Niagara Falls 



1837 Fairholme, George. Geology. Lond.: 1837. 



General view of the geology of the scriptures. Discusses the recession 

 of the Falls of Niagara and thinks the period from 5,000 to 5,500 years. 



FAIRHOLME, GEORGE. New and conclusive physical demonstrations, 

 both of the fact and period of the Mosaic deluge, and of its having been 

 the only event of the kind that has taken place upon the earth. Lond. 

 James Ridgway and Sons. 1837. Pp. 157-203. 



This chapter is " on the falls of Niagara and the distinct evidences 

 which they afford of a definite and recent commencement." The account 

 of the Falls is by sections and there is a bird's-eye view. The facts 

 used are taken from Burford, Hall, Bakewell and others, as the author 

 had never seen the Falls himself. 



1837 LYELL, Sir CHARLES. Principles of geology. Phila. : J. Kay. 

 Lyell J 837. 1:176-178. 



A description of the work of recession at Niagara. 



1838 



1838 HALL, JAMES. Niagara Falls and river. (Ann. rep'ts of the fourth 

 Hall geol. dis't of N. Y. 1838. Pp. 171-173.) 



A brief preliminary report by the New York State Geologist, touching 

 on the rock strata of the gorge and the recession of the Falls. 



The gorge through which this river passes at Lewiston, 

 presents the rocks in the following order from the top down- 

 wards: limestone twenty feet; shale eighty feet; limestone twenty 

 feet; red marl and sandstone seventy feet, (the upper layers only 

 hard;) hard gray sandstone twenty-five feet; red marl to the 

 level of the river and far below. 



These rocks dip to the south, and at the falls have all dis- 

 appeared beneath the river, except the upper limestone and a 

 part of the shale below. The limestone, which is twenty feet 

 thick on the top of the ridge at Lewiston, is eighty feet at the 

 falls. The great height of the falls when at Lewiston, and the 

 character of the rocks below, must have caused a much more 

 rapid rate of recession at that period than at the present. The 

 height of the falls has decreased as they have progressed south- 



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