68 



of the cataract and up the face of the bar at the outer edge 

 of the pool. It is, however, believed that the old interpret- 

 ation is correct and that the peculiar features result from the 

 coarse gravels at Lewis ton having belonged to a spit of Lake 

 Iroquois which migrated up the slope as the level of the lake 

 rose 35 or 40 feet to the existing Iroquois spit at Lewiston. 



Views in the Gorge from the Lower Level. — The 

 car returns along the bank of the river and enters the 

 mouth of the gorge about 40 feet (12 m.) above the 

 water. The west wall is almost entirely clothed in forest, 

 except for about 20 feet (6 m.) up from the water which was 

 swept bare by the great ice jam of February, 1909. The 

 current is only moderately swift near the mouth of the 

 gorge, but grows swifter and rougher up stream. Up to 

 the Catholic university the river is fairly uniform in 

 width and velocity, but above the bend at the university, 

 it grows much wider and much of it is evidently quite 

 shallow. At the foot of Foster's flats the river begins 

 to grow narrow until at the head of Foster rapids about 

 at Wilson point the narrowest point in the whole river 

 is passed, the surf ace width here being 300 feet (91-4 m.). 

 The water at the head of Foster rapids descends in a 

 cascade, almost a fall. Indeed, if the volume of the 

 river were small, say one-seventh of the present volume, 

 there would probably be a distinct fall or drop like the 

 upper cascade near Sister island. The rapids just below 

 are the most turbulent in the river and are beset with 

 dangerous rocks. 



Where the river widens abruptly just above Foster 

 rapids, it becomes much deeper and the water is more 

 quiet. The contraction at the exit of the whirlpool is 

 quite noticeable and the lower reef which spans the river 

 just here produces a short, sharp rapids. At the entrance 

 of the whirpool there is another contraction and a more 

 strongly marked reef than at the exit. 



Leaving the Whirlpool the railway passes along the 

 east side of the Eddy basin with rapids surging from the 

 steep narrow gorge above in the foreground. The rapids 

 do not lose all of their turbulence before they strike the 

 upper Whirpool reef which again throws them into frothy 

 billows. Looking from the car the sharp contraction 

 of the width of the gorge at the upper side of the Eddy 

 basin is quite striking. From the head of the narrows 

 above the railroad bridges the river descends about 45 feet 



