The Newberry herald and news. (Newberry, S.C.) 1884-1903, 1893-02-01
ICE BRIDGE AT NIAGARA.
Grandeur and Majesty in Frozen and Mas
sive Forms-Frost Kings Fantastic
Tricks.
New York Herald.

" New York Herald.l
The ice bridge at Niagara Falls this
winter is the greatest that has been
known for years. The fame and beauty
oft have spread for many miles, and
from all parts of the State and from ad-
, jacent Canada thousands have gone,
and many more will journey before the
season is over 10 behold one Of the most
wonderful sights in the world-the great
cataract in the glory Of its full winter
dress. Railroad trains are arriving and
departing crowded with travellers from
far and near, and the New York Cen
trail has been compelled to put on extra
cars to accommodate the rush.
The Prospect House, on the Ameri-
can side, is open and in full swing, and
has as many guests almost as it ever
has, even in summer. The inclined
Railway is running, the guides are on
hand, the much naligned hacknan is
ubiquitous but on runners instead of
wheels, the curiosity and souvenir
shops and the photographers, are all
doing good business, and the town is
full of strangers. The good people of
Niagara have not been able to go to
sleep, as usual, for an all winters nap
like alternating bear-but have to
hustle to entertain the unusual rush
of tourists. There never has been any
thing quite like it in winter at Niagara
Falls before.
THE ICE BRIDGE.
Rarely has the rushing torrent of the
Niagara River been so choked with
the boulders of ice as i: is now They
lie piled in Titanic heaps, as though
in some mighty battle of the giants,
the eombatants had used as missiles
these monstrous frozen rocks and left
them as they are-heaped in tumultu-
Gus masses. Below the falls the river
is corered with these heaps of ice IN
compact and frozen mass. The snow
that has fallen since the ice gorge be-
gan has rounded and smoothed over
the rough edges of the ice, and the ice
bridge now extends in an unbroken
stretch of quarter of mile from
where the angry stream swirs toward
the American side up almost to the
boiling caldron into which the water
makes it's giant plunge from the cliff
above.
ALI around the foot of the cataract
the never ceasing spray has frozen as
it fell and built up monstrous mounds
Office, which have grown higher and
! higher during the prolonged cold snap
until now some of these euriou5ly
shaped hills of solid ice and frozen va
Dor tower ambitiously to more than
half the height of the cataract itself.
The gracefully swelling curves of one
of these frozen mounds must be fully a
hundred feet in height, its apex being
only about sixty feet below the top OF
A SCENE OF GRANDEUR.
On all sides, from the ice fields, rise
strange, fantastic stalagmites of solid
ice, formed, ike the mounds, from the
accumulation of frozen vapor; while
from the shelving rocks above hang
monstrous icicies and stalactites. The
weird grandeur of their effect is in
creased by the great clouds and jets of
vapor which rise here and there. In
the frosty air they look exactly like
clouds of steam bursting from the
frozen sea below, and you find it diff
cult to convince yourself that the surg
ing food beneath the ice is not literally
at boiling heat and that the white va
por is rot indeed jets of steam. And
as you gaze awe struck upon the Won
derous scene you hear natures musical
accompaniment to this frozen epic
the deep diapason Of the cataract's
hoarse roar.
Nothing can be grander or more ma
jestic than the wonderful cataract in
its winter garb, nothing more striking
than the stormy torrent below, strug-
Cling through its fetters of ice, every
moment breaking off huge ieces and
sending them angrily down into the
whirlpool, where poor Captain Webb
and so many more brave but foolhardy
men have lost their lives.
THE SPICE OF DANGER.
It gives you a momentary shiver Is
you stand upon an ice hammock and
look off toward the wicked, black tor
rent, realizing that the same rushing,
treacherous waters are surging under
the ice beneath your feet. You remem-
Der to have read how suddenly the
Niagara ice bridge has broken up in
previous years, and you turn to your
guide and ask him if there is always a
warniog and sufficient time to Chamber
back to shore. he treasures you and
points to the men and boys with sleds
d. and toboggans and barrel slaves coast
ing down the sides of the smaller ice
hill, and then, with a smile, to the
temporary houses which have been
erected on the ice. But you know
there is spice of danger and it adds to
your enjoyment.
Roads and paths have been cut
through the icy hummocks connecting
the Canadian and American shores, and
along these pathways are little frame
houses and booths, where tired and
hungry tourists may rest and refresh
themselves. There are fires in these
little refresbment houses and you may
sit and warm yourself if you are cold.