The Detroit times. [volume] (Detroit, Mich.) 1903-1920, 1909-04-26
By HUGH ALLEN.
tstatf Correspondence Of The Times.)

(StaH correspondence OF Inc ilmes.)
NIAGARA FALLS. N. Y, April 26.-
battle OF. the elements-a Titantic
war between natures armies which
pigmies Watched with awe from sur
rounding hi.ls--was at its height when
left my train al Niagara Falls depot
ana with steps hurried by anticipa
ton took my way over 10 the lce-rack
ed gorge below the greatest cataract
on the western hemisphere.
For three weeks there had been q
2i-hour-a.day impetuous charge agains,
an enemy intrenched in an impregna
Bile stronghold--the combined waters
Of the great lakes hurled daily and
nightly against the unyielding fortress
uf the Ice king. And the waters fought
losing fight every day. but fought
on. as waters will.
The Niagara river Is the outlet for
four or the greatest inland bodies oil
water in the world. Cne hundred mil
lion tons o. water hurl themselves
every minute over that 160-foot preci.
pice. II would seem that no power on
earth could stop that tremendous flow
But the Ice King planned his battle
with cunning strategy. For his fort
ress he chose the narrow Niagara
gorge, 12 miles long and 300 feet wide
There he built his fort
The ice, the water the wind, the
sun--these were the elements in this
battle.
Man, Mott was no place for man
saw one man who had pitted him
self against the elements. He lay
half.naked, across two cakes of ice In
the whiriing waters al the foot OF the
falls.
Dead. Of course. And staring
Even from the banks where | stood
could make out his eyes, wide open
4.na- ftiil al wild horror Even dead
he told story OF mans weakness and
futility.
He was n strong man. too, as men
go. His snirt ripped from the body
by the whrl of the waters, showed
muscled shoulders and a deep chest.
1.-THE waters mad used him lightly.
fThere were no marks on him except
q cash on his head
Even while | looked, the twisting
|tortuous currents. eccentric and reck-
less, caught the ice cakes he lay on,
and throw them like shot against the
Nice jam q hundred feet away. The
Imam was sucked under disappeared
! ana was not seen again.
No one knew who IL was-or cared
much.
Another suicide, | guess" said ono
| of the men who had made some per-
functory efforts To rescue the body.
They're common here. We have EN-
every week"
n. Truly. this is no place for man.
II The state and federal engineers
| told the same story. Aroused by the
people, who saw houses and piers
carried away. bridges menaced and a
whole country in danger from the Ice
jam, they were trying to dynamite out
passage fCr the water.
I'VE can do something" the engi-
neers said. a. they unloaded two tons
OF dynamite Not much. Maybe
nothing at all The sun Is the only
thing which can break the jam"
4, And II II break all at once, -
They shuddered for answer.
Never since the first Jesuit explor-
er fell on his knees before the falls In
holy wondef-perhaps not since the
frst savage boatman. Needless of the
sullen warning roar ahead. discovered
too late, and plunged down to horrible
death and oLlivion--perhaps not since
the ice age $4,000 years ago, when the
gorge was first carved from the sand
stone cliffs-had the ice blocked the
passage OF the strongest waterpower
| In the world.
IL didn't look dangerous-this white
river OF ice
II lay like a dead thing, motionless.
gray. Its powdered surface was rough