The daily morning journal and courier. [volume] (New Haven, Conn.) 1894-1907, 1901-07-24

l
4 AS long as river is narrow and Wig.
orously undercuts its banks the latter
VIII be steep and the river channel viii
nave the character of gorge, This
continues as long as the river is cut
Ting downward, that is, still the grade
OF the river bottom is very gentle
one Then the spreading of the cur
rent undercuts the banks and the at
mospheric degradation quickly de-
stroys the cliffs which the river does
not keep perpendicular. Niagara gorge
changes greatly even in century. Be
fore the falls the river flows in a chan
mel in places only ten feet wide and
one hundred feet below the level OF
the platform which was it's bed CEN
fury ago.
There is theory that only part,
the southern or later part of the gorge
of the whirlpool rapids, was carved by
the Niagara, the volume of which was
at one time reduced by the buried ST.
David's gorge, since swept away in a
glacial period, and that the greater
half of the gorge was preglacial. All
the authorities agree, however, that the
broad and deep gorge from Clifton to
the present falls was made by Il cata-
! ract carrying the full supply of water.
This, which biologists say is the mos
readily interpreted part of the gorge,
has now come to an end at the present
falls, and the character of the channel
hereafter can only be conjectured.
Niagara, it seems is now at a criti-
cal stage. The river has reached the
second of the points where a rectangu-
lar turn is made, and the gorge behind
the falls is changing. A short canal
considerably narrower than that of
the last section, is being cut by the
| Horseshoe Fall, and that fall itself is
narrowing. This narrowness of the
channel is due to the concentration of
water in the center of the stream
! Goat Island, which divides the Horse
shoe from the American fall and the
other islands as well, owes it's existence
to the concentration of the water, for
at one time all Of these islands We're
submerged by the current. The chan
mel above the Horseshoe fall has been
cut to more than fifty feet below the
summit of Goat Island at the falls,
while the upper end of the island is
still at the level of the water in the
river. The effect will be that the is
land as an island in time will disap-
pear.
1t lies on one side of the main
mass of water which, rushing forward
passes it and strikes the Canadian
bank, from which it is DETECTED toward
the center of the cataract, that portion
being thus deepened and worn back
most rapidly, as may be observed from
the upper walks of the Canadian park,
where in many cases the shores have
been ballasted and otherwise protected
from the current.
In an earlier period when the falls
were further north and before the CEN
trail part of the stream had been deep
ened to it's present extent, the water,
then at the level of the river above
Goat Island, flooded what is now
Queen Victoria Park and carved from
the glacial hill the pronounced concave
wall which now bounds the park on the
west. A local eddy, probably in very
recent times, carved the steep and
semi circular cliff which incloses the
Dufferin islands.
In thousand years from now and at
the present rate of recession Of the
falls it is calculated by the biologists
whose views are set forth by Professor
Grabau, that the Horseshoe falls will !
have reached the upper end of Goat Is
land and that will end the American
falls, These having smaller erosive |
force will have receded only about half !
way to the Goat Island bridge in that !
time. The Horseshoe falls will draw |
off the water from the American falls, |
and all of the islands will then be |
joined by dry channel to the MAIN
land, an event which, Professor Ora
bau says, was anticipate ed only as far
back as 1S4S, when owing to an ice
blockade in the Niagara river near Buff
falo, the American fall deprived of all
Its waters for day. Should dam be
built in the Niagara river the effect
might be the same.
This is not the first time in the his
tory of Niagara that the falls have
been divided. Long ago when the falls
were at Fosters flats, almost seven
miles below their present situation, it
s supposed that a narrow island,
BILE to Goat Island. in the river
bed cut the falls in two. The founda-
ions of the island. which has since
,rumbled away, are to be seen in the
'idge which divides the old dry chan
lei on the left from the main bed of the
liver.
The eastern or American fall was in
his case the larger of the two and as
t carried the channel it receded more
apidly. When the Canadian fall
cached the head of the island the
American had just passed it and the
Canadian fall fell out Of the race. So
history is only repeating itself now in
Niagara.
The history, physical geography, ge-
logy and paleontology of the Niagara
egion are dealt with in the greatest
etail in the new book of the State mu-
cum. 1t contains many plates, large
olored map and possibly more of inter
sting scientific data of the region
han have ever before been brought to-
ether.-New York Sun. ,
| ,
PADEREWSKI ON MUSIC.