Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-07-20
GREATER THAN NIAGARA.
The Marvellous story of Indians Regarding a
Lahrauer Cataract.

The Marvellous Story of Indians Regarding a
Labrador Cataract
Marvellous stories are related by the
few Montagnais and Nascapee Indians
who have penetrated far into the interior
of Labrador respecting a cataract beneath
whose terrific leap Niagara pales into in
significance. But one white man has ever
seen these falls, and the Indians ideas of
measurements and distance are so inper-
feet that, even when their stories agree, it
is exceedingly difficult to deduce from them
anything like reliable data An expedi-
ton lately undertaken by Randle f.
Holme. f. r. G.. s., and HssDaHrfel-
low of All Souls College, Oxford, toaAx7
plore the interior of Labrador, and in
vestigate these falls, unfortunately failed
in its object, the explorers having been
misled by erroneous calculationSeRs to dis
lance andsthe exact location OF the eata-
'ract and compelled to return in conse-
qHence of ruHning shortAof provisions.
They got so near the object of their ex-
pedltion, however, that they were
enabled, from fhe, general confgura-
ton of the country, to form what
uSl U6 a IOl6IdDty -SOII6Cb
to both the location and the magnitude
of the cataract This, estimate agrees
with the descriptions of the grand falls
furnished by Maclean, who visited them
in 1889, and whose further progress into
the interior was stopped by them. He
gave the width of the river immediately
above the falls as 1900 feet, but says
that the cataract itself is not more than
$50 feet across. The height of the falls
is estimated at 1000 feet. His esti-
mate is Endorsed by a halfbreed
named Kennedy, met by Messrs. Holme
and Duff in the interior, and who was in
charge of Fort Naskapee on Lake Petoh-
Rapou. One of the chief difficulties en-
countered by explorers DESTROYS of reach
ing the falls is the obstinate refusal of
the Labrador Indians to approach them.
They believe them to be haunted and
think it impossible to look upon them
and live Kennedy was conducted to
them by an old Indian named Louis Over
the Fire, who, being an Iroquois, did not
share the superstitious belief of the
Montagnais and Nascopees. Messrs.
Holnle and Duff were principally MIS-
led by the erroneous statements of calcu-
latlons as to the distances contained in
Professor Kinds Labrador - the
leading authority upon this virtually I'M
known country. The falls are. on the
Grand or Petchikapou river, which flows
INTO the Hamilton Inlet. They are thirty
miles above Lake Waminikapou, a body
of water which is itself forty miles long,
and situated $50 miles inland from the
mouth of the river. Professor Hind
gives the lake as only 100 miles
from the mouth of the
h0f n
of Messrs. HoIme and Duff has brought
to light the fact that the best works
heretofore published upon this terra in
cognita contain anything but: reliable
data. They agree, however, with
Professor Hind that the elevation of the
immense table land which forms the in
terror of Labrador is about two thousand
two hundred and forty feet. On this
height of land are a succession of great
lakes, Joined by broad, placid streams,
and when these reach the edge of the ia
bic land they commence their wild career
to the sea. The Moisie and the Cold
water rivers descend by successive
falls, but toward the southeast the de-
scent from the elevated table land is.
quite sudden. This is particularly true
of the Grand river, which has drop of
over two thousand feet in the thirty
miles, commencing with the falls and
ending at Lake Waminikapou. There is
a slight rapid below the falls, but none,
near the lake, and everything goes to
show that the height of the grand
falls is very little, if anything, short of
two thousand feet. They are by a great,
deal the highest falls in existence that
are composed of any great volume of
water. There are mere mountain tor
rents that fall from greater height, and
the great fall of the Yosemite Valley
measures $3.50 feet, but it is broken into
three distinct leaps. Niagara en- the
other hand, has height of 164 feet only.