1S55.] 



ACCOUNT OF AN EXTKAOKMNARY SUDDEN FALL IN THE NIAUAEA lUVl'Jlt. 



■UK-, 



2. The following additional interesting details are from the 

 Buffalo Express of the 31st, and appear to have been derived 

 from a correspondent at the Ameiicau village of Niagara Falls, 

 describing the passing events of the preceding day. 



" The Falls of Niagara can be compared to nothing but a mere 

 mill-dam, this morning. In the memory of the oldest inhabi- 

 tant, never was there so little water running over Niagara's 

 precipiee as at this moment. Hundreds of people are now 

 looking at that which never had been, and probably never may 

 again be seen. Last night, at 11 o'clock, the factories fed from 

 this majestic river were in full ojieration : and at twelve o'clock 

 the water was shut off : the wheels suddenly ceased their revo- 

 lutions : and everything was hushed in silence, except a faint 

 roar of the maddened waters of the Cataract. When the foot 

 was known, astonishment was depicted in every countenance. 



" To give some idea of the lowness of the water, Messrs. G. 

 Mamlin and Woodruff this morning rode in a buggy one-third 

 of the way across the river, from the head of Goat-island towards 

 the Canada shore. The wheeling was excellent ; the rock 

 being as level as a floor. They drove outside of the island, 

 towards Allan's island, and turned round ; a thing which had 

 never before occurred." 



3. The following additional particulars are extracted from 

 the Iris newspaper (published at the American village of Xia- 

 agara Falls) of the 31st March : 



" The Table rock, and some two hundred 3'ards more, were 

 left dry; islands, and places where man never before dared to 

 tread, were visited — flags placed upon some, and mementos 

 brought away from others. 



" Judge Porter, with his troop of blasters, under their active 

 and efficient fisreman, James Macafee, were early in the canals 

 (or races) leading to the Mills and Factories ; when the thun- 

 ders of the blast was heard all day on a spot where never before 

 stepped the foot of man ; and where, heretofore, the reeking 

 waters forbade too near approach, they now worked with safety 

 on dry land. 



(Below the Falls also.) " Rocks, which at very low water had 

 sometimes touched the keel of the steamer " Maid of the Mist," 

 and for the removal of which the captain had made liberal offers, 

 were blown to pieces, and removed with the same ease as if it 

 had been on dry land. 



" The cause of this wonderful fall in the waters of the Nia- 

 gara can only be accounted for by supposing that the large 

 fields of ice in the lower end of Lake Erie had moved down 

 bodily, and formed a .sort of dam, between Fort Eric and Buf- 

 falo. The water is still low, but gradually rising." 



II. 



Jly curiosity being naturally much excited, and little satisfied 

 by the perusal of the foregoing interesting notices, I resolved to 

 endeavour to learn some further particulars, and I, accordingly, 

 on the 11th of ]\lay following, addressed a note to a friend 

 residing in the neighbourhood of Fort Erie, (Mr. E. Anderson, 

 now Collector of (.'ustoms at Amhcrstburg) begging that, in 

 addition to stating how far the newspaper accounts were correct, 

 he would kindly endeavour to clear up the following points : — 

 1. How it was that, as stated in the Buffalo Arhcrlisir, though 

 the river fell 3 feet at ]>lack-rock, there was still no remarkable 

 variation in the harbour of Buffalo. 2. Whether the jam, 

 supposed, in the Iris, to have taken place, did actually occur 



between Fort Erie and Buffalo, and if not, where and when did 

 it take place. 3. What is the usual difference of level in the 

 water at Black-rock, compared with the head of the Rapids and 

 the harbour at Buffalo. 4. Whether any of the old inhabitants 

 of the neighbourhood had any recollection of a similar occur- 

 rence; and if so, how long ago, and how often within their 

 memory. 



To this letter, I was obligingly favoured with a reply, from 

 which I extract the following valuable and interesting par- 

 ticulars : — 



1. " The phenomenon you refer to, I recollect perfectly well, 

 as I had the curiosity to go up to the Rapids at the time it 

 happened, for the purpose of examining the ice, &c., and I 

 would say that the accounts of it in the Buffalo and Niagara 

 Falls newspapers are correct. 



" Some years ago, the State of New York built a sea-wall 

 from the American side of the Niagara River, to Bird-island 

 Reef, to form a feeder for the P]rie Canal, which made the exit 

 of Lake Erie much more narrow than the natural bed of the 

 river. In the centre of the river, between old Fort Erie, on 

 the Canada side, and the head of the sea-wall on the American 

 side, is a large reef of rocks, not more than two feet under 

 water; and on each side of this reef are two channels, in one 

 of which there is ten feet water, and in the other, on the Ame- 

 rican side, 8 feet water. 



2. "When I went to examine the Rapids, the main channel 

 opposite old Fort Erie, was completely jammed with large cakes 

 of ice, piled one on top of the other ; and the Lake as far as 

 the eye could carry, was in the same state, but more so on the 

 Canadian shore than the American. This will account for the 

 water falling 3 J feet below the usual level of the river. Y'ou 

 will also recollect that there is a large creek running into the 

 harbour at Buffalo, that would tend to keep the water up to 

 the usual height there. 



3. " The difference of level between Buffalo harbour, and 

 the Niagara River below the Rapids is 5 feet. I do not know 

 that there is any between the head of the Rapids and Bufialo. 



4. " The phenomenon lasted nearly two days. Colonel Kirby, 

 (Collector of the Customs) one of the oldest inhabitants of Fort 

 Erie, has no recollection of anything of the kind before this." 



To the above may be added, that it was on this occasion, as 

 I afterwards learnt, that the Niagara, after indignantly bursting 

 its temporary winter chains, continued rushing furiously on 

 I'rom the Falls in an accumulated roaring avalanche of crashing 

 ice and foaming waters of great height, past Queenston and 

 Niagara, sweeping along with it whatever trees, rocks, mills, 

 and wharves lined the banks, until it at length settled calmly 

 down on the broad bosom of Lake Ontario. 



Such is the amount of the information acquired by me, at 

 this remote distance, regarding this extraordinary phenomenon ; 

 but I have no doubt that many members of the Institute, re- 

 siding nearer the scene of so singular and startling an event 

 may be able to furnish more satisfactory particulars. I nmy, 

 however, at all events, trust, that having frankly led the waj-, 

 my humble ntiti' will jirove acceptable, and that those who are 

 better informed will be disposed to follow my example, as re- 

 gards not only this, but many other inviting and interesting 

 Canadian objects of philosophical investigation. 



