The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-06-23
rounding shores. suddenly converted into .

rounding shores. suddenly converted into .
raging torrent and tumbling waterfall.
Go to st. John. New Brunswick. cross to
the Carleton shore. walk a short distance
along the latter and you need not imagine
this phenomenon. You can see 1t with your
own eyes II you reach the spot just before
tho change Of the tide. The St. John River.
or. rather. the harbor. contracts here to a
beautiful rocky gorge. spanned by two hand
some suspension bridges. Above this gorge
the river broadens out again. But during
the twenty-four hours there are only four
intervals Of twenty minutes each when ship
ping can pass through the gorge. On each
change of tide there Is at slack water a De-
Rod Of twenty minutes during which
the water In the gorge is on level with that
OF the harbor and the river and perfectly
placid.
During those twenty minutes the shipping
hurries through. Suddenly. without the
slightes warning. without SO much as n
tremble or culver of the surface, a streak of
white flashes across 1t. and a second later a
roaring waterfall and cataract is pitchine
headlong into tho harbor from under the
bridges. II the tide be running out. and into
the river above II the tide be on the food.
Such are the Reversing Falls Of the st.
Souu INiNcI. i uOuDt X u more 0T0mAuC
change occurs with such unvarying regu-
lartty anywhere else in nature. 1t Is made
all the more impressive by the beauty Of
the landscape. The suddenness with which
this landscape. as reflected in the placid
water. disappears Is like the ruthless
smashing Of a mirror.
The Reversing Falls arc caused by the
difference in level between the harbor and
the river ohovo tho ooruA NhA A~H,~os n>,,As
Of the river being some twelve feet lower
than the harbor. Tho incoming tide rushes
through the gorge until 1t has filed I'D the
river to n level with the harbor. the Hood
then heaping itself up upon the river. Then,
when the tide has emptied itself out Of the
harbor sufficiently. the heaped up waters Of
the river come dashing through the gorge.
So great is the tidal rise and fall in the
Bay Of Fundy and so swift the tidal cur
rents in places that in deep water the buoys
swing to from 60 to 100 fathoms Of cable.
and as buoys swinging to such long cables
are apt to shift position the length Of the
cables is specified in the notices to mari
ners.
On the Nova scotian shore Of the bay are
the rich lowlands Of the old Acadians, made
~ tsC VI
There one still can see the same system of
diking with the aboideaux. the swinging
gates which close when the tide comes in.
but open on the ebb. thus draining these
rich alluvial meadows. At certain periods.
when after long cultivation these meadows
become less fertile. the aboideaux are
opened. the food covers the land. and the
sediment left by a single tide sunless to fer
tilize the district for years.
The most noted intervals. a reach Of wavy
Green. fringed by the blue waters Of the
bay, whose tides having created It, continue
fertilizing 1t, is the Grand Pre- on the Basin |
Of Minas. where Longfellow laid the scenes |
of "Evanselire." There are the old village of |
Grand Pre-. the dark red headland Of Blomi- /
don. thu old French willows and the ancient |.
well and the bikes. In this district Ii the !
Avon River. . mere ooze at low tide. but
gladdening the landscape with its sparkling |
waters on the flood. 1t was the Avon Of
which Charles Dudley Warner remarked. Il
never knew before how much water add to
a river. I should think It would be confusing
to dwell by q river that first rum one way |
and then the other and then vanishes alto
gether."
are explained by the peculiar ~trouShlIke
shape of the bay. AZ It narrows from the I
broad reach between Cape Sable. Nova
Scotia. and the coast Of Maine the waters
heap up upon themselves. This simple
theory seems to be borne out by the increas-
Ing rise and fall of the tide toward the
heads Of the bay. which are even !
more narrow and toughlfke. and thus r.