APPLETONS' 



POPULAR SCIENCE 



MONTHLY. 



MAY, 1896. 



NIAGARA AS A TIMEPIECE. 



By J. W. SPENCER, A. M., Pu. D., F. G. S. 



"^^^"IAGARA Falls in History. — Guided by an Indian chief, 

 --^^ La Salle and Hennepin visited Niagara Falls in 1678, but it 

 was not until 1697 that Hennepin published his picture of the 

 cataracts, which, in spite of the rude perspective of two cen- 

 turies ago and the prominence of the voyageurs, is famous for 

 having been the first pictorial representation of the falls of Ni- 

 agara (Fig, 1). 



The existence of the falls was known a century and a half 

 earlier than Hennepin's narrative through reports of the Indians 

 to Jacques Cartier (1535). In the early part of the seventeenth 

 century, Cham plain and several Jesuit fathers mention the cata- 

 ract, which was mapped by two of them under the name of 

 " Onigara." Reproductions of Hennepin's picture were frequent- 

 ly made, but there appear to be no fairly good drawings of the 

 falls preserved older than that of Lieutenant William Pierie, of 

 date of 1768 (Fig. 3). 



The scenery and even the geology of the Niagara district have 

 been known for nearly half a century, and hundreds and perhaps 

 thousands of papers have been published upon the falls of Ni- 

 agara. Yet " problems settled in a rough and ready way by rude 

 men absorbed in action demand renewed attention and show 

 themselves to be unread riddles . . . when men have time to 

 think." Even now it is scarcely fifteen years since the history of 

 the falls began to be known. 



If we look at a picture of the Falls of Montmorency, near Que- 

 bec (Fig. 3), cascading about two hundred and seventy-five feet 

 over the wall of the St. Lawrence almost directly into the river 



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