Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1885-04-26
THE MYSTERY or SIAoARA.
me Enormous Volume Of wsser FORMING
the Fails.

Out in Lake Ontario, few miles
| from the mouth Of the river, are several
enormous shoals called the "Brick-
bats" They are annually increasing
in size, and comprise the debris of the
canon and the wear Of the falls. Frost
and the atmosphere are disintegrating
agents far more powerful than the falls
themselves. The canon is widening
every year. Enormous boulders con-
tinually fall, and, plunging into
the river, are ground to dust in
the currents and hurried away to
the shoals. IL is remarkable 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. Law
renee do not pause to consider several
important facts. The current of Niagara
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 sc, 900 yards square.
So enormous is the volume of water
hurled drought this passage that Lake On
tario must necessarily empty itself once
in everyfew 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 n
rate in part exceeding one mile per
minute, the fastest trip ever made by q
vessel. Those who consider it impos-
sible for the st. Lawrence to be made
by Niagara river are right in one re-
spect. The former stream receives
vast accessions from America and Ca
madam tributaries, such as the interior
chain of lakes, the drainage Of the
Northern 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-
structed here some ambitious persons
attempted to sound the canon directly
beneath it. They filled large tin pail
with stones and lowered it with a rope.
The currents merely played with it.
Then they took stronger cord, at
tached a bar of railroad iron to it.
which actually floated, owing to the
fierce counter currents. \ few years
ago the United States Lake Sur
vey came here. end. as recorder
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 small
est possible surface with the greatest
possible weight. We took lead weight
in form of plumb-bob weighing thir-
teen pounds and attached it to small
but strong cord. Then we secured the
services Of one of the ferry-boatmen
and started out into the stream. The
bostman was ordered to row as nearly
under the falls as possible, and the re-
suit will never be forgotten by a member
of the party in that skilf. AS we APP
preached 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 Ameri-
can falls, where bottom was found at
SO feet. Near the main falls we found
100 feet Of water. Here the oarSman's
strength failed, and the little craft be-
gan to dart down stream. At every
cast Of the lead the water grew deeper,
until in front Of the inclined railway the
old guide and most Of the party became
terror-stricken and refused to go fur
Their 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 30 feet. Lower down,
at the Whirlpool Rapids, the gorge be-
comes very narrow and the currents
terribly fierce. Here the computed
depth was $50 feet. One place in the
gorge is still narrower, and would ex-
coed a depth of 400 feet. When the
depth of water is taken into consldera-
ton the height Of the canOn-walls above
the surface must not be forgotten.
These walls range from go to 800 feet
in height, often perpendicular, so
that the total depth of the canon ranges
from $50 to 100 feet. This great depth
of the gorge leads directly in magma
ten to the cahon'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 larger than
Manhattan Island. 1t probably con-
tains more material than is contained
in Long Island. including the Brooklyn
politicians. There seems to be cur
rent impression that the falla recede
toward Buffalo at the rate Of one
foot a year. The great geologlSt
Lyell is responsible for this stupendous
error. One foot a year means the
displacement of 100000 cubic feet OF
rock from the face Of the falls annual
". sufficient to rebuild all the struc-
lures on Broadway. The displacement
is really about half an inch Of the face
of the falls as whole in every five
years. Suppose it were that amount
every year. then Niagara would annually
displace 60, 500 cubic feet of the face of
the falls, which would arrive in Buffalo
in the year 3,lG9,S85, and have been
1907 900 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 direct
" below the lower bridge, and think
they have seen the whirlpool. Its sur
face covers territory about quarter Of
a mile square. Its depths are enor-
nous and unknown. One thousand