Niagara Falls 



1872 bloody forage grounds of the south, and did not reappear among 

 ey us until some years after the war had ended. 



Large numbers of ducks formerly went over the Falls, but not 

 for the reason generally assigned, namely, that they cannot rise 

 out of the rapids. It is true that they cannot rise from the water 

 while heading up stream. When they wish to do so, they turn 

 down the current and sail out without difficulty. No 1 sound and 

 living duck ever went over the precipice by daylight. Dark, and 

 especially foggy nights are most fatal to them. In the month of 

 September, 1 84 1 , four hundred ducks were picked up below 

 the Falls, who had gone over in the fog of the previous night. 

 In two instances dogs have been sent over the Falls and survived 

 the plunge. In November, 1836, a troublesome female bull- 

 tarrier was put in a coffee sack, by a couple of men who had 

 determined to get rid of her, and thrown off the middle of Goat 

 Island bridge. In the following spring she was found alive and 

 well about sixty rods below the Ferry, having lived through the 

 winter on a deceased cow that was thrown over the bank the 

 previous fall. In 1858 another dog, a male of the same breed, 

 was thrown into the rapids, also near the middle of the bridge. 

 In less than an hour he came up the Ferry stairs very wet and 

 not at all gay. He was ever after a sadder if not a better dog. 



The reason why the animals were not killed may be thus 

 explained. From the top of the rapids tower the spectator gets 

 a perfect view of the periphery of the Canadian Fall. If he will, 

 on a bright day, look steadily at the bottom of the Horse-Shoe 

 where water falls into water, he will see, as the spray is occasion- 

 ally removed, a beautiful exhibition of water cones apparently 

 ten or twelve feet high. These are formed by the rapid accumu- 

 lation and condensation of the falling water. It pours down so 

 rapidly and in such quantities that the water below, so to speak, 

 cannot run off fast enough and it piles up as though it were in a 

 state of violent ebullition. These cones are constantly forming 

 and breaking. If any strong animal should fall on to one of 

 these cones as on to a soft cushion it might slide safely into the 



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