The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1885-04-23
THE MYSTERY OF NIAGARA.
The River Constantly Widening-Depth OF
the Water in the whirlpool.

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New York Times
The mystery attached to Niagara Falls and
river is apparently as impenetrable as it was in
1872 when Prof John Hall. of New York, pro-
jected the first survey of the river. The I'M
known increases in interest at the present time,
when an international effort is being made to
preserve the approaches to the falls Some OF
the remarkable facts known only to a few per-
sons principally engineers, may be told, in order
to shed more light upon an old and familiar OBJ
ject.
Out in Lake Ontario, a few miles from the
mouth of the river, are several enormous shoals;
called the "Brickoats" They are annually in
creaslng IN size, and comprise the debris OF tho
canyon and the wear of the falls Frost and the
atmosphere are disntegrating agents far more
powerful than the falls themselves. The canyon
is widening every year. Enormous powders
continually fall and. plunging into the river,
are ground to dust Ill lthe currents and hurried
away to the shoals. 1t ID 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 sever
al important facts The current of Niagara
ranges from ten miles an hour to to two miles
minute. The volume OF water sent hurrying
to Ontario at this terrific speed presents under
the upper bridgea 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 a
vessel. Those who consider it impossi for the
st. Lawrence to be made by Niagara river are
right in one respect The former stream
ceives vast accessions from American and Cana
dian tributaries, such az the interior chain of
lakes, the drainage of the northern Adirondacks
and the Ottawa river.
The mys FERROUS and awful depths of Niagaras
canon are fruitful subjects Of comment Some
portions of it are reasonably supposed to be bot
tomless. When the first railway bridge was con-
structed here some ambitious persons attempted
to sound the canon directly beneath it. They
filled large tin pail with stones and lowered it.
Then they took a stronger cord, attached bar
Of railway 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 recorded of the survey. l know of
the remarkable depth obtained. We saw at
once that the currents would buoy up large
snker, 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
small but strong cord. Then we secured the
service of one of the ferry boatmen and started
out into the stream. The boatman was
ordered to as nearly under the
falls as possible, and the result will never
be forgotten by member of the party in that
came more and more terrible, until were not
only unable to hear but the lips positively re-
fused to open and utter sound. For several
days aftefward some of the party were so deaf
as to be unable to distinguish one word from
other. The lead was cast first near the American
Falls, where bottom was found at eighty three
feet Near the main falls we found one hundred
feet of water. Here the oarsman's strength
failed, and the little craft began to dart down
stream. Atovery east of the lead the water
grew deeper, until IN front or the inclined rail
way the old guide and most of the party became
terror stricken, aud refused to go further down
stream Here the lead told off 1913 feet. We
were then able to compute the depths lower
down by simply ascertaining the width of the
stream Directly under the lower bridge the
water narrows considerably. and deepens to 2l0
feet. Lower down, at the Whirlpool Rapids, the
gorge becomes very narrow, and the currents
terribly fierce Here the computed depth was
$50 feet. One place in the gorge is still mar
rover, and would exceed depth of 400 feet.
When the depth of water is taken into consider
alton the height of the canon walls above the
surface must not be forgotten. These walls range
from go to 360 feet in height often perpendicu-
lar, 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 conjectures
have been put forth on this subject. Step up
my good biblical scholar and tell us how twenty
cubic miles of solid rock have been worn out in
5000 years. Twenty cubic miles is many times
tains more material than is contained in Long
Island including the Brooklyn politicians. There
seems to be current impression that the Falls
recedes toward Buffalo at the rate of one foot
year. The great geologist Lyell is re-
sponsbe for this stupendous error One
foot a year means the displacement
of 100000 cubic feet of rock from
the face of the falls annually, sufficient to re-
build all the structures on Broadway. The dis
placement is really about half an inch of the
g a IN
Suppose it were that amount every year. then
Niagara would annually displace 62, 500 cubic
feet of the face of the falls. which would arrive
in Buffalo in the year g. 1863 1885, and have been
1,267, 600 years reaching their present position.
No portion of the canon excites more interest
than the great maelstrom called the Whirlpool.
1t is situated some distance below the falls, and
is little visited, owing to the fact that guests
are shown the Whirlpool rapids directly below
the lower bridge, and think they have seen the
Whirlpool Its surface covers. territory about
quarter of a mile square It's depths are
enormous and unknown. One thousand feet
its bottom. Dead bodies and marked logs
required nine days to go to the bottom and
return. This great mBlstrom has been a bug
bear OF speculation. We are gravely told that
through this whirlpool is subterranean outlet
for the waters of the great lakes. One sentence
or one thought sufiees to shatter this specula-
ton. There could be no such gigantic cause
without gigantic effect. All of the water pour
ing over the Falls passes through the Whirlpool.
If it has an underground outlet where is the gi
gantic spring which upheaves the mighty vol
ume of watersa No spring in the earth is large
enough to undertake such task. One naturally
asks the question, where the waters go which
enter here They simply flow out and on
through the canyon. The WHIRLPOOL is in the
form of a large circle The average
force of the volume of water moving
through the canyon is 135, 900 feet square.
This compact mass of water moves with
incredible swiftness, entering the whirlpool on
one side, spinning around like top and con-
stantly passing out into the canon to rush madly
on. It's own velocity gives it a circular motion,
and the moving masses from behind create tre-
mendous pressure which forces the circulation
10 the bottom of the whirlpool The cause of
the existence of the whirlpool is easily accounted
for. At time the falls were here and during
thousands of years excavated the great chasm
known the whirlpool. While the falls and