614 THE UNIVERSE. 



last century show that changes have taken place by the 

 falling down of masses of rock, the effect of which has 

 been to cause a slight recession of the cataract, and extend 

 the gorge to the same amount upward toward Lake Erie. 

 Thus, in 1818, great fragments descended at the American 

 fall, and again, in 1828, at the Horse-Shoe fall, in each in- 

 stance the country being shaken as by an earthquake. 



A striking feature at the falls, said by good authority to 

 have existed in 1678, has entirely disappeared. This was a 

 third fall from the Canadian side toward the east, across 

 the line of the main fall, and caused by a great rock that 

 turned the divided current in this direction. The popular 

 estimate that the line of the falls recedes fifty yards in 

 forty years is now regarded by those who have given the 

 most attention to the subject as greatly exaggerated, and a 

 foot a year considered a far more reliable conjecture. 



A singular occurrence took place at the falls on the 30th 

 of March, 1S47. The 620,000 tons of water each minute 

 nearly ceased to flow, and dwindled away to the appearance 

 of a mere mill-dam. The rapids above the falls disap- 

 peared, leaving scarcely water enough on the American 

 side to turn a grindstone. Ladies and gentlemen rode in 

 carriages one third of the way across the river towards the 

 Canada shore, over solid rock as smooth as a house floor. 

 Table Rock, with some 200 yards more, was left dry ; isl- 

 ands, and places where the foot of man never dared to 

 tread, were visited, flags placed upon some, and mementoes 

 brought away. This unexpected event was said to be ac- 

 counted for by an accumulation of ice at the lower ex- 

 tremity of Fort Erie, which formed a sort of dam between 

 Fort Erie and Buffalo. 



