102  Geologyand Topography of Western New York. 
nomena are presented perfectly incompatible with that theory. 
To enable.the reader more clearly to comprehend the features of 
this singular spot, and also of the Devil’s Hole, one mile further 
down the river, the following wood cut is introduced.* - 
wdtciont. Banke, 0 or r Terrace 
= scabian a seatiem particularly, to the = ravine which 
aate Whirlpool from the northwest. It has a gradual as~ 
cent from the bed of the river to the level of the sur ig 
country, and disappears east of the road from the Falls to Queens- 
town. It is similar, in all respects, to those which indent the 
general line of the escarpments from Hamilton, U.C., to Lock 
port, N. Y.,;-and was evidently produced by the same means. 
Had this ravine been excavated by a branch of the river, which 
discharged. its waters into the basin of the whirlpool, we could 
surely trace its bed a greater distance than one mile ; and instead. 
of a gradual ascent, we ought to find the nas ledge pro- 
jecting over the whirlpool, as it does over the basin, into which 
the river now tumbles. It will also be observed, that the direetion 
of this ravine is a continuation of the course of the river where it 
enters the whirlpool. It is manifestly impossible, therefore, by 
any position of the cataract, to bring the action of the river to, 
upon its upper extremity, where it is wholly within the — 
limestone ledge. If the cataract was. placed across the river 
from A to C; the current would be drawn in that direction; if 
_ from A to B, it might undermine the bank where the ravine is 
£ 
2 ‘situated, but the more violent its action, the steeper would hat 
«lia Sih 
— 
_.*Paken, ‘(but somewhat corrected,) from a map is a contemplated uaa 
~ arou d the Falls of Niagara, by Lieuts. T. F. Drayton and J. G. Reed] vU. ri ‘aco 
tA Journal, Vol. xt. See wood cut, p. 215. Also Vol. “x1v. See ma’ 
of Welland canal district, by William Hamilton Merrit. 
