‘The Pictured Rocks,’ says Mr. Schoolcraft, ‘are a series of lofty bluffs, which continue for twelve miles along the shore, and present some of the most sublime and commanding views in nature. We had been told, by our Canadian guide, of the variety in the color and form of these rocks, but were wholly unprepared to encounter the surprising groups of overhanging precipices, towering walls, caverns, waterfalls, and prostrate ruins, which are here mingled in the most wonderful disorder, and burst upon the view in ever-varying and pleasing succession. In order to convey any just idea of their magnificence, it is necessary to premise, that this part of the shore consists of a sandstone rock of a light gray color internally, and deposited stratum super-stratum to the height of three hundred feet, rising in a perpendicular wall from the water and extending from four to five leagues in length.
Pictured Rocks.
‘This rock is made up of coarse grains of sand, united by a calcareous cement, and occasionally imbedding pebbles of quartz and other water-worn fragments of rocks, but adhering with a feeble force, and, where exposed to the weather, easily crushed between the fingers. Externally, it presents a great variety of color, as black, red, yellow, brown, and white,particularly along the most permanent parts of the shore; but where masses have newly fallen, its color is a light gray. This stupendous wall of rock, exposed to the fury of the waves, which are driven up by every north wind across the whole width of lake Superior, has been partially prostrated at several points, and worn out into numerous bays and irregular indentations. All these front upon the lake, in a line of aspiring promontories, which, at a distance, present the terrible array of dilapidated battlements and desolate towers.
‘Among many striking features, two attracted particular admiration,—the Cascade La Portaille, and the Doric Arch. The cascade is situated about four miles beyond the commencement of the range of bluffs, and in the centre of the most commanding part of it. It consists of a handsome stream, which is precipitated about seventy feet from the bluff into the lake at one leap. Its form is that of a rainbow, rising from the lake, to the top of the precipice. We passed near the point of its fall upon the surface of the lake, and could have gone, unwetted, between it and the rocks, as it is thrown a considerable distance into the lake.
‘The Doric Rock is an isolated mass of sandstone, consisting of four natural pillars, supporting a stratum or entablature of the same material, and presenting the appearance of a work of art. On the top of this entablature rests a stratum of alluvial soil, covered with a handsome growth of pine and spruce trees, some of which appear to be fifty or sixty feet in height. To add to the factitious appearance of the scene, that part of the entablature included between the pillars is excavated in the form of a common arch, giving it very much the appearance of a vaulted passage into the court yard of some massy pile of antiquated buildings. A little to the west of this rock, the Miner’s river enters the lake by a winding channel, overshadowed with trees, and intersected by a succession of small rapids.’
Mineralized Tree.—About half a mile from the village of Chitteningo, in New York, a fossil or mineralized tree was some years ago discovered. It lies at the base of the Conasewago mountains, within a few yards of a branch of the Erie canal, which runs up to the village. The tree appears to have been blown down or broken off; there are eight or ten feet of stump remaining, with some part of the large end near the root; the stump is about three feet in diameter, the bark, the fibrous texture of the wood and two or three knots are very obvious; there is a substance very much resembling veins disseminated through what seems to have once been the sap vessels of the tree. The lower part of the root is imbedded in the soil, where it probably once grew. Vast quantities of mineralized wood, both in small and large masses, are scattered in all directions around this stump; fragments which from their loose and porous texture, seem to have been petrified, after the wood began to decay. Indeed so numerous are these fragments,that almost every stone in this vicinity appears to have been once a living plant.[58]
The Devil’s Diving Hole.—About four miles below the falls of Niagara, on the American side, is a very curious place called the Devil’s Diving Hole, which is nearly one hundred feet deep; the edge of it is so very near the road that they have taken the precaution to cut down some trees, so as to form a kind of barricado, in order to prevent cattle or strangers fromfalling into it. This hole, as it is called, is, more properly speaking, the narrow extremity of a considerable ravine, which has, at some remote period, been formed in the rock; it shelves off as it descends towards the river, and is in length about two hundred yards from the road to the river. The top is so overgrown with bushes that a hasty view would induce many to suppose it to be really a hole; but a closer examination soon leads their eye along the windings of its courses, and discovers a very considerable breadth at no great distance. A hemlock tree, firmly rooted at the bottom, stretches its top almost to the surface, and is so conveniently fitted to the hole or opening, that you have only to descend five or six feet, when its branches afford you a safe and easy step-ladder quite to the bottom, where you will find a copious spring of excellent water.
An occurrence is traditionally described as having taken place at this spot during the French war, the circumstances of which were as follows:—A British detachment, being pursued by a superior French force, were so hemmed in that their retreat to the road was cut off, and their escape effectually prevented by this ravine. Seeing their situation irretrievable, they laid down their arms, and surrendered themselves prisoners of war. Notwithstanding this surrender, the French rushed upon them with charged bayonets and precipitated the whole party down this precipice. Here they perished with the exception of a single soldier, who was preserved by falling on some of his comrades.
Natural Bridge.—This wonderful bridge is considered by many the greatest natural curiosity in this country. It has never been described so well as by Mr. Jefferson, and though his account of it has been so frequently reprinted, we have thought best to adopt it.