The Monitor., 1885-07-17
THE FALLS OF NIAGARA.
Something About the French In Can
ada-The Indian Sacrifice
at the Falls.

Herewith is given a brief description OF
by ii late visit Much has been written OF
this stupendous work of nature and there
has been much time spent in study concern
ing what it was in the past, and what its
future may be. Some writers are of the
opinion that the great chasm below the
falls is caused by the constant wear of the
water. As regards that no man knows,
for it is as mighty work of nature as
the falls themselves. 1t looks as though
it had been engineered by mighty mind,
and ehiseled into its present state by still
more skillful hand.
Its height has somewhat diminished since
first visited by the immortal Champlain,
the first governor of Canada. Had the
French followed his advice. the English
government would to-day have no power in
America. This man was a statesman, a
philanthropist, a sailor and an agriculturist.
He made his people cut down the forests
and till the soil. He wisely said the eoun-
try could not be held unless it was peopled.
and produced sufficient provisions to sup
port its own garrison and its population.
His successors pursued different course;
they put stop to making of farms, and
granted tine land into signeursAips, and
those blocks of land were generally so
miles in frontage. and extended far inland,
and were used entirely for fur trading pur-
poses. and when the middle of the eigh-
teenth century came around, and it became
one continual strife between English and
French as to which should possess the
whole of North America, England had
1000, 900 of people in what we will call
the old colony portion of the nited States.
and France had 10000 in what includes
British North America. There is no per-
son who has read upthe history of America
but knows that Canada was taken from
French almost entirely by troops drawn
from what is termed the old colony states.
and the world never produced better
soldiers, as they proved the war for indie
pendence. and later in the war of 1S12-14.
Champlain has no monument; none
knows his last resting place, but the city
of Quebec is his monument; in the laying
out of the streets. in the churches, in all
you see his work.
But to return to my subject. On the
American side of the river just below the
falls, there is steam running out of the
- - h. IL. oh hal
the surface of the water to the top of the
embankment. which goes to show that
there may be subterranean passages Then
there are two falls. then Goat island, and
then we come the falls on the Canada side.
This. they say, is breaking away, beeom-
ing lower. and fear is entertained, lest the
cataract should disappear all together,
and Lake Erie so drained as to put stop
to the navigation of that lake. | have no
fear in that respect, as long as Goat Island
stands. The island is quite large, contain
ing about seventy acres. and while that
remains it will hold the waters back,
sufficiently to protect Lake Erie. This
wearing away of the falls comes OF the
country being denuded of its forests. The
spring SHOWS go off so suddenly that the
rush of waters wears greatly upon the falls.
Tradition has it that the Indians thought
those waters were angry, and to appease
their wrath, placed maiden 16 years OF
age in canoe and bound her fast, and
sent the canoe with its precious freight
over the rapids, thinking thereby TO calm
those angry waters. 1t is also said that
since Champlain first visited this stupen-
dous work of nature, each year there has
been human sacrifice.