Evening Republican, Volume 14, Number 203, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 August 1910 — Geological History of River Beds. [ARTICLE]

Geological History of River Beds.

Undoubtedly at one time most of the rivers ran in fuller streams than they do at the present time, but it is altogether improbable that the present beds of the Peace and Athabasca rivers were filled to their banks. These river beds have been worn to their present depth in most instances by the erosion of the waters. In former times the courses of many of these streams were marked by rapids. The action of the water has worn the beds from the high levels that make the rapids to the present more uniform level. It is claimed that the edge of the falls at Niagara was at one time much nearer Lake Ontario thaq„ at' present. The water, is gradually wearing away the rocky front of the river bed at the falls. The same action has undoubtedly taken place in most of the rivers with deep beds and high banks. The opposite effect is continually occurring in the case of rivers with low banks and sluggish current, as, for example, the Mississippi. There the bed is being gradually filled up with a deposit of soil brought down from the tributaries, such as the Missouri.