Part 8

It was at an early hour of the day that we left the town of Niagara or Newark, accompanied by the attorney general and an officer of the British engineers, in order to visit these stupendous Falls. Every step that we advanced toward them, our expectations rose to a higher pitch; our eyes were continually on the look out for the column of white mist which hovers over them; and an hundred times, I believe, did we stop our carriage in hopes of hearing their thundering sound: neither, however, was the mist to be seen, nor the sound to be heard, when we came to the foot of the hills; nor after having crossed over them, were our eyes or ears more gratified. This occasioned no inconsiderable disappointment, and we could not but express our doubts to each other, that the wondrous accounts we had so frequently heard of the Falls were without foundation, and calculated merely to impose on the minds of credulous people that inhabited a distant part of the world. These doubts were nearly confirmed, when we found that, after having approached within half a mile of the place, the mist was but just discernible, and that the sound even then was not to be heard; yet it is nevertheless strictly true, that the tremendous noise of the Falls may be distinctly heard, at times, at the distance of forty miles; and the cloud formed from the spray may be even seen still farther off[13]; but it is only when the air is very clear, and there is a fine blue sky, which however are very common occurrences in this country, that the cloud can be seen at such a great distance. The hearing of the sound of the falls afar off also depends upon the state of the atmosphere; it is observed, that the sound can be heard at the greatest distance, just before a heavy fall of rain, and when the wind is in a favourable point to convey the sound toward the listener: the day on which we first approached the falls was thick and cloudy.

Footnote 13:

We ourselves, some time afterwards, beheld the cloud with the naked eye, at no less a distance than fifty-four miles, when sailing on Lake Erie, on board one of the king’s ships. The day on which we saw it was uncommonly clear and calm, and we were seated on the poop of the vessel, admiring the bold scenery of the southern shore of the lake, when the commander, who had been aloft to make some observations, came to us, and pointing to a small white cloud in the horizon, told us, that that was the cloud overhanging Niagara. At first it appeared to us that this must have been a mere conjecture, but on minute observation it was evident that the commander’s information was just. All the other light clouds in a few minutes, flitted away to another part of the horizon, whereas this one remained steadily fixed in the same spot; and on looking at it through a glass, it was plain to see that the shape of the cloud varied every instant, owing to the continued rising of the mist from the cataract beneath.

[Sidenote: NIAGARA RIVER.]

On that part of the road leading to Lake Erie which draws nearest to the falls, there is a small village, consisting of about half a dozen straggling houses: here we alighted, and having disposed of our horses, and made a slight repast, in order to prepare us for the fatigue we had to go through, we crossed over some fields towards a deep hollow place surrounded with large trees, from the bottom of which issued thick volumes of whitish mist, that had much the appearance of smoke rising from large heaps of burning weeds. Having come to the edge of this hollow place, we descended a deep bank of about fifty yards, and then walking for some distance over a wet marshy piece of ground, covered with thick bushes, at last came to the Table Rock, so called from the remarkable flatness of its surface, and its bearing some similitude to a table. This rock is situated a little to the front of the great fall, above the top of which it is elevated about forty feet. The view from it is truly sublime; but before I attempt to give any idea of the nature of this view, it will be necessary to take a more general survey of the river and falls.

Niagara River issues from the eastern extremity of Lake Erie, and after a course of thirty-six miles discharges itself into Lake Ontario, as has already been mentioned. For the first few miles from Lake Erie, the breadth of the river is about three hundred yards, and it is deep enough for vessels drawing nine or ten feet water; but the current is so extremely rapid and irregular, and the channel so intricate, on account of the numberless large rocks in different places, that no other vessels than bateaux ever attempt to pass along it. As you proceed downward the river widens, no rocks are to be seen either along the shores or in the channel, and the waters glide smoothly along, though the current continues very strong. The river runs thus evenly, and is navigable with safety for bateaux as far as Fort Chippeway, which is about three miles above the falls; but here the bed of it again becomes rocky, and the waters are violently agitated by passing down successive rapids, so much so indeed, that were a boat by any chance to be carried but a little way beyond Chippeway, where people usually stop, nothing could save it from being dashed to pieces long before it came to the falls. With such astonishing impetuosity do the waves break on the rocks in these rapids, that the mere sight of them from the top of the banks is sufficient to make you shudder. I must in this place, however, observe, that it is only on each side of the river that the waters are so much troubled; in the middle of it, though the current is also there uncommonly swift, yet the breakers are not so dangerous but boats may pass down, if dexterously managed, to an island which divides the river at the very falls. To go down to this island it is necessary to set off at some distance above Chippeway, where the current is even, and to keep exactly in the middle of the river the whole way thither; if the boats were suffered to get out of their course ever so little, either to the right or left, it would be impossible to stem the current, and bring them again into it; they would be irresistibly carried towards the falls, and destruction must inevitably follow. In returning from the island there is still more difficulty and danger than in going to it. Notwithstanding these circumstances, numbers of persons have the foolhardiness to proceed to this island, merely for the sake of beholding the falls from the opposite side of it, or for the sake of having in their power to say that they had been upon it.

[Sidenote: NIAGARA FALLS.]

The river forces its way amidst the rocks with redoubled impetuosity, as it approaches towards the falls; at last coming to the brink of the tremendous precipice, it tumbles headlong to the bottom, without meeting with any interruption from rocks in its descent. Just at the precipice the river takes a considerable bend to the right, and the line of the falls, instead of extending from bank to bank in the shortest direction, runs obliquely across. The width of the falls is considerably greater than the width of the river, admeasured some way below the precipice; but the annexed plan will enable you to form a better idea of their position than any written description whatsoever. For its great accuracy I cannot vouch, as it was done merely from the eye; such as it is, however, I have sent it to you, conceiving it better that you should have a plan somewhat imperfect than no plan at all. On looking it over you will see that the river does not rush down the precipice in one unbroken sheet, but that it is divided by islands into three distinct collateral falls. The most stupendous of these is that on the north western or British side of the river, commonly called the Great, or Horse-shoe Fall, from its bearing some resemblance to the shape of a horse shoe. The height of this is only one hundred and forty-two feet, whereas the others are each one hundred and sixty feet high; but to its inferior height it is indebted principally for its grandeur; the precipice, and of course the bed of the river above it, being so much lower at the one side than at the other, by far the greater part of the water of the river finds its way to the low side, and rushes down with greater velocity at that side than it does at the other, as the rapids above the precipice are strongest there. It is from the center of the Horse-shoe Fall that arises that prodigious cloud of mist which may be seen so far off. The extent of the Horse-shoe Fall can only be ascertained by the eye; the general opinion of those who have most frequently viewed it is, that it is not less than six hundred yards in circumference. The island which separates it from the next fall is supposed to be about three hundred and fifty yards wide; the second fall is about five yards wide; the next island about thirty yards; and the third, commonly called the Fort Schloper Fall, from being situated towards the side of the river on which that fort stands, is judged to admeasure at least as much as the large island. The whole extent of the precipice, therefore, including the islands, is, according to this computation, thirteen hundred and thirty-five yards. This is certainly not an exaggerated statement. Some have supposed, that the line of the falls altogether exceeds an English mile. The quantity of water carried down the falls is prodigious. It will be found to amount to 670,255 tons per minute, though calculated simply from the following data, which ought to be correct, as coming from an experienced commander of one of the King’s ships on Lake Erie, well acquainted in every respect with that body of water, viz. that where Lake Erie, towards its eastern extremity, is two miles and a half wide, the water is six feet deep, and the current runs at the rate of two knots in an hour; but Niagara River, between this part of Lake Erie and the falls, receives the waters of several large creeks, the quantity carried down the falls must therefore be greater than the foregoing computation makes it to be; if we say that six hundred and seventy-two thousand tons of water are precipitated down the falls every minute, the quantity will not probably be much overrated.

[Sidenote: TABLE ROCK.]

To return now to the Table Rock, situated on the British side of the river, and on the verge of the Horse-shoe Fall. Here the spectator has an unobstructed view of the tremendous rapids above the falls, and of the circumjacent shores, covered with thick woods; of the Horse-shoe Fall, some yards below him; of the Fort Schloper Fall, at a distance to the left; and of the frightful gulph beneath, into which, if he has but courage to approach to the exposed edge of the rock, he may look down perpendicularly. The astonishment excited in the mind of the spectator by the vastness of the different objects which he contemplates from hence is great indeed, and few persons, on coming here for the first time, can for some minutes collect themselves sufficiently to be able to form any tolerable conception of the stupendous scene before them. It is impossible for the eye to embrace the whole of it at once; it must gradually make itself acquainted, in the first place, with the component parts of the scene, each one of which is in itself an object of wonder; and such a length of time does this operation require, that many of those who have had an opportunity of contemplating the scene at their leisure, for years together, have thought that every time they have beheld it, each part has appeared more wonderful and more sublime, and that it has only been at the time of their last visit that they have been able to discover all the grandeur of the cataract.

Having spent a considerable time on the Table Rock, we returned to the fields the same way by which we had descended, pursuant to the direction of the officer of engineers accompanying us, who was intimately acquainted with every part of the cataract, and of the adjoining ground, and was, perhaps, the best guide that could be procured in the whole country. It would be possible to pursue your way along the edge of the cliff, from the Table Rock, a considerable way downwards; but the bushes are so exceedingly thick, and the ground so rugged, that the task would be arduous in the extreme.

[Sidenote: NIAGARA FALLS.]

The next spot from which we surveyed the falls, was from the part of the cliff nearly opposite to that end of the Fort Schloper Fall, which lies next to the island. You stand here, on the edge of the cliff, behind some bushes, the tops of which have been cut down in order to open the view. From hence you have a better prospect of the whole cataract, and are enabled to form a more correct idea of the position of the precipice, than from any one other place. The prospect from hence is more beautiful, but I think less grand than from any other spot. The officer who so politely directed our movements on this occasion was so struck with the view from this spot, that he once had a wooden house constructed, and drawn down here by oxen, in which he lived until he had finished several different drawings of the cataract: one of these we were gratified with the sight of, which exhibited a view of the cataract in the depth of winter, when in a most curious and wonderful state. The ice at this season of the year accumulates at the bottom of the cataract in immense mounds, and huge icicles, like the pillars of a massy building, hang pendent in many places from the top of the precipice, reaching nearly to the bottom.

[Sidenote: NIAGARA FALLS.]

Having left this place, we returned once more through the woods bordering upon the precipice to the open fields, and then directed our course by a circuitous path, about one mile in length, to a part of the cliff where it is possible to descend to the bottom of the cataract. The river, for many miles below the precipice, is bounded on each side by steep, and in most parts perpendicular, cliffs, formed of earth and rocks, and it is impossible to descend to the bottom of them, except at two places, where large masses of earth and rocks have crumbled down, and ladders have been placed from one break to another, for the accommodation of passengers. The first of these places which you come to in walking along the river, from the Horse-shoe Fall downwards, is called the “Indian Ladder,” the ladders having been constructed there by the Indians. These ladders, as they are called, of which there are several, one below the other, consist simply of long pine trees, with notches, cut in their sides, for the passenger to rest his feet on. The trees, even when first placed there, would vibrate as you stepped upon them, owing to their being so long and slender; age has rendered them still less firm, and they now certainly cannot be deemed safe, though many persons are still in the habit of descending by their means. We did not attempt to get to the bottom of the cliff by this route, but proceeded to the other place, which is lower down the river, called Mrs. Simcoe’s Ladder, the ladders having been originally placed there for the accommodation of the lady of the late governor. This route is much more frequented than the other; the ladders, properly so called, are strong, and firmly placed, and none of them, owing to the frequent breaks in the cliff, are required to be of such a great length but what even a lady might pass up or down them without fear of danger. To descend over the rugged rocks, however, the whole way down to the bottom of the cliff, is certainly no trifling undertaking, and few ladies, I believe, could be found of sufficient strength of body to encounter the fatigue of such an expedition.

On arriving at the bottom of the cliff, you find yourself in the midst of huge piles of mishapen rocks, with great masses of earth and rocks projecting from the side of the cliff, and overgrown with pines and cedars hanging over your head, apparently ready to crumble down and crush you to atoms. Many of the large trees grow with their heads downwards, being suspended by their roots, which had taken such a firm hold in the ground at the top of the cliff, that when part of it gave way the trees did not fall altogether. The river before you here is somewhat more than a quarter of a mile wide; and on the opposite side of it, a little to the right, the Fort Schloper Fall is seen to great advantage; what you see of the Horse-shoe Fall also appears in a very favourable point of view; the projecting cliff conceals nearly one half of it. The Fort Schloper Fall is skirted at bottom by milk white foam, which ascends in thick volumes from the rocks; but it is not seen to rise above the fall like a cloud of smoke, as is the case at the Horse-shoe Fall; never the less the spray is so considerable, that it descends on the opposite side of the river, at the foot of Simcoe’s Ladder, like rain.

Having reached the margin of the river, we proceeded towards the Great Fall, along the strand, which for a considerable part of the way thither consists of horizontal beds of limestone rock, covered with gravel, except, indeed, where great piles of stones have fallen from the sides of the cliff. These horizontal beds of rock, in some places, extend very far into the river, forming points which break the force of the current, and occasion strong eddies along particular parts of the shore. Here great numbers of the bodies of fishes, squirrels, foxes, and various other animals, that, unable to stem the current of the river above the falls, have been carried down them, and consequently killed, are washed up. The shore is likewise found strewed with trees, and large pieces of timber, that have been swept away from the saw mills above the falls, and carried down the precipice. The timber is generally terribly shattered, and the carcases of all the large animals, particularly of the large fishes, are found very much bruised. A dreadful stench arises from the quantity of putrid matter lying on the shore, and numberless birds of prey, attracted by it, are always seen hovering about the place.

[Sidenote: FATE OF AN INDIAN.]

Amongst the numerous stories current in the country, relating to this wonderful cataract, there is one that records the hapless fate of a poor Indian, which I select, as the truth of it is unquestionable. The unfortunate hero of this tale, intoxicated, it seems, with spirits, had laid himself down to sleep in the bottom of his canoe, which was fastened to the beach at the distance of some miles above the falls. His squaw sat on the shore to watch him. Whilst they were in this situation, a sailor from one of the ships of war on the neighbouring lakes happened to pass by; he was struck with the charms of the squaw, and instantly determined upon enjoying them. The faithful creature, however, unwilling to gratify his desires, hastened to the canoe to arouse her husband; but before she could effect her purpose, the sailor cut the cord by which the canoe was fastened, and set it adrift. It quickly floated away with the stream from the fatal spot, and ere many minutes elapsed, was carried down into the midst of the rapids. Here it was distinctly seen by several persons that were standing on the adjacent shore, whose attention had been caught by the singularity of the appearance of a canoe in such a part of the river. The violent motion of the waves soon awoke the Indian; he started up, looked wildly around, and perceiving his danger, instantly seized his paddle, and made the most surprising exertions to save himself; but finding in a little time that all his efforts would be of no avail in stemming the impetuosity of the current, he with great composure put aside his paddle, wrapt himself up in his blanket, and again laid himself down in the bottom of the canoe. In a few seconds he was hurried down the precipice; but neither he nor his canoe were ever seen more. It is supposed that not more than one third of the different things that happen to be carried down the falls reappear at bottom.

[Sidenote: NIAGARA FALLS.]

From the foot of Simcoe’s Ladder you may walk along the strand for some distance without inconvenience; but as you approach the Horse-shoe Fall, the way becomes more and more rugged. In some places, where the cliff has crumbled down, huge mounds of earth, rocks, and trees, reaching to the water’s edge, oppose your course; it seems impossible to pass them; and, indeed, without a guide, a stranger would never find his way to the opposite side; for to get there it is necessary to mount nearly to their top, and then to crawl on your hands and knees through long dark holes, where passages are left open between the torn up rocks and trees. After passing these mounds, you have to climb from rock to rock close under the cliff, for there is but little space here between the cliff and the river, and these rocks are so slippery, owing to the continual moisture from the spray, which descends very heavily, that without the utmost precaution it is scarcely possible to escape a fall. At the distance of a quarter of a mile from the Great Fall we were as wet, owing to the spray, as if each of us had been thrown into the river.

There is nothing whatsoever to prevent you from passing to the very foot of the Great Fall; and you might even proceed behind the prodigious sheet of water that comes pouring down from the top of the precipice, for the water falls from the edge of a projecting rock; and, moreover, caverns of a very considerable size have been hollowed out of the rocks at the bottom of the precipice, owing to the violent ebullition of the water, which extend some way underneath the bed of the upper part of the river. I advanced within about six yards of the edge of the sheet of water, just far enough to peep into the caverns behind it; but here my breath was nearly taken away by the violent whirlwind that always rages at the bottom of the cataract, occasioned by the concussion of such a vast body of water against the rocks. I confess I had no inclination at the time to go farther; nor, indeed, any of us afterwards attempted to explore the dreary confines of these caverns, where death seemed to await him that should be daring enough to enter their threatening jaws. No words can convey an adequate idea of the awful grandeur of the scene at this place. Your senses are appalled by the sight of the immense body of water that comes pouring down so closely to you from the top of the stupendous precipice, and by the thundering sound of the billows dashing against the rocky sides of the caverns below; you tremble with reverential fear, when you consider that a blast of the whirlwind might sweep you from off the slippery rocks on which you stand, and precipitate you into the dreadful gulph beneath, from whence all the power of man could not extricate you; you feel what an insignificant being you are in the creation, and your mind is forcibly impressed with an awful idea of the power of that mighty Being who commanded the waters to flow.

[Sidenote: NIAGARA FALLS.]