The Mitchell capital. (Mitchell, Dakota [S.D.]) 1879-1918, 1908-08-21
From the Four-Track News.

tex Cl NJ when 4 DfINe iilto tic
rcverie with the question: OF what
can YOU think while You look down
there" His answer impressed me, for
he said: "Of the old, old days when
the land was ne"-of the old Niagara
slowly working it's way back from AXE
Ontario on its long journey to lake
Erie. Years afterward the words
came back to me when l first looked
at the drawings OF the falls, bearing
the date of 1I6o, ranking among the
earliest of Niagara pictures and, in
point of accuracy, perhaps. the most
valuable of all.
There is probably no spot in the
world where the two elements repre-
sented by the words picturesque and
historic are united to such a degree
panorama is. it is not a very great
e&aggeration to say that Niagara is
as historic as it is picturesque. But
1t is of the latter element that the
visitor must first think; when once
the wonde of 1t has impressed the
mind there soon comes the inevitable
question that has interested scientists
Tor many years, the same question my
friend raised. of that appalling march
IF the cataract from one lake toward
another.
The early views of Niagara are few.
and from them 1t seems possible to
draw only a little information which
can be relied upon In an attempt to
solve me mystery Of this migration.
The earliest picture of the falls is that
II the New Discovery at Utrecht,
In 1897, and at London in 1898.
This view might be a present.
day picture except for the third fall"
Us the squirting column of water on the
end of the Horseshoe Fall is known.
The testimony Of a later traveller gives
good ground for believing that this
'.lird fall was occaSioned by an inn
mense oulde that stood near the shore
on the crest Of the Horseshoe Fall.
Another and more important thing in
CHS very early view is the s%traightness
OF the crest line of the Horseshoe Fall,
showing that the name Horseshoe"
must be of more modern origin.
The Swedish traveller, Kahn. drew
lished the year following in the Gentle
mans Magazine. In his contempora-
neous description Of the falls Kahn
states thai a great rock had recently
fallen from the face or crest of the fall,
and in his drawing indicates the spot
from which it fell, according to local
reports. This ma have been the rock
shown in Hennepin's view; If, SO. the
two falls which we know today nave
appeared about as they are since Il
little before the middle of the eighteenth
century.
Tie mighty occasional thai Niagara
has beea playing through the centuries
car never, of course be solved by
any number of views, interesting as
all such pictures might be. even though
we could find those that MARKED back
far down the centuries. Vet such a
collection would throw a little light
on the changes that the years and de-
tho rock noted by Hennepin seems
TO be fairly we'll established; at least
Kahn shows only what we know to-
day as the American and Horse
shoe" falls. In 1915 and again in 1928.
great masses of rock fell from the
crest of the falls, bringing to the en-
tire Niagara region Il miniature earth
quake.
The only reliable data tina that can
form a basis for speculation as to the
progress of Niagara Falls from Lake
Ontario to the present site is found
by comparing the two surveys that
have been made of the falls. one in
1912 and the other in 1856. The first
Of these was a trfgcnometrical survey
made by DR.. John Hall, nestor Of the
the suggestion of Sir Charles Lyell.
who visited the falls with him. monu-
ments were erected at the points at
which tho angles We're taken in order
that some later surveyor would be
able to n with accuracy the exact
1LNGSiS VI IN 1A31 SSSoliSb
survey was made In 1886 by r. S.
Woodward, OF the United States geo
logical survey. now director OF the
Carnegie institute at Washington. The
estimated that the falls had been
receding at the rate of one foot
per annum at tina rate it had
taken $4,000 years for them to
move from AXE Ontario to the
present site. Others had estimated a
fo CT or y0ta. ono L&S-ritn,. ", St, an vi y. ,cnc
was so bold as to state that the rate
had been Il yard per annum. Wood
wards survey showed that the falls
had moved 220 feet since 1912; the rate
at the center had been. therefore, FIVE
feet per annum: Woodward proved
that the tremendous area of five acres
of rock had been precipitated from the
face of the fall in the half century.
There is no disputing these Very in
teresting conclusions. According to
them 1T has taken seven and a half
millenniums. only, for Niagara to work
back from Lake Ontario, at Lewiston,
to it's present site: and if the present
rate should be maintained. Lake Erie
will be reached about the year Is, COS
q few years either way will not make a
difference to any of US.
Yet in making these deductions it
nus be granted that the supply of
water is constant and that an equally
wide I'M Or gorge is to be made.
Il SAiC iitlOdliI oi ~ leSSetleu Ine
rate of progress will be slower; if a
wider pathway is to be hewn out Of
the rock The rate will again be slower.
professor George Frederick Wright, of
Oherlfn, the eminent scientist. has
shown that the supply of Niagara wa
ter has not always been constant; part
of the water of the great lakes, i'm
stead of coming down Niagara river at
one time found its way through Lake
Nipissing and down the Ottawa to Mon
fI.an1 and later scholars hou1 oo-
iirlaea this interesting discovery. DR..
Wright, not long. ago. made Il new esti-
mate of the age of Niagara, based on
the extent of the enlargement of the
mouth of the Niagara gorge. at Lewis
IN, since the recession of the falls
began. 1t is very interesting that this
new estimate, Which DIR. Wright places
at 10000 years approSimates that de-
duced from the result of Woodward's
urvey when allowances are made for
q lessened quantity of water.
In no one of h early pictures of
the Canadian fall is there seer a sign
of g "horseshoe" curve. In every case
the crest Of the fall forms practically
a straight line across the river. Had
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