“I would have written yesterday some few lines on the subject of the ‘Condemned Ship,’ but it was utterly impossible. The public-houses at the falls were so thronged, that almost every inch of the floor was occupied as comfortable sleeping apartments. My companions and myself slept upon three straws for a bed, and had a feather turned edgeways for a pillow. At about two o’clock p.m. the word was given ‘she comes, she comes,’ and in about half an hour she struck the first rapid, keeled very much, and lost her masts and spars, which caused her again to right. Imagine to yourself a human being on board, and the awful sensations he must have experienced on her striking the rapid, which appeared for a moment to the beholders to be her last; but, as I observed before, on her masts giving way, she again righted, and was turned sideways, in which course she proceeded to the second rapid, where she struck and stuck about a minute, and it seemed as though the elements made their last and desperate effort to drive her over this rapid. She was thrown completely on her side, filled, and again righted, and proceeded on her course. Here let me remark, there were two bears, a buffalo, a dog, and several other animals on board. The bears now left the wreck and laid their course for shore, where they were caught, and brought up to Mr. Brown’s hotel, and sold for five dollars a piece. The buffalo likewise left the schooner, but laid his course down the falls, and was precipitated over them and was killed, as was said, by a spar falling across his back; as for the other animals, it is not known what became of them. The vessel after going over the second rapid was turned stern foremost, in which way she was precipitated over the mighty falls, and when about half way over her keel broke, and in a few seconds she was torn to fragments. There were probably from thirty to fifty thousand spectators who witnessed this novel and imposing spectacle.”
It appears from the same paper that “the perpendicular height of the falls, was then taken by actual measurement, from the new bridge recently erected from the west end of Goat Island, extending to the Terrapin rocks, eight hundred feet from the shore. The mode adopted in ascertaining the depth, from the brink of the fall to the surface of the water below, leaves no room to question its correctness. A piece of scantling was used, projecting from the railing of the bridge over the edge of the precipice, from which was suspended a cord with a weight attached, reaching fairly to the water in a perpendicular line. The length of the cord to the surface of the water at the brink was thirteen feet one inch—from this to the water below, on accurate measurement, the distance was found to be a hundred and fifty-three feet four inches. These facts are duly certified to us by several gentlemen, natives and foreigners, and by Mr. Hooker, the superintendent of Goat Island. We are told, this is the first successful attempt that was ever made to ascertain the perpendicular descent by actual measurement. Heretofore it has been done by observation.”
Kalm, the Swedish traveller and naturalist, who was born in 1715, and died about 1779, visited the Falls of Niagara in August 1750, and he being, perhaps, the first distinguished writer who seems to have written concerning them with accuracy, his account is subjoined, divested of a few details, which on this occasion would not be interesting.
When Kalm saw these astonishing waters the country was in the possession of the French. By the civility of the commandant of the neighbouring fort, he was attended by two officers of the garrison, with instructions to M. Joncaire, who had lived ten years at the “carrying place,” to go with him and show and tell him whatever he knew. He writes to this effect in a letter to one of his friends at Philadelphia:—“A little before we came to the carrying-place the water of Niagara river grew so rapid, that four men in a light birch canoe had much work to get up thither. Canoes can go yet half a league above the beginning of the carrying-place, though they must work against a water extremely rapid; but higher up it is quite impossible, the whole course of the water, for two leagues and a half up to the great fall, being a series of smaller falls, one under another, in which the greatest canoe or bateau would in a moment be turned upside down. We went ashore therefore, and walked over the carrying-place, having, besides the high and steep side of the river, two great hills to ascend one above the other. At half an hour past ten in the morning we came to the great fall, which I found as follows:—
“The river (or rather strait) runs here from S.S.E. to N.N.W. and the rock of the great fall crosses it, not in a right line, but forming almost the figure of a semicircle, or horse-shoe. Above the fall, in the middle of the river, is an island, lying also S.S.E. and N.N.W. or parallel with the sides of the river; its length is about seven or eight French arpents, (an arpent being a hundred and twenty feet.) The lower end of this island is just at the perpendicular edge of the fall. On both sides of this island runs all the water that comes from the Lakes of Canada, viz. Lake Superior, Lake Misohigan, Lake Huron, and Lake Erie, which are rather small seas than lakes, and have besides a great many large rivers that empty their water into them, whereof the greatest part comes down this Niagara fall. Before the water comes to this island it runs but slowly, compared with its motion when it approaches the island, where it grows the most rapid water in the world, running with a surprising swiftness before it comes to the fall; it is quite white, and in many places is thrown high up into the air! The greatest and strongest bateaux would here in a moment be turned over and over. The water that goes down on the west side of the island is more rapid, in greater abundance, whiter, and seems almost to outdo an arrow in swiftness. When you are at the fall, and look up the river, you may see that the river above the fall is everywhere exceeding steep, almost as the side of a hill. When all this water comes to the very fall, there it throws itself down perpendicular. The hair will rise and stand upright on your head when you see this! I cannot with words express how amazing this is! You cannot see it without being quite terrified; to behold so vast a quantity of water falling abrupt from so surprising a height!
“Father Hennepin calls this fall six hundred feet perpendicular; but he has gained little credit in Canada; the name of honour they give him there is un grand menteur, or “the great liar.” Since Hennepin’s time this fall, in all the accounts that have been given of it, has grown less and less; and those who have measured it with mathematical instruments find the perpendicular fall of the water to be exactly one hundred and thirty-seven feet. M. Morandrier, the king’s engineer in Canada, told me, and gave it me also under his hand, that one hundred and thirty-seven feet was precisely the height of it; and all the French gentlemen that were present with me at the fall did agree with him without the least contradiction. It is true, those who have tried to measure it with a line find it sometimes one hundred and forty, sometimes one hundred and fifty feet, and sometimes more; but the reason is, it cannot that way be measured with any certainty, the water carrying away the line.
“When the water is come down to the bottom of the rock of the fall, it jumps back to a very great height in the air; in other places it is as white as milk or snow; and all in motion like a boiling caldron. When the air is quite calm you can hear it to Niagara fort, six leagues; but seldom at other times, because when the wind blows the waves of Lake Ontario make too much noise there against the shore. The gentlemen who were with me said it could be heard at the distance of fifteen leagues, but that was very seldom. When they hear, at the fort, the noise of the fall louder than ordinary, they are sure a north-east wind will follow, which never fails: this seems wonderful, as the fall is south-west from the fort; and one would imagine it to be rather a sign of a contrary wind. Sometimes it is said, that the fall makes a much greater noise than at other times; and this is looked on as a certain mark of approaching bad weather or rain; the Indians here hold it always for a sure sign.
“From the place where the water falls there rises abundance of vapours, like the greatest and thickest smoke, though sometimes more, sometimes less: these vapours rise high in the air when it is calm, but are dispersed by the wind when it blows hard. If you go nigh to this vapour or fog, or if the wind blows it on you, it is so penetrating, that in a few minutes you will be as wet as if you had been under water. I got two young Frenchmen to go down, to bring me from the side of the fall, at the bottom, some of each of the several kinds of herbs, stones, and shells, they should find there; they returned in a few minutes, and I really thought they had fallen into the water: they were obliged to strip themselves, and hang their clothes in the sun to dry.
“When you are on the other or east side of Lake Ontario, a great many leagues from the fall, you may every clear and calm morning see the vapours of the fall rising in the air; you would think all the woods thereabouts were set on fire by the Indians, so great is the apparent smoke. In the same manner you may see it on the west side of Lake Erie a great many leagues off. Several of the French gentlemen told me, that when birds come flying into this fog or smoke of the fall, they fall down and perish in the water; either because their wings are become wet, or that the noise of the fall astonishes them; and they know not where to go in the darkness: but others were of opinion, that seldom or never any bird perishes there in that manner, because, as they all agreed, among the abundance of birds found dead below the fall, there are no other sorts than such as live and swim frequently in the water, as swans, geese, ducks, waterhens, teal, and the like; and very often great flocks of them are seen going to destruction in this manner. As water-fowl commonly take great delight in being carried with the stream, so here they indulge themselves in enjoying this pleasure so long, till the swiftness of the water becomes so great that it is no longer possible for them to rise, but they are driven down the precipice and perish. They are observed when they are drawing nigh to endeavour with all their might to take wing and leave the water, but they cannot. In the months of September and October such abundant quantities of dead water-fowl are found every morning below the fall, on the shore, that the garrison of the fort for a long time live chiefly upon them. Besides the fowl they find several sorts of dead fish, also deer, bears, and other animals, which have tried to cross the water above the fall; the larger animals are generally found broken to pieces. Just below, a little way from the fall, the water is not rapid, but goes all in circles and whirls, like a boiling pot, which, however, does not hinder the Indians going upon it in small canoes a fishing; but a little further, and lower, begin the other smaller falls. When you are above the fall, and look down, your head begins to turn. The French, who have been here a hundred times, will seldom venture to look down, without, at the same time, keeping fast hold of some tree with one hand.
“It was formerly thought impossible for any body living to come at the island that is in the middle of the fall: but an accident that happened twelve years ago, or thereabouts, made it appear otherwise. Two Indians of the Six Nations went out from Niagara fort to hunt upon an island in the middle of the river, above the great fall, on which there used to be abundance of deer. They took some French brandy with them from the fort, which they tasted several times as they were going over the carrying-place, and when they were in their canoe they took now and then a dram, and so went along up the strait towards the island where they proposed to hunt; but growing sleepy they laid themselves down in the canoe, which getting loose drove back with the stream farther and farther down, till it came nigh that island that is in the middle of the fall. Here one of them, awakened by the noise of the fall, cried out to the other that they were gone! They tried if possible to save their lives. This island was nighest, and with much working they got on shore there. At first they were glad; but when they considered, they thought themselves hardly in a better state than if they had gone down the fall, since they had now no other choice than either to throw themselves down the same, or to perish with hunger. But hard necessity put them on invention. At the lower end of the island the rock is perpendicular, and no water is running there. The island has plenty of wood; they went to work then, and made a ladder or shrouds of the bark of lindtree, (which is very tough and strong,) so long, till they could with it reach the water below; one end of this bark ladder they tied fast to a great tree that grew at the side of the rock above the fall, and let the other end down to the water. By this they descended. When they came to the bottom in the middle of the fall they rested a little, and as the water next below the fall is not rapid, they threw themselves out into it, thinking to swim on shore. I have said before, that one part of the fall is on one side of the island, the other on the other side. Hence it is, that the waters of the two cataracts running against each other, turn back against the rock that is just under the island. Therefore hardly had the Indians begun to swim, before the waves of the eddy threw them with violence against the rock from whence they came. They tried it several times, but at last grew weary, for they were much bruised and lacerated. Obliged to climb up their stairs again to the island, and not knowing what to do, after some time they perceived Indians on the shore, to whom they cried out. These hastened down to the fort, and told the commandant where two of their brothers were. He persuaded them to try all possible means of relief, and it was done in this manner:—The water that runs on the east side of this island being shallow, especially a little above the island towards the eastern shore, the commandant caused poles to be made and pointed with iron, and two Indians undertook to walk to the island by the help of these poles, to save the other poor creatures or perish themselves. They took leave of all their friends as if they were going to death. Each had two poles in his hands, to set to the bottom of the stream to keep them steady. So they went and got to the island, and having given poles to the two poor Indians there, they all returned safely to the main.