One of the chief Adirondack rivers flowing into Lake Champlain is the
Ausable. Its branches come out of the heart of the mountains, one
through the beautiful Keene Valley and the other through the
Wilmington Notch, and uniting at Ausable Forks, it flows along the
northwestern side of the long ridge terminating in Trembleau Point at
Port Kent, and enters the lake just above. The river escapes from the
mountains through the wonderful gorge of Ausable Chasm. It is an
active stream, bringing down vast amounts of sand, which wash through
this gorge and are spread over the flats north of Trembleau, where the
river flows out through two mouths. These prolific sand-bars, when
first seen by the French, caused them to name the stream Ausable, the
"river of sands." This renowned chasm, in its colossal magnificence
and bold rending of the hard sandstone strata, is one of the wonders
of America. A local poet has written on a little kiosk adjoining the
river chasm this rhythmic explanation of its origin:
"Nature one day had a spasm
With grand result--Ausable Chasm."
This splendid gorge, cut down in getting out of the highlands, is
carved in the hardest Potsdam sandstones. It is a profound, and in
most of its length a very narrow chasm, with almost vertical walls
from seventy to one hundred and fifty feet high, the torrent pouring
through the bottom being compressed within a width of eight to thirty
feet, and rushing with quick velocity. The chasm is about two miles
long, having several sharp bends, the stratified walls being built up
almost like artificial masonry. The sides are frequently cut by
lateral fissures, making remarkable formations, and the tops of the
enclosing crags are fringed with a dense growth of cedars. The river
of dark amber-colored water first comes out of the forest past
Keeseville, where mills avail of its water-power, and then pours over
the ledges of the Alice Falls, the finest in the Adirondacks. This
splendid cataract of forty feet descent is above the entrance to the
gorge, much of it being an almost sheer fall, having magnificent
foaming watery stairways down the ledges, bordering it with their
delicate lacework on either hand. The dark waters tumble in large
volume into an immense amphitheatre, which has been rounded out by the
torrent during past ages. Then bending sharply to the right, the
river goes down some rapids and over a mill-dam built just above the
chasm. The opening of this extraordinary rent in the earth is
startling. Suddenly the river pours over a short fall, and then down
another deep one strangely constructed, the line of the cataract being
almost in the line of the stream. These are the Birmingham Falls, down
which the Ausable plunges into the deep abyss, while high above stands
a picturesque stone mill whose wheels are turned by the waters, and
just below a light iron bridge carries a railway over the gorge.
It is difficult to describe the profound chasm opening below the
Birmingham Falls. It is a prodigious rent in the earth's crust, making
sudden right-angled turns. The visitor at first goes down a long
stairway and walks on the rocky floor adjoining the torrent, enormous
walls rising high above. There are various formations made by the
boiling waters, ovens, anvils, chairs, pulpits, punch-bowls and the
like, and, judging by their names, the Devil seems to be the owner of
most of them. The chasm turns sharply around the "Elbow," and the
waters rush through the narrow passage of "Hell Gate." There are many
caves and lateral fissures, all the masonry being hewn square, as in
fact the whole gorge is, such being the regularity of the
stratification and the accuracy of the angles and joints,--the
ponderous walls, reared on high, sometimes almost close together,
making the deep pass narrow and gloomy. The gorge finally contracts so
much there is no further room for walking, and a boat is taken for the
remainder of the journey down the "Grand Flume." The torrent carries
the boat along swiftly, guided by strong oarsmen both at bow and
stern, swinging quickly around the bends, shooting the rapids and
whirling through the eddies. After rushing along the "Flume,"
embracing the narrowest portions of the profound chasm, the boat
finally floats out into the "Pool," where the waters at length settle
into rest as they pass from the broken-down sandstone strata to the
flat land beyond, where the river flows through its two mouths into
the lake.