Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1896-09-23
WHEN NIAGARA WENT DRY.
4 Description Of the Remarkable Phenome.
non Of Fifty Years Back.

1t is at this writing very nearly {
half century since there occurred OF
Niagara river phenomenon,the like Of
which will probably never again be wit
messed by mortal man.
In the latter part of March, 1S48.
then young man of twenty-four, ant
residing near Toronto, was visiting 9
relative who lived in the village OF
Drummondville a mile or so inland
from the Falls. Early in the morning
of the 31st day of that month / had
occasion to call upon gentleman. the
late Thomas Clark Street, NJ p, who
was at that time my intimate friend
and whose handsome house stood neal
the edge of the tableland only few
hundred yards above the great catar-
act
On arriving at Mr.. Streets, | was met
by the astounding news that the Mag
ara had run dry, And on walking past
a belt of shrubbery to spot command
ing Il view of the riverI saw that such
was indeed the case. Where from the
remotest ages and until a few hours
before my visit. had rolled and tossed
and tumbled those awful rapids, there
was now to be seen but great masses
of rocks and boulders, between which
trickled little threads OF water, none of
them larger than a tiny woodland trout
stream.
At some distance beyond the outer
edge of Streets, or Cedar Island and
quite near the precipice itself, stood
damned in crevice Of the rock, a
short pole, and from the top of this
W cd "a ha,
This uniquely placed staff and flag
were, Mr.. Street told me, planted in
their then position by himself and his
youngest sister shortly after daybreall
that morning. the household having
been aroused by the man in charge of
Touring mill, situated at the edge Of
the rapids, which had been run ever
since it was started by his, Mr.. Street
father during the war Of 1872. but was
now. the man reported stopped for lack
Of water, the race" being almost dry.
Below the falls, where was wont to
rage a seething caldron Of troubled
waters. over whose surface | had safe
~ passed in a little skiff only the day
before, the spectacle was simply fright
full. Here. uncovered by the unfed
floods recession to Lake Ontario lay
huge piles of rocks of every size and
form, which, broken off from time to
time from the ever recedins face of
the cliff above. were now, in all their
appalling grandeur exposed. possibly
for the first time since the dawn Of
creation, to the curious gaze of human
eyes
Looking down upon the awe-inspiring
sight, / no longer wondered that even
fragments of men, animals ard boats
swept over the falls are so seldom cast
to the surface; for it seemed that any
object,at all destructibIe, when knocked
about among those cruel rocks by the
stupendous force of the ever surging
waters above, must be ground to pow
der.
After Il long study of this unprece-
dcnted scene. | went up stream for
half mile or more and actually walked
out to distance of fully four hundred
yards on the rivers bed, while Mr.
Street drove, in common buggy, still
farther toward Goat Island
Here and there. in going along. l no.
ticed numbers of fishes OF various
kinds-bass, pike, suckers. mullets.
and even giant sturgeon
Hopping about in greater or less pools
in the rocky cavities into which they
had doubtless been carried by the re-
sistleSs force Of the downward flowing
waters; for il is not to he supposed
that these creatures hahitually lived in
the rapids; and. when the river rose
again all were probably swept over the
falls and killed
Here was a rich harvest, some par; of
which might have been gathered by the
people on the bank. but, somehow. none
Of them felt like trying it. With the
Niagara's whole volume damned up at
some unknown point above, the ground
was not exactly one on which fisher
men might carelcssly disport them
selves.
However. did at the cost of severely
accrated hands, secure fine 20-pound
and carried him trium-
phantly ashore. thus being able to
boast that | had done something that,
IN all human proba bility. no man will
yer again be afforded the opportunity
to do
Then l went up to the Old village of
-HlHIitNd, where tflt w cIidnt river |
commonly called Chippewa Creek de-
pouches into the Niagara The first |
named river. ordinarily one hundred |
ards wide and navigahle for quite
arge vessels all the way between Chip |
)ewa and Port Robinson. where such |
'csscls lock up into the Welland Canal, |
vas now reduced to n trifing rivulet |
lowing along the centre of its muddy |
>ed; for the draining of the Niagara
lad drained it also.
Indeed the Welland, as to the lower /
'art of its course, must keep on the
anne level as the Niagara whose pellu-
id waters sometimes take complete
possession of the creeks channel and |
rive back its dark-tingcd flood for as
much as two miles from its mouth--a
circumstance which, during an after
csidence of many years in Chippewa,
have known to occur scores of times
In the village i met an old friend, 4
ighly respectable manufacturer named
Henry Bond. who told me that he had
hat morning ridden on horseback from
Glow Mr.. Streets mill out into the bed
+ the river, and so down. outside of
'edar island. to Tabb Rock,
Mr.. Bond also showed me number
f old musket barr els. presumably
of the battle of Chippewa,