south shore of Lake Ontario, forms a natural terrace, which pervades the western counties of New-York, from north to south, affording, by its unbroken chain, and the horizontal position of its strata, the advantages of a natural road, and terminates in an unexplored part of the county of Oswego, or thereabout. It is in crossing this ridge, that the falls of the Niagara, of the Gennessee, and of the Oswego rivers, all running into Lake Ontario, are produced; together with those of an infinite number of smaller streams and brooks. Through this, the Niagara has cut its way for a distance of seven miles, and to a depth of more than two hundred feet, disclosing the number, order of stratification, and mineral character, of the different strata of secondary rocks, of which it is composed.
‘These rocks, (sandstone, slate, and limestone,) however their properties may be found modified by future discoveries, will probably be found, with a proper allowance for local formations and disturbances, to pervade all that section of country, which lies between the Niagara and Seneca rivers, between lakes Ontario and Seneca, and between the Alleghany river and the south shore of Lake Erie, as general boundaries. All this section of country appears to be underlayed by a stratum of red sandstone, such as appears at the Gennessee Falls, but which is imbedded at various depths, as the country happens to be elevated above, or depressed below the level of the Niagara stratum, in which no inclination is visible. No order of stratification could have been effected by nature, which would have afforded greater facilities to the wasting effects of falling water, so visible as these Falls. The slate which separates the calcareous from the sandstone rock, by a stratum of nearly forty feet in thickness, is continually fretting away, and undermining the superincumbent stratum of limestone, which is thus precipitated in prodigious masses into the abyss below. The most considerable occurrence of this kind, that has recently taken place, is that of the Table Rock,16 on the Canadian shore, which fell during the summer of 1818, disclosing a number of those crystallized substances, which have already been alluded to. By these means, the Falls, which are supposed by the most intelligent visitors to have been anciently seated at Lewiston, have progressed seven miles up the river, cutting a trench through the solid rock, which is about half a mile in width, and two hundred feet in depth, exclusive of what is hidden by the water. The power, capable of effecting such a wonderful change, still exists, and may be supposed to operate with undiminished activity. The wasting effects of the water, and the yielding nature of the rocks, remain the same, and manifest the slow process of a change, at the present period, as to position, height, form, division of column, and other characters, which form the outlines of the great scene; and this change is probably sufficiently rapid in its operation, if minute observations were taken, to imprint a different character upon the falls, at the close of every century.’
The Great Falls of the Missouri are the grandest in all North America, those of Niagara excepted, and though inferior to these in volume of water, depth of descent, and awful grandeur, yet they are far more diversified and beautiful. These Falls are within sixty geographical miles of the easternmost range of the Rocky Mountains. Here the river, two hundred and eighty yards, or eight hundred and forty feet wide, is pressed in by a perpendicular cliff on the left, one hundred feet high, and extending for a mile up the river; on the right, the bluff, or high steep bank, is also perpendicular for three hundred yards above the falls. For ninety or one hundred yards from the left cliff, the water falls in one smooth even sheet over a precipice of eighty-seven feet eight inches, according to Captain Lewis; but ninety-eight feet, according to Cass, and Captain Clarke. The remaining part of the river precipitates itself with a more rapid current; but being received as it falls by the irregular and projecting rocks below, forms a splendid prospect of perfectly white foam, two hundred yards in length, and eighty in perpendicular elevation. This spray is dissipated into a thousand different shapes; sometimes flying up in columns of fifteen or twenty feet, which are then oppressed by larger masses of the white foam, on all which the sun impresses the brightest colors of the rainbow. As it rises from the fall, it beats with fury against a ledge of rocks extending across the river, at one hundred and fifty yards from the precipice. From the perpendicular cliff on the north, to the distance of one hundred and twenty yards, the rocks rise only a few feet above the surface of the water; and when the river is high, the stream finds a passage across them; but between the southern extremity of this ledge and the perpendicular cliff on the south, the whole body of water runs with great rapidity. At the distance of three hundred yards is a second abutment of solid perpendicular rock, sixty feet high, projecting at right angles from the small plain on the north for one hundred and thirty-four yards into the river. Below this, the Missouri regains its usual breadth of three hundred yards, but there is a continued succession of rapids and cascades. At the second grand fall, the river, four hundred yards wide, precipitates itself, for the space of three hundred yards, to a depth of nineteen feet perpendicular, and so irregularly, that Captain Lewis termed it the Crooked Fall.
Above this fall, the Missouri bends suddenly to the northward, where, four hundred and seventy-three yards wide, it is suddenly stopped by one shelving rock, which without a single niche, and with an edge as straight and regular as if it had been formed by art, stretches itself across from one side of the river to the other. Over this the Missouri precipitates itself in one even, uninterrupted sheet, of four hundred and seventy-three yards broad to the perpendicular depth of forty-seven feet eight inches; whence, dashing against the rocky bottom, it rushes rapidly down, leaving behind it a spray of the purest foam across the river. At the distance of less than half a mile, another of a similar kind is presented. Here a cascade stretches across the whole river, for a quarter of a mile, with a descent of fourteen feet seven inches, though the perpendicular pitch is only six feet seven inches. For the space of one thousand one hundred and seventy-seven yards above this cascade the river descends fifteen feet. Immediately above this, one of the largest springs in America falls into the river. Its water is cold, of the most perfect clearness, and of a bluish color, which it preserves, even for half a mile after falling into the Missouri, notwithstanding its rapidity. This fountain rises in the plain, twenty-five yards from the river, on the south side. In its course to the river, it falls over some steep, irregular rocks, with a sudden descent of eight feet perpendicular, in one part of its progress. The water boils up from among the rocks, and with such force near the centre that the surface seems higher than the earth on the sides of the fountain, which is a handsome turf of green grass. The water is pleasant to the taste, not being impregnated with lime or any adventitious substance. For the space of a mile and one thousand one hundred and sixty-six yards above the mouth of this spring, the descent of the river is thirteen feet six inches.
During the upper part of its course, this river is remarkable for a succession of rapids, cascades, and cataracts, and in a course of about three miles it has a descent of no less than three hundred and fifty-two feet.
On the Mississippi River are several sets of rapids. One called Les Rapides des Moines, is eleven miles long, and consists of successive ledges and shoals, extending from shore to shore across the bed of the river. One hundred miles higher up is another, about eighteen miles in length, and consisting of a continued chain of rocks, over which the water flows with turbulent rapidity.
About thirty miles from its source, the Mississippi, after winding through a dismal country, covered with high grass meadows, with pine swamps in the distance, which appear to cast a deeper gloom on its borders, is suddenly pent up in a channel about eighty feet wide, where it has a descent of twenty feet in three hundred yards. This fall is called Peckagama. Immediately at the head of the falls is the first island noticed in the river. It is small, rocky, covered with spruce and cedar, and divides the channel nearly in its centre.
St. Anthony’s Falls are situated on the Mississippi river, more than two thousand miles above its mouth. Above the falls, the river has a width of five or six hundred yards. Immediately below, it contracts to a width of two hundred yards; and there is a strong rapid for a considerable distance below. This beautiful spot in the Mississippi is not without a tale to hallow its scenery, and heighten the interest, which, of itself, it is calculated to produce. In the narrative of Long’s Second Expedition, we find the following romantic story, related by an old Indian, whose mother was an eye-witness to the transaction:
