Industrial Niagara 



of rapids in the picturesque gorge falter and slowly subside. 1916 

 The vast volume of water between the foot of the falls and or,on 

 Queenston gradually 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 relatively narrow and shallow 

 bed of the whirlpool rapids would be laid bare. The whirlpool 

 itself would remain a somewhat restricted and motionless sheet 

 of water, forty feet below its normal level, at the head of a quiet 

 fjord, extending inland from Lake Ontario. . . . 



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, work- 

 men begin their daily task. For fourteen hours the world's great- 

 est beehive of industry is filled with the busy hum of activity, 

 keyed to the highest pitch, banqueting, 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 seven mil- 

 lion, four hundred thousand horsepower 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 gamut of sound which forms the orchestral accom- 

 paniment of a busy, happy people shaping, fashioning, creating 

 the objects of convenience or luxury destined for each other's com- 

 fort 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 deaf- 

 ening roar of exultant joy, the cataract has sprung into full activ- 

 ity. Swiftly the falling curtain spreads from Goat Island along 

 the crest of the semi-circle, until Niagara, in full panoply of 



1053 



