Science, Geology and Physics 



The observations made in 1841 induced me in the following 1841 

 year (June, 1842), to re-examine diligently both sides of the Lye11 

 river from the Falls to Lewiston and Queenston, to ascertain if 

 any other patches of the ancient river-bed had escaped destruction. 

 Accordingly, following first the edge of the cliffs on the eastern 

 bank, I discovered, with no small delight, at the summer-house 

 above the whirlpool, a bed of stratified sand and gravel, forty 

 feet thick, containing fluviatile shells in abundance. Fortunately, 

 a few yards from the summer-house a pit had been recently 

 dug for the cellar of a new house to the depth of nine feet 

 in the shelly sand, in which I found shells of the genera 

 Unio, Cyclas, Melania, Helix, and Pupa, not only identical in 

 species with those which occur in a fresh state in the bed of the 

 Niagara, near the ferry, but corresponding also in the propor- 

 tionate number of individuals belonging to each species, the 

 valves of Cyclas similis, for example, being the most numerous. 

 The same year I found also a remnant of the old river-bed on 

 the opposite or Canadian side of the river, about a mile and a 

 half above the whirlpool, or two miles and a half below the Falls. 

 These facts appear conclusive as to the former extension of a 

 more elevated valley, four miles, at least, below the Falls; and 

 at this point the old river-bed must have been so high as to be 

 capable of holding back the waters which covered all the patches 

 of fluviatile sand and gravel, including that of Goat Island. As 

 the table-land or limestone-platform rises gently to the north, and 

 is highest near Queenston, there is no reason to suppose that there 

 was a greater fall in the Niagara when it flowed at its higher 

 level, than now between Lake Erie and the Falls ; and according 

 to this view, the old channel might well have furnished the 

 required barrier. 



I have stated that on the left, or Canadian bank of the 

 Niagara, below the Falls, I succeeded in detecting sand with 

 freshwater shells at one point only, near the mouth of the muddy 

 river. The ledge of limestone on this side is usually laid bare, 



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