Niagara Falls 



1908 The striking features of the Gorge are modern, and have been 



very little affected by those agencies which are continually mould- 

 ing the contours of land surfaces. The inclination of the river's 

 bed has varied greatly with the ages, due to gradual uplifting 

 or depressing of the earth's crust; consequently the current has 

 varied greatly in velocity with these changes. A calculation of 

 the work done by the river during each epoch of its history is 

 indeed fraught with many difficulties. Much investigation, how- 

 ever, has been made along this line and with a rather satisfactory 

 degree of success. 



Niagara appears to have had a life peculiar to itself; but 

 what is unique in its history, is the presentation of characteristics 

 which in the case of other rivers have long since passed away. 

 Rivers, and especially very large ones, appeal to us as 

 "unchangeable as the hills themselves;" but the truth is, that 

 the very hills and mountains are changing as a result of the forces 

 exerted by water. Niagara, as viewed by the geologist, is unique, 

 not on account of its having a different history than any other 

 river, but for the reason that it had a more recent beginning. 

 The calculation of the life of such a stream is interesting in itself, 

 besides the other great questions settled by the solution of such 

 a problem as the probable number of years that the river shall 

 exist in its present form, the centuries which have elapsed since 

 the ice retreated from this region, and the ascertaining of certain 

 facts concerning the antiquity of man. In order to make a 

 thorough study of these topics, one must take a view of the 

 relief features of the Niagara region, and make a careful review 

 of what conditions existed at the time that this district was 

 covered by the great ice sheet, together with the changes effected 

 during the retreat of the Great Glacier to the north. 



Niagara River has its origin in the eastern end of Lake Erie, 

 about three hundred feet higher than the surface of Lake Ontario. 

 Passing from Erie to the last-mentioned lake the descent is 

 not gradual, but one finds a gently rolling plain with almost no 

 slope for nineteen miles until almost at the very shore of Lake 



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