hamilton, Ont., June y,
at Rev. Bishop Fuller writes to the
ChisIgo T.'i5ane as follows:
In the month OF March last delivered
in the city of Hamilton, Ont, lecture
ertitled Upper Canada as 1t was nifty
years ago, and Ontario as it Is now; and
IN the course Of my lecture l spoke OF the
great difficulty of constructing the inter
national bridge between Buffalo and the
Canada side opposite to that city on ac-
count of the great current OF water run
ming at times down the Niagara river,
where the waters are driven by strong
westerly winds down Lake Erie, where in
astle quantity of water running down the
t.vur is'verv much diminished when the
winds drive mp Lake Erie. l then re-
marked: This fact caused an event, ~
yca,s ago this month, of which probably
very few Of You ever heard. L refer to
the time when the falls of Niagara were
drv for q whole day. That day was the
3lst day of March, 1858. / did not witness
ii myself hut WAS told of it the next day
by nv late brother-in-law, Thomas c.
Street, ". p Happening TO go TO that
place the next day, he told me that his
miller (for he had grist mill on the rap
IDS above the falls) knocked at his bed
room door about o'clock in the morning
Of that day, and told him to get up, as
taere was no water in the mill race, and
no wafer in the great river outside OF the
race. He said that he was startled at
the intelligence. and hurried ont as soon
as he could dress himself, and then saw
the river. on the edge of which he had
been born 81 years before, dry. After
hurried breakfast, he and his youngest
daughter then uumarried) went down
about thrae-quartcrs Of mile TO the prec-
ipice Itself over which there was SO little
water running that. having provided him
self with strong pole, they started from
Table rock and walked near the edge Of
tEe ,,recipice about one-third OF the way
toward Goat island. on the American
shore, ald having stuck this pole lii a
cTevice Of the rock, and Miss Street hav-
ing tied her pocket-handkerchief firmly
On the top of the pole, they returned. lie
SAID that he then turned his view towards
7hc iiv.r below the falls, and saw the wa
ter SO shallow that immense jagged rocks
stood up III such a frghtful manner that
he shudIerad when he thought of his
having frequently passed over them in
tne little Maid Of the Mist (as often had
dclel.
He then returned toward home and
drove from the Canada shore some one
half mile above the fails toward Goat
island. E.hc. he told me this he re
preached himself very much fornot having
sent out foa ;ae about eight miles distant,
but he SID that, though he had several
times intended doing so. he each time con-
cludcd ..ot TODD it, lest, before We could
reach the wonderful scene, the waters
should haze returned to their old courses.
OF course everybody was speaking Of the
wonderful event when I was out there
next dav, and l have heard others who
witnessed 1t speak of it since that time
Mr.. Streets theory was this That the
Winds had been blowing down Lake Erie,
which Is only about SO feet deep, and
rushing a great deal Of water from it over
the falls, and suddenly changed and blew
this little water comparatively speaklng)
;ip to the western portion Of the lake and
that al this juncture the ice on Lake Erie,
which had been broken up by these high
winds, got jammei in the river between
Buffalo ard the Canada side, and formed
4 dam which kept back the waters of Lake
Erie q whole dav.