Niagara Falls 



1900 The formations frequently extend down the river close to fhe 

 Dun a P whirlpool rapids, and many crossings have been made below the 



old " Maid of the Mist " landing. On the Niagara River 

 between Lewiston and Fort Niagara teams have freqeuntly been 

 driven across the ice-bridges, and old residents recall that they 

 have seen the river from the whirlpool to the mouth jammed with 

 ice of wonderful shapes. Frequently when an ice-bridge is form- 

 ing and the water is high, huge timbers are swept from points on 

 the upper river and carried over the falls. Occasionally these tim- 

 bers lodge in the ice-bridge, and when viewed from certain points 

 appear to stand high above the cliffs. In some places on the 

 ice-bridge, the mass forms like a congealed tidal wave, appearing 

 like a great roll. To get down into a crevasse and peek through 

 the ice at the falls is a novel experience and well worth the trouble. 

 When the bridge first forms, all the little pieces of ice are plainly 

 to be seen. However, after a snowfall an indescribable softness 

 is given to the scene. The snow fills in about the icy hillocks. It 

 clings to the sides of the mountainous formations, the solid ice of 

 the chunks peeking through here and there, now one color, now 

 another. 



Of all the thrilling experiences on the Niagara ice-bridges, 

 none equals that of the people who were on the ice on the after- 

 noon of Sunday, January 22, 1899. That afternoon soon after 

 four o'clock, the people who had gathered in the free parks and 

 on the upper steel arch to view the winter spectacle were startled 

 to notice that the icy mass had broken loose and was being car- 

 ried downstream toward the whirlpool rapids by the current. On 

 the ice-bridge at the time were from fifty to one hundred persons, 

 some of them having ventured out only a short distance from 

 shore, while others were well out in the center. There was pros- 

 pect of a terrible river catastrophe, and the thousands of specta- 

 tors stood aghast. At the first trembling of the ice, the people on 

 the ice-bridge increased their efforts to reach the shore. The 

 journey of pleasure had now turned into a race for life. Across 

 the upheaving, moving mass of ice they ran, their feet hardly 

 touching the surface in their progress. Down the river the ice 



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