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