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Show Geologists P'ear End of Falls of Niagara Geologists say that the recent fall of rock at Niagara falls was only an Incident in nature's program for the complete destruction of the falls, unless un-less something is done to preserve them. About 80,000 tons of rock fell on January 17, 1931, and such falls have been observed by geologists since 1S42. The water from Lake Erie that tumbles over Niagara is singularly free from grit and gravel, so there is nothing to wear away the bed of the stream. When the force with which the water falls undermines under-mines the softer rock under the hard dolomite the substructure gives way and the rock under the water crashes. Erosion has been wearing the falls back at an average of a little more than three feet a year. If that rate continues the 16 miles of falls and rapids between the present lip of the cataract and the lake will wear away by the year 23053 and there will be nothing but a swiftly moving river. Engineers suggest a system of submerged deflecting weirs by which there would be an increase in the thin volume of water on the American Ameri-can side and a greater fall that would cover some of the exposed surface on the Canadian side. |