The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1898-04-09
AN APPALLING SILENCE.



strange depressing me. was born TWEEN
ty-five years before with the roar of Nj
agara Falls in my ears, and had lived
even since then within a mile of the thun-
dering cataract When awoke that
morning oppressed by that strange feel
ing it was some time before i discovered
that 1t was caused by the unmistakable
and astounding fact that the rumble and
roar of Niagara was gone.
when | realized this my first thought
was that j had become deaf during the
, night, but the ticking of a clock that i
heard distinctly in an adjoining room
| proved that my hearing was all right.
The tumult of Niagara was stilled. never
theless. and the unwonted silence was
something appalling Certain that some
unheard-of catastrophe must be impend-
ing, i sprang out of bed, dressed hurridIy
and ran from the house. Early as 1t was
] found scores of people had been awak-
ened as i had been. and were hurrying
| pell nell towards the falls to learn what
was the cause of the alarming quietude
II was soon learned, and sight was wit
messed at the falls of Niagara such as
had never been seen before, at least by
people then on earth, and IL was not with
in the bounds of proba bility that such a
sight will ever be witnessed again.
Where had baen the river that for I'M
told ages had rushed impetuously on to
form that stupendous cataract there was
but naked bed of jagged black and
SHINY rocks. and the precipice over which
II had hurled its mighty volume OF thun-
dering and raging waters for all those
ages was bare from shore 10 shore, Nj
agara was dry, or so nearly so that the
water that struggled over the great wall
OF rock was as but the tinkle of a noun
tain brook where the roar of that awful
catarct had been.
THE American channel Of the river had
dwindied 10 the dimensions Of a creek
that one might easily step over and the
water that still ran in the British chan
mel resembled some inland river affected
by a severe August drought Goat ISL
and was as big as two Goat Islands as
the water had shrunk from every side
of 1t, leaving a wide expanse of ragged
saVage-looking rocks which no eye. SO
far as the record was. had ever seen be-
fore. The bed of the Canadian RAPIDS. far
out into the stream. was dry, as was the
space between the lower end of Goat ISL
and and out beyond the tower that we'll
remembered old landmark long since
gone.
The rocks thus exposed We're black
and forbidding. giving the dry river bed
the appearance of a tract of timber
through which fire had swept leaving
ing. The Three Sisters looked forIorn
In their enhanced dimensions. The great
Jet of water which from time out of mind
leaped into the air from the snarling
rapids south of these islands. and is lean
ing there today, was not Ieaping that
morning. and there was not enough left
of the rapids to snarl.
People from the Canada side walked
along the edge Of the precipice, where
only the day before a thousand-ton wall
could not have sustained itself against
the rush of waters. and made their way
easily nearly to Goat Island on the
American size without wetting their feet
The water in the river below the falls
had of course shrunk i'm proportion be-
ing no longer fed from above, revealing
an array Of irregular pinnacled rocks
that gave spectators for the first time
an idea of the hidden perils many of
them had braved scores of times as pas
sengers on the little Maid Of the Mist
the famous little vessel that daily forced
its way through those waters over those
Threatening rocks TO the foot Of the
Fails. The entire scene was at once desc
late. strange, and awful to contemplate.
Ignorant Of the cause OF this incredible
phenomenon. the people were filled with
alarm and apprehension as to its mean--
ing. Nevertheless they could not refrain
from swarming over the dry bed of the
river and about the great barred preci-
picc itself exploring caves. dark recesses
curious formations in the rocks, and other
remarkable features of the cataract and
rapids, the existence of which they had
never dreamed of, and which no mortal
eye had perhaps ever gazed upon before
number of ancient gunbarrels We're
found among the rocks Of the river bed
above the rapids. Thomas G. Streeter,
who had grist mill on the Canada side
of the river. drove with a horse and
wagon nearly across 10 Goat Island and
a man named Holly drove with a buggy
from the head of Goat. Island clear 10 the
spot where the leaping JET OF water had
always writhed and foamed He also cut
several sticks of timber near the head
of the Horseshoe Falls, had them hewed
there. and hauled them away with four
horses.
This extraordinary condition of affairs
at Niagara continued all day, and there
was no sign of change when the dis
turbed people weary of waiting for one,
went TO bed late that night. When We
awoke the next morning. however, the old
familiar thunder of the falls was shaking
the earth as before, and the river and
rapids were again the rushing, seething,
whirling, irresistible torrent as of old.
Then we learned what had made Niagara
run dry.
coolest on record. Such ice had never
been known there, l guess, as formed on
Lake Erie that season. Toward the end
of March a stiff northeasterly wind came
up, and its force was so great that il
moved the great fields of ice, then en-
tirely separated from the shores I'D the
lake, piling the foes in great banks as
they moved. Toward night on March 80
the wind changed suddenly to the oppo-
site quarter and became a tremendous
gale. The lakes surface was packed with
miniature icebergs, and those were hurled
back by the storm with such force that
q great dam was formed by them at the
head of Niagara River. This dam was
for the time so impregnable and complete
that the current of water that finds its
way from the lake in the rushing chan
mel of that river, to be at last dashed over
the gigantic precipice at the falls of Nj
agara, was held in check, and only a
very small portion of it's usual volume
could nnd passage through the great
pack OF Ice. Consequently il was not
long before the river above the falls was
'darined of its supply, and, as the ice dam
was strong and stubborn and held its
place, by the time the morning of the S1st
came the stream was virtually exhausted
and for twenty-four hours the thunderous
voice of Niagara was hushed. Some time
during the night of the 31st or the early
morning of April /, the ice pack gave way
under the great pressure from above and
the long-restrained volume of water rush
ed down and reclaimed its own
War Talk and Real Estate Deals.
From the New York SUM-
II suppose everyman in business could
tell you something of the effect of the
war talk on his particular branch. A