The English Period 



one hundred and forty-two feet, whereas the others are each one 1796 

 hundred and sixty feet high; but to its inferior height it is 

 indebted principally for its grandeur; the precipice, and of 

 course the bed of the river above it, being so much lower at the 

 one side than at the other, by far the greater part of the water 

 of the river finds its way to the low side, and rushes down with 

 greater velocity at that side than it does at the other, as the rapids 

 above the precipice are strongest there. It is from the center 

 of the Horse-shoe Fall that arises that prodigious cloud of mist 

 which may be seen so far off. The extent of the Horse-shoe Fall 

 can only be ascertained by the eye; the general opinion of those 

 who have most frequently viewed it is, that it is not less than 

 six hundred yards in circumference. The island which separates 

 it from the next fall is supposed to be about three hundred and 

 fifty yards wide; the second fall is about five yards wide; the 

 next island about thirty yards ; and the third, commonly called the 

 Fort Schloper Fall, from being situated towards the side of the 

 river on which that fort stands, is judged to admeasure at least 

 as much as the large island. The whole extent of the precipice, 

 therefore, including the islands, is, according to this computa- 

 tion, thirteen hundred and thirty-five yards. This is certainly 

 not an exaggerated statement. Some have supposed, that the 

 line of the falls altogether exceeds an English mile. The 

 quantity of water carried down the falls is prodigious. It will 

 be found to amount to 670,255 tons per minute, though calcu- 

 lated simply from the following data, which ought to be cor- 

 rect, as coming from an experienced commander of one of the 

 King's ships on Lake Erie, well acquainted in every respect with 

 that body of water, viz. that where Lake Erie, towards its 

 eastern extremity, is two miles and a half wide, the water is six 

 feet deep, and the current runs at the rate of two knots in an hour ; 

 but Niagara River, between this part of Lake Erie and the falls, 

 receives the waters of several large creeks, the quantity carried 

 down the falls must therefore be greater than the foregoing 

 computation makes it to be; if we say that six hundred and 



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