Western Kansas world. [volume] (WaKeeney, Kan.) 1885-current, 1885-07-11

of the shares of the railroad, hut tn
Panama railroad is still and always mus
remain an American company under
penalty of 81, 100000. It is incorporate,
under statute laws of the state of New
York, and all its officers and nearly al
its employees are American. The mar
in the moon might hold the stock, bu
the road would still be American legally
and as long as George A. Burt is genera
superintendent, no one need fear that il
will not be, not only legally but actually
Yankee to the last tie and rail.
TaE MYSTERY OF NIAGARA.
The Mystery Which Is Attached to One OF
Natures Grandest Works.
New York Tribune.
The mystery attached to Niagara Falls
and river is apparently as impenetrable
as it was in 1912, when Professor John
Hall, ofNew York, projected the first
survey of the river. The unknown in.
creases 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 few persons, 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 enor-
nous shoals called the Brick bats" They
are annually increasing in size, and COM
prise the debris of the canon and the
falls. Frost and the atmosphere are dis
migrating agents far more powerful
than the falls themselves. The canon is
widening every year. Enormous bould-
ers continually fall, and, plunging into
the river, are ground to dust in the cur.
rents and hurried away to the shoals. 1t
is remarkable that the rivers mouth
does not become damned with this re.
fuse. 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 vol
ume of water sent hurrying to Ontario at
this terrific speed presents under the
upper bridge solid face of cube 1000
yards square. So enormous is the vol
ume of water hurled through this pas
sage 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 20 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 q vessel. Those who consider
it impossible for the st. Lawrence to be
made by Niagara river are right in one
respect. The former stream receives
vast accessions from American and Cana
dian tributaries, scuh as the interior
chain of lakes, the drainage of the North
ern Adirondacks, and the Ottawa river.
The mysterious and awful depths of
Niagara's canon are fruitful subjects of
comment. Some portions of it are rea-
sonably supposed to be bottomless.
When the first railway bridge was con-
here, some ambitious persons
to sound the canon directly
beneath it. They filed large tin pail
with stones and lowered it with rope.
The currents merely played with it.
Then they took stronger cord, attached
q bar of railway iron to it, which actually
foated, owing to the fierce counter cur
rents. A few years ago the United States
Lake Survey came here, and, as recorder
of the survey, know of the remarkable
data obtained. We saw at once that the
would buoy up large sinker,
and proposed to test the smallest posi-
bic surface with the greatest possible
weight. We took lead weight in form
Of a plumb bob, weighing IL pounds, and
it to 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 posi-
bic, and the result will never be forgot
ZEN by member Of the party in that
,kiff. As We approached the falls, the
roar became more and more terrible,
Until we were not only unable to hear,
put the lips positively refused to open
md utter q sound. For several days
afterwards some of the party were 80
leaf as to be unable to distinguish one
word from another. The lead was cast
irst near the American falls, where bot
ON was found at SO feet. Near the main
alls We found 100 feet of water. Here
he oarsman's strength failed, and the
title craft began to dart down stream.
1t every cast 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 60
urther down stream. Here the lead
old off 1913 feet. We were then able to
compute the depths lower down by SIM
,ly ascertaining the width of the stream.
Directly under the lower bridge the
water narrows considerably and deepens
o 21O feet. Lower down, at the Whirl-
,ool rapids, the gorge becomes very
narrow and the currents terribly fierce.
defe the computed depth was $50 feet.
)ne place in the gorge is still narrower,
md would exceed a depth of 400 feet.
When the depth of water is taken into
the height of the canon
wallis above the surface must not be for
.otten. These walls range from 270 to
80 feet in height, often perpendicular,
10 that the total depth of the canon
apges from $50 to 700 feet. This great
lepth of the gorge leads directly in i'm
gination to the canon's wear. What |
bsurd theories and conjectures have
,een put forth on this subject! Step up,
ny good Biblical scholar, and tell us how |
% cubic miles of solid rock have been |
gorn out in 5000 years? Twenty cubic
,loa 20 v,oroh 1orro. <ho-