Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1907-09-19

thing. lie evidently anticipates oD-
lection and explained that he had
never lost sight of Niagara as it is and
hadn't for one moment thought he
could improve upon it. He simply
sought to continue natures great show
after dark. He promises, and so does
Mayor Douglass, that no brand of
whisky or patent medicine shall ever
be flashed upon the cascade or worked
out in colored lights upon the clouds
of mist. So after all, the illumination
does not cheaper Americas great Nj
agara. 1t merely cheats the night by
turning it into day all up and down
tie gorge. 1t gives wonderful tintS to
the falls themselves and to the rapor
above them. The sensational feature
of the night light is that it is con
centrated Oh the foaming waters of the
American and Canadian falls, making
them stand out daZZlingly distinct
against the blackncss of the grim rock
cliffs between and on the outer sides.
The batteries of illumination consist
OF fifty powerful searchlights equipped
with both thirty inch and sixty inch
projectors and operated by electrical
| engines of 800 horsepower. Their COM
bined light is the equivalent of that of
/ ,11j, 0O0. 900 candles, and the fifty rays.
when thrown up together in vertical
column. make n shaft OF light visible
| for 12J miles.
All the rest of the plant consists OF
color "scintilators." which are circular
| frames surrounding disks of colOred
| gelatine. which give to the shafts of
| light all the cOlors that can be mag
| ined and some perhaps which can't
| be imagined unless Il person is stand
ing just above the gorge, literally and
figuratively drinking in the MIST OF
many hues.
| The batteries are mounted below the
falls on the Canadian side. Those on
the low ground near the rivers edge
throw their beams up TO meet the fall
ing foam, while the batteries on the
heights plunge their rays into the
crests of the two cascades so that. all
told. half a million square feet Of
tumbling. roaring water is illuminated.
At s O'Clock, the hour set for turning
on the lights. the balconies and veran-
das of the Clifton House. on the Cana
dian side of the river. and all the
walks and terraces of Queen Victoria
park We're crowded with onlookers,
| who numbered well up into the tens Of
thousands. AS many more throngcd
all the vantage places on the American
side.
Perhaps the most complimentary
hn I,n Of 40 IN
is that it was witnessed in dead ST
lence. From all those thousands there
was no acclaim, no suggestion of q
cheer. They simply gazed and Won
dered and admired. speeches.. The
roar of the falls was the only accom-
ipaniment for the show
In the beginning all the power OF the
fifty searchlightS was concentrated
upon the American falls and the Bridal
Veil. No color showed at first. and
nothing could be purer white than
that huge wall of foam plunging 15T
feet down the face of rock. Between
the big falls and the smaller cascade to
the right. known as the Bridal Veil. the
naked rock stood out gray and grim
with every crevice revealed by the
fearful glare to the watchers across
the river.
Then broad band Of the white
foam suddenly turned to red. with a
rose tinted cloud of mist above il
mingling with the white vapor. Grad
ually the red rays suffused the whirl.
pool below, and then their light made
its way up the river against the rush
of water and climbed into the smoother
water of the Horseshoe.
: Somebody said "a river of blood -
but the remark wasn't as obvious rs
Il might seem to have been. The eff.
feet was too beautiful to suggest any.
thing horrible.
Green. orange, blue and violet tints
followed, and then all were blended
4 score of rainbows spanned the river
at the same time. shifting their arcs
and changing their combinations OF
5 color as the rays were turned from
one cloud of mist TO another
And. finally. when the batteries were
turned from the American TO the
ranadian falls. huge vertical prisms OF
light stalked along the heights. illumi
mating a dense growth of woodland
and appearing as SO many ghosts
among the trees