The Manitowoc pilot. [volume] (Manitowoc, Wis.) 1859-1932, 1884-11-06
A RUSH OF WATERS.
The Tides of Fundy-Causes of the Great
Wave.


The Tides of Fundy-Causes of the Great
Wave.
The tides of Fundy are, perhaps, ia
miliar to almost everyone, and though
they are remarkable, like the maelstrom
and other marvels, they are greatly
exaggerated, writes correspondent
from Falmouth. n. S. To thoroughly
understand the phenomenon the shape
of Fundy bay must be considered. and
it will be seen that the great daily
tidal waves that sweep over the Atlant-
lc, caused by the attraction of the sun
and moon, strike the New England
coast and tend northward until the
great body of water is squeezed into
the narrow limits of the Bay of Fundy,
Just as We see a great wave from a
steamer entering a brook from a lake.
The effect is to Immediately raise the
water level, and so in Fundy the tidal
wave rushes in, and, suddenly COM
pressed with the narrow bounds, i'm
mediately rises, and the water forms a
wave and rushes rapidly onward, fill
ing up the rivers and bays along its
passage.
A famous place to observe the pheno-
menon is in what is called the Minas
basin, a branch of the Bay of Fundy,
that extends into the country of
Evangeline and cuts it up in curious
manner. Especially at the smaller
towns along the Avon river is the sight
to be seen that has been wondered at
by so many.
Windsor is q little town of about s.
600 inhabitants, on the elevation at the
intersection of the Avon and St Croix
rivers, and is a very lively place for so
small one. Here the Avon river is
about a mile in width, and if You hap
pen to strike the river from the interior
YOU would wonder what the inhabitants
and the farmers lived upon the bord-
ers of such a gulch for. You stand
upon the edge of an enormous mud
crevasse, half mile wide and extend
ing as far as the eve can reach, and as
some one refers to the river you put on
your glasses and discover in the center
of this slough of despond a narrow,
trlckling stream, about two feet wide
Can this be the river, you ask? 1t
must be, as here are bridges, two of
them, but so wofully long and shaky on
their pins and high above the stream
they appear like the very ghosts of
bridges on stills From above, the
chasm appears shelved and cavernOus
in its aspect. The sides seem to grade
off into terraces of red and gray mud,
until finally the pan of bottom rock is
reached, along which the pseudo river
flows. Something is expected, as here
arc expensive dykes, that are reared to
keep the water from the farms in the
back country; then again vessels lie at
the docks of this inland town. high and
dry, miles and miles from water deep
enough to float them. Do we wait an
hour or so. all this will be changed.
We first notice the silyery thread Of
water stop in its course, then the water
is seen to flow up stream, and if YOU
turn your head for q few minutes you
find upon again looking that the silvery
thread has grown to a stream fifty feet
vide. Twenty minutes later il is a
raging flood, as wide as the Schuylkill,
foaming, rushing, and boiling, rising in
waves that break against each other,
ever pushing on. as if propelled by
some mysterious force.
In this sudden rush of the waters
animals are often caught; pigs that
have wandered out into the mud are
. overcome by the onward rollers, and
fowl have been seen surrounded and
iloatcd away on the waves. to be res
cued, perhaps, far up the stream, thirty
feet higher than the spot where they
were taken up. Flocks OF birds fre-
quentiy follow the tidal wave. or bore
as it is called, feeding upon the fish
that are east ashore, and catching them
as the tide goes out.
Why The waves should be so high in
coming III is explained in different
ways One theory is that it is formed
by the tidal current rushing a rainst the
current of the river, and passing over
distractions of more than ordinary
height that tend to push the water up.
In the Hoogly river the wave rises to a
height of twenty feet; in the Amazon
thirty. and in the Tsientace. China,
about the same. The wave in Fundy,
however, is not to be compared to
these in any respect. As TO rapidity,
the tide comes III about as fast as an
ordinary horse can trot. and man
woald have to exert all his speed to
escape.
The height to which the water actu-
ally rises differs in different places, and
depends upon circumstances. Thus, if
the sun and moon could pull together,
so to speak, and a strong wind set in at
the same time, an exceedingly high
tide would be the result 1t is claimed
that it has risen sixty feet at Moncton;
at Sackville fifty-foot fall and rise is
common; at Quaco, thirty-four feet,
and at Parrsboro, opposite Cape Blomi-
don, about forty-five feet. These are
remarkable figures. and the sight of
vessels that, say, in the morning have
been alongside the dock. now forty
feet below and no water in sight is
still more remarkable Boston Herald.