Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-05-02
MYSTERY OF NIAGARA.
THE ENORMOUS VOLUME OF
WATER FORMING THE FALLS.
The River Constantly Widening
Tremendous Depth of the River
at Whirlpool Rapids.

pS~A-A
Hall, OF New York, projected the first sur
vey of the river The unknown increases
in interest at the present time, when an in
ternational 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 she'd more light upon an old and
familiar object. Out in Lake Ontario, a
few miles from the mouth of the river, are
several enormous shoals called the Brick
hats They are annually increasing in
size, and comprise the debris of the canyon
and the wear of the falls. Frost and the
atmosphere are disintegrating agents far
more powerful than the falls them
selves The canyon is widening every
wear. Enormous powders continually fall
and, plunging into the river, are ground
to dust in the current and hurried
away 10 the shoals. 1t is remarkable that
the rivers mouth does not become
damned with this refuse. Those who
think it impossible for Niagara to contain
the water that passes through the St.
Lawrence do not pause to consider several
important facts. The current of Niagara
ranges from ten miles an hour to two
miles minute. The volume of water
sent hurrying to Ontario at this terrific
speed presents under the upper bridge a
solid face of a 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 a
height of twenty feet, so terrific is the
pressure from above. The Maid of the
Mist passed through the canyon at a rate
in part exceeding one mile per minute, the
fastest trip ever made by a vessel. Those
who consider it impossible for the St.
Lawrence to be made by Niagara river are
right i'll one respect The former stream
receives vast accessions from American and
Canadian tributaries, such as the interior
chain of lakes the drainage Of the Northern
Adirundacks and the Ottawa river.
The mysterious and awful depths of Nj
agara' ) canyon are fruitful subjects of COM
ment Some portions Of it are reasonably
supposed to be bottomleSs. When the first
railway bridge was constructed here some
ambitious persons attempted TO sound the
canyon directly beneath it. They filled a
large tin pail with stones and lowered it
with a rope. The currents merely played
with it. Then they took a stronger cord,
attached bar OF railway iron to il, which
actually tloated, 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 remark
able data obtained. We saw at once that
the currents would buoy up a large sinker,
and proposed to test the smallest possible
surface with the greatest possible weight.
We took lead weight III form of plumb
bob weighing thirteen pounds, and attached
it TO Il small but strong cord. Then we Sc
cured the services of one of the ferry boat
men 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
member Of the party in that
skilf Aswe approached the Falls the roar
became more and more terrible, until we
were not only unable to hear, but the lips
positively refused to open and utter a
sound. For several days atterward 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 SO feet. Near
the main Falls we found 100 feet of water.
Here the oarsnian's strength failed, and the
little craft began to dart down stream. At
every east of the lead the water grew
deeper, until in front of the inclined rail
way the old guide and most of the party
became terror-stricken and refused to go
further down stream. Here the lead told
off 1893 feet We were then able to compute
the depths lower down by simply ascer-
tanning the width of the stream. Directly
under the lower bridge the water narrowS
and deepens to 30 feet.
Lower down, at the Whirlpool Rapids, the
gorge becomes very marrow and the cur
rents terribly fierce, Here the computed
depth was $50 feet. One place III the gorge
is still narrower, and would exceed depth
of lG0 feet When the depth OF water is
taken into consideration the height Of
the canyon walls above the surface
must not be forgotten. These walls range
frcm 30 to $50 feet in hight, often perpen-
dicuiar, 50 that the total depth Of the canyon
ranges from $50 to 700 feet. This great
depth Of the gorge leads directly in imagi-
nation 20 the canyon : wear. What absurd
theories and coniectllres have been put forth
On this subject Step up my good Biblical
scholar and tell rs how twenty cubic miles
Of solid rock have been worn out in 1000
years. Twenty cubic miles is many times
larger than Manhattan Island. II probably
contains more material than is contained
in Long Island, including the Brooklyn
politicians There seems to be a current
impression that the Falls recedeS towards
Buffalo at the rate OF one foot year. The
great gcUiogist Lycll is responsible for this
error. one foot year means
the displacement OF ! 100000 cubic feet Of
rock from the face of the Falls annually,
to rebuild all the structures on
Broadway The displacement is really
about half an inch Of the face of the Falls
as whole IN every FIVE years. Suppose it
would annually dispiacc 81 800 cubic feet
IF the face of the Falls, which would ar
i've in Buffalo III the year 3,l69 $50, and
nave been / ,267 600 years reaching their
present position.
No portion of the canyon eXcitcS more in !
crest tian the great maelstrom called the
" hirlpool. 1t is situated some distance
below the Falls. and is l;ltle visited, owing /
@ the fact that guests are shown the Whirl- !
pool Rapids, directly below the lower
ridge and they think they have seen the
Whirlpool It's surface covers territory
.bout q quarter Of a mile square. It's depths
re enormous aad unknown. ono thousand
Get of cord was found 700 short to reach
he bottom Dead bodies and marked logs
equire nine days 10 go to the bottom and
'eturu. I his great maelstrom has been a
)ugbear of speculation. We are grdvely
tl't ttidt ili4 'llt tliiS W HI ltol - Il SUD
errapean outlet for the waters of the great .
axes. One sentence or one thought sutfi-
,es TO shatter this speculation. There could
leno such gigantic cause without 4 gigantic /;
fleet All of the water pouring over the .
Fails passes through the Whirlpool. If It |
las an underground outlet. where is the
gigantic spring which upheavcs the mighty
'olune Of waters No sprin4 in the earth ],
$ large enough to undertake such task. /
)ne naturally asks the question !
where the waters 90 which enter
lere. They simply flow ont and on
through the canyon. The Whirlpool is in /
he form OF large circle The average
,orce of the volume Of water moving
through the canyon is 135. 600 feet square.
This compact mass of water moves with
Incredible swiftneSS, entering the Whirl-
lool on one side, spinning around like a !
op and constantly passing ont into the
,anyon 10 rush madly on. Its own velocity ;
gives it circular motion, and the moving
masses from behind create a tremendous
pressure which forces the circulation to the
bottom of the Whirlpool. The cadse of the
existence of the WhirlDOoi Is easily oc &