NIAGARA FALLS^ 205 



divides the slope between the heights of Lewiston 

 and Queenston, which is composed of the same 

 materials on each side. This tact in connexion 

 with the scanty covering of earth which the rocks 

 on the top of the bank retain in other places on 

 the western shore, and the parallel arrangement 

 of alluvial earth on the eastern side, now two 

 hundred feet above the surface of the river, fur- 

 nishes proof little short of demonstration, that the 

 Niagara river has sawed through the rock from 

 Queenston to the present falls. At the heights of 

 Lewiston the upper stratum is composed of solid 

 masses of lime stone resting on red indurated 

 brittle clay, then at a great distance from the top, 

 and below this clay, a stratum of red sand stone, 

 twelve or fifteen feet thick appears ; thence to the 

 bottom of the precipice red and blue indurated 

 clay and stones of the same colour, chiefly red. 



At Black Rock, and at Bird Island, black flint 

 abounds embedded, but not incorporated in lime 

 stone, and the lime stone ledge which supports 

 Lake Erie dips to the south. The bed of the 

 river from Lake Erie to the falls, is composed of 

 lime stone. From Lewiston to Lake Ontario, a 

 distance of seven miles, the bank of the river is 

 composed of red indurated clay; and the village 

 of Lewiston is one hundred and twenty-three k^t 



above the level of the river. 



K 2 



