New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-11-18
A HISTORY OF NLAGARA.
nHH PAST AND THE FUTURE OF THE GREAT
CATARACT

Ntaear, Falls Nov l6.-Professor julius Pohimah'
exprcsdent OF the Buffalo Society OF Natural soreness
has made thorough research into the geoososi anu
scientific history Of Niagara Falls, with specai rcier
snce to the time occupied by natural changes III 'hs
cataract. their nature, effect and probable future
~haracter He has prepared a paper embodying all
these points which will be found interesting rcadmg.
Below is given abstract of the report
The first scientific survey Of the Falls was maze
IN 1sAo nv Professor James Hail. the State geoogst
of NewJfork, and all OF our exact hno"icueo U"'es
from his maps Professor Hall then. gave inc hesn'
Of the American Fan as l67 feet and of the Horseshoe
FAN as l5s feet. counting the elevations from The
raters eire on October a, 1912, and he admits that
this starring point can vary from four to twenty
feet with the rise and fau Of the water below the FAILS
He cave the width Of the American Fall as GOO feet
and that Of the Horseshoe Fall as 1900 feet
The Lake survey went the ground again In
zs75 and in these thrythree years the southernmost
point of the Horseshoe Fall had receded 100 feet,
while in the brink OF the American FAN differences
of forty feet were apparent.
when the American Association for the Advance
snent of Science met here in 1856 the section OF
geology decided TO make Niagara the problem OF the
session, and for that purpose Professor 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
swo and one half feet per snnum but the central
parts of the curve where the water Is deepest, re-
areated faster than the edges the southernmost point
of the Horseshoe FAN was found to have travelled
south about 200 feet since 1875, or about 500 ice'
since 1872 nearly nine feet every year. In we"
of such rapid changes it highly probable 'na'
the older pictures OF the Falls, which always place
the Horseshoe Falls considerably nearer than tney
are to-day, are practically, or at least paruany
correct
II the rate OF retrocesson remains during the next
900 wears as It has been for the last foryhve years.
% tbA HnpS
rassed 10 the east of Goat Island, and as the line
OF deepest water is near the Canadian shore all the
waters of the river will pass over the HORSESHOE
Fall celebrating the American Fall entirely and trans
forming Coat Island into peninsula, on which
the smaller Islands Of to-day, Bath, Luna
Chapin etc, will appear as little hilltops
The fall Will then, perhaps, be higher IMAM TO-
day because the present descent OF fifty feet over the
rapfds VIII be added 20 the height of the cataract,
minus the number Of feet needed to give the
necessary current the river below, which at present
IS fifteen feet TO the mile Considering that oven
Row the Horseshoe FAN longer rcedes south but
more east than south, which recession will be more
easterly vet in the of time, IL will have 10
travel about five miles in that direction before the
Niagara shalc, which now occupies the lower h&1
of the face of the Fall, is under water; and the
retrocession by means Of undermining IS stopped
For at present the changes that take place are due
10 the fact that the upper eighty feet Of the face
- a
feet is composed of soft, easily crumbling shale,
which the spray can wash away with ease TO such
an extent that the everything limestones lose their
support break off and tumble down with correspond
ing change in appearance Of the edge of the Falls
Then the changes VIII be accomplished simply by the
erodng power the and the Falls will remain
near the northern end Of Grand Island for practcsy
upliu,tcd time We thus that after the Fails OF
to-day have receded, perhaps three-qnafsers OF
mile there will be only Fall when that one all
has travelled east and south four miles more and
reaches G:and Island, 1t will again be divided mfo
an American and a Canadian cataract, this time
separsted by Grand Island and, like the Falls of
TODAY, the western branch VIII carry the largest
amount of water, viii reccde faster and be the lower
of the two in height The hope of finally having
she Falls at Buffalo must be abandoned, Tor rom
only rapids exist account OF the nature OF te
underlying rock, which is soft.
AS the rrtrocession of the Falls OF Niagara began
in what may be called, geoogcaly, the most recent
present site has had very important bearing upon
The question of the of man on the Amerlc an
'ooutinent AS long it considered necessary
10 claim several hundred thousand years for the age OF
be computed al perhaps half a. million OF years
no matter how little such high figures agreed win
other discoveries, the rocky gorge OF the Niagara
ALWAYS presented nsurmouDtable obstacle against
that after all the work of excavation could have
been accomplished in perhaps 1900 years. our com,
mutation of the age Of the human race has settieo
down to reasonable figures, which give TO the beds OF
ments have been found an age Of perhaps 40 600
10 10000 years, and anthropologists claim that all
the facts far collected agree well with the latter
Gsure