Science, Geology and Physics 



(Huron, Michigan and Superior) were first turned into the 1898 

 Niagara drainage, owing to the warping of the land, with the pcncer 

 greatest rise occurring along an axis trending N. 28° E. 1 

 The date of the diversion of the waters of the upper lakes from 

 the Ottawa to the Niagara valley has been computed by the 

 writer at 7,200 years. This result was obtained from the mean 

 of three distinct methods of computation, varying from 6,500 

 to 7,800 years/ Mr. F. B. Taylor's more recent estimate 

 gives the range of from 5,000 to 10,000 years. 



Niagara as a time piece would be incomplete without indi- 

 cating the changes in the near future. From the northeastward 

 tilting of the lake region, it was computed that in 5,000 years, 

 not merely Niagara Falls would cease to exist, but also that 

 the drainage of the deepest part of the Niagara river at Buf- 

 falo (45 feet) would be reversed and turned into lake Erie, 

 whose outlet would then be through lakes Huron and Michigan 

 into the Mississippi river by way of Chicago. This inference 

 was based upon the long delayed discovery of the rate at which 

 the earth's crust has been rising in the lake region, — which was 

 found to be for the Niagara district 1 .25 feet per century more 

 than the rate of rise at Chicago. 3 With this determination it 

 was easy to calculate the rate of terrestrial deformation for other 

 regions, — thus northeast of Lake Huron the rise has been found 

 to be two feet per century, and north of the Adirondacks, the 

 warping is progressing at 3.75 feet in a hundred years. 



The rate of deformation of 1 .25 feet per century, in the 

 Niagara district, was the minimum calculation, with a possible 

 maximum of about 1 .5 feet per century. The approximate 

 correctness of the determination has just been confirmed by a 

 paper presented to the American Association, by Prof. G. K. 



1 This direction occurs east of Georgian bay, while at the end of Lake 

 Ontario the direction is N. 25° E. See papers cited above. 



2 Duration of Niagara Falls, cited above. 



3 Ibid. 



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