Science, Geology and Physics 



Ontario, where almost unexpectedly one comes upon a high 1908 

 precipice from which a magnificent view of the lower lake may u er * 

 be gained, only a narrow strip of beach intervening. This cliff 

 is called by geologists the Niagara escarpment. 



When the river leaves Lake Erie its waters are interfered with 

 by a low ledge of rock running across its channel. After pass- 

 ing this its waters meet no more troublesome obstructions until 

 coming to the head of Goat Island. The river can scarcely be 

 said to have a valley. One is reminded more of an arm of the 

 lake extending out over this region. The country from Lake 

 Erie to near the head of the Rapids above the Falls rests on a 

 stratum of soft rock; from the Falls northward the underlying 

 stratum is formed by a ledge of hard limestone, and beneath 

 this a shale and two thin strata of sandstone. By the descent of 

 the Rapids and the Falls, the waters are dropped two hundred 

 feet, and thence through the Gorge they rush along at an appall- 

 ing rate over the descent, through the Whirlpool and on to 

 Queenston for a distance of seven miles. From this city to the 

 lake there is little fall and so only a moderate current. 



The deep, narrow gorge extending from the Falls to Lewiston 

 is the especial subject of study to the geologist. This canyon 

 is scarcely a quarter of a mile wide, varying little in the distance 

 from cliff to cliff throughout most of its course. This chasm opens 

 up before the student with almost appalling suddenness, while 

 travelling over an otherwise regular plain. Its walls are so 

 precipitous that few opportunities are offered for scaling them; 

 and their height from the bottom of the river varies from two 

 hundred to five hundred feet. An examination of both sides of 

 the Gorge shows the same order in the layers of rock and shale on 

 comparatively the same level, with the same thickness of each 

 corresponding stratum. If a superstitious person had come unex- 

 pectedly upon this gigantic fissure ages ago, he might easily have 

 imagined it to have been the work of some mighty mythological 

 hero ; but the modern scientist has reached a much better, as well 

 as a much more satisfactory conclusion, namely, that this immense 



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