Entering The Rapids

Entering the Rapids', 1874. Tourists on board the steamer 'Spartan' as it navigates white water on the the Saint Lawrence River, Ontario, Canada. '...the water leaps tempestuously around her, and she pauses an instant like a thing of life, bracing herself for a crisis, before she plunges into the boiling current and rides defiantly down it. It is a grand, thrilling moment...The rapids are nine miles long, and are divided in the centre by a picturesque island, the southern course usually being chosen by the steamers. The Spartan ran the distance in half an hour, without steam, and then emerged into the waters of Lake St. Francis...'. From "Picturesque America; or, The Land We Live In, A Delineation by Pen and Pencil of the Mountains, Rivers, Lakes...with Illustrations on Steel and Wood by Eminent American . Artists" Vol. II, edited by William Cullen Bryant. [D. Appleton and Company, New York, 1874]. Artist James David Smillie. (Photo by The Print Collector/Heritage Images via Getty Images)