Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1897-01-15
When Niagara Went Dry.
Remarkable Phenomenon OF Fifty
Years Back Described by an Eye-wit-

ness.
| wv. Thomson in the Boston Transcript
1t is at this writing very nearly half
century since there occurred on Niagara
river phenomenon, the like of which will
probably never again be witnessed by NOR
tai man. In the latter part of March, 1913,
|, then young man of twenty-four, and
residing near Toronto, was visiting a rel
alive Who lived in the village of Drum
n ondvile, a mile or so inland from the
Falls. Early in the morning of the 31st
day of that month | had occasion to call
upon a gentleman, the late Thomas Clark
Street, NJ. p, who was at that time my in
innate friend, and whose handsome house
stood near the edge of the lakeland only a
few hundred yards above the great cata-
ract.
On arriving at Mr.. Streets l was met by
the astounding news that the Niagara had
run dry! And on walking past a belt of
shrubbeTy to a spot commanding a view of
the river, | saw that such was indeed the
case. Where from the remotest ages and
until 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
|
them larger than a tiny woodland trout
stream. At some distance beyond the out
er edge of Streets, or Cedar, island and
quite near the precipce itself, stood, jam
med in a crevice of the rock, a short pole,
and from the top of this waved lady's
white handkerchief. This uniquely placed
staff and flag were, Mr. Street told me,
planted in their then position by himself
and his youngest sister shortly after day
break that morning.
Below the falls, where was wont to rage
seething caldron of troubled waters, over
whose surface | had safely passed in a
little skff only the day before, the spectacle
was simply frightful. Here, uncovered by
| the unfed Hood recession to Lake Ontario,
lay huge piles of rocks of every size and
form, which, broken off from time to time
from the ever recedng 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 Gu
rlous gaze of human eyes. Looking down
upon the awe inspiring sight, l no longer
wondered that even fragments of men, an
| finals and boats swept over the falls are so
seldom cast to the surface; for it seemed
that any object, at all destructble, when
knocked about among those cruel rocks by
the stupendous force of the ever surging
waters above, must be ground to powder.
After long study of this unprecedented
scene, | went up stream for a half mile or
more and actually walked out to a distance
of fully four hundred yards on the rivers
bed, while Mr.. Street drove, in a common
buggy, still farther toward Goat island.
Here and there, in going along | noticed
numbers of fishes of various knds-bass,
pike, suckers, mullets, muscaonge, and
even giant sturgeon, Topping about in
greater or less pools in the rocky cavities
into which they had doubtless been carried
by the resistless force of the downward flow
ing waters; for it is not to be supposed that
these creatures habitually lived in the rap
ids; and, when the river rose again, all were
probably swept over the falls and killed.
Here was a rich harvest, some part of
which might have been gathered by the
people on the bank, but, somehow, none of
them felt like trying it. With the Nagara's
whole volume damned up at some I'M
known point above, the ground was not
exactly one on which fishermen might
carelessly disport themselves However, |
did, at the cost of severely lacerated hands,
secure fine twenty-pound muscalonge and
carried him triumphantly ashore, thus be-
ing able TO boast that | had done some
thing that, in all human probability, no
man will ever again be afforded the oppor-
tunity to do.
Then / went up to the old village of Chip
pewa, where the Welland river Commonly
called Chippewa Creek debouches into the
Niagara. The first-named river, ordinarily
one hundred yards wide and navigable for
quite large vessels all the way between
Chippewa and Port Robinson, where such
vessels lock up into the Welland canal, was
now reduced to a trihng rivulet, flowing
along the centre of its muddy bed; for the
draining of the Niagara had drained it also
For several days before the occurrence of
this remarkable phenomenon violent west
winds had prevailed, driving the shallow
waters of Lake Erie down the Niagara in
tremendous volumes. Suddenly the wind
veered around to the east, forcing Eres
lowered waters back toward the head of
that lake and thus giving the ice, then run
nlng in immense quantities, chance TO
ground at its outlet, thereby forming a
dam, which cut off Niagaras supply and
allowed ii to run comparatively dry. This
is matter of fact, and no other reasonable
explanation is possible
Toward evening of the 3lst the east wind
abated; Erie, pressed on by the ortpour of
the Great Lakes above, slowly resumed its
usual level, the ice gorge gave way; and
when l looked out on Niagara and Welland
rivers before sunrise of April 1st both were
bank full. But the little flag of truce, i'm
potent to stay the onward rush of those
Titanic forces, had disappeared.