The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1885-05-16
Our Q9liu.
The Mystery of Niagara.

The Mystery of Niagara.
The mystery attached to Niagara falls
and river is apparently as impenetrable as
it was in 1912, when Professor John Hall,
of New York, projected the first survey OF
the river. The unknown increases in IN
terest at the present time, when an inter
national effort is being made to preserve
the approaches to the falls. Some OF the
remarkable facts, known only to few per-
sons, principally engineers, may be told IN
order to shed more light upon an old and
familiar object.
Out in Lake Ontario, few miles from
tbs mouth of the river, are several enorm-
ous shoals called the "Brickbats. They
are annually increasing in size, and com
Prise the debris of the canon and the wear
d the falls. Frost and the atmosphere are
iisintegrating agents far more powerful
than the falls themselves. The canon is
widening every year. Enormous boulders
continually fall, and, plunging into the
river, are ground to dust in the currents
and hurried away to the shoals. 1t is re-
markable that the rivers mouth does not
become damned with these refuse. Those
who think it impossible for Niagara to
contain the water that passes through the
St. Lawrence do not pause to consider sew
eral important facts. The current of Ma
gafa ranges from ten miles an hour to two
miles a minute. The volume of water sent
hurrying to Ontario at this terrific speed
presents under the upper bridge solid
face of cube $4,000 yards square. So
enormous is the volume of water hurled
through this passage that Lake Ontario
must necessarily empty itself once in every
few days. Just below the lower bridge
the swells formed by the current rise to
height of twenty feet, so terrific Is the
pressure from above. The Maid of the
Mist passed through the canon at rate In
part exceeding one mile per minute, the
fastest trip ever made by vessel. Those
who consider it impossible for the st. Law
renee to be made by Niagara river are
right in one respect. The former stream
receives vast accessions from American and
Canadian tributaries, such as the interior
chain of lakes, the drainage of the North
ern Adirondacks, and the Ottawa river.
The mysterious and awful depths OF
Niaoaras canon are fruitful subjects Of
comment. Some portions of it are reason
ably supposed to be bottomless. When the
first railway bridge was constructed here
some ambitious persons attempted to sound
the canon directly beneath it. They filled
a large tin pail with stones and lowered it
with rope. The currents merely played
with it. Then they took stronger cord,
attached a bar of railroad iron to it, which
actually foated, owing to the fierce counter
currents. A few years ago the United
States Lake Survey came here, and, as re-
corder of the Survey, | know of the re-
markable data obtained We saw at once
that the currents would buoy up large
sinker, and proposed to test the smallest
possible surface with the greatest possible
weight. We took lead weight in form OF
a plumb-bob weighing thirteen pounds and
attached it to a small but strong cord
Then we secured the services of one OF the
ferry-boatmen and started out into the
stream. The boatman was ordered to row
as nearly under the falls as possible, and
the result will never be forgotten by mem
ber of the party in that skiff, As we ap-
nroached the falls the roar became more
and more terrible, until we were not only
unable to hear, but the lips positively re-
fused to open and utter sound. For
several days afterward some of the party
were SO deaf as to be unable to distinguish
one word from another The lead was
cast first near the American falls, where
bottom was found at 83 feet. Near the
main falls we found 100 feet of water.
Here the oarsman's strength failed, and the
little craft began to dart down stream. AT
every cast of the lead the water grew deep
or until in front of the inclined railway the
old gnide and most of the party became
terror-stricken and refused to go further
down stream. Here the lead told off l93
feet. We were then able to compute the
depths lower down by simply ascertainine
the width of the stream. Directly under
the lower bridge the water narrows con-
siderably and deepens to 21O feet. Lower
down, at the Whirlpool Rapids, the gorge
becomes very narrow and the currents ter
riblv free. Here the computed depth was
$50 feet. One place in the gorge is still
narrower, and would exceed depth OF 4OO
feet. When the depth of water is taken
into consideration the height of the canon
walls above the surface must not be forgot.
ten. These walls range from 270 to 36O
feet in height, often perpendicular, SO that
the total depth of the canon ranges from
$50 to 700 feet. This great depth of the
gorge leads directly in imagination to the
canon's wear. What absurd theories and
coniectures have been put forth on this
subject Step up, my good Biblical scho,
lar, and tell us how twenty cubic miles Of
solid rock have been worn out IN 6,OOC
, wears. Twenty cubic miles Is many times
larger than Manhattan Island. Itprobably
contains more material than is contained
, in Long Island, including the Brooklyn
politicians. There seems to be a current
, impression that the falls recede towarc
! Buffalo at the rate of one foot year. The
great geologist Lyell is responsible for this
, stupendous error. One foot year means
, the displacement of 100000 cubic feet
of rock from the face of the falls annually
sufficient to rebuild all the structures OIL
! Broadway. The displacement is really
about half an inch of the face of the tall'
as a whole. in every five years. Suppose Il
were that amount every year, then Nlagar;
would annually displace 62,5OO cubic fee
of the face of the falls, which would arrive
in Buffalo in the year 3, 3,169, 1856, and have
{; been ,267 900 years reaching their present
position.
No portion of the canon exeites mor'
5 interest than the great maelstrom called th'
Whirlpool. 1t is situated some distance
below the falls and is little visited, owins
| to the fact that guests are shown the Whirl
pool Rapids directly below the lowe
bridge, and think they have seen the whirl
7 pool. It's surface covers territory about ;
tnorter of n mile SQUARE. Its depths arr