T H E TORCH OF REASON, S IL V E R T O N , OREGON, A U G U ST 24, 1899. 2 met my gaze. Right at my feet was the American Fall, extending 1,060 feet; then Goat Island, separ BY P . W . G EEK . ating the two falls, extending 1,300 My grandfather carried p atrio t feet more; then comes the great ism to extremes. It may have been Horseshoe, with a curve of 3,010 W hat a tum bling m ass of a good thing for him, for it made feet. him quite satisfied with home. To water! One alm ost feels an im him there could he no heaven as pulse to follow the great rush of pleasant as this world; his country waters over the brink. Satisfying myself that the Falls was the finest in the world; Oregon was the finest state in the Union, were worth looking at, I m ade in and the W aldo H ills were far ahead quiry for Mr. Level, whom I soon of any other locality in the produc found at the stables. Mr. Level, as tion of grains, fruits, and vegetables. well as being m anager >f the Reser In all this I am inclined to think vation Carriages, is a great philoso th at he was not very far from right; pher. He doesn’t care a rap for old hut when he compared Silver Creek ideas, unless they will stand inves Falls with Niagara, I think he was tigation and the light of reason. slightly prejudiced, or else he did He expressed a wish th a t geology not take a trip on the Maid of the and physics he tau g h t on a common Mist when he visited the great sense basis in the Liberal U niver sity, and then told me of his idea of cataract. W hen I was a little hoy I often N iagara Falls. There is a theory, heard my grandfather tell of his with which most of us are acq u ain t trip to N iagara Falls with a feeling ed, th at great gorges and chasm s of disgust, and at the same time a are worn in solid rock by the fric great deal of pride, saying th at tion of the water. Mr. Level dis Niagara Falls are very tam e by the putes this theory. He showed me side of our own Silver Creek Falls. th a t right at the brink of the W ell, of course, the last nam ed A m erican Fall moss is growing on falls are grand indeed. A fair-sized the rocks where the fic tio n should stream of water jum ps 200 feet at a be the greatest. “ If those rocks single leap into a pool below, and are being worn away by friction,” one cau go under the falls and hack said the level-headed Mr. Level, o f the water 100 feet or so. The “ how can the moss grow on them?” great caves and canyons, the huge Mr. Level says that instead of being trees and high m ountains ail com worn aw ay by the action of the bine to m ake the scenery second to water, the rock is blown away by none of its kind in the world. the action of air compressed by the Niagara Falls are entirely different, water. He took me in his buggy, in fact there is as much difference and we drove out on to Goat Island between N iagara and Silver Creek in view of the Horseshoe Fall. He as there is between a great plain showed me that in the center of the and an ocean. One should see both great Horseshoe, where the chasm and both will be appreciated. is narrow and the power of the N iagara is surrounded by no high water is trem endous, there is an e x m ountains, hut, instead, is on rath e r plosion regularly every fifteen sec a level plain. The N iagara River onds. This explosion sends a flows from Lake Erie toward the shower of white spray 200 feet into north, and when less than h alf wav the air, which is beautiful in con t o Lake Ontario, it makes a plunge trast to the deep green hue of the of 160 feet into the gorge below. water as it tum bles over the preci It is estim ated that 100,000,000 tons pice. of water passes over the Falls every Mr. Level claim s th a t this explo hour. sion is caused by the air being com I arrived at the little city of pressed by the action of the water, Niagara on an electric car from and when it reaches a certain pres Buffalo, after a delightful ride of an sure it explodes with a terrific force hour and a half. When I alighted regularly four tim es a minute. from the car a t Prospect P ark, This, according to Mr. Level’s idea, there were a dozen hack men to is what wears awav the rock, and I * every passenger, and some of them most believe he’s right. The Horse were generous enough to offer to shoe Fall, where the explosion is take me all around and show me the greatest, has worn away m any the sights for four dollarsl I)r. feet in a few’ years, while the A m eri W etm ore had told me better than can Fali, where there is hut little to accept such generous offers, and explosion, scarcely wears away at had given me a letter of introduc all. If it is the friction of the water tion to Mr. John C. Level, m anager which wears away the solid rock, o f of the Niagara Reservation C ar why should it wear out a chasm riages, which take you around and over 300 feet deep from the F alls to show you all the sights for the Lake O ntario, and only a few feet sm all sum of fifteen cents. deep from Lake Erie to the F all? 1 was anxious to get a view of the The riH’k is all the same form ation. Falls, so went at once to the nearest This is worth thinking about. point of view, the brink at Prospect Mr. Level took me next to Pros Park on the American side. Can pect Park, where we left the horse you im agine a mile of water plung ami buggy and went dow n the I n ing 160 Let? T hat is what first - l i n e Railway to the bank of the Abroad. river just below the Falls. H ere, my friend introduced me to Mr. Frank Le Blond, m anager of the Maid of the Mist, which m akes hourly trips up the river right to the very base of the Falls. Mr. Level left me in the com pany of inv new friend and returned to the park above. The lant I saw’ of him he was sliding up through a hole in the ground at a rapid rate. Mr. Le Blond has about the best show to he seen at N iagara Falls, and no one has a right to say that he has seen the F alls if he has not taken a trip on the Maid o f the Mist. From the deck of this little boat you get by far the best view of the great cataract. For fifty cents you are perm itted to take the most novel and charm ing boat ride you ever took in your life. Leaving the C anadian shore, the little boat steam s across the river, which at this point is calm , and the w aters are placid. The boat ties up at the American side near the Incline R ailw ay station, and you run down the plank walk to the landing. The cataract is roaring above yon, and perhaps the wind is blowing the spray over you, hut you go on hoard the boat and enter the sa loon, where you dress in a rubber suit, and then go up on deck and defy the spray to soil your clothes. Peeking out of their caps, the pas sengers all look alike, dressed in black from head to foot. The boat gives a s h rill whistle, and away you go. right through the spray toward the th u n d erin g waters. Presently you pass out of the spray, and there is the American Fall in front and to the left of you. Luna Island to the right divides the Am erican Fall, and if you look at the base, vou will see the stairw av leading between the two divisions of the Fall to the Cave of the W inds. Perhaps you will see some yellow looking objects clim bing the stairs, and going directly into the face of the tum bling w aters and spray. These are men and women, dressed in oil suits, going under the C entral or L una Fall to th e cave. N ext you pass Goat Island, which extends for 1,300 feet, an d divides the waters of the American from the Horseshoe Falls. You will see hundreds of people on the island w atching the little boat on its wild trip . In a m om ent more you are right in the circle of the Horseshoe F all, and all you can see or hear is the roaring cataract, which appears to be on all sides of you. The powerful engines drive the little boat closer and closer, u n til you toss ap p aren tly helpless on the surging w aters, which are churned inces san tly by the water which at this m om ent appears to he tum bling right out of the sky. In the n a r rowest place of the Horseshoe bend you can see the terrific explosions m entioned l>efore, and the spray dashing high in the air, sometimes alm osr twice as high as the Falls themselves. For a moment the engine stops, and tne boat drifts helplessly, when you ’bout face and steam off like a vanquished foe into the more peace able view below; and returning near the C anadian shore, you have a splendid view of the entire mile of water tum bling from the sky. The boat halts at the C anadian shore to exchange passengers, and, if you like, you can go ashore to Her M ajesty’s dom inion before crossing to the A m erican'side. I bade goodbye to Mr. Le Blond, who had shown me m any courtes ies, and ascended the Incline R ail way to the park, where I clim bed into one of the R eservation c a r riages to take a trip over Goat Island again. For fifteen cents you get a ticket, which entitles you t o stop over at as m any places and as long as you choose. Crossing the American fock of the river, you are on Goat Island, and after winding am ong the trees the road brings you to Luna Island, which divides the waters and forms the cave be low. After viewing the Falls from this point of view, you can enter any of the Reservation carriages and ride to the Biddle Stairs, which take you down to the base of the Falls. If you wish to visit the Cave of the W inds, you stop at the house at the top of the stairw ay , and exchange a d o llar for one of those yellow oil suits and a guide. In going down the spiral stairs you can easily im agine th a t you are a yellow bug clim bing down a corkscrew. The stair is encased in an octagonal box, and when you reach the bottom you are out of breath an J can ’t tell which way is from you. The C entral or Luna Fall pours down right near you to the right, as you face the river at your feet. You follow along a narrow shelf until you are right at the w ater’s edge, with the spray blowing over you, but you d o n ’t care for you have left every stitch of your clothing in the room above and are now dressed in a w ater proof oil suit. At the base of the F alls are immense boulders, which are pounded incessantly by the waters tum bling from above. F ol lowing a narrow stairw ay you go out on to these boulders, while the w ater dashing by you and the mist blowing over, alm ost takes your breath away. T urning to th e right you pass right between the two F alls, which are so close to each other th a t their waters are some what m ixed. Clinging to the b a n isters of the stairw ay, you advance step by step, now ascending then descending over the huge boulders, with blinding spray and deafening roar ail about you. F in ally you pass from view of the outside world, and are right behind the column of w a L r as it rushes over you. You descend a flight of stairs, and stand on a n atu ra l rock floor in the Cave