Bi 
Me 
ee 
104 Geology and Topography of Western New York. 
of this stream seems to be in very good keeping with that of the 
gorge, through which it enters the river, and was given in com- 
memoration of a tragic scene once enacted at this. place.* 
When the passes by which this inland sea communicated with 
the Atlantic, became contracted and shoaled; by the progressive 
elevation of the continent, it approximated to the condition ofa 
lake. . The same process which took place when this limestone 
reef emerged, was repeated, but in a new place. The. tides and 
waves began to spend their force on obstructions at a lower level; 
and when the plain, on which Lewiston is situated, emerged, ‘it 
is probable the change was nearly effected. 
We there find indications of an ancient shore, Saoxpoued of 
‘rounded beach gravel, elevated a few feet above the general level 
of the surrounding surface, and having a direction parallel to the 
present shore-of Lake Ontario. It is generally supposed—and the 
geologist assigned to this district, in the survey now going on; 
— the ee — afield once had a —— eleva- 
“¢s 
The following brief account of that bloody eect as related by Farmer’s- 
Brother, a celebrate’ Seneca Chief, who himself headed ‘the attacking ait is 
extracted from Thatcher’s. Indian Biography: ‘and may oe interesting to some of 
the readers of this journal who have not seen that work. These party 
of Indians, he lay in ambush, patiently awaiting ae glee -ef a guard that 
nied the English teams employed between the Falls of Niagara and the 
‘ort Niagara,) “ which 
looking den. A large ravin e, occasioned by the falling in of the perpendicolar 
bank, made dark by the spreading branches of the birch and cedar, which had ta- 
ken root below, and the low murmurings of the rapids in the chasm, added to ‘the 
solemn dhonder of the cataract itself, conspire to render the scene truly awful. 
The English party were not aware of the dreadful fate that awaited them. “Tn- : 
a. 
conscious of danger, the drivérs were gaily whistling to their dull ox-teams. 
mer’s-Brother and his band, on their arrival at sin, spot, rushed from the thicket, 
t had concealed them, and commenced a horrid butchery. So unexpected. was 
such an event, and so completely were the English disarmed of their presence of 
mind, that but a feeble resistance was made. ‘The guard, the teamsters, the oxem 
and the waggons, were precipitated into the gulf. But two of them escaped ; 4 
Mr. Stedman, who lived at Schlosser, above the falls, being mounted. on a fleet 
horse, made good his retreat; and one of the soldiers, who was caught on a pro- 
jecting root of a cedar, which sustained him until oe by the distant yell of 
the savages, that they had quitted thé ground. It-is the rivulet, pouring itself 
is precipice, whose name is the only monument ? ate records the massacre, 
It is said to | have been literally colored with the blood of the vanquished. 
t Mr. Sam es Hall : se6 New York Geological Report, 1838, p. 310; and onward.” 
