THE HAMILTON RIVER AND THE GRAND FALLS 151 



lakes connected by as many portages, and ends in an ex- 

 pansion of the river immediately above the rapids leading 

 to the falls. This route is over twenty miles in length, 

 and more than one-fourth is on portages. To obtain a view 

 of the falls, the river must be crossed at the end of the 

 portages and the far bank descended past the rapids, where 

 an excellent view may be obtained, from the top of the wall 

 enclosing the circular basin, into which the river falls. 

 A descent may here be made into the canyon, with less 

 difficulty and risk than are incurred in descents from the 

 near bank. Our party, from what I can learn, was the 

 only one to view the falls from that side. It must have 

 been a great disappointment to the others, after their long 

 trip, to have seen the falls only from the east side, where 

 no adequate view can be obtained. This warning is in- 

 tended especially for the visitor who might decide, owing 

 to the difficulty of the portages, to leave his canoes at the 

 lower end of the portages and tramp overland to the falls. 

 The distance, between the lake expansion at the upper 

 end of the portage route and the mouth of Bowdoin Canyon, 

 is eight miles in a straight line running south-southeast. 

 The river at the upper end of this line has an elevation of 

 sixteen hundred and sixty feet above sea-level, a little 

 below the general level of the surrounding country. Where 

 it issues from the canyon into the main valley, it is nine 

 hundred feet above the sea ; there is thus a drop of seven 

 hundred and sixty feet in a distance, by the river, of less 

 than twelve miles. Considering the volume of the stream, 

 estimated at fifty thousand cubic feet per second, this is a 

 phenomenal descent. If the energy developed by the fall 

 could be turned into work, it would produce the enormous 



