The Russellville Democrat., 1884-10-09

after a careful measurement with tho eye thirty feet satisfies me The notion that there are rocks near the Surf1ce in the middle of this channel Is absurd tue depth that there must iae 10 carry of fhss accumnlat on of water at all for bids it. and had there been rocks there the Maid of the Mist would have been splintered to atoms upon them on her voyage down in June. 1S6l- lt is my conviction. after a long and careful sur vey of these rapids. that the man who venturel into them would be certain to have fhe breath bmffsted out of his body before ile couid reach the whirlpool. aud suspect that Lr. ts \. Palmer was not far from the truth when he testified be- fore the Coroner jury that Webb was stunned and shocked to death. If I may so phrase it, b. what he styled .'fhe re- actionary force of the water. He might easily have been carried against rocks lower down the river. but the business was done for him here. as 1t will be for any man foolish enough to emulate his attempt.
 Yet it is gravely stated by one or two .eye-wilnesses. that after the worst of these api,i> was passed, and near the entrance of the whirlpool Webb was seen 10 raise hts head. look toward the Canadian shore and dive, which was the last seen of him. This is simply bosh. As the body of this unfortunate man was whirled through these rapids. carried up and down and dashed hither and thither. it was utterly i'm possible for the t cited on-lookers to tell. in the brief and iTn- perfect glimpses they had of him, whether he was alive or dead. whether he raised his head or great pillow threw it ur, whether he dived or was borne under by thc current. There is no certainty of anything in any of these statements. except that the body of a man was seen 10 be hurled down through these rapids. The nature of the place and the conditions of the view forbid anything ke certainty.
 But supposing. what l assume never will happen that the body of M. Hilario Balsan, or some other wster-cranS, be discharged from the rapids into the whirlpool with some breath in it, what then? Let us ascend this elevator and % down the river three-quarters Of 3 mile. and see for ourselves. \ great bend n the road occurs just before we reach it. corresponding to the inden;a- ton in the bank which is the basin of the whirlpool l will use few more figures from the United States survey, which will help us to realize the savage grandeur and immensity of this place. First. let us say that this torrent, rush ing down to the northwest. has scooped out a deep, wide basin from the Canada side. as nearly seIni-circular in shape as finally escape fyom this confinement they rush out sharp to the northeast The basin of the whirlpool is 2 pit sur rounded by almost perpendicular banks 325 feet high. thickiy clothed with pines and cedars. The width of the in let is 400 feet; of the outlet, which is the narrowcst To;nt on tie river. 800 feet distance straight across the basin. from bank to bank, on the Canada side. l,s26 feet the same from shore to shore. at he waters edge, ]. l00 feet depth of water in the whirlpool, 490 feet. area. 6 acres.
 Those persons who declare that there is no whirlpool. but merely success sion of small eddies, can not have used their eyes. The torrent comes in with the same mighty rush and uproar that has characterized ii on its course from the Suspension bridge down, shoots perhaps ihree-quarters of the way across the cllasn, takes swirl in 10 the left, and comes straight back, with dimin- ished force, it is true, but still with a powerful current, and again falls into the main torrent The other third of the basin. toward the shore, looks com paraiivcly calm. but it is in fact aei- lated by ceaseless suctions and under currents. and from this side the great volume of the water escapes down the stream.
 None of the swimmers, pseudo swim ners, and high brags. who have visited Niagara this summer. have displayed any anxiety 10 enter tbe river al this point and try their fortunes in the grand round of the whirlpool Most of them have pooh-poohed at it, and advertised the most cheerful confidence that he who passed the rapids safely would have no difficulty here, but none of them have tried it. All such re- mark arH merely the offspring of ignor- ancf ld Inhabitants here. river mon. fhd have studied the whirlpool closl [ fe of the opinion that no swim mcr could control himself al all in it, or, once ont in the whirl, get back to the shore. He would be clutched by it's continual suction and drawn down, as logs fifty feet long frequently are. But suppose that instead of entering the whirlpool fresh he has Teen tum- bled and dashed about by the savage torrent of the previous mile' Suppose he has little breath in his poor. buff feited body, and that he has sufficient of his sense left to try to make land. ing? It is utterly beyond his power. He is carried instantly right into the maw If the waier-monster. and hs fate will b. just that of everything tha; ever entered it. Fordays. or perhaps weeks, he will be borne round and roana in she grip of the vortex. and finally picked ap miles below, ss was Webb, a bra sed and tloatcd corpse.
 self-coniidence is an excellent thing when not joined with ignorance. but that quality which impels 8 man 10 match his feeble powers against the ter riiicforces of nature inihe Niagara River ;S ,,,.,.,aarIs- daSf,-i,.ei hx ofba,- lanorra1a