In the early spring of 1848 occurred a natural phenomenon so
strange, so sudden, and so stupendous that the older inhabitants
of western New York still speak of it with awe and wonder. This
phenomenon was nothing less than the running dry of Niagara
Falls.
The winter of 1847 and 1848 had been one of extreme severity.
Ice of such thickness had never been known as formed on Lake
Erie that season. When the break-up came, toward the end of
March, a strong northeast wind was blowing, which piled the
great fields of ice in floes, and then in banks as high as
miniature icebergs. Toward night on March 30 the wind suddenly
changed to the opposite direction and increased to a terrific
gale, which hurled back the piled-up ice and drove it into
the entrance of Niagara River with such force that a huge and
almost impenetrable dam was formed. For a whole day the source
of the river was stopt up, and the stream was drained of its
supply. By the morning of the 31st the river was practically
dry, and thus for twenty-four hours the roar of Niagara Falls
was stilled. Then in the early morning of April 1, the ice-pack
gave way under the tremendous pressure from above, and the
long-restrained volume of water rushed down and reclaimed its
own.
(2419)