Ancient Drainage of JVorth Amenca, SfC* 



13 



ON THE ANCIENT DRAINAGE OF NORTH AMERICA, AND THE 

 ORIGIN OF THE CATARACT OF NIAGARA. 



By G, W. Featherstonhaugh. 



I SHALL in this paper make some general observations upon 

 the ancient drainage of North America, and then apply the 

 operating principle to the history of the origin of the Cataract 

 of Niagara. 



Mr. Ure, in his new system of Geology, when discussing the 

 influence which streams have had upon their beds, observes, 

 (page 356,) " Historical documents all concur to prove, that 

 streams possessing the greatest power that can be ascribed to 

 them, have no appreciable erosive action upon the rocks over 

 which they run." If this passage were limited to the influence 

 they have upon the surface of their beds when covered with 

 water, it could not be so easily disproved ; but as it seems to in- 

 clude every possible mode by which streams can act upon their 

 beds, — and these are various ; — ^it deserves some consideration. 

 The beds of many rivers of this continent, remain dry during a 

 great portion of the year. The floors shrink and expand, as 

 the weather alternates from moist to dry. Almost all the shales 

 disintegrate, and indeed it may be said of all rocks laid bare, 

 that they gradually yield to the influence of weather. The 

 returning floods bear away the loosened fragments, and thus, in 

 long periods of time, streams come to have a powerful action over 

 their beds, widening their courses, and wearing their beds to 

 great depths. But there are other circumstances, differing from 

 these again, under which streams are constantly acting, and which 

 prove that they exercise a remarkable erosive influence over 

 their beds. These will be adverted to in treating of the origin 

 of the cataract of Niagara. 



There are many persons, among the great number who 

 annually visit this magnificent waterfall, who cannot be made 

 to comprehend, that it is a reasonable matter, to suppose the 

 cataract, in ancient times, went over the Queenstown ridge, now 

 near six miles distant from the present falls; and an engineer* 

 of the state of New York, who appears to have had much expe- 

 rience in the surveys of that State, has published a paper in the 

 proceedings of a learned society ,f in which he denies that suppo- 

 * Mr. Geddes. t The Albany Institute. 



