en the periods and ages of
geologic time and the centuries of human chronology. The Horseshoe Fall
wore its cliff back 335 ft. in about 63 years. Geologists have computed
25,000 years as a lower limit for plausible estimates of the river, but
have been able to set no upper limit.

The Canadian and American shores are connected by three bridges, one of
which a suspension carrying all classes of traffic, is 1,240 ft. long.
The flow of water in the river averages 222,000 cubic ft. per second,
though it sometimes falls as low as 176,000 cubic ft.

On March 29, 1848, Niagara ran dry, and persons walked in the
rocky channel bed of the American Rapids between Goat Island and
the mainland. This phenomenon, never known before or since, was
due to these facts. Lake Erie was full of floating ice flowing to
its outlet, the source of Niagara River. During the previous
afternoon a heavy northeast wind had driven the ice back into the
lake, and during the night the wind, suddenly veering, blew a
gale from the west which forced the ice floe sharply into a mass
in the narrow channel of the river, where it froze. Thus, when
the water on the lower side of the barrier drained off, the
Niagara River and the American Fall were dry, and the Canadian
Fall a mere trickle. This extraordinary condition lasted for a
whole day.

Thus the descent of this stream at the Falls and in the Rapids just
above them gives in theory a water-power of nearly 4,000,000 lip.,
three-fourths of which is estimated as available.

This maximum could be obtained only by sacrificing the beauty of
the Falls--in fact diverting the river from its channel so that
the cataract as a scenic feature would be destroyed. To combat
this commercial vandalism an association for the protection of
the Falls has been formed.

There were before 1918 several companies with power-producing plants,
the largest of which was the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and
Manufacturing Company.

This company had made an extensive beginning in utilization of
the water fall by a tunnel 29 ft. deep and 18 ft. wide, passing
about 200 ft.. below the surface of the city from a point 1-1/4 M.
above the Falls to the upper steel arch bridge.

In 1918, when added power was needed for the more rapid production of
war materials, the various companies consolidated with the Niagara Falls
Power Company. In May of that ye