Niagara Falls 



1841 from beneath the other, or come up to the surface in parallel 



y ' zones, which may be traced for a great distance east and west 



through the state of New York and Canada. (See Map.) 

 They all consist of different members of the Silurian series, the 

 uppermost or newest being those nearest to Lake Erie. (See 

 section fig. 4, p. 37.) In the bird's-eye view, the Niagara is seen 

 bounded by low banks where it issues from Lake Erie, and vary- 

 ing in width from one to three miles. It here resembles a pro- 

 longation of the tranquil lake, being interspersed with low 

 wooded islands. This lake-like scenery continues for about fif- 

 teen miles, during which the fall of the river scarcely exceeds as 

 many feet, but on reaching the rapids, it descends over a limestone 

 bed about 50 feet in less than a mile, and is then thrown down 

 about 1 65 feet perpendicularly at the Falls. The largest of these, 

 called the Horseshoe Fall, is 1 800 feet, or more than a third of a 

 mile, broad, the island in the midst somewhat less in width, and the 

 American Fall about 600 feet wide. The deep narrow chasm 

 below the great cataract is from 200 to 400 yards wide, and 

 300 feet deep; and here in seven miles the river descends 100 

 feet, at the end of which it emerges from the gorge into the open 

 and flat country, so nearly on a level with Lake Ontario that 

 there is only a fall of about four feet in the seven additional 

 miles which intervene between Queenston and the Lake. The 

 great ravine is winding, and makes a turn nearly at right angles 

 to itself at the whirlpool, where the Niagara sweeps round a large 

 circular basin. . . . At some points the boundary cliffs are 

 undermined on one side by the impetuous stream, but there is 

 usually a talus at the base of the precipice, supporting a very 

 ornamental fringe of trees. 



It has long been the popular belief, from a mere cursory 

 inspection of this district, that the Niagara once flowed in a shal- 

 low valley across the whole platform from the present site of the 

 Falls to the Queenston heights, where it is supposed the cataract 

 was first situated, and that the river has been slowly eating its 

 way backwards through the rocks for a distance of seven miles. 



548 



