The Falls of
Niagara
With Supplementary Chapters On
The Other Famous Cataracts
Of The World.
By
George W. Holley.
With Illustrations.
New-York:
A.C. Armstrong & Son,
714 Broadway.
1883.
PART I.--HISTORY.
- Chapter I. (pdf--286 k)
First French expedition--Jacques Cartier--He first hears of the great
Cataract--Champlain--Route to China--La Salle--Father Hennepin's first and second visits to
the Falls.
Baron La Hontan's description of the Falls--M. Charlevoix's letter to Madame Maintenon--
Number of the Falls--Geological indications--Great projection of the rock in Father
Hennepin's time--Cave of the Winds--Rainbows.
The name Niagara--The musical dialect of the Hurons--Niagara one of the oldest
Indian names--Description of the River, the Falls, and the surrounding country.
Niagara a tribal name--Other names given to the tribe--The Niagaras a
superior race--The true pronunciation of Indian words.
The lower Niagara--Fort Niagara--Fort Mississauga--Niagara village--Lewiston--Portage
around the Falls--The first railroad in the United States--Fort Schlosser--The ambuscade
at Devil's Hole--La Salle's vessel, the Griffin--the Niagara frontier.
PART II.--GEOLOGY.
- Chapter VI. (pdf--331 k)
America the old world--Geologically recent origin of the Falls--Evidence
thereof--Captain Williams's surveys for a ship-canal--Former extent of
Lake Michigan--Its outlet into the Illinois River--The Niagara barrier--How
broken through--The birth of Niagara.
Composition of the terrace cut through--Why retrocession is possible--Three
sections from Lewiston to the Falls--Devil's Hole--The Medina group--Recession
long checked--The Whirlpool--The narrowest part of the river--The mirror--Depth
of the water in the Chasm--Former grand fall.
Recession above the present position of the Falls--The Falls will be
higher as they recede--Reason why--Professor Tyndall's prediction--Present
and former accumulations of rock--Terrific power of the elements--Ice and
ice bridges--Remarkable geognosy of the lake region.
PART III.--LOCAL HISTORY AND INCIDENTS.
- Chapter IX. (pdf--628 k)
Forty years since--Niagara in winter--Frozen spray--Ice foliage and ice apples--Ice
moss--Frozen fog--Ice islands--Ice statues--Sleigh-riding on the American rapids--Boys
coasting on them--Ice gorges.
Judge Porter--General Porter--Goat Island--Origin of its name--Early
dates found cut in the bark of trees and in the rock--Professor Kalm's
wonderful story--Bridges to the Island--Method of contruction--Red Jacket--Anecdotes--Grand
Island--Major Noah and the New Jerusalem--The Stone Tower--The Biddle stairs--Sam
Patch--Depth of water on the Horsehoe--Ships sent over the Falls.
Joel R. Robinson, the first and last navigator of the Rapids--Rescue of
Chapin--Rescue of Allen--He takes the Maid of the Mist through the
Whirlpool--His companions--Effect upon Robinson--Biographical notice--His
grave unmarked.
A fisherman and a bear in a canoe--Frightful experience with floating
ice--Early farming on the Niagara--Fruit growing--The original forest--Testimony
of the trees--The first hotel--General Whitney--Cataract House--Distinguished visitors--Carriage
road down the Canadian bank--Ontario House--Clifton House--The Museum--Table and Termination
Rocks--Burning Spring--Lundy's Lane--Battle Anecdotes.
Incidents--Fall of Table Rock--Remarkable phenomenon in the river--Driving
and lumbering on the Rapids--Points of the compass at the Falls--A first view
of the Falls commonly disappointing--Lunar bow--Golden spray--Gull Island and the
gulls--The highest water ever known at the Falls--The Hermit of the Falls.
Avery's descent of the Falls--The fatal practical joke--Death of Miss Rugg--Swans--
Eagles--Crows--Ducks over the Falls--Why dogs have survived the descent.
Wedding tourists at the Falls--Bridges to the Moss Islands--Railway
at the Ferry--List of persons who have been carried over the Falls--Other
accidents.
The first Suspension Bridge--The Railway Suspension Bridge--Extraordinary
vibration given to the Railway Bridge by the fall of a mass of rock--De Veaux
College--The Lewiston Suspension Bridge--The Suspension Bridge at the Falls.
Blondin and his "ascensions"--Visit of the Prince of Wales--Grand illumination of
the Falls--The steamer Caroline--The Water-power of Niagara--Lord
Dufferin and the plan of an international park.
Poetry in the Table Rock albums--Poems by Colonel Porter, Willis G. Clark, Lord
Morpeth, Jose Maria Heredia, A.S. Ridgely, Mrs. Sigourney, and J.G.C. Brainard.
PART IV.--OTHER FAMOUS CATARACTS OF THE WORLD.
- Chapter XIX. (pdf--447 k)
Yosemite--Vernal--Nevada--Yellowstone--Shoshone--St. Maurice--Montgomery.
Tequendama--Kaiteeur--Paulo--Affonso--Keel-fos--Riunkan-fos--Sarp-fos--
Staubbach--Zambesi or Victoria--Murchison--Cavery--Schaffhausen.
Famous rapids and cascades--Niagara--Amazon--Orinoco--Parana--Nile--Livingstone.
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