wiston to the Falls-Devil's Hole-The Medina group-Recession long checked-The Whirlpool-The

ed to examine the composition of the mass through which it slowly cut its way. After removin

stone-compact a

illo-calcar

ct gray

yers of gr

one, constituting with tho

with thin courses of

uartzose

ly sandsto

nto numbers three, four, and five, the limestone, as a general rule, gr

s and crumbles away. After a time the superstratum of rock, which is full of cracks and seams, is undermined and precipitated into the chasm below. If the stratum of shale lies at or near the bottom of the channel below the Falls, it will be measurably protected from the action of the elements. In this case retrocession will necessarily be very gradual. If a

rd curve in the limestone, there is yet a decided curve upward in the Medina group, noticed above, composed mainly of a hard, red sandstone. It projects across the chasm, and also extends upward to near the neck of the Whirlpool, where it dips suddenly downward. The two strata of shale, becoming apparently united, follow its dip and also extend upward un

the upper end of the B

d of the rapid above the

o the present s

es Hall, in his able and interesting Report on the Geology of the Fourth District of the State of New York, suggests the probability of there having been three distinct Falls, one below the other, for some distance up-stream, when the retrocession first began. The average width of this section between the banks is one thousand feet. About one mile below its upper extremity is "Devil's Hole," a side-chasm cut out of the American bank of the river by a small

ne belonging to the Medina group, as has been stated, here projects across the channel of the river, and, forming a part of its bed, rises upward several feet above the surface of the water. And here this hard, compact rock held the cataract for many centuries. The crooked channel which incessant friction an

nknown depth below. Its course can be traced from the north side of the pool some distance in a north-westerly direction. Of course the resistless power of the falling water was not long restrained by these feeble barriers, and here the broadest and deepest notch of any given century was made. The name, Whirlpool, is not quite accurate, since the body of water to which it is applied is rather a large eddy, in which small whirlpools are constantly forming and breaking. The spectator cannot realize the tremendous power exerted by these pools, u

uty and fascination of this pool. It is separated from the habitations of men, at a distance from any highway, and lies secluded in the midst of a small tract of wood which has fortunately been preserved around it, in which the dark and pale greens of stately pines and cedars predominate. Within the basin the waters are rushing onward, plunging downward, leaping upward, combing over at the top in beautiful waves and ruffles of dazzling whiteness, shaded down through all the opalescent tints to the deep emerald at

pidity of the descent and the narrowness of the curve, the water is forced into a broken ridge in the center of the channel. There, in its wild tumult, it is tossed up into fanciful cones and mounds, which are crowned with a flashing coronal of liquid gems by the isolated drops and delicate spray thrown off from the whirling mas

quite compact, and some of it very hard. The deep water into which the falling water was formerly received partially protected the shal

serene and quiet beauty of the mirror below, reflecting from the surface of its emerald and apparently unfathomable depths life-size and life-

n they did in their original bed. There are isolated points, as at the Whirlpool and Devil's Hole, where the river is wider than in any part of this section, but the depth is less. Taking into consideration both depth and width, this is the finest part of the chasm. And for this reason chiefly, when the great cataract was at a point about one hundred rods below the upper bridge, it must have presented its sublimest aspect. The secondary bank on each side