182 



Popular Science Monthly 



would produce about seven million, four 

 hundred thousand horse-power. 



Once provided with the mechanical 

 means to control the vast volume of wa- 

 ter, ordinarily sweeping over the crest of 

 Niagara, the daily program would be as 

 follows : 



At 8 P. M. the entire series of gates on 

 the dam would simultaneously close. A 

 few minutes later and the American Falls 

 would falter. The volume of water 

 would swiftly diminish. Soon the grand 

 curtain would be rent and gashed as if 

 by invisible knives. A minute or two 

 more, and rivulets here and there pour 

 over the brink. The gloomy, cavernous 

 recesses beneath the overhanging edge 

 are revealed to the eye. Another minute, 

 and the rivulets have changed to drops. 



From Goat Island to the apex of the 

 great Horseshoe the same sequence of 

 transformations begins. It creeps stead- 

 ily along the crest until it reaches the 

 Canadian shore. The deafening roar of 

 the cataract sinks to an agonizing groan, 

 a reproachful sigh, a dying murmur. 

 Niagara is silent ! 



A few minutes later and the rage and 

 fury of the long stretch of rapids in the 

 picturesque gorge falter and slowly sub- 

 side. The vast volume of water between 

 the foot of the falls and Queenston grad- 

 ually drains away. A quiet lake remains 

 between the railroad bridges and the base 

 of the falls. Its surface is about eighty- 

 six feet below the normal level, and the 

 enclosing cliffs gain that much in height. 

 It would be somewhat narrower than the 

 present river, and frequent rocky islands 

 would appear near the temporary banks. 



For three-quarters of a mile the rela- 

 tively narrow and shallow bed of the 

 whirlpool rapids would be laid bare. The 

 whirlpool itself would remain a some- 

 what restricted and motionless sheet of 

 water, forty feet below its normal level, 

 at the head of a quiet fjord, extending 

 inland from Lake Ontario. 



Such would be the topographic chang- 

 es attending the harnessing of the catar- 

 act. 



Synchronously with the vanishing of 

 the falling tons of water, in thousands 

 of workshops scattered over the fruitful 

 territory of Ontario and New York, a 

 million, perhaps many million, workmen 

 begin their daily task. For fourteen 



hours the world's greatest beehive of in- 

 dustry is filled with the busy hum of 

 activity, keyed to the highest pitch, ban- 

 queting, as it were, on the corpse of a 

 murdered Niagara! One shift of seven 

 hours is succeeded by another of the 

 same length. All the energy of the sev- 

 en million, four hundred thousand horse- 

 power is devoted to the welfare of the 

 nation. 



It is 10 A. M. As the signal is flashed 

 from the National Observatory the gates 

 of the great dam shoot upward. The 

 hum of spindle and loom, the clang of 

 the triphammer, all the many-toned ga- 

 mut of sound which forms the orchestral 

 accompaniment of a busy, happy people 

 shaping, fashioning, creating the objects 

 of convenience or luxury destined for 

 each other's comfort or enjoyment, — all 

 sink to a whisper, — vanish ! 



A minute later and the crest of a vast 

 billow sweeps over the brink of the 

 American Fall. In an instant, almost, 

 with a deafening roar of exultant joy, 

 the cataract has sprung into full activity. 

 Swiftly the falling curtain spreads from 

 Goat Island along the crest of the semi- 

 circle, until Niagara, in full panoply of 

 power and might, hurls her defiance at 

 the assembled thousands gathered to wit- 

 ness the most wondrous sight on the face 

 of the globe — the rebirth of a cataract. 

 The spectacle would combine all the 

 swiftness of movement and stupendous 

 grandeur offered by the sweep of the 

 Johnstown flood, or the tidal wave of 

 Galveston, free from the tragic terrors 

 and horrors of those cataclysms. The 

 gloomy, beetling cliffs disappear behind 

 the sheet of foam and spray ; rainbows 

 hover in the clouds of mist ; the gray 

 walls of the gorge echo back the roar of 

 the proud cataract! 



In a less dramatic and spectacular 

 manner the level of water in the gorge 

 would steadily rise; the foam and spray 

 of the rapids become evident ; the whirl- 

 pool resume its circling activity; and 

 Niagara's normal life reappear. 



For ten hours the thousands of ma- 

 chines, of furnaces, of electrolytic vats 

 rest or are available for repairs, until 

 the sun sets, and in the twilight the hour 

 approaches for an eager multitude to 

 witness again the death agony of a cat- 

 aract nnequaled in size. 



