The following remarkable account of the stoppage of Niagara Falls,
appeared in the _Niagara Mail_ at the time of the occurrence: "That
mysterious personage, the oldest inhabitant, has no recollection of
so singular an occurrence as took place at the Falls on the 30th of
March, 1847. The 'six hundred and twenty thousand tons of water each
minute' nearly ceased to flow, and dwindled away into the appearance
of a mere milldam. The rapids above the falls disappeared, leaving
scarcely enough on the American side to turn a grindstone. Ladies
and gentlemen rode in carriages one-third of the way across the river
towards the Canada shore, over solid rock as smooth as a kitchen
floor. The _Iris_ says: 'Table Rock, with some two hundred yards more,
was left dry; islands and places where the foot of man never dared to
tread have been visited, flags placed upon come, and mementoes brought
away. This unexpected event is attempted to be accounted for by an
accumulation of ice at the lower extremity of Fort Erie, which formed
a sort of dam between Fort Erie and Buffalo.'"