The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1901-07-13

Past the wharf it surged, and as l gazed
out 10 see what it had left in its track |
saw a series of muddy undulations known
as the working of the quicksands.' and a
few minutes afterward that stretch of ooZe
from shore to shore was converted into a
smoothly but rapidly running river. 1t is
considered great sport by the jewellers
along the shore TO launch a boat upon the
tide which follows upon the wake of the
Bore and be carried up the river without
doing anything except steering. and then
come down on the ebb. The force of the
Bore is very great. Vessels at Moncton
always must moor so that the wharves
completely protect them.
A vessel. the stern of which protruded be-
yond the wharf. was torn from her moor
ings by the Bore" her anchor cable was
snapped, her bow smashed out, and she
herself carried up under a bridge, and her
masts broken TO understand all this in a
river which a few minutes before had been
nothing but g~listening mud. l was told
that a French Canadian who was upset in
the wake of the Bore" and could touch
bottom nevertheless, was carried five miles
ND the river before he could gain a firm
footing. The Bore is most effective on
quiet, moonlight nights, when its roar can
be heard far down the river and its angry
crest seen glittering in the white light. The
explanation of the Bore seems TO be that
the river broadens out considerably below
the bend, and that when the swift tide is
contracted between the narrow shores of
the bend, the waters become heaped up.
and with their own impetus advance like a
solid wall.
FALLS THAT REVERSE.
Imagine a perfectly placid surface Of
water, so placid that it mirrors all the sur
rounding shores. suddenly converted into a
raging torrent and tumbling waterfall. Go
to st. John, N. B.. cross to the Carleton
shore. walk a short distance along the latter
and you need not imagine this phenomena.
You can see it with your own eyes if you
reach the spot just before the change of the
tide. The St. John river, or, rather, the
harbor, contracts here TO a beautiful rocky
gorge, Spanned by two handsome suspension
bridges. Above this gorge the river broad
ems out again. But during the twenty-four
hours there are only four intervals of
twenty minutes each when shipping can
pass through the gorge. On each change Of
tide there is at slack water a period Of
twenty minutes during which the water in
the gorge is on a level with that of the har-
Dor and the river and perfectly placid.
During these twenty minutes the shipping
| hurries through. Suddenly. without the
slightest warning, without so much as a
tremble or CULVER of the surface, a streak of
white flashes across it, and a second later a
roaring waterfall and cataract is pitching
headlong into the harbor from under the
bridges, if the tide is running out, and into
the river above if the tide be on the food.
Such are the Reversing Falls of the st. John
river. l doubt if a more ramatic change
occurs with such unvarying regularity any
where else in nature. 1t is made all the
Il more Impressive DN Tie DCdulN Oh the land
scape. The suddenness with which this
landscape, as reflected in the placid water,
disappears is like the ruthless smashing OF
The Reversing Falls are caused by the
difference in level between the harbor and
the river above the gorge, the natural level
of the river being some twelve feet lower
than that of the harbor. The incoming tide
rushes through the gorge until it has filled
up the river to a level with the harbor, the
food 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 flashing through
the gorge. So great is the tidal rise and
fall In the Bay of Fundy and so swift the
tidal currents in places that I'm deep water
the buoys swing to from sixty TO one hun
bred fathoms OF cable, and as buoys swing
ing to such long cables are apt 10 shift
position the length of the cables Is speci-
fled in the notices to mariners.
on the Nova Scotian shore of the bav
/ are the rich lowlands OF the old Acadians
made famous by the "Evangeline" OF
Long sYetem p of diki one w Sbic can CLOS, see wb the
the tide comes In. but open on the ebb.
thus draining these rich alluvial meadows.
AT certain periods. when after long cui-
tile. the aboideaux are opened. the flood
covers the land, and the sediment left by
a single tide suffices to ~fertilize the dis
trict for years
The most noted intervals. a reach of wavy
green fringed by the blue waters OF the
bay. whose tides. having created 1t. con-
NbiAt u > ~ VI
the Basin of Minas, where Longfellow laid
the scenes of "Evangeline." There is the
old village of Grand Pre-. the dark red
headland of Blomidon, the old French will
lows and the ancient well and the dikes.
In this district In the Avon river, a mere
ooze at low tide. but gladdening the land
scape with its sparkling waters on the
food. IL was the Avon of which Charles
Dudley Warner remarked: 81 never knew
before how much water adds 10 a river. |
should think 1t would be confusing 10 dwell
by a river that first runs one way and then
the other and then vanishes altogether
The tidal phenomena OF the Bay Of Fun
dy are explained by the peculiar trough
like shape of the bay. AS II narrows from
The broad reach between Cape Sable. Nova
Scotia. and the coast of Maine the waters
heap up upon themselves. This simple
theory seems 10 be borne out by the In
creasing rise and fall OF the tide toward
the various heads OF the bay. which are
even more narrow and troughlike. and thus
repeat the tidal phenomena on a steadily
growing scale until we reach the sixty
square miles OF mud flats at low water at
the head OF Minas basin. the Reversible
falls OF the St. John river and the inrush-
ing tidal bore" at Moncton.