Eighth International Geographic Congress 423 



Philadelphia Country Club. President 

 Henry G. Bryant presided and intro- 

 duced those answering toasts, who 

 were : Count von Pfeil for Germany, Dr 

 Hugh Robert Mill for England, Henri 

 Cordier for France, Mr Hioki, First 

 Secretary of the Japanese Legation, for 

 Japan, and Dr Bela Erodi for Hungary. 

 After the dinner the Congress proceeded 

 to New York by special train. 



At New York the Congress was hos- 

 pitably received by the American Geo- 

 graphical Society, the members of which 

 did their best to give the visitors a good 

 time. Several scientific sessions for the 

 reading of papers were held . A recep- 

 tion was given by the American Geo- 

 graphical Society at its home Tuesday 

 evening and a subscription dinner in 

 honor of the foreign delegates Wednes- 

 day evening. On both days the Amer- 

 ican Museum of Natural History enter- 

 tained the Congress at luncheon. On 

 Thursday the Congress were the guests 

 of the American Geographical Society 

 on a trip up the Hudson by special 

 steamer to Fishkill and West Point. 

 The day was perfect. The air had 

 been cleared by a heavy rain the night 

 before, so that the magnificent scenery 

 of the Highlands appeared in majestic 

 distinctness and beauty. At Fishkill 

 the party disembarked and proceeded 

 by trolley to the top of Mount Beacon. 

 Here Dr William M. Davis gave an in- 

 structive description and explanation 

 of the landscape. 



' ' Dike the lower Potomac, the Hudson 

 below Albany is not a normal river; its 

 volume is not determined by the amount 

 of rainfall upon its drainage basin, but by 

 the depth at which its bed stands be- 

 neath sea- level. The present depth of 

 the Hudson River bed below sea-level 

 has ordinarily been explained by a de- 

 pression of the land ; but since it has 

 been recognized that glaciers can erode 

 below sea-level, it is difficult to say how 

 much of the depth of the channel is due 

 to depression of the land and how much 

 to erosion by ice. The extension of a 



navigable tide- water channel nearly 150 

 miles northward up the Hudson to Al- 

 bany, and the opening of the Mohawk 

 Valley west of Albany, between the 

 Catskill and the Adirondack mountains, 

 has made communication easy between 

 the harbor of New York and the prairies 

 of the West. The contrast between the 

 Hudson and the Potomac in this re- 

 spect is very striking. The gorge of the 

 Highlands is therefore a path of most 

 active traffic, by rail as well as by boat ; 

 and New York is for this reason the com- 

 mercial metropolis of the United States. ' ' 



From Fishkill the party returned to 

 West Point, whence their special train 

 carried them to Niagara Falls, arriving 

 there Friday morning, September 16. 

 The early part of the day was passed in 

 examining the falls. At 1 1 a. m. the 

 Congress assembled in the local theater 

 to hear Dr G. K. Gilbert deliver a 

 suggestive address on " the Physical 

 Geography of the Falls and Cataract." 

 The cataract as a thing of beauty is 

 doomed, for the water is being fast ap- 

 propriated for power. About 3 per cent 

 of the water is now used, and when the 

 plans now in course of construction are 

 completed this will be increased to 10 

 per cent. It is estimated that 5,000,000 

 horsepower are easily available. The 

 average yearly retreat of the Horseshoe 

 Falls is from 4 to 5 feet ; the American 

 Falls are not retreating appreciably. Be- 

 fore many decades have passed the re- 

 treat of the Horseshoe Falls will cut off 

 the water from the American Falls, so 

 that the latter will cease to exist. The 

 gradual tilting of the lake region will 

 some 3 , 500 years hence cause the waters 

 of Lake Erie and of all the lakes to flow 

 into the Illinois River and thence into 

 the Mississippi. Niagara Falls and Chi- 

 cago will then disappear. 



In the afternoon the Congress took a 

 three-hour trolley ride around the falls 

 and cataract, being personally conducted 

 by Dr Gilbert, Dr Davis, and Dr Penck. 



The Congress reached Chicago on the 

 morning of Saturday, September 17, 



