403 



Little river, the tributary entering the main river 

 just above the falls, flows over a rock floor just before it 

 joins the St. John and therefore, it is presumed, has also 

 abandoned its pre-Glacial channel. This large affluent 

 may have given rise to one of the causes whereby the St. 

 John was led to abandon the western channel, since it is 

 conceivable that by joining the St. John at this place, 

 the erosive power of the eastern branch was increased over 

 that of the western branch. 



The first branch road running south, west of the bridge, 

 joins a pathway leading to the edge of the gorge of the St. 

 John opposite the mouth of Falls brook. This road and 

 path pass over a terrace floor having an elevation of 

 about 495 feet (150-9 m.). This terrace level is in places 

 at least, rock-floored. Where the pathway approaches the 

 edge of the gorge, it descends to a lower terrace floor 

 having an elevation of about 450 feet (140 m.). 



At the edge of the gorge, the rock walls rise almost 

 vertical for 160 feet (49 m.). Upstream the nearly perpen- 

 dicular walls are higher. Looking up the St. John from this 

 view point, the river may be seen descending over a con- 

 tinuous series of cascades and rapids which abruptly cease 

 at this place and give way to comparatively quiet waters 

 which continue down the curving gorge to where it joins 

 the broad stream channel of the original course of the St. 

 John. Where this marked change in the character of the 

 river bottom commences, there is also a change in the 

 character of the slopes bounding the gorge. Above, the 

 walls are nearly vertical but below, they are much less 

 steep and in a general way are patterned like the bounding 

 slopes of Falls brook which enters directly opposite the 

 view point. 



Falls brook at its mouth empties over a rock lip about 30 

 feet (9 m.) high, into the comparatively quiet waters of the 

 St. John. Inland the bed of the brook rises about 250 feet 

 (75 m.) in the first mile. Towards the mouth of the brook, 

 the gradient of the stream is much less than the above 

 average rate and when plotted in profile suggests that if 

 Falls brook flowed with its normal gradient down the lower 

 portion of the gorge now occupied by the St. John, it would 

 enter the main valley of the St. John at grade. This 

 suggestive line of evidence, together with others such as the 

 hanging relation of Falls brook, the existence of quiet 

 water in the lower part of the gorge of the St. John as far 



