NIAGARA FALLS. 



NIAGARA FALLS, the grandest 

 cataract in the world, belong in 

 part to the state of New York. 

 Here the water of the great 

 lakes, west of Ontario, is poured over 

 a precipitous cliff about i6o feet high 

 in two immense sheets, called the 

 American and Horseshoe falls, sepa- 

 rated by Goat Island. These falls re- 

 ceived the name Niagara from the 

 aborigines, Ni-a-gara meaning the 

 " thunder of waters." The roar created 

 by the fall can be heard, under favor- 

 able conditions, at a distance of fifteen 

 miles. There are three distinct falls. 

 The Horseshoe fall, so named on ac- 

 count of its crescent shape, is the larg- 

 est, covering a distance of 2,000 feet 

 and having a fall of 154 feet; the Amer- 

 ican fall, 660 feet, and the Central 

 fall, 243 feet in width, each have a fall 

 of 163 feet. The volume of water is 

 perpetually the same, no amount of 

 rain or snow making any apparent 

 change. This is conceded to be the 

 grandest natural feature in the world, 

 providing a water power the limit of 

 which is incalculable. 



Many of our readers have visited the 

 falls in the summer season and doubt- 

 less all of them have read descriptions 

 of them, more or less disappointing; 

 everyone is familiar with the number- 

 le'-s photographs and engravings that 

 have been made of them. Of course, 

 no adequate idea of them has ever 

 been given to the imagination. The 

 writer has seen them many times and 

 must confess to a want of sympathy 

 with that feeling of wonder and be- 

 wilderment which many people claim 

 to experience when first beholding 

 them. It would be interesting to com- 

 pile a list, if it could be done, of ex- 

 clamations made on first viewing Lake 

 Erie, as it really is, tumbling over a 

 gigantic cliff. Charles Dickens is re- 

 ported to have been unable to utter a 

 word for many seconds, and there does 

 not appear to be an adjective of suffi- 

 cient potentiality to hold the idea of 

 its majesty. And yet there are falls 



greater than these in the world. Dr. 

 Livingstone, alluding to Victoria Falls 

 in Central Africa, declared that of all 

 the wonders of the lands he had visited 

 he had seen no such stupendous spec- 

 tacle as they. The chasm into which 

 a mile-wide sheet of water plunges has 

 been plumbed to twice the depth of 

 Niagara. 



The Niagara River is the channel by 

 which all the waters of the lakes flow 

 toward the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It 

 has a total descent of 330 feet. The 

 interruption to navigation occasioned 

 by the rapid descent of the Niagara 

 River is overcome on the Canadian 

 side by the Welland Canal; on the 

 American side the communication be- 

 tween tide-water and the upper lakes 

 was first effected by the Erie Canal. 

 The river flows in a northerly direction 

 with a swift current for the first two 

 miles and then more gently, with a 

 widening current, which divides as a 

 portion passes on each side of Goat 

 Island. As these unite below the is- 

 land the stream spreads out, about 

 two or three miles in width, and ap- 

 pears like a quiet lake studded with 

 small, low islands. About sixteen miles 

 from Lake Erie the river grows nar- 

 row and begins to descend with great 

 velocity. This is the commencement 

 of the rapids, which continue for about 

 a mile, the water falling in this dis- 

 tance about fifty-two feet. The stream 

 terminates below in a great cataract. 

 At this point the river, making a curve 

 from west to north, spreads out to an 

 extreme width of 4.750 feet. Goat Is- 

 land, which extends down to the brink 

 of the cataract, occupies one-fourth of 

 this space, leaving the river on the 

 American side about 1,100 feet wide 

 and on the Canadian side about double 

 this width. A cave, called the Cave of 

 the Winds, is formed behind the fall, 

 into which, on the Canadian side, per- 

 sons can enter and pass by a rough and 

 slippery path toward Goat Island. As 

 already stated, there are many cataracts 

 which descend from greater heights. 



