McNairy County independent. (Selmer, McNairy County, Tenn.) 1902-1969, 1917-03-09

safely across. He said he saw two
men and boy in boat few years
ago caught in the current and going
down to their doom. They were
kneeling in the boat. their hands
raised in prayer, but no earthly help
could reach them. He could not
watch them 60 over that awful edge.
Their bodies were found soon after
ward. A few people, however. have
gone over the falls in metal casks,
and survived the experience. A
young woman shut herself up in a
wooden cask with a little dog and
safely went down, the cask bounding
up in the river below, but it was
caught in the whirlpool some miles
below and bobbed around in there for
hours before it could be taken out.
The girl was dead, but the dog still
lived; it had used up the air she
needed to keep life going By step
ping over the little wall | could have
stood on a slippery bank within few
feet of the edge, but-the fact that |
did not do it is proved by the fact
that am still here to write this let
ter.
Going back to the American side, |
entered shaft on the cliff and went
down in an elevator to the bottom, at
a cost of a nickel. The tunnel at the
bottom led into big room, where a
nice fellow asked if wished to go to
the foot of the falls; and of course
did. He then fastened ice-corks
(sharp steel teeth fastened on with
leather bands around the shoes 80 that
the teeth would bite the ice as !
walked) on my feet, and | walked out
on the glittering white surface of
frozen fog, right up to where the
waters hurled their laundering vol
umes into the rocky chasm beneath.
Signs were up, warning me not to go
beyond certain point, but the ice
corks made slipping on the ice i'm
possible, so climbed the snow white
hill formed by the spray until could
look right down into the bottom of
Niagara and see the waters dashing
on the rocks. Ay, but there was
majesty and power for yon! From a
height twice that of a tall tree, the
waters came down with slam and a
bang that thrilled more and more all
the time. A little cautious creeping
and peeping, and | stood where the
slick mound of ice curved over into
the chasm, and one misstep meant
certain death. This spray-built mound
sometimes piles up 200 feet above the
bottom of the falls, or higher than
the falls itself; now it was about forty
feet high, but growing every day.
Far up the cliffs. oozing springs had
formed huge icicles, some Of them
tinged blue. yellow or green with
chemicals in the rocks. One stene at
the bottom of the falls, about the size
of a cow-barn, received the full force
of a big section of the falls, and ice
formed amid the foaming waters, it
was so cold, only to be washed away
by the tremendous rush. O, it was
fascinating to look at! But finally |
turned away, but on starting down
that snow-wbite, CLASSY slope lost
my nerve, for a misstep would have
sent me gliding down on to the river
ice and given me big shake-up. Sc
it was after quite a lot Of slow and
cautious maneuvering that the bottom
of the slope was regaiued, and the
ice-corks removed, aad the journey to
the upper world completed. The
deep, hollow voice of the famous falls
followed me out of there, aud cast a
final look upon the glazed and glitter
ing trees in their delicate tracery of
frozen mist, thinking how much great
er are the wonders Of nature than the
works of puny man. And yet man
has harnessed these falls and made
them do the work of half million
horses, and as went back to Buffalo,
many big factories were passed where
carborundum, siloxicon, cyanimide
and other valuable products are
made. Cables swing through the air
100 feet above the ground on steel
towers, aluminium wires carrying the
strength of lOO.0O horses. and woe