Missouri Valley times. [volume] (Missouri Valley, Iowa) 1874-1931, 1905-11-16

w.lirling, Cd lying, bin lind rain and
mad 1t not been tor Tie electric lights
behind us. we don't know that We
could even have seen that. Here we
picked up a small stone, and brought it
away with us as mcmento. We now
retraced our steps through the tunnel,
which forgot to say was quite damp.
to Tunnel House. where we put off our
Esquimauu clothes and donned our
own nationality.
From here we went to the brink of
the precipice over which the flood
pou,s. As we stood in the presence of
this stupendnous exhibition of power.
there came to our mind the words
Of holy writ. What is man, that l
should be mindful of him, - and we
realized as nc er before the utter in
significance of the individual. And
while under normal conditions man is
prone To overestimatc his own impor-
tancc. here he realizes, to an emphatic
degree his nothingness. AS we stood
here and gazcd in awe upon this
great cataract, we wondered with what
vencration the red mon of centuries
ago had looked upon the same scene.
Then all around we're the wilds of ma
lures soil tudes, which in lite to yever-
ence. While now on every hand APP
pear the evidences of civilization and
the marks of DESPERATION by the hand
OF the pale face.
:, Boarding &, car on the Gorge Route"
we started on trip down the river. and
having always lived in a countey where
the general course of the streams was
to the south, it seemed strange to 90 to
the north and down stream, but so it
was. The distance from the falls to.
the whirlpool is about four miles and
the river runs through gorge all the
way, in fact where we crossed on the
Old Suspension Bridge, at Queenstown,
1T is still gorge. Down the Canadian
SIDE the road skirts the cliff most of the
distance giving good view of the
opposite Cliff and i'll places close enough
to afford good view of the river SO
far below. At the whirlpool, which is
at the northern terminus of the rapids,
the river makes a square turn to the
east and here The swift current has cut
into the cliff until ii has eaten away the
earth and stone and made huge roof
less cavern, perhaps 1000 feet across.
The waters of the river rushing down
the steep incline or rapids, rush with
mighty fury into this "l,ocket" where
failing to find egress in straight line
doubles back and finds exit only at
the entrance thus is formed tie .Whirl-
pool, veritable maelstrom, in which
it is said the strongest vessel afloat
could not survive and whose depth has
never been ascertained. In order to
get some idea of the force which is ex-
crted on the walls of this pocket by the
current, we must remember that 15,-
600 600 cubic feet of water passes over
the falls each minute, that the river
from the fall to the rapids is one humid
red and eighty feet deep, that for
about one and half or two miles it
rushes headlong down steep incline.
at the bottom of which it plunges to
this circular reservoir, only to be fore
ed back upon itself. As the enclosing
bank or cliff must be constantly worn
away and at somewhat rapid rate,
this pocket must grow larger and larg-
or until it becomes a lake in the center
of which is the deadly whirlpool. Ate.
rounding the whirlpool we left the car
formed by the pocket, and the
river where it makes it's abrupt bend to
the east ward, we glanced up and upon
the station house we saw the British,
flag floating and for the first time we
were on foreign soil; we felt long
ways from home.
W. F. Donaldson.
10 be continued)