The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1897-02-06

The talk about the successful trans.
mission of Niagara power to Buffalo, %
miles from the great cataract, has reg
directed the story of 'the time Niagara
falls ran dry" 1t is now going the
rounds Of the press. and the writer de-
picts with remarkable detail the appear
ance of the falls and bed of the river
above and below the falls and relates
many wonderful incidents in connec-
ton. He says:
Where from the remotest ages and
until few hours before my visit had
rolled and tossed and tumbled those aw-
full rapids there was now to be seen
only great masses of rocks and powders,
between which trickled little threads of
water, none of them larger than tiny
woodland trout stream"
The writer also tells of people cross
log on foot and with horses and car
riages the dry bed of the river and says
there was no water below the falls, a
most impossible occurrence. He says
all this occurred in the latter part of
March, 1913.
The best authority to be obtained in
tlis city-the oldest living inhabitants
say that the falls have not run dry
within their recollection, says Niagara
Falls correspondent of the Buffalo
Evening Times. Major Scion M. N.
Whitney, the oldest living resident of
this city and the discoverer of the Cave
of the Winds sixty years ago, in discuss
ing the matter said;
81 we'll remember the time that the
story refers to, and was one of the first
to notice the fall of water in the river. l
know it was April !. because when | re-
lated the fact to others on that day
they thought it was an All Fools day
joke. 1t was early in the morning of
April that the water began to recede,
and in short time many rocks appear.
ed above the surface that had never
been seen before.
"The American fall, think, was the
lowest it has ever been, though it was
very far from being dry. The Horse
shoe fall was low, but of enormous vol
ume just the same. The statement that
has been sometimes made that ladies
drove in carriages two-thirds of the way
across the river is false. There was no
lady who would have done such thing.
Ladies were timid in those days.
1.-THE cause of the water getting so
low, remember, was an ice jam up the
river somewhere near Buffalo.
Now, about where the falls ran dry.
If you walk to the head of Goat island,
you will notice that for several hundred
feet from the shore up the river the bot
tom of the river is very close to the sur
face. 1t is ledge of rock which ex-
tends out toward the Canadian shore to
point beyond the third Sister isl and.
When the water got to it's lowest point
on that day, this ledge of rocks was
completely dry, and man named Ham
lin drove across Goat island bridge and
up to the head of the island, and from
there was able to drive on this rock
around to the third Sister island and
back. The water had stopped flowing
between Goat Island and the Three Sis
ter islands entirely, and it was nothing
but black rock That is the nearest to
the falls ever running dry. The water
at the point mentioned is always shall
low, and at times the rock shows itself
now. but never SO much as on the date
referred to. AS to the American fall,
there was lots of water passing over it at
the time referred to, but not so much as
under ordinary head. Table rock was
well uncovered, remember, but at no
time did either fall STOP"
Major Whitney's account is corrobo
rated by Judge T. G. Hulett. who has
lived there ever since 1884
CFaf;sf;os ;nat n,odo ,,,LI;o II