Rensselaer Republican, Volume 21, Number 36, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 9 May 1889 — CHANGES AT NIAGARA FALLS. [ARTICLE]

CHANGES AT NIAGARA FALLS.

*fc. Cmtmrmmt fa Slowly 3We*4l» C fraaa Its Trm*at Faxltlaa. jjbT A few days ago a mass of rodg f«0 from the Hqrseshoe falls, and twenty-four hours later another mass was precipitated Into the abyss below with a noise so closely resembling tbat of an earthquake SO to alarm the residents of the neighbor- _ hood. The result of the the displacement is a change in the shape of the fall Formerly the Canadian fall deserved to be described as a horseshoe, but the breaking away of rocks in the center some years ago made it V-shaped. Now that a further displacement has occurred the fall has returned to its old condition. It is of course generally known that the falls of Niagara are gradually moving to the south. The deep cut through the sblid rock marks the course tney have taken In their backward movement. It is a wonderful excavation —a chasm dug out by the sheer force of water. Not less astonishing has been the removal of the debris. 'l’he rock has been thoroughly pulverized and has been swept out oLthe river to be distributed in Lake Ontario. Once it was thought that in the wearing-away process the falls would ultimately reach Lake Erie and there degenerate into a series of rapida. But the theory has happily been set aside by one which retains to us the cataract, though the shadow ot its present self and much reduced in size. The latest idea is that the falls will recede two miles and then,, remain stationary, their height at that point being-SO-feet instead of 164 as at

present. The supposition, says the Toronto Mail, is supported by an argument which appears reasonable. The present site is a limestone formation, some eighty or ninety feet thick, with a slialy foundation. As the shale is washed away the limestone breaks off and the, falls take a step backward. But the end of the shaly deposit will be readied two miles from the present falls, and then the rushing water will hare more than —it can ~ do tir wear away the solid precipice over which it will be projected. It would be a Waste of time to attempt to estimate the number of centuries tbat will elapse before Niagara falls have found their permanent site. The jokes about cabmen and probably the Queen Victoria Jubilee Niagara Falls park will be numbered with the antiquities long before this.