Niagara River

“ In the evening the wind suddenly changed and blew a sharp gale from exactly the opposite direction, driving the mass of ice into the river and gorging it there, thus cutting off almost the whole water supply, and in the morning people awoke to find that the Niagara had departed. The American Fall was no more, the Horseshoe was hardly a ghost of its former self. Gone were the rapids, the fighting, struggling waters. Niagara's majestic roar was reduced to a moan. All day people walked on the rock bed of the river, although fearful lest the dam formed at its head should give way at any moment. ”

“ On the south side of Lake Ontario, opposite Toronto, is the Niagara Portal, where the mouth of the Niagara River, with high banks on either hand, makes its entrance into the lake, forming the only uninterrupted deep water harbour on that shore.
Here the rapid waters, outfall of all the gatherings of the inland Upper Lakes, pour out in fullest volume, enabling entrance even in winter, when all other harbours are closed in the grasp of ice. It is worthy of its mighty source, the product of the greatest Fresh Water Lakes in all the world. ”

“ The lower Niagara River rarely freezes over in all places, much running water being left in evidence and as a rule the ice which has anywhere been formed during the winter goes out into the lake in the spring without any trouble. There are records of two great "Ice Jams" which had happened during the previous history of the river. The earliest of these was in 1825. During this winter the steamer Queenston was under construction in the ravine on the Canadian side which opens up from the river just below the Queenston dock. ”

“ Niagara River forms one of the best, if not the best, means of studying the lapse of time since the Ice Age. Finding, as students do here, the best material in existence for this study, leads to exhaustive scientific analysis of every clue presented by the Cataract and the deep Gorge it has cut for itself through the solid lime rock and Niagara shale forming its bed.
We are prone to look upon the great wonders of the world as destined to last as long as the earth itself. ”

“ It would be difficult to point to a tract of country in all America the history of which is of more inherent interest than this far-flung old-time frontier of which the Niagara River was the strategic key. The beautiful cities now standing here, Buffalo, Cleveland, and Toronto, as well as the ancient Falls, forever new and wonderful, bring to this fair country, in large volume, the modern note that would drown the memory of the long ago ”

“ By night, the warmth of the sun and the waters of the lake had begun to make inroads on the barrier and by the morning of the next day Niagara had returned in all its grandeur.
However cold Niagara's winter may be, the moan of falling water here can always be heard, though at times the volume is very small. The winter scenes here often take rank in point of wonder and beauty with the cataract itself. When the river is frozen over below the Falls the phenomenon is called an "Ice Bridge," the blowing spray sometimes building a gigantic sparkling mound of wonderful beauty. ”

“ Niagara river, connecting lakes Erie and Ontario, with a fall of 326 ft. (160 ft. at the cataract) in 30 m., is manifestly a watercourse of very modern origin; for a large river would now have a thoroughly matured valley had it long followed its present course; the same is true of the St Lawrence, which in its several rapids and in its subdivision into many channels at the Thousand Islands, presents every sign of youth. Canals on the Canadian side of these unnavigable stretches admit vessels of a considerable size to lakes Ontario and Erie. ”

“ Much has been said about the rapids of the river below the Falls—the lesser Rapids of Niagara. What of this seething, spouting, tumbling mass that races along below these towering cliffs, maddening, ungovernable, almost horrifying to gaze upon? It is very singular how little is said about this torrent. They illustrate very significantly the fact that mere power has little of charm for the mind of man; it interests, but often it does not please or delight. ”

“ These different variations must of necessity have had a great effect on the work of Niagara River. When the Niagara began to flow, instead of its terminal being nearly seven miles from the escarpment, it was only between one and two miles away, and the surface of the lake was about seventy-five feet higher than now. While the outlet remained at Rome, the eastern end of the lake was continually rising, which caused the waters at the western end to rise over one hundred feet. This placed [62] the shore of Ontario almost at the foot of the beautiful cliff at Queenston and Lewiston. ”

“ During this decade the Niagara River was more increasingly traversed by many steamers, and became the main line of travel between the Western and Centre States by steamer to Buffalo, and thence, via the Niagara River to Boston and New York via Ogdensburg and Albany, or by Montreal and Lake Champlain to the Hudson. ”

“ Since ever the changes of season have come, when grasses grow green, and open waters flow, the courses of the Niagara River, above and below the great Falls, have been the central route, for voyaging between the far inland countries on this continent, and the waters of the Atlantic shores.
Here the Indian of prehistoric days, unmolested by the intruding white, roamed at will in migration from one of his hunting-grounds to another, making his portage and passing in his canoe between Lake Erie and Lake Oskwego (Ontario) . ”

“ To meet the engineering problems concerned in locating the three Canadian plants along the shore of the river, involving the taking of water by some form of canal, and the disposal of waste water through tunnel or by other means to the lower river, each without interfering with any of the other plants, taxed even Yankee engineering ingenuity. One company had to unwater a considerable area of Niagara River at Tempest Point where the waters have a great depth and the current is of high velocity. ”

“ At the foot of this horrible precipice, we meet with the river Niagara, which is not above half a quarter of a league broad, but is wonderfully deep in some places. It is so rapid above this descent, that it violently hurries down the wild beasts while endeavoring to pass it to feed on the other side, they not being able to withstand the force of its current, which inevitably casts them down headlong above six hundred foot. ”

“ We found a river one-eighth of a league broad and extremely rapid, forming the outlet of Lake Erie and emptying into Lake Ontario. The depth of the river is, at this place, extraordinary, for, on sounding close by the shore, we found fifteen or sixteen fathoms of water. This outlet (the Niagara River) is forty leagues long, and has, from ten to twelve leagues above Lake Ontario, one of the finest cataracts in the world; for all the Indians of whom I have inquired about it say that the river falls at that place from a rock higher than the tallest pines—that is, about two hundred feet. ”

“ Freight steamers bound for the towns on the banks of the upper Niagara are not numerous, as its navigation is dangerous. Not one was in sight. Not even a fishing-boat crossed the path of the “Terror.” Even the two destroyers would soon be obliged to pause in their pursuit, if we continued our mad rush through these dangerous waters.
I have said that the Niagara River flows between New York and Canada. Its width, of about three quarters of a mile, narrows as it approaches the falls. Its length, from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, is about fifteen leagues. ”

“ A trip through this underground passage which American genius has shot through a mass of solid shale and limestone, beneath the bed of the river, will in itself more than compensate for a trip to Niagara Falls. ”

“ Niagara river, just{55} before it reaches the fall is divided into two parts; one rushing past the Canada shore, plunges over the rocks making the crescent, or horse-shoe fall—this fall is about one hundred and sixty feet high. The other half of the river passes around an island, called Goat, or Iris island, and falls from the American side. This island has been sacred from the foot of man until a few years since, when a bridge was thrown across the rapids with much dexterity and daring. Upon this bridge we will walk if you please, stopping one moment to view the rapids. ”

“ Van Rensselaer, whom we quote:
To this purity Niagara owes its exquisite variety of colour. To find the blues we must look, of course, above Goat Island, where the sky is reflected in smooth if quickly flowing currents. But every other tint and tone that water can take is visible in or near the Falls themselves. In the quieter parts of the gorge we find a very dark, strong green, while in its rapids all shades of green and grey and white are blended. ”

“ Its thundering fall outrivals all other sounds of Nature, yet you can hear a sparrow sing when the spray of the torrent is drenching you; the "noise" of Niagara is often spoken of as the greatest sound ever heard, yet most of the cataract's music has never been heard because it is pitched too low for human ears. Niagara's Whirlpool is a placid, mirrored lake compared to [24] the rapids above and below it and brings from the lips of the majority of sightseers, looking only at the surface of things, words of disappointment. ”

“ From a scenic standpoint it is questionable whether any of the delights of Niagara surpass those afforded by this beautiful series of cascades; sightseers are prepared from their earliest days for the magnificent beauty of the Falls themselves, but of the Rapids above little is known until their insidious charm gradually works its way into the heart to remain forever an image of beauty and rapture that cannot be effaced. Guide books will give adequate advice as to the best points of vantage from which to view the various rifts and cascades. ”

“ The sublimity of Niagara is in the vast power displayed by a mighty current flowing down the long rapids and finally plunging in one uniform sheet into the abyss below. Dangerous as it appears, the river is here crossed by small rowboats. For seven miles below the falls the narrow gorge continues, varying in width from 200 to 400 yards. The river then emerges at Lewiston, N. Y., having descended 104 feet from the foot of the cataract. ”

“ The record of growth of the past century is a matter of figures strung on the faith of a great company of active, enterprising, far-sighted business men, until Buffalo ranks among the cities of half a million population, with a future unquestionably secure and brilliant.
The Niagara River is some nineteen hundred feet in width at its mouth here at Buffalo and forty-eight feet deep; the average rate of current here is under six miles per hour, but when south-west gales drive the lake billows in gigantic gulps down the river's mouth the current sometimes races as fast as twelve miles per hour. ”

“ Such portions of the current as reach the rapids have full license to pass on untrammeled, paying no toll to man. The water which is made to pay tribute is drawn from the stream up there above the rapids, where it lies placid and as yet unstirred by the beckoning incline. To see Niagara in harness, then, you must leave the cataract and the rapids and pass a full mile up the stream where the great river looks as calm as the Hudson or the Mississippi, and where, under ordinary conditions, not even the sound of the falls comes to your ear. ”

“ In this second sense the destruction of Niagara is making rapid strides in a far more dangerous direction. The natural attractions of the place are being undermined. On the American side the bank of the river above the Falls is covered for a quarter of a mile with structures of all kinds, from the extensive parlors and piazzas of the Cataract House to the little shanty where the Indian goods of Irish manufacture are sold. ”

“ Foreigners enjoy a description of Niagara by one who has seen it more than to hear of any thing else in America. But they have often been sullenly incredulous when I have assured them that a mighty river, with the water of half a dozen inland seas, gathers itself within banks a mile asunder, and then makes one prodigious plunge over a precipice 150 feet deep, into an unfathomed gulf! ”

“ The Buffalo Exposition of 1900, bringing together as it did tourist business from all parts of the continent and of the world, threw exceptional business over the line. It may be said with certainty that every tourist who visits the American continent visits without fail the Niagara Falls, as one of the great wonders of the world. With the expanded facilities which have been given him, a very large proportion also visit the Niagara River and its water attractions, and cross the lake to Canada at Toronto. ”

“ However, citizens of Niagara Falls insist that the decreased flow is manifested in other ways; such as the annual gorging of ice at the head of the American channel almost laying this channel bare and sending its water to the Canadian side. This happens very rarely with a normal depth. Besides this it became necessary not long ago to move the dock at which the Maid of the Mist lands, the water line having retreated as a result of decreased volume. ”

“ Other parts of the land are comparatively new; and it is here that one sees the rough mountain or the deep canyon of the river; sufficient time not having elapsed to wear away the elevation in the one case nor the steep banks in the other.
One needs but to look at a relief map of the Niagara district to note the Falls and the outline of the Gorge to see at once that this is a comparatively new region or, at least, that the formative forces which gave it its present characteristics were at the highest stage of their career when the lands to the south had almost reached their present stage. ”