The Falls of Niagara and Other Famous CataractsHolley, George W. (George Washington)
History
The Falls of Niagara and Other Famous Cataracts
Holley, George W. (George Washington)
Niagara Falls (N.Y. and Ont.) -- Description and Travel; Niagara River (N.Y. and Ont.) -- History; Waterfalls
The most notable occurrence, however, which emphasized the visit of the
Prince of Wales in that year was the illumination of the Falls late in
the evening of a moonless night. On the banks above and all about on the
rocks below, on the lower side of the road down the Canadian bank, and
along the water's edge, were placed numerous colored and white calcium,
volcanic, and torpedo lights. At a signal they were set aflame all at
once. At the same time rockets and wheels and flying artillery were set
off in great abundance. The shores were crowded with spectators, and the
scene was a most remarkable one. The steady, lurid light below and the
intermittent flashes and explosions overhead, the seething, hissing
volumes of flame and smoke rolling up from the deep abyss, the ghostly
appearance of the descending stream, the ghastly swift current of white
foam, the weird appearance of the cloud of spray with a faint and
fantastic illumination at its base, which faded out in the dim light of
the stars as it ascended, the peculiarly deep but muffled and solemn
monotone of the falling water, the livid hue imparted to the faces of
the quiet but deeply interested spectators, all made the scene memorable
and impressive. When the Marquis of Lorne and the Princess Louise
visited the Falls in January, 1879, they saw them illuminated by
electricity, the light having the illuminating power of 32,000 candles.
In December, 1837, the steamer _Caroline_ came down from Buffalo to
aid, it was said, the so-called Patriots, then engaged in an
insurrection against the Canadian Government. A motley collection of
adventurers on Navy Island constituted the disturbing, not to say
attacking, force. At Chippewa was stationed a body of Canadian militia,
under the command of Colonel--afterward Sir--Allan McNabb, who had the
good fortune to win his spurs in a single almost bloodless campaign. By
his direction a boat expedition was sent to attack the _Caroline_, as
she lay at the old Schlosser dock. In the _mêlée_ one American was
killed. The steamer was set on fire, and her fastenings must have been
burnt away, as also a part of her upper works, since the writer, ten
years later, while returning from a fishing expedition, discovered her
smoke-pipe lying at the bottom of the river, in a quiet basin not thirty
rods below the dock. A cat-fish of moderate dimensions appeared to be
keeping house in it, and, with his head barely projecting from one end,
was serenely watching the current for whatever game it might bring to
his iron parlor. After the new bridges were built connecting the Three
Sisters with Goat Island, the guides and drivers, in their desire to
enhance the interest of the scene, astonished travelers by informing
them that it was the boiler of the _Caroline_ which caused the
extraordinary elevation of the water which we have before referred to as
the Leaping Rock.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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