Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1888-11-23
A HISTORY OF NIAGARA.
The Past and Future Of the Great Cat.
aract.
From the New York Tribune.


Professor Julius Pohlman, ex-president of the
Buffalo society Of natural sciences, has made q
thorough research into the geological and sci
entiic history Of Niagara Falls, with special
reference to the time occupied by natural
changes in the cataract, their nature, effect
and probable future character. He has pre-
pared paper embodying all these points
which win be found interesting reading. Be.
low is given an abstract of the report.
The first scientific survey of the falls was
made In 1872, by Prof. James Hall. the state
geologist of New York, and all of our exac,
knowledge dates from his maps. Prof. Hall
then gave the height of the American fall az
167 feet, and of the Horseshoe fall as 1853 feet
counting the elevations from the waters edge
on October 4. 1912, and he admits that this
starting point can vary from four to twenty
feet with the rise and fall of the water below
the falls. He gave the width of the American
fall as 500 feet and that Of the Horseshoe fall
as 800 feet.
The Lake survey went over the ground again
In 1875, and in these thirty-three years the
southernmost point Of the Horseshoe fall had
receded 160 feet, while in the brink of the
American fall differences of forty feet were ap-
parent.
When the American association for the adj
vancement Of science met here in 1886 the sec
ton OF geology decided to make Niagara the
problem Of the session. and for that purpose
Prof. Woodward, of Washington, and some Of
his assistants surveyed the brink of the falls
again, They found an average recession for
the whole face Of the falls of about two and
one-half feet per annum, but as the central
parts Of the curve, where the water is deepest,
retreated faster than the edges. the southern
most point Of the Horseshoe fall was found to
have travelled south about 300 feet since 1875,
or about $50 feet since 1912, nearly nine feet
every year. In view of such rapid changes it
seems highly probable that the older pictures
OF the falls, which always place the Horseshoe
falls considerably nearer tnan they are to-day,
are practically, or at least partially. correct.
III the rate of retrocession remains during the
next 500 years as it has been for the last forty
nve years, the inner edge of the Horseshoe fall
viii have passed to the east of Goat island and
as the line of deepest water is near the Cana
dian shore all the waters Of the river will pass
over the Horseshoe fall, obliterating the Amer
lean fall entirely and transforming Goat Island
into peninsula, on which the smaller islands
OF to-day, Bath, Luna, Chaplin, etc., will ap-
pear as little hilltops
The fall will then, perhaps be higher than
to-day because the present descent Of fifty feet
over the rapids will be added to the height of
the cataract, minus the number Of feet needed
70 give the necessary current to the river be-
low, which at present is fifteen feet to the mile
considering that even now the Horseshoe fall
no longer recedes south but more east than
south, which recession will be more easterlv
yet in the course of time, it will have to travel
about five miles IN that direction before the
Niagara shale, which now occupies the lower
half OF the face of the fall, is under water, and
the retrocession by means of undermining is
take place are due to the fact that the up
per eighty feet Of the face is formed of a
hard limestone, while the lower eighty
feet is composed of soft, easily crumbling shale.
which the spray can wash away with ease to
such an extent that the everything limestones
he'll ar1nn 49,
with a corresponding change in the appear
ance of the edge of the falls. Then the
changes will be accomplished simply by the
eroding power of the water and the falls will
remain near the northern end of Grand Island
for practically unlimited time. We thus see
that after the falls Of to-day have receded,
perhaps three-quarters of a mile there will
be only one fall; when that one fall has tray-
elled east and south four miles more and
reaches Grand Island, it will again be divided
time separated by Grand Island and, like the
falls OF to-day, the western branch will carry
the largest amount Of water, will recede faster
and be the lower Of the two in height. The
hope OF finally having the falls at Buffalo must
be abandoned, for from that point of Grand
Island to the city of Buffalo only rapids can
exist on account of the nature of the underly-
ing rock, which is soft
As the retrocession Of the falls of Niagara
began in what may be called. geographically.
shc Host Eeccnt pcrlou the time necessary Tor
1t to arrive at its present site has had a very
important bearing upon the question of the
age Of man on the American continent. As
long as it was considered necessary to claim
several hundred thousand years for the age of
Niagara alone, the age of the human race had
to be computed at perhaps half a million of
years; no matter how little such high figures
agreed with other discoveries, the rocky gorge
OF the Niagara always presented an insurmount-
able obstacle against any reduction of time
But since we have discovered that after all the
work of excavation could have been accom-
plished in perhaps three thousand years, our
computation Of the age of the human race has
settled down to reasonable figures, which give
to the beds of sand and gravel in which the
Oldest human implements have been found an
age Of perhaps forty thousand to sixty thou
sand years. and anthropologists claim that all
the facts so far collected agree well with the