Flora and Fauna 



Goat Island is of this origin. It is in fact a portion of 1901 

 such a terrace. In a single place upon the island there is * y 

 to be seen a small quantity of clay, possibly deposited by 

 the glacier where it is found, but more likely to have been 

 brought by the current of the river along with the other materials 

 which make up the soil. Mixed with the soil of Goat Island and 

 with that of the river terraces in other places, there may be seen 

 an abundance of the half-decomposed remains of fluviatile and 

 lacustrine Mollusca — shell-fish, univalve, and bivalve, identical 

 in species with those still living in the lake and river. 



The period which has been employed by the river in the exca- 

 vation of the chasm below the Falls, has, for more than half a 

 century, been a most interesting study for the geologist. As early 

 as 1 84 1 , Sir Charles Lyell, preeminent in his day as a geologist, 

 from such data as he was then able to command, computed the 

 time necessary for the work at no less than 35,000 years. Later 

 geologists have sought, but unsuccessfully, to reduce the period. 

 When, however, the island appeared above the river, substan- 

 tially as it now is, presents a more difficult problem; but that 

 the deposit of the materials of which its soil is composed, began 

 as scon as the irruption of the river through the moraine, at the 

 foot of Lake Erie, was accomplished, can scarcely be doubted. 

 That 35,000 years have passed since the shells found on the 

 island and in the terraces on either side of the river were depos- 

 ited, and that no specific difference is to be discovered between 

 them and their existing representatives and progeny, are facts 

 full of interest to the evolutionist. 



A calcareous soil, enriched with an abundance of organic 

 matter, like that of Goat Island, would necessarily be one of 

 great fertility. For the growth and sustentation of a forest, and 

 of such plants as prefer the woods to the openings, it would far 

 excel the deep and exhaustless alluviums of the Prairie States. 



For the preservation of so large a part of the native vegetation 

 of the island we must be thankful to the policy of its former 



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