w k »K ■wm 'anuria nyj <1 CC J / J t ( / r y 'o DORE'S NIAGARA. NOTES ON NIAGARA EDITED BY R. LESPINASSE. ILLUSTRATED BY PROMINENT ARTISTS. SECOND EDITION'. CHICAGO: R. Lespinasse, Publisher. i 884. COPYRIGHT. R, LESPINflSSE iaaa, JAMESON A: MORSE, Composition. ROBERT GRAINGER, FfelsWork. BLOMGREN BROS, & CO., Electrotitping. DONOHUE & HENNEBERRY, Binding. MAP OF THE VICINITY OF NIAGARA FALLS. «!■*" / Stack Annex 5 52.| PREFylCJE. r~f y EL YING- upon mere -words to make the people familiar with ci znost szvperb creation of Nature, and describe impressions of the grandeur arid sublimity of the Falls of Niagara, would prove a futile attempt. The artist's peixcil alone can convey a faint idea of the. more salient features of Niagara , and nxust of necessity supplement the most gorgeozzs and brilliant description. Even at its best it proves inadequate to eA'press that in which lies its deepest charm — everlast- ing motion and perpetual change, conjoined with an all-pervading sense of unity. .Eyes, mind and heart go in unison; writing is use- less, art is jjowerless, to depict the weird majesty of the scene. We have endeavored to ma~Pce the worl-c beautiful and attractive, gathering in o?ie volume the best words of eloquent pens and lui ppiest conceptions of thorough cwtists. Sow well we have succeeded in attaining our aim remains for the reader to determine. A * *n\** V ' tA -. l^-i'S.'!gH"^ J , -. ' '' 1 ' S " V " ■* MM£m£mMf - ^^r:^--^— : -; — --■■ - - LIST DP ILLUSTRATIONS SUBJECT. Niagara, - - - Map of the Vicinity of Niagara Falls, A Sweet Singer, - Blooming Cactuses, - - A Tony Tourist, Bird's Eye View from Upper Bapids to the Whirlpool, Indian Head Stone Towers of Fort Frontenae in 1676, - La Salle's Fort and Palisades, 1678, - - Hennepin's View (Fac-simile), - General View in 1796 (Fac-simile), - Flying Ducks, Distant View in 1884, From Far Scattered Camps, ... The Indian's Sacrifice to Niagara's God's, The House of Bed Jacket, Portrait of Bed Jacket (Fac-simile) Horse- Shoe Falls from below, Creation's Pride (Pen Text), The Old Ferry Landing (Fac-simile), " Thy Forest Pines are Fittest Coronal," Portrait of Win. Cullen Bryant, The Chief, the Soldier of the Sword, the Soldier- of the Cross, Under Table Bock in 1835 (Fac-simile), - Viewing the Falls, On Goat Island, View from Prospect Point, Brock's Monument and Obelisk, 13 GUSTAVE DoRE, Fkank B. Green, F. C. Bromley, F. E. Green, Chas. Graham, F. C. Bromley, Father Hennepin, J. AVeld, F. C. Bromley, Chas. Volkmar, F. E. Lumis. Chas. Volkmar, C. Graham, Weir, F. C. Bromley, F. C. Bromley. W. H. Bartlett, Frank B. Green, Frank 1!. (ir.EEN, Chas.Volkmak, \V. II. Bartlett, F. B. Green, Alfred Trumble, A. Mies, F. C. Bromley, PAGE. Frontispiece 5 6 12 16 17 19 20 20 23 26 28 29 30 31 32 33 35 36 37 39 39 41 42 43 44 45 46 LIST DF ILLUSTRATIDNS.-CDNTINUEn, SUBJECT. Prospect Point in 1835 (Fac-simile), Terrapin Tower, Bridge and Falls in 1837 (Fac-simile), - Lewiston from the Mountain, .... The Fall of Table Book, ..... Terrapin Rocks, . They Bore the Weary Dead back to his Desolate Cottage, Sister Islands and Horse- Shoe Falls, - Flower Yase and Initial, ..... Steps to Rapids on Outer Sister Island, Wild Blossoms, ---.._ The Spring on Goat Island, .... American Falls from the River, .... General View of Falls in 1833, Old Wind Mill at Fort Erie, .... The Outlet of Niagara River (Fac-simile), Niagara River from Original Maps, Cynthia Island, - . Rock of Ages and Cave of the Winds, Farewell, .... The Leaping Rock, ---._. Shadow of the Rock and Inclined Railway, Fort Niagara in 1814, American Rapids from Bath Island, Canadian Rapids above the Falls, The Whirlpool and Manitou Rock (Fac-simile), Tempest, ..... The Maid of the Misf Going Through the Whirlpool Rapids, American Fall and Initial, .... The Central Fall, ..... The New Suspension Bridge, .... The Spirit of the Falls, . On Lake Ontario, .... General View of Falls from Canada, Falls View Station, . Profile of American Fall, - Along the Burning Spring Drive, A Glimpse of American Fall, - - . . Fir.-i Bridge across American Rapids to Goat Island, To Lundy's Lane, - - - . . American Falls from Goat Island, - - . . Ice Forms, - Bi hind the Horse-Si Falls, Captain Webb in the Rapids, Matthew Webb— Portrait, - ARTIST. W. H. Babtlett, W. H. Babtlett, F. C. Bbomlet, F. C. Bromley, A. Mies, F. C. Bromley, Chas. Yolkmar, Al. Trtjmble, Chas. Volkmar, Babtlett, Tom Cole, Drake, W. H. Bartlett, Chas. Volkmar, Chas. Volkmab, F. C Bbomlet, F. C. Bbomley, H. W. Tboy, Chas. Volkmab, F. C. Bbomley, Babtlett, E. Bbown, F. R. Gbeen, F. R. Green, F. C. Bbomley, F. C. Bbomley, F. C. Bromley, Aldine, McLean, G. Oakley, F. C. Bbomley, C. Mat/band, F. C. Bbomley, E. Brown, PAGE. 47 4!) 50 53 54 57 58 60 61 62 63 64 67 68 69 70 71 73 74 76 77 79 83 S7 90 91 93 94 95 97 98 99 101 102 1112 103 104 105 106 109 110 111 114 115 LIST DF ILLUSTRATiCNS. -CONTINUED, SUBJECT. Pilgrimage under the Falls, - - - Below the Whirlpool, - New Cantilever Bridge, - - - The Bridge at Various Stages, An Old Settler, ----- Section at Niagara Falls, - - - - Section of the Strata from Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, Bird's-Eye View of the Country around Niagara Falls, The Devil's Hole, - The Cataract by Electric Light, Horse-Shoe Falls from Ferry Road, Leaves from a Sketch Book, - Transfer, Sir ! - Rural Scene from the Heights, Hotel Kaltenbach, .... - A Guide, ------ Biddle Stairs, ------ Spiral Staircase, -..-..- Suspension Bridge, - Moss Island Bridge, - American Rapids, - Initial Letters from Drawings of Bromley, Chas. Lyell, Hall's Report, J. Fleming, A. Mies, Alfred Trumblb, (.'has. Volkmar, F. R. Green, Redfield, Brown, Curtis, F. C Bromley, I'. (' Bromley, F. C Bromley, Baetlett, Green, Volkmar, and others. PAGE. 117 mi 121 125 127 131 ru 137 131) 145 148 149 150 151 151 152 153 153 153 l.-,:; 153 15 PHILOSOPHICAL FJEFIiEGTIONS. CDL. P. DDNflN, MONG all the lands and nationalities of earth, America stands, in many respects, peerless, unrivaled and unri- valable. It is the broadest land ever given to any people, the grandest and most beautiful, the most varied in its attractions and its products, and the most unlimited in its capabilities and its future. The more one rambles over this magnificent continent, our own half world, and the more he sees of its never-ending, ever-changing glories, sublimities and beauties, the greater must be his contempt for the average American tourist, who turns his back on scenes as transcendently grand, varied and enchanting- as ever the sun, in all its wide celestial rounds, looked down upon; and rushes off to Europe, to loaf around fashionable hotels, wine-shops and haber- dashers' stores, and then come back and prate, in mock-turtle French, of "la belle Paree," queenly "Madreed," the Lake of Como, Mont Blanc, Rome, Venice, Vesuvius and the Alps, and a hundred other places. If he chances to meet an intelligent European in his travels, the first question asked him exposes his folly, for it is a question about some one of the innumerable, sublime and wondrous objects in his own country that he has never deemed worth a visit. In view of the hegira that, each spring and summer, jams every out-bound steamer, there is urgent need of a constitutional amendment prohibiting any untutored American from going abroad until he has seen his own supremely lovely land. It was Byron, who, when an American was introduced to him, began eagerly to question him about Niagara Falls, and on being told that he had never seen them, turned on his heel with an oath of unutterable disgust at the idea of a man coming from America to Europe without having seen that wonder of the world in his own country. Nature never constructed a bigger combined idiot and cheap humbug than the American who goes into bogus raptures over the lakes and crags of Switzerland or Italy, while he has never seen or cared to see Niagara. 16 or UPPER RAPIB T0 THE CYNTHIA IS !>. ! p«^»ii. BURNING §PR/I1G. THREE ^fi/. Sisters V? WHIRLPOOL; H LDNGis5 li* t ^ „EW fW* ^H ,f < */Ur s * •N 1 ^Fr)C • fall ■ of- Wafers! • rapid • as ■ the ■ "gtjt ' Whc ■ flasl-)ir)g ■ rrjass • foarrjs • shading ■ irj e ' a ky ss : The • rjell • of- Waters! ■ Wrjcre • trjey ■ tjoWl • ar)d ■ hiss, MqA ■ boil ■ ir| • endless ■ torture: • Wr)ile ■ l\)C ■ sWcat Of- lrjeir ■ great- agony, ■ Wrung • out • Jrorr) ■ trjis, ^pl)eir> • J^rjlcgelrjon, curls ■ round ■ irje ■ rocl^s • of • jet ^Phat • gird ■ fr]e • gulf around, ■ in • pitiless ■ horror ■ set, ,71nd • rnourjts ■ >0 • spray lr)<= ■ sfyas, ■ and ■ iTjcncc • again l^clurns • in • an • unceasing ■ snoWcr. BYROM, IV CHILSE HAHOLD. 18 EJII^IiV GLlIMPSES, 'HE name NIAGARA is of Indian origin, and undoubtedly a tribal name. According to Indian authorities its orthography and pronunciation were originally Ony-a-kar-ra, changed gradu- ally to Ni-ah-gar-rah. Its signification is gen- erally given as "Thunder of Waters." The work of discovery and exploration of the whole interior of the American continent is due to the zeal and enthusiasm of the French adventurers, soldiers and missionaries, of the six- teenth century. Before the Spaniards had pen- etrated southward, about 1539, the French, under Jacques Cartier, had sailed up the St. Lawrence as far as Quebec, in 1534. The report of the discoveries made by Cartier's first expedition were so favorable that, under orders of King Francis I, he sailed the following year with a small flotilla, to continue investigations of the wedged-shaped river, ninety miles wide at its mouth. For many years oper- ations did not extend beyond the site of Quebec, and information as to the source of the St. Lawrence was gathered from Indians, who told the navigator of a great lake into which also emptied a river from the south, and that upon that river and beyond the lake he would find an immense cataract and portage. Samuel de Champlain, sent from France in 1603 for the express purpose of utilizing the discoveries made on the St. Lawrence, does not appear to have pushed his explorations on Lake Ontario in the direction of the Falls of Niagara, and leaves only an indication of the cataract on a map, published about 161 3. Creuxio, the author of a History of Canada, published in 1660, also marks it down upon his map, but makes no mention whatever in the history itself. Other early accounts in which the cataract is incidentally mentioned are in existence, but its first description by an eye-witness did not occur until the time of La Salle's expedition to the Upper Lakes. 19 . Iifl SpiiIiE'S EXPLORATIONS. 3' OBERT CAVALIER DE LA SALLE, son of a wealthy merchant of p4jgl_ Rouen, France, an ambitious, bold, resolute young man, came to Canada (®^J^p in the spring of 1666, and stood conspicuous among the most adventurous explorers at that time. He had a firm belief that the Mississippi river emptied southward into the Gulf of Mexico, and not into the Pacific ocean, as stated by other discoverers, and it became the settled purpose of his life to be the instrument by which the immense territory tributary to its waters would be thrown into the lap of France, and extensive commercial relations established. After a visit to King Louis as»2 order of the Knighthood, La Salle on his return rebuilt the f o r t , which he named Fro n ten ac, with massive XIV., who granted him a seigniory of land in Can- ada around Ft. Catarau- qui, and the towers of stone, then took steps to place another fort at the mouth of the Niagara river, having obtained reluctant permission from the Senecas to erect it, and also to build a vessel above the falls of Niagara. This vessel, named the Griffin, . ' launched on the 7th of August, 1679, was the first to navigate the lakes. .^ Father Louis Hennepin, a Roman Catholic Mission- f^M^ -•:r"-'<- ', ary, accompanied La Salle in his explorations. In a* f^^^%l^|§'- ; « work he published in 1697 we find the first descrip tion of the wonderful cataract which he had visited _-> ^v'Vf^J in December, 1678. His work is entitled, "A New # r M ' ... ;■ Discovery of a Vast Country in America, extending >;Af above four thousand miles, between New France and New Mexico, with a description of the Great Lakes, Cataracts, Rivers, Plants and Animals; also the Man- ners, Customs and LanQ-uacres of the several Native Indians, and the Advantages of Commerce with these different Nations, etc." It contains mail)' won derful recitals, bearing a strong impress of Indian folk-lore and traditions, 5 MM coupled with a tendency to the marvellous. - wsmm HENNEPIN'S HGCOUNT. ,ETWIXT the Lakes Ontario and Erie, there is a vast and prodigious cadence of water, which falls down after a surprising and astounding manner; insomuch that the universe does not afford its parallel. Tis true, Italy and Suedland boast of some such things, but we may well say that they are but sorry patterns when compared to this of which we now speak. At the foot of this horrible precipice we meet with the river Niagara, which is not above a quarter of a league broad, but is wonderfully deep in some places. It is so rapid above this descent that it violently hurries down the wild beasts while endeavoring to pass it to feed on the other side, they not being able to with- stand the force of its current, which inevitably casts them headlong, above six hundred feet high. This wonderful downfall is compounded of two great cross streams of water and two falls, with an isle sloping alone the middle of it. The waters which fall from this horrible precipice do foam and boil after the most hideous manner imaginable, making an outrageous noise, more terrible than that of thunder ; for when the wind blows out of the south, their dismal roaring may be heard more than fifteen leagues off. The river Niagara, having thrown itself down this incred- ible precipice, continues its impetuous course for two leagues together, to the Great Rock, with an inexpressible rapidity; but having passed that, its impetuosity relents, gliding along more gently for two other leagues, till it arrives at the Lake Ontario or Frontenac. Any barque or greater vessel may pass from the fort to the top of the huge rock mentioned. This rock lies to the westward anil is cut oft from the land by the river Niagara, about two leagues further down than the Great Fall, for which two leagues the people are obliged to transport their goods over land; but the way is very good, and the trees are but few, chiefly firs and oaks. From the Great Fall unto this rock, which is to the west of the river, the two brinks of it are so prodigious high that it would make one tremble to look steadily upon the water, rolling along with a rapidity not to be imagined. I could not conceive how it came to pass that four great lakes, the least of which is four hundred leagues in compass, should empty themselves into one another, and then all centre and discharge themselves at this Great Fall, and yet not drown a good part of America What is yet more surprising, the ground, from the mouth of Lake Erie down to the Great Fall, appears almost level and flat. It is scarce discernible that there is the least rise or fall for six leagues together. The more than ordinary swiftness of the stream is the only thing which makes it to be observed. And that which makes it yet the stranger is that for two leagues together below the Fall, towards Lake Ontario or Frontenac, the lands are as level as they are above it, or towards Lake Erie. Our surprise was still greater when we observed that there was no mountain within two good leagues of this cascade; and yet the vast quantity of water which is discharged by these four fresh seas, stops or centres here, and so falls above six hundred feet deep down into a gulf which one cannot look upon without horror. Two other great outlets or falls of water which are on the two sides of a small sloping island, which is in the midst, fall gently and without noise, and so glide away quietly enough; but when this prodigious quantity of water, of which I speak, comes to the fall, there is a din and noise, more deafening than the loudest thunder. The rebounding of these waters is so great that a sort of cloud arises from the foam of it which is seen hanging over this abyss, even at noon-day, when the sun is at its height. In the midst of summer, when the weather is hottest, they rise above the tallest firs, and other great trees which grow on the sloping island which makes the two falls of water that I spoke of. I wished an hundred times that somebody had been with us who could have described the wonders of this prodigious Fall, so as to give the reader a just and natural idea of it, such as might satisfy him, and cause in him an admiration of this prodigy of nature as great as it deserves. In the meantime accept the following draft, such as it is, in which, however, I have endeavored to give the curious reader as just an image of it as I can. After the river has run violently for six leagues, it meets with a small sloping island, about half a quarter of a league long, and near three hundred feet broad, as well as one can guess by the eye; for it is impossible to come at it in a canoe of bark, the water runs with that force. The isle is full of cedar and fir, but the land of it lies no higher than that on the banks of the river. It seems to be all level, even as far as the two great cascades that make the main Fall. The two sides of the channels, which are made by the isle, and run on both sides of it, overflow almost the very surface of the earth of the said isle, as well 22 as the land that lies on the banks of the river to the cast and west, as it runs south and north. But we must observe, that at the end of the isle, on the side of the two Great Falls, there is a sloping rock which reaches as far as the great gulf into which the said water falls, and yet the rock is not at all wetted by the two cascades, which fall on both sides, because the two torrents which are made by the isle throw themselves with a prodigious force, one towards the east and the other towards the west, from off the end of the isle where the Great Fall of all is. FAC-SIMILE OF A VIEW OF NIAGARA FALLS, BY FATHER LOUIS HENNEPIN. FROM THC ORIGINAL I EsmoM ie»i. After these two torrents have thus run by the two sides of the isle, they cast their waters all of a sudden down into the gulf by two great falls; which waters are pushed so violently on by their own weight, and so sustained by the swiftness of the motion that they do not wet the rock in the least. And here it is that they tumble down into an abyss six hundred feet in depth. The waters that flow on the side of the east do not throw themselves with that violence as those that fall on the west; the reason is, because the rock at the end of the island rises something more on this side than it does on the west; and so the waters, being supported by it somewhat longer than they are on the other side, are carried the smoother off ; but on the west, the rock sloping more, the waters, for want of support, become sooner broken, and fall with greater precipitation. Another reason is, the lands that lie on the west are lower than those that lie on the east. We also observed that the waters of the fall that is to the west made a sort of square figure as they fell, which made a third cascade, less than the other two, which fell betwixt the south and north. And because there is a rising' ground which lies before these two cascades to the north, the gulf is much larger there than to the east. Moreover, we must observe that from the rising ground which lies over against the last two falls, which are on the west of the main fall, one may go down as far as the bottom of this terrible gulf. The author of this discovery was down there, the more narrowly to observe the fall of these prodigious cascades. From thence we could discover a spot of ground which lay under the fall of water which is to the east, big enough for four coaches to drive abreast without being wet; but because the ground which is to the east of the sloping rock, where the first fall empties itself into the gulf, is very steep and perpendicular, it is impossible for a man to get down on that side, into the place where the four coaches may go abreast, or to make his way through such a quantity of water as falls towards the gulf ; so that it is very probable that to this dry place it is that the rattlesnakes retire, by certain passages which they find under ground. From the end of this island it is that these two great falls of water, as also the third but now mentioned, throw themselves, after a most surprising manner, down into a dreadful gulf, six hundred feet and more in depth. I have already said that the waters which discharge themselves at the cascade to the east, fall with lesser force ; whereas those at the west tumble all at once, making two cascades, one moderate, the other very violent and strong, which at last make a kind of crochet or square figure, falling from south to north and west to east. After this they rejoin the waters of the other cascade that falls to the east, and so tumble down altogether, though unequally, into the gulf, with all the violence that can be imagined from a fall of six hundred feet, which makes the most frightful cascade in the world. I have often heard talk of the cataracts of the Nile, which make the people deaf that live near them. I know not if the Iroquois, who formerly inhabited near this fall, and lived upon wild beasts which from time to time are borne down by the violence of its torrent, withdrew themselves from its neighborhood lest they should likewise become deaf, or out of the continual fear they were in of rattle- snakes, which are very common in this place during the great heats, and lodge in the holes of the rocks as far as the mountains, which lie two leagues lower." 24 BfH^OI) lifL HOrjTflll^E. ITHIN a few years after that of Father Hennepin comes the report of Baron La Hontaine, whose impressions Ave find :corded in a volume of "New Voyages to North America." ublished in London during- the year 1703, and originally written in the French lan^ua^e. o o His visit occurred in the latter part of the year [687. On account of the bitter and relentless enmity of the Iroquois against the French he was kept in con- ' '^J8m. -*"" "^rpm^j-- --^TJli. " I,ml ''''"' "' '' ~- 111 ' 1 ' 1 ' 11 attack. His stay was brief and in many cases his examinations only superficial. Of the cataract, he says : " As for the waterfall of Niagara, 'tis seven or eight hundred feet high and half a league broad. Towards the middle of it we descry an island, leaning towards the precipice as if it were ready to fall. All the beasts that do attempt to cross the waters within half a quarter of a league above this unfortunate island are sucked in by the stream. They serve for food for the Iroquois, who take them out of the water with their canoes. Between the surface of the water, that shelves off prodigiously, and the foot of the precipice, three men may cross it abreast, without any other damage than a sprinkling- of some few drops of water. The estimate concerning the height of the Falls given by Father Hennepin and Baron La Hontaine seems greatly exaggerated. We must remember, how- ever, that it comes from men, little used to estimating distances. Even at this date, a view from the river below the Falls will produce upon most persons a much exaggerated impression. The rush of waters in front of the observer apparently comes down in a tremendous stream from the arched vaults of the heavens above. The figures given by Charlevoix in 1721 were undoubtedly obtained with a view to an accurate estimation of the height of the Falls, and present a correct statement of the case. "For my own part, having examined it on all sides, where it could be viewed to the greatest advantage, I am inclined to think we cannot allow it less than one hundred and forty or fifty feet." (In the measure of the time, this gives the exact height to a fraction.) 25 26 EIGHTEENTH CENTURY NOTES. ETER KALM, a noted Swedish botanist, who visited the Falls in 1750, corroborates the statement of Father Henne- pin about a rock projecting upon the west side of the river which turned a part of the water at right angles with the Main Fall, thus forming a Cross Fall. He speaks of a precipitation of the rocks at a point where the water was turned originally out of its direct course, as having occurred a few- years previous to his visit, and upon his plan of the Falls indicates the precise spot, which corresponds to that stated by Hennepin. A somewhat doubtful story given in his narrative, is that of two Indians, who having been cast upon the island in the middle of the Fall (Goat Island), in order to escape made rope ladders from the bark of trees, with which the)- lowered themselves down to the river. Feeling unable to swim against " the waves of the eddy which, again and again, threw them with violence against the rocks, they were obliged to climb up their stairs again to the island, not knowing what to do. After some time they perceived Indians on the opposite shore, to whom they cried out. These pitied them, but gave them little hopes of help; yet they made haste down to the fort, and told the French commander where two of their brethren were. He persuaded them to try all possible means of relieving the two poor Indians; and it was done in this manner: The water that runs on the east side of the island is shallow, and breaks in rapids over the rocks. The commandant caused poles to be made and pointed with iron; two Indians determined to walk to this island by the help of these poles, to save the others or perish. The)- took leave of their friends, as if they were going to die. Each had two such poles in his hand, to set against the bottom of the stream to keep them steady; so they went and got to the island, and having given poles to the poor Indians there, the)- all returned safely to the main shore. The unfortunate creatures had been nine days on the island, and were almost starved to death." fIBBE PICQUET. U ' ABBE PICQUET, in 1 75 1 , speaks in positive terms of the number of waterfalls. He says: "This cascade is as prodigious by reason of its height and the quantity of water which falls there, as on account of the variety of its falls, which are to the number of six principal ones divided by a small island, leaving three to the north and three to the south. They produce of themselves a singular symmetry and wonderful effect." WELD'S VISIT. TyVO SKETCHES made upon the spot by the English artist Weld in 1796, and reproduced in exact fac-simile, give the reader a most correct idea of the general appearance of the Falls at the close of the Eighteenth Century, as well as the peculiar form of the Horse-Shoe. Weld speaks in decided terms of a change in the features of the Horse-Shoe Fall, saying: " Within the memory of many of the present inhabitants of the country, the _ sS- falls have receded several yards. Tradition tells G . us that the Great Fall instead of having ^^ TSJb- been in the form of a A£ horse shoe, once projected in the middle. For a century past, however, it has remained nearly in the present form." He also says that he saw the clouds of spray from the falls, while sailing on Lake Erie at a dis- tance of fifty-four miles. A comparison of his sketches with that of Father Hennepin will convey at a glance the great changes of a century. This writer is, in a measure, addicted to the marvellous, and his statements are somewhat inconsistent. The stubborn fact is, there is nothing known of the falls beyond Hennepin's day, which can be sustained either by historical or traditional record." Arrowsmith observes: "A person may go to the bottom of the falls, and take shelter behind the torrent, between the falling water and the precipice, where there is a space sufficient to contain a number of persons in perfect safety, and where conversation ma)' be held without interruption Irom the noise." 28 DISTANT VIEW OF NIAGARA FALLS, 1884. 29 HJDIJIN LEGENDS LEGENDARY associations do not abound around Niagara. The aborigines viewed the great cataract with religious veneration, as if it were a true Divinity. They displayed their adoration to the Great Spirit of the Fall by casting their pipes, wampum and ' - * S^*ur* > different trinkets into the flood, and, it is said, the belief existed among them that the cataract demands a yearly sacrifice of two human victims. The story is charmingly and strikingly told in George Houghton's poem on Niagara. Let us abandon our prosaic effort, leaving absolute sway to the poet. " Here, when the world was wreathed with the scarlet and gold of October, Here, from far-scattered camps, came the moccasined tribes of the red-man. Left in their tents their bows, forgot their brawls and dissensions, Ringed thee with peaceful fires, and over their calumets pondered; ' Chose from their fairest virgins the fairest and purest among them, Hollowed a birchen canoe, and fashioned a seat for the virgin, Clothed her in white, and set her adrift to whirl to thy bosom, Saying : ' Receive this our vow, Niagara, Father of Waters!' - . . * Lit \..\ " Lo! drifting toward us approaches a curious tangle of something ! White and untillered it floats, bewitching the sight, and appearing Like to a birchen canoe, a virgin crouched pallid within it, Hastening with martyr zeal to solve the unriddled here- after! " Slower and smoother her Right, until on the precipice pausing, Just for the space of a breath the dread of the change seems to thrill her; Crossing herself, and seeming to shudder, she lifts eyes to heaven, — Sudden a mist upwhirls — I see not — but know all is over. :jo ^^C&^spf^ THE INDIAN'S SACRIFICE TO NIAGARA'S GODS. 31 I^ED JACKET, 'ThE Last of the Senecas, <&5jj> 'HE GREAT orator of the Senecas, the famous chief Red Jacket, whose Indian name was Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or "He keeps them awake," has been designated as " The last of the Senecas." His eloquence was the glory of his people, and he left no one behind to fill his place at the council-fire. Opposed to the occupation of the territory of the Six Nations by the whites, his voice was ever raised upon all occasions to deprecate the cession of any lands, and so long as he lived he exerted himself to the utmost to prevent it. Yet, he lived long enough to mourn the loss, by piece-meal, of almost the entire beautiful region over which his race had held sway from the early days of tradition. Speaking in council of the transaction between the Indians and the whites, from the first settlement of the country down to that day, he made use of this figurative illustration, addressing himself to the Commissioner who had just com- municated the desire of the United States, that the Senecas should sell their lands: " We first knew you," said he, " a feeble plant which wanted a little earth whereon to grow. We gave it you, — and afterward, when we could have trod you under our feet we watered and protected you; — and now you have grown to be a mighty tree whose top reaches the clouds, and whose branches overspread the whole land ; whilst we, who were then the tall pine of the forest, have become the feeble plant, and need your protec- tion." The name of war of the American Independence he received from a British officer a richly embroidered scarlet jacket which he wore until it became a mark of distinction and gave him the name by which he was best known. He died on the 20th of January, 1830, in his house at the Seneca village, near Buffalo, at the probable age of eighty years. Less than nine years had elapsed after his decease when every remaining foot of the ancient inheritance of the Senecas was ceded to the white man. 32 THE HOUSE OF RED JACKET AT SENECA VILLAGE. ' Red Jacket' by which the old chief was so familiarly known to the white people, was acquired through the peculiarity of his dress. During the PORTRAIT OF RED JACKET. FROM wriR'S PA1NTJITC ENGRAVED BIT BAJfrORIK. (r AC-SI MILE.) 33 BELlOW THE GI^EJIT F^LlIi. JOHN M. DUNCfiN. ^\ ESI ROUS of getting to the bottom of the Great Fall, I made my way I ) below over scattered rocks, and surveyed the wondrous scene before me, mentally comparing the view of the falls from below with that which I had enjoyed from Table -Rock. Of the magnitude and force of the descending torrents, we have here a much more impressive conception, for as we see no part of the rapids above, and indeed nothing of the flood till it has begun its descent from the cliff, the mind is occupied almost entirely with the height and width and grandeur of the two enormous cascades. We look up in amazement at the uninterrupted pouring of so vast an accumulation of waters; and were this the only view which could be obtained, it would seem an inscrutable mystery from what source so immeasurable a volume of fresh water could be constantly poured forth. The noise of the falls is of course greatly increased below; indeed it thunders in the ear most overpoweringly. I use the term thunders for want of a more appropriate one, but it by no means conveys any adequate idea of the awfully deep and unvarying sound. To heighten the splendor of the scene, a magnificent rainbow, pencilled on the clouds of spray, and perfectly unbroken from end to end, overarched the space between the one bank and the other, at the widest part. This in so entire a state is rather a rare occurrence, for though the prismatic colors are always visible during sunshine, floating in little fragments here and there, they only unite into a regular bow in particular positions of the sun, and never complete the semi- circular curve but when the air, as happened on this occasion, is perfectly calm. A beautiful moonlight evening succeeded, and so favorable an opportunity of another view was not to be neglected. The moon's rays fell directly upon the American cascade, leaving the greater part of the other fall in deep shadow. The spray appeared to rise in greatly increased volumes, and the dim light mingling with its haze, and accompanied by a perceptible increase in the sound of the cataracts, imparted to the whole a peculiar sublimity which was wanting in daylight. m HORSE-SHOE FALLS wr»p pip ® ifi^ariC 5 C&npn , V*tpt WVater^ 9 real d t > Mo Mt liXe, thine., n°r depths the, M^hlV KtNncL f iiW Mh vfoupht. cni h>/ catey act - etupendouc jj, and fierce; & ipo hur\om voice, op ^ound ' can v/ir pierce. nS^/'d^'^ curmih; raid Vfth &Vful Mi$n ^r Cyrcat rocly, that nature in chaotic ni6'ht- del rear on high. i "Vhirlioool deep Villi! n thy" Vallj doth hisc, %nd, ratf'ino 'round, jinks doVn in dwrK &l^ o unknoVn ckpthc- round Ontario^ blue and "Vide doMci'm, Do yvNcuntstirif check, nor l°fjy karritrj chain, ^inc outlet vfcjt" T J^H the (Jreat ocean 1 ^ infinite expanse ir |Tie vdjtydeeiD. 1 7 THE OIiD FKJ^V LANDING, AMERICAN SIDE, jUAIXT and curious was the Landing of the ferry on the American side fifty years ago. In those days people took whole weeks to view the falls, and delighted in ascending leisurely the rugged stairs and path, stopping and turning round almost at each step to drink in the ever-changing glories of the scene. "The cliff and staircase at this Landing," says Willis, "would be considered highly picturesque anywhere but at the side of Niagara. The hundred stairs clinging to the rock, the wild vines overgrowing the temporary shed under which m i THE OLD FERRY LAN] I travellers take shelter from the spray, the descending and ascending figures, and the athletic boatmen, whose occupation of pulling across this troubled ferry requires herculean strength and proportions, all form a subject for the painter, which could only be disregarded amid the engrossing scenes of Niagara." When the mania to improve Nature's own work seized the property owners around the falls, the old landing and staircase had to disappear and make way for quicker means of transit. This picturesque old landmark is gone, and in its place stands the unartistic and unpicturesque but nevertheless convenient inclined railway. 37 JIMKI^IGJIN l^pPIDS, N. P, WILLIS. ZWJ HE RAPIDS are far from being the least interesting feature of Niagara. There is a violence and a power in their foaming career, which is seen in no phenomenon of the same class. Standing on the bridge which connects Goat Island with the Main, and looking up towards Lake Erie, the leaping crests of the rapids form the horizon, and it seems like a battle-charge of tempestuous waves, animated and infuriated against the sky. No one who has not seen' this spectacle of turbulent grandeur can conceive with what force the swift and overwhelming waters are flung upwards. The rocks, whose soaring points show above the surface, seem tormented with some supernatural agony, and fling off the wild and hurried waters, as if with the force of a giant's arm. Nearer the plunge of the Fall, the Rapids become still more agitated; and it is almost impossible for the spectator to rid himself of the idea, that they are con- scious of the abyss to which they are hurrying, and struggle back in the very extremity of horror. This propensity to invest Niagara with a soul and human feelings is a common effect upon the minds of visitors, in every part of its wonderful phenomena. The torture of the Rapids, the clinging curves with which they embrace the small rocky islands that live amid the surge, the sudden calmness at the brow of the cataract, and the infernal writhe and whiteness with which they reappear, powerless from the depths of the abyss, all seem, to the excited imagination of the gazer, like the natural effects of impending ruin, desperate resolution, and fearful agony, on the minds and frames of mortals. During the Canadian war of 1814, General Putnam, the famous partisan soldier, made the first descent upon Goat Island. A wager had been laid, that no man in the army would dare to cross the Rapids from the American side; and with the personal daring for which he was remarkable, above all the men of that trying period, he undertook the feat. Selecting the four stoutest and most resolute men in his corps, he embarked in a batteau just above the island, and with a rope attached to the ring-bolt, which was held by as many muscular fellows on the shore, he suc- ceeded by desperate rowing in reaching his mark. He most easily towed back, and the feat has since been rendered unnecessary by the construction of the bridge from the main land to Goat Island. 38 NipGpRH. " Tremendous toirent ! for an instant hush Tho terrors of thy voiee, and east aside Those wide involving shadows, that my eyes May see the fearful beauty of thy face ! ****** Thou flowest on in quiet, till thy waves Grow broken 'midst the rocks; thy current then Shoots onward like the irresistible course ( )f destiny. Ah, terribly they rage, — The hoarse and rapid whirlpools there ! My brain Grows wild, my senses wander, as I gaze Upon the hurrying waters; and my sight Vainly would follow, as toward the verge Sweeps tin- wide torrenl Waves innumerable Meet there and madden, — waves innumerable Urge on ami overtake the waves before, And disappear in thunder and in foam. They reach, they leap the barrier. — tin- abyss Swallows insatiable the sinking waves. A thousand rainbows arch them, and woods Are deafened with the roar. The violent shock Shatters to vapor the descending sheets. A cloudy whirlwind (ills the gulf, and heaves The mighty pyramid of circling mist To heaven. * * * * What seeks my restless eye' Why are not here, About the jaws of this abyss, the palms. — All, the delicious palms, — that on the plains Of my own native Cuba spring and spread Their thickly foliaged summits to the sun. And, in the breathings of the ocean air Wave soft beneath the heaven's unspotted blue'' But no, Niagara, — thy forest pines Are fitter coronal for thee. The palm. The effeminate myrtle and pale rose may grow In gardens and give out their fragrance there, Unmanning him who breathes it. Thine it is To do a nobler office. Generous minds Behold thee, and are moved ami learn to rise Above" earth's frivolous pleasures; they partake Thy grandeur at (lie utterance of thy name. ****** Dread torrent, that with wonder and with fear Dost overwhelm (lie soul of him who looks I pon thee, and dost bear it from itself,— Whence hast tiieu thy beginning? Who supplies kge after age, thy unexhausted springs? What power hath ordered that, when all thy weight Descends into the deep, the swollen waxes Rise not and roll to overwhelm the earth ? The Lord hath opened his omnipotent hand. Covered thy face with clouds and given his voice To thy down-rushing waters: he hath girl Thy terrible forehead with his radiant bow. I see thy never-resting waters run. And I bethink me how the tide of time Sweep- to eternity." Translated from ti" Spanish of Maria JoseHereA by William Cullcn Bryant. T CORONAL.' JILlBUM sketch. BY CDL. PORTER. N ARTIST, underneath his sign (a masterpiece, of course) Had written, to prevent mistakes, 'This represents a horse' : So ere I send my Album Sketch, less connoisseurs should err, I think it well my Pen should be my Art's interpreter. " A chieftain of the Iroquois, clad in a bison's skin, Had led two travelers through the wood, La Salle and Hennepin. He points, and there they, standing, gaze upon the ceaseless flow Of waters falling as they fell two hundred years ago. ' Those three are gone, and little heed our worldly gain or loss — The Chief, the Soldier of the Sword, the Soldier of the Cross. One died in battle, one in bed, and one by secret foe ; But the waters fall as once they fell two hundred years ago ' Ah, me ! what myriads of men, since then, have come and gone ; What states have risen and decayed, what prizes lost ami won ; What varied tricks the juggler, Time, has played with all below : But the waters fall as once they fell two hundred years ago. 1 What troops of tourists have encamped upon the river's brink ; What poets shed from countless quills Niagaras of ink : What artist armies tried to fix the evanescent bow Of the waters falling as they fell two hundred years ago. ' And stately inns feed scores of guests from well replenished larder, And hac'kmen drive their horses hard, but drive a bargain harder : And screaming locomotives rush in anger to and fro : But the waters fall as once they fell two hundred years ago. 1 And brides of every age and clime frequent the island's bower, And gaze from off the stone-built perch — hence called the Bridal Tower And many a lunar belle goes forth to meet a lunar beau, By the waters falling as they fell two hundred years ago. 'And bridges bind thy breast, O stream! and buzzing mill-wheels turn, To show, like Samson, thou art forced thy daily bread to earn : And steamers splash thy milk-white waves, exulting as they go. But the. waters fall as once they fell two hundred years ago. ' Thy banks no longer are the same that early travelers found them. But break and crumble now and then like other banks around them : And on their verge our life sweeps on — alternate joy and woe ; But the waters fall as once they fell two hundred years ago. ' Thus phantoms of a by-gone age have melted like the spray. And in our turn we too shall pass, the phantoms of to-day ; But the armies of the coming time shall watch the ceaseless flow Of waters falling as they fell two hundred years ago." 40 THE CHIEF, THE SOLDIER OF THE SWORE*, THE SOLDIER OF THE CROSS.' 41 BKHIND THE SHEET OF WJITEF?. CHAS. R. MURRAY, CWPET HIM whose spirit delights in the awful sublimity of nature, who loves the war of elements, and the secret and mysterious paths of darkness, descend from the Table-Rock, and undeterred by the wind and spray that wil appear to oppose his entrance, — let him walk along- a narrow ledge that extends about one hundred feet under the great Horse-Shoe Fall, and there, with his back to the huge beetling rock, above him the canopy of rushing waters, before him and all around a tempestuous whirlwind of foam, and beneath his feet a raging- and boiling unfathomed abyss, — let him meditate on the littleness of man, and on the at- tributes of Him who metes out those waters in the hollow of his hand. When I followed the guide in- to this stormy recess, there was a strong breeze of wind, and the spray was dashed against our faces with such unusual violence as to render it almost impossible upon first entering, to keep the eyes open, or to respire. How- ever, by slouching the hat over my eyes and holding my breath, I followed the guide without diffi- culty to the interior of the rocky chambers where the spray and whirlwind are less violent, and where the faculties of seeing, hearing and feeling are restored. I pursued the little path or ledge to its farthest extremity, at a point called Termination Rock : and, seating myself, regardless of the "pelting of the pitiless storm," I revelled in the glori- ous and terrible scene before me. To describe it further I will not attempt. OCK IN 1835 (faC-SIMILE.) 42 (JJ1PTJ1IN HjmLi'S NJH^JITIIfK. N FIRST coming to a scene so stupendous and varied as that of Niagara, the attention is embarrassed by the crowd of new objects; and it always requires a certain degree of time to arrange the images which are sugf- gested, before they can be duly appreciated. After reaching the Falls, we had still enough of daylight to take a hasty view of them before going to bed; and whether it was owing to the jolting of the rough roads, or to the fatigue of over-excited admiration, I do not know, but I soon dropped into a profound sleep, in spite of all the roaring close at hand. About two o'clock in the morning, while I was dreaming of one particular part ot the fall, called the Horse-Shoe, which had struck me as being more particularly solemn than all the rest put together, I was awakened by a feeble cry from my little girl, and set off in quest of a light. In groping along the passages, I came accidentally to an open window. where my ear was arrested by the loud splashing noise of the rapids above the falls, dashing past, immediately under ' the veranda. The deep sound of the more distant cascade was also heard, far louder, and quite different in kind from that of the rapids. For the first time I became conscious of the full magnificence of the scene. The night was very dark, though the stars were out, twinkling and flashing over the cataract; and there rose a damp, earthy smell from the ground, as if the dew had been settling heavily upon it; or perhaps it might be the spray from the falls. There was not the slightest breath of wind to shake the drops from the leaves, and I stood for some time endeavoring to recollect what I had met with before that resembled this. The hollow sound of the surf at Madras was at length brought to my thoughts as the nearest thing to it. ON GOAT ISLAND. The Falls are divided into two parts by Goat Island, on which we passed the greater part of the next day. We walked round the Island several times in the course of the day, and though it affords a great variety of admirable views oi 13 the falls, and also of the rapids, both on the American and on the English sides of the river, we always found ourselves drawn back irresistibly to the Great Horse- Shoe, where the largest portion of the stream passes on a concave edge, and where, from its depth, I suppose, it acquires a deep green color, seen at no other part of the cascade; almost all the rest being nearly snow-white. In hunting for similes to describe what we saw and heard, we were quite agreed that the sound of the falls most nearly resembles that of a grist mill, of large dimensions. There is precisely the same incessant, rumbling, deep, monotonous sound, accompanied by the tremor, which is observable in a building where many pairs of millstones are at work. This tremulous effect extends to the dis- tance of several hundred yards from the river ; but is most conspicu- ous on Goat Is- land, which stands in the center be- t w e e n the two falls. The noise of the rapids is also loud, but much sharper, and varies a good deal with the situation of the listener. We were walking one day along a path in the woods on the island, at ON GOAT IS " NI> - saw -mills, and numerous other raw, staring, wooden edifices. Perhaps it is quite as well that it should be so; because any scenery which should be in keeping with the grand object which gives its character to this wonderful spot, would, in all probability, diminish the effect produced by its standing on its own merits. THE FIRST GOAT ISLAND BRIDGE. It has been said that there is always something about a bridge which interests, more or less. If it be not picturesque in itself, it may be curious in its structure, or high, or long, or may possess something or other to attract notice. At all 44 ON GOAT ISLAND. some distance from the Great Cataract, and there, it struck me, the sound of the rapids resembled not a little the noise caused by a heavy shower of rain on the leaves of a forest in a calm. The scenery in the neighborhood of Niagara has, in itself, little or no interest, and has been rendered still less attractive by the erection of hotels, paper manufactories, 45 events, the bridge which connects the main American shore with Goat Island is one of the most singular pieces of engineering in the world, and shows, not only much ingenuity, but boldness of thought in its projector, the owner of the island. It is between six and seven hundred feet in length, and is thrown across one of the worst parts of the rapids, not more than fifty yards above the crest of the American Fall. It is made of wood, and consists of seven straight portions, resting on wooden piers, so contrived as to have perfect stability, although the foundation on which they rest is extremely unequal. The bed of the river at that place is covered with rounded and angular rocks of irregular sizes. Along this rugged and steep bottom the river dashes in a torrent, covered with breakers and foam, at the rate of six or seven miles an hour, making a noise not unlike that of the sea on a shallow ledge of rocks. On the evening of the same day we drove towards Lake Ontario for six or seven miles on the right bank of the Niagara, and then crossed over to the Canada shore at Queenstown. Close to the spot where we landed there stands a monument to the o-allant General Brock, who was killed during the battle of Queenstown, in the act of repelling an invasion of the frontier by the Americans during the war of 1812. The view from the top of the monument extended far over Lake Ontario, and showed us the windings of the Niagara through the low and wooded country which hangs like a rich preen frino-e alonp; the southern skirt of that great sheet of water. By the time we reached the inn, close to the falls on the Enelislh side, we had barely light enough left to see the cataract from the bal- cony of our bedroom — distant from it, in a straight line, not a couple of hundred yards. I cannot bring myself to attempt any description of the pleasure which we experienced, while thus sitting at ease, and conscious of viewing, in sober reality, and at leisure, an object with which we had been familiar, in fancy at least, all our lives. The Falls of Niagara infinitely exceeded our anticipations, and fulfilled our expectations, 46 (23 * I f¥fer i * I IMPRESSIONS. JflME S STUART. Sp HE FIRST sight only increased our desire to have the whole scene unfolded. We hurried to the Table-Rock, which projects and looks over the falls, and to the other stations on the Canada side of the river. We afterward crossed the river in a small boat, about 200 or 300 yards below the falls, saw them from the American side, and from Goat Island, and hardly quitted the spot while daylight remained. The overwhelming sensations, with which a spectator can hardly fail to be affected, are produced by the immense flood, — not less than 100 millions of tons of water per hour, — the stupendous mass, and over- powering force of the roaring and falling waters. It is in truth a great deep ocean, thrown over a precipice 160 feet high. Every thing, every surrounding object, is viewed with indifference, while the mind is wholly absorbed in the contemplation of a a spectacle so sublime,— surpass- ing in majesty, and grandeur, and power, all the works of nature which have ever arrested the attention, or presented them- selves to the imaei- nation. No just or adequate descrip- tion can be con- veyed by language. Such words as grandeur, majesty, sublimity, fail alto- gether to express the feelings which so magnificent a sight, exceeding so immeasurably all of the same kind that we have ever seen or imagined, excites. Truly, as the poet says, the eye of man must see this miracle to comprehend it, or the feelings it produces. The great volume of water, of course, inclines very much forward in its descent, projecting about fifty feet from the base, and falls, for the most part of the perpen- dicular height, in an unbroken sheet of dark green color, until it meets a cloud of spray ascending from the rocks below, in which it is lost to the eye. 47 PROSPECT POINT IN 1835 THE HOI?SE=SHOE Yjllili. N. P. WILLI S. HE HORSE-SHOE FALL, as a single object, is unquestionably j] the sublimest thing in nature. To know that the angle of the cataract, from the British shore to the tower, is near half a mile in length ; that W it falls so many feet with so many tons of water a minute ; or even to see it, as here, admirably represented by the pencil ; conveys no idea to the reader of the impression produced on the spectator. One of the most remarkable things about Niagara is entirely lost in the drawing — its motion. The visitor to Niagara should devote one day exclusively to the observation of this astonishing feature. The broad flood glides out of Lake Erie with a confiding tranquility that seems to you, when you know its impending destiny, like that of a human creature advancing irresistibly, but unconsciously, to his death. He embraces the bright islands that part his arms for a caress ; takes into his bosom the calm tribute of the Tonewanta and Unnekuqua — small streams that come drowsing through the wilderness — and flows on, till he has left Lake Erie far behind, bathing the curving sides of his green shores with a surface which only the summer wind ruffles. The channel begins to descend; the still unsuspecting waters fall back into curling eddies along the banks, but the current in the centre flows smoothly still. Suddenly the powerful stream is flung with accumulated swift- ness among broken rocks ; and, as you watch it from below, it seems tossed with the first shock into the very sky. It descends in foam, and from this moment its agony commences. For three miles it tosses and resists, and, racked at every step by sharper rocks and increased rapidity, its unwilling and choked waves fly back, to be again precipitated onward, and at last reach the glossy curve convulsed with supernatural horror. They touch the emerald arch, and in that instant, like the calm that fol- lows the conviction of inevitable doom, the agitation ceases, — the waters pause — the foam and resistance subside into a transparent stillness, — and — slowly and solemnly the Vexed and tormented sufferer drops into the abyss. Every spectator, every child, is struck with the singular deliberation, the unnatural slowness, with which the waters of Niagara take their plunge. The laws of gravitation seem suspended, and the sublimit)- of the tremendous gulf below seems to check the descending victim on the verge, as if it paused in awe. — American Scenery. 48 3 2 ; a 49 P THI^IIiIiINGr ESCAPE WM. HDSES HilLLDU PARTY of four, including the writer, made a survey of the interior of the J -JL canyon from Lewiston to the Suspension Bridge. The perils of such a passage arc known to but few, and can only be realized by the daring adventurer who may undertake it for himself. Indeed, the foot of man scarcely ever treads this infernal region, where on every hand one is beset by untold difficulties. With great caution we clambered along, making a fearful yet intensely exciting exploration. At times the river would rise suddenly some ten or fifteen feet, as if some dam above had broken, causing a hasty retreat up the H, v %~\^pf canyon's sides. From points above loose fragments of £& ■<*;- rocks precipitated themselves, causing a lively scat- tering beneath. An occasional rattlesnake leaped from his den in astonishment at such intrusion, only ;>H ^riA---1 to yield his life as a penalty. Here and there o-ieantic bowlders reared their heads from the water's edge, necessitating a difficult and dangerous passage around or over. Once the writer saw a bird's nest on the extremity of an alder, which leaned well over the seething, whirling waters. Our approach caused a rare sparrow to flit away in alarm. Without thought, save of the acquisition of a rare egg, I threw by my coat and sprang into the branches. I had gone but half way out on the. limb when a wild cry of alarm caused me to look around, just in time to see the roots of the little tree being wrenched from their place by my weight and the fierce current. I gave a spring and landed safely, just in the instant as the tree fell into the waters and was hurried out of sight. Getting into the canyon at Lewiston was comparatively easy, but making one's way out near the Falls was another thing. Nearly a mile below Devaux College, situated a little north of the railway bridge, the possibility of making our way along the river's edge ceased. Night was approaching, and a day's hard work would be required to reach Lewiston, 50 PON FROM THE MOUNTAIN- at the foot of the canyon, from which point we entered. Above, the rocks towered several hundred feet. We had the alternative of remaining in the gorge over night, where life was momentarily uncertain, or of fighting our way over an almost impass- able passage to the foot of the steps leading down from the college. We determined to accept the latter. After an hour's climb over tangled masses of fallen trees, logs, and bowlders, we made our way to a narrow ridge, one hundred feet from the top, formed of fallen debris. The scene from this point beggared description. Beneath was one frightful mass of rocks and trees. One false step and the fated individual would have plunged to a horrible doom. We followed the ridge for perhaps a half mile, when it came to an abrupt termination. In front were bare walls of perpen- dicular rocks, extending from the top one hundred feet above, straight down to the rushing waters two hundred feet below The interim to be crossed, if possible, was several rods in breadth. Despair stalked abroad on every side. The setting sun cast his flickering rays upon an almost certain doom to the daring mortal who should attempt that passage. Just above our heads a crevice in the rocks was discovered which seemed to cross the face of the rocks. The thought of passing it was startling, but hurriedly agreed upon. There seemed to be room for the toes to cling, but the chances of a place for the hands seemed slender and treacherous. The various instruments were divided among the party by lot, the box contain- ing the heavy theodolite falling to the writer. The tallest clambered on to the crevice first, the others assisting and following, until the writer, smallest and last, was safely drawn up. A perilous and cautious passage began. The face of the rock was slippery, and the niches where the hand could cling few and far between. One carrying a coat on his arm, in a moment of trepidation let the garment fall, and in an instant it was whirled out of sight by the seething waters below. Another unloosed a bowlder, which took a frightful plunge downward, leaving a great open space beneath. By mutual assistance all had safely passed across, when the writer, with the heavy instrument upon his back, was midway on the passage. Here a sharp point of rock, just breast high, impeded the way. In attempting to get around this, the foot failed to find a resting place. To get under was impossible — above there was no fingerhold. The heavy instrument behind seemed to weigh down like a mountain, and was rapidly displacing the point of balance. The slender hold was relaxing; ioo feet above was the calm, safe world — 250 below, the merciless waters. One foot slipped off, and was going down — down ; a mist came over the eyes and all seemed lost, when the foot caught on a slender bush, a hand grasped the back and drew me on to a firm footing. Just then the sun sank from sight, but not until he saw the adventurers safe on the steps of the college. 51 TJIBIiE I^OGK. ROUND Table Rock cluster some of the pleasantest and most impres- sive memories of the Great Falls. A projecting table-like ledge of rock, situate at the angle formed by the Horse-Shoe Fall with the Canadian bank, and in the same plane with the crest of the cataract, it has always been a favorite resort for those whose spirit delights in close and deep communion with this marvel of Nature. " He who admires Nature in her stern and magnificent array, should stand upon the Table Rock," says Murray. "There ' Presentiorem Conspiciet Deum,' — there the tremendous roar will stun his ear — the mingled masses of waters and of foam will bewilder his eye — his mind will be overwhelmed by contending feelings of elevation and depression — and, unless he be colder than the very rock on which he stands, the thoughts that press upon his brain, will be high, pure, and enthusiastic, and his hot brow will welcome the cool, light spray that is ever falling around that holy spot." Originally an immense table of rock extending far beyond and at right angles with the waters of the Horse-Shoe; its form and dimensions have been materially changed by frequent and violent disruptions. In 1818 a mass broke off in its immediate proximity, one hundred and sixty feet in length by thirty to forty feet in width. In the latter part of 1828 and beginning of 1829, the fall of several masses occurred, leaving the table-shaped ledge without support on the north and south sides. At mid-day on the 26th of June, 1850, a terrible noise, which shook the earth, startled the inhabitants for miles around the Falls. Table Rock remained only as a memory of the past — a narrow bench along the bank. The huge mass which fell was over two hundred feet long, sixty feet wide, and one hundred feet deep where it separated from the bank. A solitary stableman, washing an omnibus on the rock, escaped with his life, the vehicle, of which no subsequent traces could be seen or found, falling into the abyss. The general view is more extensive and effective at this point than any others, embracing, in addition to the Falls, the Canadian Rapids above, with sharp, white- crested waves, coming in rush and tumble to the calm edge of the Fall to be engulfed in an instant amid the foaming waters in the chasm below. "The ocean stretching beyond reach of vision, or swooping the sternest lee-shore, is a feebler emblem of power than is the inevitable and despairing rush with which these tortured waters plunge down. The Rapids are a fit portal for Niagara." The sight of the gulf below is one that can never be forgotten. The water breaks into spray at the very top, and sends up a steam from the inexplorable abyss, which shrouds all below in most terrific obscurity. A portion of the vapor rises between the descending water and the rock, and comes whirling out in the most violent agitation; and the deep hollow sound of the Cataract, reverberating from the rocky caverns, completes the elements of sublimity with which the scene is charged. Below the bank lies a rugged path leading to "Termination Rock," under the western end of the Horse-Shoe. It is reached by means of an ingeniously con- structed spiral staircase, securely fastened to the rocky bank. Of the view around the base of the stairs, a writer i n Harpers' Magazine said: "You find your- self below the overhanging mass of Table Rock. You are close at the edge of the fall- ing water, which descends in a mass apparent- ly as solid as though carved from marble. You now begin to comprehend the height of the Fall. It makes you diz- zy to look up to the upper edge of the rushing column THE FALL OF TABLE ROCK. — y ou stand just midway between the top and \ the bottom. Above you hangs the imminent mass of Table Rock; below, far down by the wet and the mind. The impressiveness ot the scene behind the immense sheet of the principal Cataract, will full}' repay for the peril and discomfort attending upon a visit to it. The pendant roof of rock above, the arching waters, and the abyss of foam below, are objects that awaken emotions the sublimit}' v( which is sometimes oppres- sive, and yet always pleasingly awful. jagged rocks, is a boiling whirl- pool, where the water writhes and eddies as though frenzied with its fearful leap. Round and round it goes in solemn gyrations, bear- ing with it what- ever floating object may have been plunged into its vortex." The view of the Falls from this point is un- surpassed, as it presents a scene of Niag- ara to the view at one instant of time, com- pletely filling the field of vis- ion, and giving tin- full impress of its grandeur and beauty to Mf:: ; Jjjt s»£~. TERRAPIN ROCKS. 54 THK HKI^MIT OF THE FJIIiLlS. MRS. SIQDURNEY, j URING the year [829, in the glow of early summer, a young stranger, of pleasing counte- nance and person, made his appearance at P f *, : " Niagara. It was at first conjectured that he it might be an artist, as a large portfolio, with books and musical instruments, were observed among his baggage. He was deeply impressed by the majesty and sublimity of the Cataract, and its surrounding scenery, and expressed an intention to remain a week, that he might examine it accurately. But the fascination which all minds of sensibility feel, in the pres- ence of that glorious work of the Creator, grew strongly upon him, and he was heard to say, that six weeks were inadequate to become acquainted with its outlines. At the end of that period he was still unable to tear himself away, and desired to build there a tabernacle, that he might indulge both in his love of solitary musings and of nature's sublimity. He applied for a spot upon the island of the Three Sisters, where he might construct a cottage after his own model, which comprised, among other peculiarities, isolation by means of a draw-bridge. Circumstances forbidding a compliance with his request, he took up his residence in an old house upon this island, which he rendered as comfortable as the state of the case would admit. Here he continued about twenty months, until the intrusion of a family interrupted his recluse habits. 1 fe then quietly withdrew, and reared for himself a less commodious shelter, near Prospect Point. His simple and favorite fare of bread and milk was readily purchased, and whenever he required other food, he preferred to prepare it with his own hands. When bleak winter came, a cheerful fire of wood blazed upon his hearth, and by his evening lamp he beguiled the hours with the perusal of books in various languages, ami with sweet music. It was almost surprising to hear, in such depth of solitude, the lonsf drawn, thrilling: tones of the viol, or the softest melodies of the flute, "gushing forth from that low browed hut, or the guitar, breathing out so lightly, amid the rush and thunder of the never-slumbering tide. Yet, though the; world of letters was familiar to his mind, and the living world to his observation, for he had travelled widely, both in his native Europe and the East, he sought not association with mankind, to unfold or to increase his stories of knowledge. Those who had heard him converse, spoke with surprise and admiration of his colloquial powers, his command of language, and the spirit of eloquence that flowed from his lips. But he seldom and sparingly admitted this intercourse, studiously avoiding society, though there seemed in his nature nothing of moroseness or misanthropy. On the contrary, he showed kindness even to the humblest animal. Birds' instinctively learned it, and freely entered his dwelling to receive from his hands crumbs or seeds. But the absorbing delight of his existence, was communion with the mighty Niagara. Here, at every hour of the day or night, he might be seen a fervent worshipper. At gray dawn he went to visit it in its fleecy veil; at high noon, he banqueted on the full splendor of its glory; beneath the soft tinting of the lunar bow he lingered, looking for the angel's wing whose pencil had painted it; at solemn midnight, he knelt, soul-subdued, as on the foot-stool of Jehovah. Neither storms, nor the piercing cold of winter, prevented his visits to this great temple of his adoration. When the frozen mists, gathering upon the lofty trees, seemed to have transmuted them to columns of alabaster; when every branch and shrub, and spray, glittering with transparent ice, waved in the sunbeam its coronet of diamonds, he gazed, unconscious of the keen atmosphere, charmed and chained by the rainbow- cinctured Cataract. His feet had worn a beaten path from his cottage thither. There was, at that time an extension of the Terrapin Bridge by a single shaft of timber, carried out ten feet over the fathomless abyss, where it hung tremulously, guarded only by a rude parapet. To this point he often passed and repassed, amid the darkness of the night. He even took pleasure in grasping it with his hands, and thus suspending himself over the awful gulf; so much had his morbid enthusiasm learned to feel, and even to revel, amid the terribly sublime. Among his favorite, daily gratifications was that of bathing. The few who interested themselves in his welfare, supposed that he pursued it to excess, and protracted it after the severity of the weather rendered it hazardous to health. He scooped out, and arranged for himself, a secluded and romantic bath, between Moss and Iris islands. Afterwards, he formed the habit of bathing below the principal Fall. One bright, but rather chilly day, in the month of June, 1831, a man employed about the Ferry, saw him go into the water, and a long time after, observed his clothes to be still lying upon the bank. Inquiry was made. The anxiety was but too well founded. The poor hermit had indeed taken his last bath. It was supposed that cramp might have been induced by the unwonted chill of the atmosphere or water. Still the body was not found, the depth and force of the current just below being exceedingly great. In the course of their search, they passed onward to the Whirlpool. There, amid 56 those boiling eddies, was the pallid corpse, making fearful and rapid gyrations upon the face of the black waters. At some point of suction, it suddenly plunged and disappeared. Again emerging, it was fearful to see it leap half its length above the flood, and with a face so deadly pale, play among the tossing billows, then float motionless, as if exhausted, and anon returning to the encounter, spring, struggle, and contend like a maniac battling with mortal foes. It was strangely painful to think that he was not permitted to find a grave even beneath the waters he had loved; that all the gentleness and charity of his nature, should be changed by death to the fury of a madman; and that the king of terrors who brings repose to'the despot, and the man of blood, should teach warfare to him who had ever worn the meekness of the lamb. For days and nights this terrible purgatory was prolonged. It was on the twenty-first of June, that, after man)- efforts, they were enabled to bear the wear)- dead back to his desolate cottage. There they found his faithful dog guarding the door. Heavily the long period had worn away, while he watched for his only friend and wondered^vhy he delayed his coming. He scrutinized the approaching group suspiciously, and would not willingly have given them admittance, save that a low, stifled wail at length announced his intuitive knowledge of the master, whom the work of death had effectually disguised from the eyes of men. D8 They laid him on his bed, the thick, dripping- masses of his beautiful hair cling- ing to and veiling the features so late expressive and comely. On the pillow was his pet kitten; to her, also, the watch for the master had been long and wearisome. In his chair lay the guitar, whose melody was probably the last that his ear had heard on earth. There were also his flute and violin, his portfolio and books, scattered and open, as if recently used. On the spread table was the untasted meal for noon, which lit! had prepared against his return from that hath which had proved so fatal. It was a touching sjght; the dead hermit mourned by his humble retainers, the poor animals who loved him, and ready to be laid by stranger-hands in a foreign grave. So fell this singular and accomplished being, at the early age of twenty-eight. Learned in the languages, in the arts and sciences, improved by extensive travel, gifted with personal beauty, and a feeling heart, the motives for this estrangement from his kind are still enveloped in mystery. It was, however, known that he was a native of England, where his father was a clergyman; that he received from thence ample remittances for his comfort; and that his name was Francis Abbot. These facts had been previously ascertained, but no written papers were found in his cell, to throw additional light upon the obscurity in which he had so effectually wrapped the history of his pilgrimage. That he was neither an ascetic nor a misanthrope, has been sufficiently proved. Why he should choose to withdraw from society, which he was so well fitted to benefit and adorn, must ever remain unexplained. That no crime had driven him thence, his blameless and pious life bore witness to all who knew him. It might seem that no plan of seclusion had been deliberately formed, until enthusiastic admiration of the unparalleled scenery among which he was cast, induced and for two years had given it permanence. And if any one could be justified for withdrawing from life's active duties, to dwell awhile with solitude and contemplation, would it not be in a spot like this, where Nature ever speaks audibly of her majestic and glorious Author? We visited, in the summer ol 1S44, the deserted abode of the hermit. It was partially ruinous, but we traced out its different compartments, and the hearth-stone where his winter evenings passed amid books and music, his faithful dog at his feet, and on his knee his playful, happy kitten At our entrance, a pair of nesting birds tlew forth affrighted. Methought the)' were fitting representatives of that gentle spirit, which would not have disturbed their tenantry, or harmed the trusting sparrow. We think with tenderness of thee, erring and lonely brother. For at the last day, when the secrets of all are unveiled, it will be found that there are sadder mis takes to deplore than thine; — time wasted idly, but not innocently — and talents per- verted without the palliation of a virtuous life, the love of Nature, or the fear of God. 59 THE I^lMBIiEI^ CHiS, JDS. LJ1TRDBE, recollect my juvenile weakness, that of being a notorious cascade- hunter. So you may well ask what impression was made upon me by Niagara. At the com- mencement of the present cent- ury, Niagara, difficult of access, and rarely visited, was still the cataract of the wilderness. The red Indian still lingered in its vi- cinity, adored the Great Spirit and " Master of Life" as he list- ened to the "Thunder of the waters." The human habitations within sound of its fall were rare and far apart. Its few visitors came, gazed, and departed in silence and awe, having for their guide the child of the forest or the hardy backwoodsman. No staring, painted hotel rose over the woods and obtruded its pale face over the edge of the boiling river. The journey to it from the east was one of adventure and peril. The scarcely attainable shore of Goat Island, lying between the two great divisions of the cataract, had only been trodden by a few hardy adventurers, depending upon stout hearts and steady hands for escape from the imminent perils of the passage. How is it now? The forest has everywhere yielded to the axe. Hotels with their snug shrubberies, out-houses, gardens, and paltry establishments stare you in the face: museums, mills, staircases, tolls, and grog-shops, greet the eye of the traveler. Bridges are thrown from island to island; and Goat Island is reached without adventure. 60 But do not imagine that we grew peevish at the sight of the blots upon the landscape, to which I have alluded, and departed in wrath and disgust. We soon found that there was that in and about Niagara which was not to be marred by busy man and all his petty schemes for convenience and self-aggrandisement; and I may truly say, with regard to both our first and second visit, and stay within its precincts, that we were under the influence of its spell. While within the sound of its waters, I will not say you become part and parcel of the cataract, but you find it difficult to think, speak, or dream of any thing else. Its vibrations pervade, not only the air you breathe, the bank on which you sit, the paper on which you write, but thrill through your whole frame, and act upon your nervous system in a remarkable, and it may almost be said an unpleas- ant manner. You may have heard of people coming back from the contemplation of these Falls, with dissatisfied feel- ings. To me this is perfectly in- comprehensible, and I do not know whether to envy the splendid fan- cies and expecta- tions of that class of travellers, to whom the sight of Niagara would bring disappoint- ment, or to feel STEPS TO RAPIDS ON OUTER SISTER ISLAND. justified in doubt- ing whether they have any imagin- ation or eye for natural scenery at all. How blank the world must be to them of objects of natural inter- est. What can they expect to see? As to ex- pectations, ours were excited and warm, and I shall never forget the real anxiety with which we looked out, on our ascent from Lewistown, for the first ap- pearance of the object of our visit. The broad, fathomless blue river, streaked with foam, which, deeply sunk in a colossal channel, hurried to our rencontre, and appeared at every fresh glimpse as we advanced, swifter and in greater commotion, was to us a guar- antee that the scene of its descent from the upper country could be no common one. When about three miles from the village on the American side, you gain your first view of the Falls, together with the river, both above and below, — the island, which divides them, — and greater part of the basin at their feet. I will not say but that the impression of that first glance was heightened afterward Gl ' by our nearer and reiterated survey of every portion of the cataract in « J( detail ; yet we all agreed that we could even then grasp the idea of its magnitude, and that all we had seen elsewhere, and all we had expected, was If^r'v^YNii^ ^ ar sur P asse d by what was then shown to us. And when, u) ^ the following year, two of us turned aside by common consent to pay a second visit to Niagara, having in ^~r the interval, visited many of the great falls of Lower Canada, — v^x cataracts in comparison to which all European Falls are puerile; ~^ - v .... and we felt our curiosity excited to divine what impression a second visit would make — far from being disappointed, we felt that before Niagara, in spite of its comparative inferiority of elevation, all shrunk to playthings. It is not the mere weight and volume of water that should give this far-famed cataract the first rank. Every sur- rounding object seems to be on a corresponding scale of magnificence. The wide liquid surface of the river above, with its luxuriantly verdure clad swelling banks, contrasted by the deep blue floods below, as, boiling up from their plunge, into the unfathomed basin they shock against one another, and race down toward the distant lake; the extreme beauty of the forested defile, with its precipices and slopes ; the colorings of the water, which in the upper part of its descent, is that of the emerald; the mystery and thick gloom which hide the foot of the falls, and add to their apparent height, and the floating clouds of vapor, now hurried over the face of the landscape, as though urged by the breath of a hurricane, and then slowly ascending and hovering like a cloud in the blue sky, all combine to form a scene in which sublimity and picturesque beauty are enchantingly blended. There is here none of that stiffness either in the scenery, or the form and appearance of the particular object of interest, which engravings too frequently give you the idea of. Among the innumerable points of view, that from the precipitous shore of the river, about the distance I have alluded to, is the most satisfactory, if not the most striking. In the immediate vicinity of the Falls, the points of interest are so various, that if you would require a sketch, I should not 'know which to select. The grandest, doubtless, is from the Canadian shore, near the Horse-Shoe Fall; but you pass from one to the other, and everywhere the picture presented has no compeer or rival in THE SPRING ON GOAT ISLAND. nature. What a glorious scene! To sit upon the summit of the impending precipice of Goat Island, and see, as we did the morning after our first arrival, the summer mist begin to rise and disengage itself from the heavy white cloud of spray which rose from the depth of the boiling basin of the Great Fall beneath us. By degrees, the curtain was partially removed, revealing the wall of slowly-descending water behind, now dimly descried, — as, confounded with the floating sheets of foam and spray, which the wind of the mighty cataract drove backward and forward over it like g scending col- umns. The scene at sun-set, day after day, was no way less majes- tic, when the sun, •'-. glancing from the Canadian | side of the river, \ lit up the preci- pices and woods \ of Goat Island, and the broad surface of the American Fall, innumerable clouds of thin floating- gauze — it mocked us with its constantly va- rying shape and position; and then appearing unveiled with its sea-green tints, brilliantly illum- inated by the passing sun- beam, An hour after and the mist had disappeared; the Falls were sparkling in the bright sunshine; and a brilliant Iris was resting on the body of vapor which the w i n d carried away from the face of the de- American tous. frok the river night, found US strolling about the shore and on the beautiful Island, which is an earthly paradise. I remember the quiet hours spent there, when fatigued with the glare of the hot bright sun, and the din of the Falls, with peculiar delight. We loved, too, to escape from all those signs of man's presence, and busy-bodying to which I have alluded, and, burying ourselves in the fresh, dark, scarce-trodden forest still covering a great part of its area, to listen to the deadened roar of the vast cataracts on either hand, swelling on the air distinct from every other sound. 64 which then glow- ed like a wall of gold; while half the Fall of the horse-shoe, and the deep recess of the curve were wrapped in deep shade. Morn- ing, noon, and There, seated in comparative solitude, you catch a peep, across a long- irregular vista of stems, of the white vapor and foam. You listen to the sharp cry of the blue jay, the tap of the red-headed woodpecker, and the playful bark of the squirrel; you scan the smooth white boles of the beech or birch, checquered with broad patches of dark-green moss, the stately elm and oak, the broad-leaved maple, the silvery white and exquisitely chiselled trunk of the cedar, or the decaying trunk of the huge chestnut, garlanded with creepers; but you will hardly ever lose the con- sciousness of the locality. The spell of Niagara is still upon and around you. You glance again and again at the white veil which thickens or grows dim beyond the leafy forest: — the rush of the nearer rapids, the din of falling waters, the murmur of the echoes answering the pulsations of the descending mass, fill your ears, and pervade all nature. Every thing around and about you appears to reply to the Cataract, and to par- take of it, none more so than the evergreen forest which is bathed from year to year in the dew of the river. These noble trees, as they tower aloft on the soil, are sus- tained from youth to age by the invigorating spray of the mighty Falls. Their leaves are steeped, summer after summer, in the heavy dew, their trunks echo the falling waters, from the day they rise from the sod, to that in which they are shaken to the ground; and the fibres of the huge moss-grown trunk, on which you sit, pros- trate and mouldering on the rich mould beneath, bedded in the fresh grass and leaves, still vibrate to the sound of its thunders, and crumble gradually to dust. But all this proves nothing — as a matter-of-fact man might say — but that I am Niagara mad. Impelled by a passion for this variety of natural scenery, as a boy, there is something in the motion of a waterfall which always makes my brain spin with pleasure. We have much before us and many sublime scenes, though none may vie with that, before which we have been lingering: — allons ! X 65 jl SYNCOPE OF THE WflTEI^S. EEDHEE W. HQLLEY, N THE 29th of March, 1848, the river presented a remarkable phenomenon. There is no record of a similar one, nor has it been observed since. The winter had been intensely cold, and the ice formed on Lake Erie was very thick. This was loosened around the shores by the warm days of the early spring. During the day, a stiff easterly wind moved the whole field up the lake. About sundown, the wind chopped suddenly round and blew a gale from the west. This brought the vast tract of ice down again with such tremendous force that it filled in the neck of the lake and the outlet, so that the outflow of the water was very greatly impeded. Of course, it only needed a short space of time for the Falls to drain off the water below Black Rock. The consequence was that, when we arose in the morning at Niagara, we found our river was nearly half gone. The American channel had dwindled to a respectable creek. The British channel looked as though it had been smitten with a quick consumption, and was fast passing away. Far up from the head of Goat Island and out into the Canadian rapids the water was gone, as it was also from the lower end of Goat Island, out beyond the tower. The rocks were bare, black, and forbid- ding. The roar of Niagara had subsided almost to a moan. The scene was desolate, and but for its novelty and the certainty that it would change before many hours, would have been gloomy and saddening. Every person who has visited Niagara will remember a beautiful jet of water which shoots up into the air about forty rods south of the outer Sister in the great rapids, called, with a singular contradiction of terms, the " Leaping Rock." The writer drove a horse and buggy from near the head of Goat Island out to a point above and near to that jet. With a log-cart and four horses, he drew from the outside of the outer island a stick of pine timber hewed twelve inches square and forty feet long. From the top of the middle island was drawn a still larger stick, hewed on one side and sixty feet long. There are few places on the globe jvhere a person would be less likely to go lumbering than in the rapids of Niagara, just above the brink of the Horse-Shoe Fall. All the people of the neighborhood were abroad, exploring recesses and cavities that had never before been exposed to mortal eyes. The writer went some distance up the shore of the river. Large fields of the muddy bottom were laid bare. The shell-fish, the uni-valves, and the bi-valves were in despair. The clams, with their backs up and their open mouths down in the mud, were making their sinuous courses toward the shrunken stream. This singular syncope of the waters lasted all the day, and night closed over the strange scene. But in the morning our river was restored in all its strength and beauty and majesty. — Falls of Niagara, 00 THE NIJIGJU^JI ^IVEX^. /^NTIAGARA RIVER, which takes its name from the Falls, is thirty-six «^ V miles in length, reaching from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It receives the ^ waters of all the upoer lakes, viz., Erie, St. Clair, Huron, Michigan, Superior, and others smaller than these. St. Louis River, rising 1250 miles northwest of the Falls, and 1 50 miles west of Lake Superior, is the most remote Its position above the !B|j ; and o«x:> fret deep. Its level of the sea is said 1 to be 1200 feet, and in its course towards IM Lake Ontario, it j makes a descent of 551 feet. The lakes and streams for which it is an outlet, cover an area of 150,000 square miles. The length of Lake Supe- rior is 459 miles, its width 100 miles, and its depth 900 feet. The Straits of Saint Mary. 60 miles long, and 45 feet in its de- scent, conveys the U waters of Lake Supe- m rior and Lake Huron, lj| which receives also the waters of nearly forty rivers. Lake Michigan is 300 miles outlet is the Straits of I Mackinac, conveying I its waters into Lake j Huron, a distance of 40 miles. Green Bay, I formerly called the I Bay of Puans, is on jjjj the northwest side of f Lake Michigan, 100 gj miles long and 20 ■ miles wide. Lake uron is 218 miles gin length, and 180 1 miles in width, and about 900 feet deep. i Its waters flow into 1 Lake Erie, through the Lake and River St. Clair, and the De- troit River, a distance of ninety miles, with a descent of 3 1 feet. _ Jiri Lake Erie is 2QO miles long, 63 miles wide, and 120 feet deep. Its level above the sea is 564 feet, and above Lake Ontario 334 feet, which, of course, is the descent it makes to the latter. The descent from Lake Erie, where the Niagara River commences, to Schlosser, is 12 feet; at the rapids it is 52 feet: at the Cataract 164 feet; from this point to Lewiston, 104 feet; thence to Lake Ontario, 2 feet. At Lake Erie, where the Niagara River commences, its width is about two miles; and its depth from 20 to 40 feet. At Black Rock it is narrowed 68 M^^F^ 69 to a mile, and is, at that point, deep and rapid, moving- at the rate of six or eight miles an hour. For three miles its current continues swift, and thence its course is slow, and its surface placid, until within one mile from the Falls. At the head of Grand Island, five miles from Lake Erie, it expands, and branches out into two streams, running on either side of this island, the greatest quantity of water flowing on the west side of the island, until it measures eight miles across. Below this, opposite Schlosser, it is nearly three miles in width, and appears smooth like the surface of a quiet lake. Its descent from this point to the Falls is 90 feet. At the Falls its width is three-quarters of a mile; at the Ferry it is 56 rods wide; at the Whirlpool 150 yards wide. Its depth varies, in different places, from 20 to 300 feet; and just below the Cataract it has never been fathomed. Niagara River embraces, in its course, many beautiful islands, the lesser ones of which are Bird Island, situated between Buffalo and Lake Erie; Square Island, opposite Black Rock, of JFrom. iJui Original Jlfctps BOIUVDAKT COMMISSIONER S. £ I * g A B A' SOUTH ^>- -^- NORTH 131 acres; Strawberry Island, of 100 acres; Beaver Island, of 30 acres; Rattlesnake Island, of 48 acres; Tonawanda Island, of 69 acres; Cayuga Island, of 100 acres, nearest to the American shore, four miles above the Falls; and Buck-horn Island, which is low and marshy, containing 146 acres. The two islands of principal note in this river, are Grand Island, of 17,384 acres, and Navy Island, of 304 acres. The banks of Niagara River, from Fort Erie to the Canadian shore, at the outlet of Lake Erie, to Chippewa, a distance of eighteen miles, are from four to ten feet high. From Chippewa to the Falls themselves, a distance of two and a half miles, the bank is from ten to one hundred feet high, the descent of the river being ninety-two feet. From the Falls to Lewiston, a distance of seven miles, the bank varies from one hundred and fifty to three hundred feet. From Lewiston to Lake Ontario is seven miles, and in this distance the Northern Terrace, or Mountain Ridge, crosses the course of the river, when the banks diminish to twenty-five or thirty feet. The gorge through which the Niagara River flows, after leaving the 70 precipice that forms the Cataract, "presents almost perpendicular walls, with a talus at the bottom, formed by the falling of some of the higher strata," says Hall, in the Geographical Survey of the State of New York. "The outlet of the chasm is scarcely wider than elsewhere along its course. In some places the channel is less than two hundred yards across, and again is extended to twice that width. The breadth of the chasm at the top is nearly twice as great as that of the stream below. The declivity of the bed of the river, from the Falls to Lewiston, is one hundred and four feet, or nearly fifteen feet in the mile. " At one place, about a mile below the Falls, where the channel is narrowest, the stream glides with comparative stillness, while below this, where the channel is c^'-i'.qr AND, FROM THE DOOR OF THE BURNING SPRING COTTAGE. broader, it is driven along with great velocity. Again, below the whirlpool, the surface of the river is more smooth, and the current more gentle, though the channel is narrower than above. In the course of this gorge, is a single exception to the parallel sides and nearly vertical cliffs; this is upon the west bank of the river at the whirlpool. The width of the gorge at Lewiston is 1500 or perhaps 2000 feet. In the Niagara chasm there are no boulders, pebbles or gravel. The river occupies the whole width, at the bottom, except a talus on either side, formed by angular fragments fallen from above. "From all that appears along the present river course, there was probably an ancient shallow valley extending in the direction of the present Niagara River which gave the first direction to the waters." 71 DICKENS' NOTES. N THE morning we arrived at Buffalo, and, being too near the Great Falls to wait patiently anywhere else, we set off by the train at nine o'clock to Niagara. It was a miserable day; chilly and raw; a damp mist falling; and the trees in that northern region quite bare and wintry. Whenever the train halted, I listened for the roar; and was constantly straining my eyes in the direction where I knew the Falls must be, from seeing the river rolling on towards them; every moment ex- pecting to behold the spray. Within a few minutes of ^K our stopping, not before, I saw two great white clouds 77,' rising up slowly and majestically from the depths of the earth. That was all. At length we alighted; and ^ then, for the first time, I heard the mighty rush of water, and felt the ground tremble underneath my feet. The bank is very steep, and was slippery with rain and half-melted ice. I hardly know how I got down, but I was soon at the bottom, and climbing, with two English officers who were crossing and had joined me, over some broken rocks, deafened by the noise, half blinded by the spray, and wet to the skin. We were at the foot of the American Fall. I could see an immense torrent of water tearing headlong down from some great height, but had no idea of o o shape, or situation, or anything but vague immensity. When we were seated in the little ferry-boat, and were crossing the swollen river, immediately before both cataracts, I began to feel what it was: but I was in a manner stunned, and unable to comprehend the vastness of the scene. It was not until I came on Table Rock, and looked — Great Heaven, on what a fall of bright green water! — that it came upon me in its full might and majesty. Then, when I felt how near to my Creator I was standing, the first effect, and the enduring one — instant and lasting — of the tremendous spectacle, was Peace. Peace of Mind, tranquility, calm recollections of the Dead, great thoughts of Eternal Rest and Happiness: nothing of gloom or terror. Niagara was at once stamped upon my heart, an Image of Beauty; to remain there, changeless and indelible, until its pulses cease to beat, for ever. 72 BOCK OF AGES AND CAVE OF THE WINDS. 73 Oh, how the strife and trouble of daily life receded from my view, and lessened in the distance, during the ten memorable days we passed on that Enchanted Ground! What voices spoke from out the thundering water; what faces, faded from the earth, looked out upon me from its gleaming depths; what Heavenly promise glistened in those angel's tears, the drops of many hues, that showered around, and twined themselves about the grora-eous arches which the chaneine rainbows made! I never stirred in all that time from the Canadian side, whither I had gone at first. I never crossed the river again; for I knew there were people on the other shore, and in such a place it is natural to shun strange company. To wander to and fro all day, and see the cataracts from all points of view; to stand upon the edge of the Great Horse-Shoe Fall, marking the hurried water gathering strength as it approached the verge, yet seeming, too, to pause before it shot into the gulf below; to gaze from the river's level up at the torrent as it came streaming down; to climb the neighboring heights and watch it through the trees, and see the wreathing water in the rapids hurrying on to take its fearful plunge; to linger in the shadow of the solemn rocks three miles below; watching the river as, stirred by no visible cause, it heaved and eddied and awoke the echoes, being troubled yet, far down beneath the surface, by its giant leap; to have Niagara before me lighted by the sun and by the moon, red in the day's decline, and grey as evening slowly fell upon it; to look upon it every day, and wake up in the night and hear its cease- less voice: this was enough. I think in every quiet season now, still do those waters roll and leap, and roar and tumble, all day long; still are the rainbows spanning them, a hundred feet below. Still, when the sun is on them, do they shine and glow like molten gold. Still, when the day is gloomy, do they fall like snow, or seem to crumble away like the front of a great chalk cliff, or roll down the rock like dense white smoke. But always does the mighty stream appear to die as it comes down, and always from its unfathomable grave arises that tremendous ghost of spray and mist, which which is never laid If' has haunted this place with the same dread solemnity since Darkness brooded on the deep, and that first flood before the Deluge — Light — came rushing 5@§E^on Creation at the word of God. BURNING OF THE GJIROLJNE, Rn Incident of the Patriot War In 1B32. §F ALL the places in the world for a naval engagement the head of the Upper Rapids of the Niagara River would seem to be the last one chosen. The necessities of war, however, brought about a miniature battle in the immediate vicinity of the raging waters. Mr. H. T. Allen in his guide to Niagara Falls gives an excellent version of the affair, well worthy of preservation as a reliable page of modern history. "In 1837, a rebellion was stirred up against the authorities of Canada, by some disaffected ' Radicals,' under the leadership of Wm. Lyon McKenzie and some others; but, Her Majesty's subjects not caring to side with the 'Rebels' in any great number, the movement was speedily put down. But not so the leaders. They — i. e. McKenzie, Gen. Sutherland, and five and six and twenty others — at the suggestion of Dr. Chapin, of Buffalo, unfurled the standard of rebellion over Navy Island, designing to make it a rendez-vous for the restless patriots of both sides of the river, until sufficient strength should be gained to renew the attack. Matters were going on pleasantly — the ' Patriots ' being daily edified by accessions to their strength, though greatly demoralized by a barrel of whiskey that found its way to their panting hearts — when the difficulty of transporting volunteers and supplies to their place of destination, and the number of persons, from motives of business or curiosity, constantly desirous of passing and repassing from the main-land to the patriot camp, suggested to Mr. Wells, the owner of a small steamboat lying at Buffalo, called the Caroline, the idea of taking out the necessary papers, and run- ning his vessel as a ferry boat between the American shore and the island, for his own pecuniary emolument. Accordingly, Friday, December 29, the Caroline left Buffalo for Schlosser; and after having arrived, having made several trips during the day, on account of the owner, was moored to the wharf at Schlosser Landing during the night. " Colonel Allan McNab, then commanding at Chippewa a detachment of Her Majesty's forces, having got word of the enterprise of the Caroline, resolved upon a deed which relieves the farcical story of the rebellion by a dash of genuine daring. It is asserted that Sir Allan was informed that the Caroline was in the interests of the Patriots, chartered for their use, and intended to act offensively against the Canadian authorities. Whether this be true or not, he planned her destruction that very night. For this purpose a chosen band was detailed and placed under the command of Captain Drew, a retired-on-half-pay officer, of the royal navy. "At midnight, the captain received his parting orders from Sir Allan, and the chivalrous band departed in eight boats for the scene of their gallant daring. 75 " The unconscious Caroline, meanwhile lay peacefully at her moorings, beneath the stars and stripes of her country's banner. As the tavern at Schlosser — the only building near by — could accommodate but a limited number of persons, several had sought a night's lodging within the sides of the boat. Dreaming of no danger, they had retired to rest unprovided with arms. Thus was the night wearing on, when so stealthily came the hostile band that the faint splash of muffled „ oars was the first intimation that the sentry had of their approach. In V^i reply to his question, 'Who goes there?' came, first 'Friends!' ^ then a heavy plashing in the water; then, the leaping of armed "Y \ y*Mi men to the deck. The bewildered sleepers start from their dreams and rush for the shore. 'Cut them down!' shrieks the heroic Drew, as he thrills with the memory of Aboukir and Nile — ' Cut them down, give no quarter.' More or less injured, they escape to the shore, with life — all but one, Durfee, the last man to leave, who is brought to the earth by a pistol^ shot, a corpse! A few minutes and the Caro line moves from the shore in flames! Down the wild current she speeds, faster and faster, flinging flames in her track, till striking the Canada waters she spurns the contact, leaps like a mad fury, and in a moment more is as dark as the night around her. The common account of this affair takes it for granted that the boat went over the Canada Falls aflame. You will read of the fated vessel lifting her fairy form to the verge of the precipice, lighting up the dark ~~& amphitheatre of cataracts, etc., to the end of endur- ance. The case was far otherwise. The physician who was called to the wounded at Schlosser was riding up the river's bank while the Caroline was descending the rapids. The \ gentleman testifies that the boat, a perfect mass of illumination, her timbers all aflame, and her pipes red hot, instantly expired when she struck the cascade below the head of Goat Island." This was a crushing blow to the rebellion. Burnt Ship Bay is called from a circumstance connected with the close of the French war of 1759. The garrison at Schlosser had already made a gallant resist- ance to one attack of the English and were preparing for another, when, disheartened by the news of the fall of Quebec, they resolved to destroy the two armed vessels containing their military stores. Accordingly they brought them to this bay and set them on fire. The wrecks, even at this day, are sometimes visible. 76 SHADOW OP THE ROCK AND INCLINED RAILWAY. 77 HOW TO SEE THE C^TJII^TCT. J. B . HARRISDN . IS IT worth while to report and describe truly the existing conditions at Niagara Falls? Thoughtful people find this a place of wonderful interest, of unpar- alleled attraction ; yet some of their most vivid impressions and remembrances of the spot are eminently unsatisfactory and disagreeable. The scenery here has an absolutely exhaustless vitality. Its beauty grows upon every observer who remains long enough to recognize the truth that the spectacle upon which he gazes is never twice the same. The longer one studies the view at some points the more unwilling he is to turn away. It is like leaving a play of entrancing interest. which has not yet ended. And here the play never ends. This is the great characteristic of Niagara, — its "infinite variety." There are several places in the rapids, and especially about the head of Goat Island, at each of which the changing show of the forms and motions of the water, — flinging, tossing, flying, exploding, thrown high into the air in great revolving bands and zones of crystal drops, shooting aloft in slender, vertical jets of feathery spray, swinging in wide-based, massive waves like those of the ocean, or gathered into billows which forever break and fall in curving cascades, and yet seem not to fall because they are every moment renewed, — are worth a journey across the continent to see. FOUR SEPARATE WATERFALLS. There is a great variety of beauty and interest even in the Falls themselves. As Luna Island divides the American Fall, making a beautiful separate cascade of the narrow stream which runs next to Goat Island, so the small island called Terrapin Rocks (on which Terrapin Tower formerly stood) cuts off a broader por- tion of the stream on the Canadian side of Goat Island, and makes a separate cataract there. Thus, when the spectator is on the lower end of Goat Island, there is on each side of him, first, a narrow strait or portion of the river, just large enough to form a fine fall by itself, then a small island, and further on a great cataract, — the American Fall on one side and the Horse-Shoe Fall on the other. These divisions of the stream, with four separate waterfalls, different in volume and environment, and so each possessing a marked individuality of character, yet so related to each other that they may be regarded as forming two great falls, and also as constituting, when all taken together the one great cataract of Niagara, — render the scene far more beautiful and interesting than one great fall of the undivided river could possibly be; while the fact that the height of the fall is everywhere very nearly the same maintains the impression of a complete and all- encompassing unity in the central spectacle of the place 78 There is great variety, again, in the lines of the curves made by the descending water as it leaves the brink of the fall, as an artist would at once observe, and some of these curves are wonderfully majestic and beautiful. There are also many different curves and irregular variations in the line of the top or brow of the precipice over which the water rolls; and while for the most part the water falls sheer and free from the edge of the cliff till it strikes the stones at the bottom, there are in some places projecting rocks a little way below the top of the fall, upon which the descending stream is broken, and from which it is thrown for the rest of the way down into new lines of movement and new forms of beauty, thus adding another element of variety to the face of the cataract. In some places the stream pours with a steady roar into soundless depths of water at the foot of the precipice; in others it dashes with indescribable vio- lence upon great masses of rock below, from which it is hurled outward with terrific force in hissing streams and ?r i? spouts of spray. The color of the falling water also varies everywhere. It is of snowy, dazzling whiteness where the cur- rent is shallow above, and the descending stream consequently thin. There is a little green mingled with the white where the volume of water is some- what greater, and in the central portions of the Great or Horse- Shoe Fall the deep, intense, solid green of the water has a wonderful vitality and beauty. The magnificent framework of green foli- age in which this glorious spectacle of the myriad forms and shows of mov- ing water — from the wild, gay tossing of the rapids to the solemn fall of the cataract — is set, is an es- sential and indispensable part of its interest and loveliness. The massive growth of trees and enveloping vine canopies on the islands and river shore give to the scene such sylvan aspects of grace, of softness and tenderness, as constitute some of the chief elements in its unspeakable charm, and some of the most forceful qualities by which it makes its eternal appeal to the heart of man. Niagara would not be what it is now if it rolled through a bare, brown desert of limestone. It is not the water — the river — alone that gives to the place its unequalled attraction, its companionless grandeur and loveliness. If the trees should be destroyed, and the shores and islands denuded of their green and living beauty, the waters might rush and leap in the rapids, and roll over the cliff into the gulf below, as now; but our sense of their sparkling gladness and gayety, and of the tenderness and passionate, eager youthfulness in the life of the scene would be gone. The sentiment of the 80 ON GOAT ISLAND. place, and the thoughts and feelings appealed to and inspired by it, would be wholly different from what they are now; and they would necessarily be of a much lower order and of a less vital quality. The value of this scenery, as a great possession for the human spirit, a source of uplifting, vivifying inspiration for those who can receive and enjoy such influences, would be terribly, fatally impaired. WHY SOME PERSONS ARE DISAPPOINTED. Some people do not see or feel, in any considerable degree, the spiritual charm of which I speak. They would not think of coming to Niagara for reinforcement of strength, for soothing, healing delights, or uplifting peace, or for help of any kind for the deeper needs of this life. They come hither because it is the fashion; the place lies in the round of travel, and they sit in their carriages at the top of the stairway leading clown to Terrapin Rocks and look at the Great Fall for a minute and a half, and usually remark, as they pass onward, that it is a less curious and interesting spectacle than they had expected to see, and that, "on the whole," Niagara disappoints them. Of course it disappoints, and must forever disappoint, all who look at it in this foolish, hurried way. It requires time for the faculties of the human mind to be put in motion, and to respond to such a spectacle as this. Nay, it takes time even for the senses to recognize its most obvious material forms and aspects, and such persons do not give themselves time even for that. " May be I can't appreciate it as some can," they say. No; they might, in a minute and a half, "appreciate" the burst of colored fire from a sky-rocket, and enjoy its value to the full; and they do not understand that Niagara is a spectacle of another order. Unless they can become more thoughtful, the scene here is not for them. There are other people to whom Niagara means much. It offers to those who are weary from toil of any kind, of hand or brain, or from the wearing, exhausting ility which is so marked in modern life, — it offers to all such a il change, the relief and benefit of new scenes and new mental activities and experiences consequent upon observing them becoming interested in them. Then, for those who give time and opportunity for the scene to make its appeal, time for their minds to respond to its influences, there is something deeper and higher than this. There is a quickening and uplifting of the higher powers sSsLL of the mind, an awakening of the imagination; m7/ 4 « the soul expands and aspires, rising to the level of a new and mighty companionship. Self- respect becomes more vital. Good things seem nearer and more real, and the nobleness and worth which but now we thought beyond .si attainment by us appear part of our inheritance as children of the Highest. I am not concerned to indicate the different ways in which the sentiment or spirit of the scenery, revealed through its local aspects and characteristics of infinitely varied grandeur and beauty, at last opens communication between itself and what is highest and most vital in the mind and heart of man. It is little worth while to try very hard to enjoy or appreciate Niagara. It is worth while to try to see, to become well acquainted with the form and appearance of each particular scene and part of the landscape, especially along the rapids and river shores, and about the falls as seen from above; and then, without any straining after high feeling or raptures of an}- kind, one is likely, by and by, to have a sense that the visit to Niagara has been a deep and vital experience, and that the place has become a real resource and possession to the soul forever. It is easy to write too much and too particularly of all this; for such experiences and feelings, like all the higher moods and activities of the soul, have something shy and elusive about them, and it is not often best to try to describe them. And Niagara itself, in its sovereign dignity and perfection, shames and silences all effort at description or eulogy. It is to be seen, felt — not talked about. And as the weeks and months pass while I dwell here, by the very shrine of this awful beauty, this veiled and shrouded grandeur, I become more and more unwilling to write about it, and can well believe that if one remained here long, all attempts at expression regarding it would appear inappropriate and futile, and that silence would seem the only true tribute. Perhaps a great artist might feel an unappeasable longing to express his feelings upon canvas, — if, indeed, the scene is not too great to be painted. MISUSED OPPORTUNITIES. But I write of Niagara for two reasons: one is, that so many people, who ought to have pleasure and delight in seeing it, now come here and go away without having felt delight at all, — go away, in fact, with feelings of disappointment and vexation, which settle at last into a decided impression and permanent remembrance of Niagara as a disagreeable place. In a great many cases this might be wholly or in a very great measure prevented; and it is for this reason, and not at all for the sake of any attempt at description, that I write on this subject. Most of the people who come hither are possessed of but moderate means to sustain the expenses of travel for pleasure or recreation, and, in consequence, they can remain at the Falls but a short time. Now, this is the class of persons who most need, and should be able in greatest degree to enjoy, whatever delights or benefits the place can minister to its visitors. The rich are better able to take care of themselves, here as every- where. Or, it they do not know how to enjoy Niagara, they are able to stay long enough to learn. But thousands come hither for whom a day, or two days, is all the time that can be devoted to this experience. If people will manage wisely it is worth while to travel five hundred miles to see Niagara, even if they can remain 82 here but six hours. Most people who are here but for a day or two throw away the larger part of their time, so limited and precious, and lose the real opportunities of the visit almost wholly. They go to the wrong places, and do the wrong things, and so waste not only their time but their money. If one can be here but six or eight hours, he should not think of using a hack or carriage. He should walk. And any woman who can walk two miles at home can see Niagara, can see all there is essential or important here, without troubling a hack-driver or being troubled by him. If women would but bring with them a pair of comfortable shoes, already somewhat worn, and put on clothing that is reasonably light and loose, for the day, they could easily walk wherever it is necessary for short-time visitors to go. PROSPECT PARK. The proper place to be first visited by all intelligent persons is the point at the top of the American Fall, on the American or vil- lage side of the river This place is included in 'Prospect Park,' and twenty-five cents is charged for admission at the gate. It is much to be re- gretted that there is now no point from which i'E OLD FERHVMAN an inhabitant of our country can see Niagara Falls without the pay- ment of a fee. 1 But it is a fact, and visitors, must, of course, accept existing conditions and conform to them. The evil is not one for which any individual persons are to be blamed. It is inseparable from the personal ownership of the valuable land ad- jacent to the river at this point. The land here should have remained permanently the property of the State or of the National Government; and if the State should reacquire the title to all the land which is essential to the scenery of Niagara, it would be a most wise and benificent measure, and would, no doubt, tend in an appreciable degree to national advancement in civilization. The view of the American Fall from this point, of the river below, and of Goat Island and part of the Horse-Shoe Fall beyond it, is naturally the first in an ascending series which includes all that is indis- pensable or even very important to the visitor. There are comfortable seats in the park, the place is pleasant enough in the daytime, and the view all that can be 84 desired from one place. But it is just here that foolish waste of time and money on the part of the short-time visitor usually begins. There is a railway down an inclined plane through the bank to the river below; there are guides, and dressing- rooms, and water-proof suits, and all sorts of appropriate arrangements down there for creeping around, as a moist, unpleasant body, in a blinding storm of spray about the foot of the fall, and in "The Shadow of the Rock," where there is nothing of interest to be seen, and where, if there were untellable wonders, nobody could see them. Here at Niagara, where the fees are heaviest, the "sights" have least interest and value. COAT ISLAND. Everybody appears to be specially interested in having you visit these places, where it is all feeling and no seeing; but the intelligent short-time visitor will say THE HERMIT S CASCADE. no, in a way to be understood, and, leaving the Park by the gate nearest the river, will walk a few rods up the stream (by the very edge of the American Rapids) to Goat Island Bridge. Here the fee is fifty cents. (If you are to remain for some days, pay one dollar here and seventy-five cents at Prospect Park, and come and go at your pleasure without further charge.) At the island end of the bridge take the steps up the bank to the right. A beautifully shaded walk through the forest brings you to Luna Island, at the top and very edge of the American Fall on that side. When ready to proceed keep to the right from the top of the stairway, by a pleasant path along the edge of the island, pausing at various points for characteristic views, but not pausing for the descent to the "Cave of the Winds," where there are more dressing-rooms, more rubber suits, more guides, more soaking, dashing mists, etc., 85 requiring time and money in proportion. The walk to the Great Fall requires but a few moments. Look at it first from the head of the stairway, then from Terrapin Rocks (where Terrapin Tower formerly stood). THE RAPIDS. You must not think you have seen Niagara because you have seen the Falls. The Rapids at the head of Goat Island, and the varied and wonderful scenery of the "Three Sisters" at that point — all this is indispensable. You have not seen Niagara if you have omitted this region. It is but a few minutes' walk again, still keeping to the right along the edge of the island after you leave the Great Fall. Leaving the "Three Sisters," go directly across the carriage road, up the steps and past the excursion or picnic building in the woods, passing to the right of it. A broad path through the woods leads to the end of the bridge by which you crossed to Goat Island. Having paid your half-dollar to go to the island, every point and prospect upon it and around it is free to you. There are no further fees. And now, if one has followed the course here indicated, spending, of course, as much time as he can afford at the different points of interest, and especially in the solitudes of the islands, he may rightly feel he has seen Niagara, or that he has been at the right places for seeing what is essential to the charm and wonder of the place, so far as it is possible to see and feel it in so short a time. There have been but two fees, amounting to 75 cts. If the visitor must leave now, he need not think with much regret of what he has not seen. If he can stay longer, the next thing is to cross the new suspension bridge into Canada. The fee on the bridge is 25 cts. each way. The view of the Falls from the Canada side is free. — A T . Y. Evening Post. 86 CANADIAN RAPIDS ABOVE INK FALLS. 87 Jl LlJIST LlOOK. J. S, BUCKINGHAM, |N THE following morning we went to take a last look of the Falls before quitting them perhaps forever, and we all agreed that our sensations at the ,i last view were as powerful as at the first. For my own part, I do not think it A would be possible for any number of repetitions in the view to take away, or f> even abate, the first impression produced by the richness, splendor, magnifi- cence, and sublimity of this great and glorious object of nature. To the many who visit this spot without a taste for the grand or beautiful — and to the extent of their numbers the register at the Table Rock produces painful evidence — I can under- stand its becoming tiresome; but to those whose feelings harmonize with the sublime objects that are here combined and presented to the wondering view, I can- not comprehend how they should be otherwise than enchanted from first to last, and impressed with all the sensations of pleasure, admiration, triumph, and devotion in succession. The sunlights were more varied to-day than we had observed them to be on any preceding visit, and this is a powerful cause of variety in the appearance of the Falls. There were passing clouds that occasionally obscured the sun, when deep shadows overhung the waters. Suddenly the bright orb would burst forth from its hiding-place, and in an instant the whole mass was lighted up with luminous and transparent brilliancy. Occasional showers of rain also fell, and the rainbows of the spray seemed to look more than usually vivid and glowing. The smooth deep current between the turbulent rapids of the upper strait and the immediate edge of the cataract flowed on like a stream of molten glass, so clear, so lucid, and yet so unwrinkled in its surface, that when it curved over the brink of the precipice, the mass poured downward was like a liquid emerald of the brightest and most transparent green. As this was varied with the sparkling lights of the broken waters, it resem- bled those beautiful glimpses which the mariner sometimes catches of the mountain wave at sea, when the lustre of the setting sun is seen through its upper edge of the brightest green, and a curling wave of the wdiitest foam crowns its towering and majestic crest. The whole seemed to realize the splendid imagery of Milton, in his exquisite description of the "Throne of royal state, which far Outshone the wealth of Ormus or of Ind, Or where the gorgeous East, with richest hand, Showers on her kings barbaric pearls and gold." I have seen no other object in nature, in all my various wanderings, equal this in magnificence and sublimity. The impression of its beauty and grandeur is so deeply imprinted on my heart and mind, that I am sure I shall carry it with me to the grave, if reason and memory are spared to' me till then. 88 THE I^PIDS pND GOI^GE MT EEDREE HDUEHTDN, THE UPPEP PHPIDS. [TILL, with the wonder of boyhood, I follow the race of the Rapids, Sirens that dance, and allure to destruction, — now lurking in shadows, Skirting the level stillness of pools and the treacherous shallows, Smiling and dimple-mouthed, coquetting, — now modest, now forward; Tenderly chanting, and such the thrall of the weird incantation, Thirst it awakes in each listener's soul, a feverish longing, Thoughts all -absorbent, a torment that stings ami ever increases, Burning ambition to push bare-breast to thy perilous bosom. Thus, in some midnight obscure, bent down by the storm of temptation (So hath the wind, in the beechen wood, confided the story), Pine-trees, thrusting their way and trampling down one another, Curious, lean and listen, replying hi sobs and in whispers; Till of the secret possessed, which brings sure blight to the hearer, (So hath the wind, in the beechen wood, confided the story), Paltering, they stagger brinkward, — clutch at the roots of the grasses, Cry,— a pitiful cry of remorse, — and plunge down in the darkness. Art thou all-merciless then, — a fiend, ever fierce for new victims? Was then the red-man right (as yet it liveth in legend), That, ere each twelvemonth circles, still to thy shrine is allotted Blood of one human heart, as sacrifice due and demanded? Butterflies have I followed, that leaving the red-top and clover. Thinking a wind-harp thy voice, thy froth the fresh whiteness of daisies, Ventured too close, grew giddy, and catching cold drops on their pinions, Balanced — but vainly, — and falling, their scarlet was blotted forever. — ^^^>^- n THE COI^GE. EATH the abyss lies the Valley, a valley of darkness.— a hades. Where the spent stream, as it strives, seeks only an end to its anguish; Who shall its fastnesses fathom, or tell what wrecks they envelop? Here 'ncath the tides of time, life's remnants await resurrection. Deep is the way, and weary tin- way, while lofty above it Frowns, upon either hand, a cliff sheer-shouldered or beetling, Holding in durance forever the course of the will broken exile, Blighting all hope of return, should it pant for lie dowering pastures. But from the brinks lean down a few slender birches and cedars, Dazed by the depth and the gloom of the channels resounding beneath them; Here campanulas, too, which lurk wherever is clanger, Stoop with a smile of hope, reflecting the blue of tin' heaven,. Fleeter still flies the flood, up-heaping its scum at the centre, Dragging the (ides from the shores to leave (hem a hand-breadth the lower; While, like a serpent of yellow, the spume crooks down to the Whirlpool, Trails with a zigzagging motion down to the hideous Whirlpool. 88 90 THK MPII) OF THE MIST, HEr Hazardous Trip Through thE Whirlpool Rapids, NE OF THE most dar- ing feats ever accom- plished successfully by man was that of the navigation of the Whirl- pool Rapids, thence through the dreadful whirlpool to Lake On- tario, with the little steamer "Maid of the Mist." Mr. Geo. W. Holk'\-, himself an old resident of Niagara Falls, in his late work on Niagara Falls, gives a very interesting ac- count of the little boat, her pilot and her trip, rendered more valu- able through the personal acquaintance of the author with the actors in the thril- ling undertaking. He says: " In the year 1846, a small steamer was built in the eddy just above the Railway Suspension Bridge, to run up to the Falls. She was very appropriately named 'The Maid of the Mist.' Her engine was rather weak, but she safely accomplished the trip. As, however, she took passengers aboard only from the Canadian side, she could pay little more than expenses. In 1854 a larger, better boat, with a more powerful engine, the new ' Maid of the Mist,' was put on the route, and as she took passengers from both sides of the river, many thousands of persons made the exciting and impressive voyage up to the Falls The admiration which the visitor felt as he passed quietly along near the American Fall was changed into awe when he began to feel the might)' pulse of the great dec]) just below the tower, then swung round into the white foam directly in front of the Horse-Shoe, and saw the sky of waters falling toward him. And he seemed to be lifted on wings as he sailed swiftly down on the rushing stream through a baptism of spray. To many persons there was a fascination about it that induced them to make the trip every time they had an opportunity to do so. Owing to 91 some change in her appointments which confined her to the Canadian shore for the reception of passengers, she became unprofitable. Her owner, having decided to leave the neighborhood, wished to sell her as she lay at her dock. This he could not do, but he received an offer of something- more than half of her cost, if he would deliver her at Niagara, opposite the fort. This he decided to do, after con- sultation with Robinson, who had acted as her captain and pilot on her trips below the Falls. Mr. Robinson agreed to act as pilot for the fearful voyage, and the engi- neer, Mr. Jones, consented to go with him. A courageous machinist, Mr. Mclntyre, volunteered to share the risk with them. They put her in complete trim, removing from deck and hold all superfluous articles. Notice was given of the time for starting, and a large number of people assembled to see the fearful plunge, no one expecting to see the crew again alive after they should leave the dock, just above the Railway Suspension Bridge. Twenty rods below, the water plunges sharply down into the head of the crooked, tumultuous rapid, reaching from the bridge to the Whirlpool. At the Whirlpool, the danger of being drawn under was most to be apprehended; in the rapids, of being turned over or knocked to pieces. From the Whirlpool to Lewiston is one wild, turbulent rush and whirl of water, without a square foot of smooth surface in the whole distance. " About three o'clock in the afternoon of June 15, 1 861, the engineer took his place in the hold, and, knowing that their flitting would be short at the best, and might be only the preface to swift destruction, set his steam valve at the proper gauge, and awaited — not without anxiety — the tinkling signal that should start them on their flying voyage. Mclntyre joined Robinson at the wheel on the upper deck. Self-possessed, and with the calmness which results from undoubting courage and confidence, yet with the humility which recognizes all possibilities, with downcast eyes and firm hands, Robinson took his place at the wheel and pulled the starting bell. With a shriek from her whistle and a white puff from her escape pipe, the boat ran up the eddy a short distance, then swung round to the right, cleared the smooth water, and shot like an arrow into the rapid under the bridge. Robinson intended to take the inside curve of the rapid, but a fierce cross-current carried him to the outer-curve, and when a third of the way down it a jet of water struck against her rudder, a column dashed up under her starboard side, heeled her over, carried away her smoke-stack, started her overhang on that side, threw 7 Robinson flat on his back, and thrust Mclntyre against her starboard wheel-house with such force as to break it through. Every eye was fixed, every tongue was silent, and every looker-on breathed freer as she emerged from the fearful baptism, shook her wounded sides, slid into the Whirlpool, and for a moment rode again on an even keel. Robinson rose at once, seized the helm, and set her to the right of the large pot in the pool, then turned her directly through the neck of it. Thence, after receiving another drenching from its combing waves, she dashed on without further accident, to the quiet bosom of the river below Lewiston. Thus was accomplished one of the most remarkable and perilous voyages ever made by men. yy THE (LJl^TfL^JKZ^. RMING the Cataract of Niagara are three separate Falls, pro- duced by the intervention of islands dividing the river in its descending course, and presenting, on their southern sides, high precipices, the extension of which forms the area of descent. ^ That portion of the torrent which is between Goat and Luna Islands, is called the Central Fall. Between the American shore and Luna Island is the American Fall; and the British or Horse-Shoe Fall, between Goat Island and the Canadian shore. The two former Cascades viewed together are usually called the American Fall, and have a descent of one hundred and sixty-four feet; they stretch to an extent of one thousand feet. The Horse-Shoe Fall is the largest portion of the Cataract, having an extent of two thousand and one hundred feet, and a height of one hundred and fifty- eight feet. Its shape is more like an Indian bow than a horse shoe, the curve of which, in its center, is always obscured by the clouds of vapor that ascend from the turbulent tide below. The water is pre- cipitated over a ledge of rocks in a compact mass into a chasm, the depth of which has never been correctly ascertained. From the violence and rapidity of the water below, all efforts to fathom it have been vain; but it is supposed to be about two hundred and forty feet deep. Various attempts have been made to arrive at a correct estimate of the amount of water passing over the precipice of Niagara Dr. Dwight, taking the depth, width, and velocity of the current, as his data, calculated that more than eighty-five millions of tons went over per hour. By another calculation, supposing the current to run at the rate of six miles per hour, instead of five as in the first, the quantity has been estimated at the rate of 102,093,750 tons per hour. But this estimate of the velocity of the tide is regarded as too high, a point however which can scarcely be decided upon from the fierceness and force of the falling torrent. The following table of calculations respecting the amount of water flowing down the Niagara river, is taken from the Geological Survey of the State of New York. By Dr. Dwight, it is estimated at 31,492,742 cubic feet per minute. By Mr. Darby, By Mr. Pickens, By Mr. Barrett, 27,878,400 18,087,533 19,500,000 !I4 The last estimate is from three different observations made at Black Rock. The extremes of all the observations did not vary more than 20,000 feet per minute. It will be seen from the variations in the foresfoino- calcula- tions that a correct estimate can scarcely be arrived at upon this point. A general idea therefore only may be gained of the immense quantity of water that flows so un- interruptedly at these Falls. This idea may be more fully impressed upon the mind, by considering also the fact, that the lakes and tributary streams supplying the river Niag- ara, cover a surface of about one hundred and fifty thousand square miles; the land surface drained by diem measuring nearly half a mil- lion of square miles. The spray arising from this immense mass of falling water is always ascending, and visible in moving columns, ex- cept when scattered by the winds. It assumes a pyramidal form, and passes off into clouds that hover over the point from which it ascends, and is seen at great distance. The grandest view of every shade of color included in the rainbow, may be seen by the morning's sun above the Falls. From the head of the rapids, as near the Falls as pos- sible, gigantic clouds of mists are seen arising at the edge of the cata- ract. In passing slowly over, with the sun several hours high at your I back, every conceivable hue of the colors of the rainbow can be ex- amined in turn, at leisure, a sight which would dazzle an artist with a specimen of nature's painting hard to imitate. 95 THE NEW SUSPENSION BRIDGE. tHIS ELEGANT structure was completed in 1869, and is located some 300 yards below the American Falls. It is 1268 feet in length, and calcu- * lated only for a carriage way and foot walk. The height of the bridge above the river is 190 feet and the towers at each end are over 100 feet high. These are provided with suitable stairways and elevators to reach the top, from which fine views of the scenery can be had. The bridge is undisturbed by ordinary winds; but winds that are but gentle breezes on the land, strike the bridge with the force of a brisk gale, and a gale on land becomes a storm on the water. The winds press through the gorge as through a funnel. Even in calm weather, puffs of wind come up from the Falls, surcharged with spray, and then, there may be seen, in sunshine, the new phenomenon of a rainbow, both over and under the platform, describing a-complete circle round about the bridge. One of America's foremost writers, whose works have probably ministered a pure and wholesome delight to a greater number of readers than those of any other American author, Howells, describes, in his history of a certain wedding journey to Niagara Falls, the superb view from this bridge. "The last hues of sunset lingered in the mists that sprung from the base of the Falls with a mournful, tremulous grace, and a movement weird as the play of the Northern Lights. They were touched with the most delicate purples and crimsons, that darkened to deep red, and then faded from them at a second look, and they flew upward, swiftly upward, like troops of pale, transparent ghosts; while a perfectly clear radiance, better than any other for local color, dwelt upon the scene. Far under the bridge the river smoothly ran, the undercurrents forever unfolding themselves upon the sur- face with a vast roselike evolution, edo-ed all round with faint lines of white, where the air that filled the water freed itself in foam. What had been clear green on the face of the cataract was here more like rich verd antique, and had a look of firmness almost like that of the stone itself. So it showed beneath the bridge, and down the river till the curving shores hid it. These, springing abruptly from the water's brink, and shagged with pine and cedar, displayed the tender verdure of grass and bushes intermingled with the dark evergreens that climb from ledge to ledge, till they point their speary tops above the crest of the bluffs. In front, where tumbled rocks and expanses of naked clay varied the gloomier and gayer green, sprung those spectral mists; and through them loomed out, in its manifold majesty, Niagara, with the seemingly immovable, white Gothic screen of the Amer- ican ball, and the green massive curve of the Horse-Shoe, solid and simple and calm as an Egyptian wall; while behind this, with their white and black expanses broken by dark-foliaged little isles, the steep Canadian rapids billowed down between their heavily wooded shores." 96 THE SPIRIT OF THE FALLS. 98 FI^OM CITY TO (Zfl^rjIISJHLl?. LADY DUFFUS HARDY. I ROM Toronto we steam across the lake to the village of Niagara, where a train is waiting to carry us on to the falls about half an hour further on. We all watch from the windows, eager to catch our first glimpse of the world's great wonder. We feel a nervous anxiety to stand in its majestic presence. I quote from my companion's note-book on the spot. "There was a break in the wood, a flash of white, a cloud of spray tossed high above the tree-tops; then the dark woods closed again. That glimpse, flashing upon us and passing before we could fully realize that the great tumbling mass was indeed Niagara, can hardly be called our first view of it. It was a moonless night, and in the dusk we could only obscurely trace the vast vague outline of the two falls, divided by the blurred mass of shapeless shadows which we learned was Goat Island. As we looked upon them silently, and listened to the ceaseless boom like distant thunder, which shook the ground beneath our x feet, across the snowy veil of the American Fall, to our left, shot rays of rosy light, which melted into amber, then into emerald. They were illuminating the great waters with colored calcium lights! * * * But the brilliant rays which fell across the American Falls, and which were turned on and off like a dissolving view, did not reach to the Horse-Shoe Fall away to our right. Vast, solemn, shadowy, we could just distinguish its form in the darkness, could hear the deep murmur of its awful voice. And there, between it and us, what was tliat we saw? Was it some huge pale ghost standing sentinel before Niagara? White, spectral, motionless, it rose up and reached towards the stars — shapeless, dim, vague as a veiled ghost. There was something almost supernatural about it, it was like a colossal spectre, wrapped in a robe of strange dim light. "'How fine and upright the column of spray is to-night,' said a strange voice beside us. This broke the illusion But yet it seemed impossible that our ghost should be only a pillar of rising and falling spray! We saw it again, daily and nightly, but seldom arain like that. We saw it blown along-- in clouds; we saw it like a great veil hiding the whole face of the Fall; we saw it one evening at sunset leaping and sparkling like a fountain of liquid gold, — but only once again did we see it rise up in that shape, the dim and ghostly guardian of the night. — Through Cities and Prairie Lands. 99 NlflG^JI F^hliS FROM C^NJIDJI. O GAZE into the face of the cataract and obtain a most comprehensive view of Niagara, one must stand upon the public road which follows the edge of the cliff on the Canada side. Approaching the Falls from the north, almost every step reveals new scenes and variations in a mighty and won- drous panorama. Here is the foot bridge, and within a few rods the road to the ferry winds its way to the water's edge below. The ferry-boat, manned by veritable athlets, tosses like an egg-shell on the heaving and convulsed water, one moment gliding swiftly down the stream in the round of an eddy, the next, lifted up by a boiling wave as if it were tossed up from the scoop of a giant's hand beneath the water. Away southward "the cataract flashes, and thunders and agonizes — an almighty miracle of grandeur for ever going on; — the sight is riveted on the yeasty writhe in the abysm, and the solemn pillars of crystal eternally falling, like the frag- ments of some palace-crested star, descending through interminable space. The white field of the iris forms over the brow of the cataract, exhibits its radiant bow, and sails away in a vanishing cloud of vapor upon the wind ; the tortured and convulsed surface of the caldron below shoots out its frothy and seething circles in perpetual torment; the thunders are heaped upon each other, the earth trembles;" — the rocks and woods around are tinged with the ever-changing rays of the rainbow; the spectator sees the whole sweep of the great cataract spread before him at once, in a fine panoramic view of both Falls. "Their general outline," from a description in Harper's Monthly, "bears a close resemblance to the shape of the human ear; the Horse-Shoe Fall constituting the upper lobe, while Goat Island and the American Fall represent the remaining portion The river, whose general course has been east and west, makes a sharp turn to the right just at the point where the Fall now is. Its breadth is here contracted from three-fourths of a mile to less than one-fourth. The Horse-Shoe Fall only occupies the head of the chasm, while the American Cataract falls over its side; so that this Fall and a part of the Horse- Shoe lie directly parallel with the Canada shore, and its whole extent can be taken in at a single glance. It is this oneness of aspect which renders the prospect from this side so much the more impressive for a first view of Niagara. It gives a strong, sharp outline which ma} - afterward be filled up at leisure." TABLE ROCK. Within a short distance stands all that remains of the Table Rock; a narrow ledge along the bank, at the edge of the Horse-Shoe Fall. "On arriving at the too great Horse-Shoe Fall," says Murray, "description must stop short; and to those who have not seen it, imagination must be left to finish a picture of which words can give but a feeble outline. How can language convey expressions too tremendous and sublime even for the mind to bear? How can it presume to embody a scene on which the eye could not gaze, to which the ear could not listen, and which the oppressed and overwhelmed power of reflection could not contemplate without feelings of awe, wonder, and delight, so intense as to amount almost to pain!" Who doth not feel, until his failing sight Faints into dimness with its own delight, His changing cheek, his sinking heart confess, The might— the majesty ? — Bride of Abydos. The sight is indeed impressive, the view entrancing, the abyss fascinating. Basil Hall mentions this curious effect: ble that the Fall might swell up and grasp us in its vortex. The actual presence of any very powerful moving ob- ject, is often more or less remotely connected " It seemed to the imagination not impossi- with a feel- ing that its direction may be al- tered; and w hen the slightest variation would evi- dentlyprove fatal, a feel- ing of awe is easily ex- cited. At all events, as I gazed upon the cataract, it more than once appeared to increase in its volume, and to be accelerated in its velocity, till my heated fancy became strained, alarmed, and so much overcrowded with new and old images, — all exaggerated, — that in spite of the conviction that the whole was nonsense, I felt obliged to draw back from the edge of the rock; and it required a little reflection and some resolu- tion, to advance again to the brink." Guides and dresses can be procured at this point for a visit to the cavernous recess under the Great Fall. THE RAPIDS. Apparently illimitable, seeming to pour from the blue sky. the Canadian Rapids are full before you. Forming a grand and striking feature in the scenery of Niagara, they are produced by the compression of the river to the width of two miles and a half just below the termination of Grand and Navy Islands; and by its course for 10J GENERA*- VIEW OF FALLS FROM CANADA. the distance of three quarters of a mile over ledges of rugged rocks, making a descent of fifty-two feet on the American side, and fifty-seven on the Canada side. It is impossible to give an adequate idea of this rushing, boiling tide, that sweeps down, through the islands towards the verge, as if a myriad of war-steeds, neighing and painting, were contending with the most intense ferocity. The Rapids form the prelude to the grander displays of the Falls themselves, and viewed alone, are unequalled in their kind. CLARK HILL ISLANDS. On the road past Table Rock, and only a few rods distant, is Cedar Island, connected with the main land at either extremity by a pretty little truss bridge. On this island stands a Pagoda, over eighty feet in height, and a noticeable land-mark W '" - '* from all points in the vicinity of the Falls. Leaving Cedar Island, the Grand Rapids Drive is entered upon. It is one of the pleasantest roadways around Niagara, extending' for a quarter of a mile close along the shore of the Canadian Rapids. The view it affords of the Rapids is grand, beyond description. Clark Hill Is- lands, five in number, situated in the rapids of the Niagara river, are con- nected, at either side, with the shore by an elegant suspension bridge of two hundred and fifty feet span. These two bridges have been appro- priately named " Castor," and " Pol- lux." The scenery through the islands is of the most varied character; the quiet rip- pling of the narrow streams meandering among the well -wooded islands is in strong contrast to the turbu- lence of the waters that hurry on, washing the shores of the group. The whole scene is one of sweet repose. OF AMERICAN FALL. THE BURNING SPRING. At the eastern end of the bridge " Pollux," on the bank of the river, near the head of the Rapids, about a mile above the Falls, is located the Burning Spring. A gas flows through the water, which burns with a pale blue flame when ignited. It is described by the geologist Lyell, as follows: " Carburetted hydrogen, or, in the modern chemical phraseology, a light hydro-carbon, rises from beneath the water 102 - £ 1 g I ALONG THE BURNING SPRING DRIVE. 103 out of the limestone rock. The bituminous matter supplying this gas is probably of animal origin, as this limestone is full of marine mollusca, Crustacea and corals, without vegetable remains, unless some fucoids may have decomposed in the same strata. The invisible gas makes its way in countless bubbles through the clear transparent waters of the Niagara. On the application of a lighted candle, it takes fire, and plays about with a lambent, flickering flame, which seldom touches the water, the gas being at first too pure to be inflamable, and only obtaining sufficient oxygen after mingling with the atmosphere " For the purpose of experiments, witnessed by the visitors, the gas is collected in a cylinder, allowed to pass out of the top of it through an inch pipe. After certain experiments are made, show- ing the tremendous force of the gas, the cylinder is removed, and the gas ignited on the surface of the water, through which it escapes. ABOVE THE FALLS. Following the old Portage road from the Burning Spring to the Falls, brings the visitor to a point on the bluff, where the river makes a sharp, big inshore, along the tracks of the Michigan Central, and upon this spot a platform has been erected by the Company to allow undisturbed en- joyment of the most striking view of the Cataract. "Niagara should be first ap- proached from above, and from the Can- ada shore," is a sentiment echoed and re- echoed by the writers of past generations; and the one comprehensive view, the grouping of Rapids and Islands and Falls and Gorge as seen from Falls View sta- tion on the Michigan Central Railroad, pre- sents a picture of surpassing beauty. The vast concave of the Falls of Niagara opens upon your view. The American Fall forms the farther extremity of the semi-circle, breaking in a broad white sheet of loam upon a heap of rocks below. Close by its inner extremity is a gush of water — the Centre Fall — which in any other situation would be esteemed a considerable cascade, but here seems but a fragment of the larger cataract separated by a small rocky island in the bed of the river. The eye then rests upon the precipitous end of Goat Island, consisting of accumulated masses of stone, in horizontal strata, sup- porting a scanty covering of earth, and crowded to the edge with pines. Then the curve of the Horse-Shoe Fall rounds into prospect with full view of the Islands and the angry Canadian Rapids. " Your eye fixes upon some special white crest of 104 GLIMPSE OF AMEK1CAH FALL. 105 foam, and follows it down until it melts away into a smooth green surface rounding gently over, and disappearing in an abyss the depth of which you cannot see. This green slope sweeps round in a magnificent curve to the right ; beyond this is a purple-gray precipice, and still further on a white cataract flashing back the sun- beams. From the centre of the curve, a pillar of spray floats calmly up, with the crown of a rainbow .just rising above the verge of the abyss." And again, and again, will the eye wander from right to left, and from left to right; from the point of the American Fall to the near shore line of the Horse-Shoe, and vice-versa, sweeping around the circumference of the majestic curve of Niagara. At a short distance from this point a very pretty glimpse of the American Fall can be caught through an opening in the bank designated as the "Jolly Cut." lundy's lane. To the west, about one and one-half miles distant, stands a tower erected upon the famous battle-field of Lundy's Lane. On July 25th, 18 14, the decisive battle of the war was fought here. An old campaigner who does the honors at the observatory (and though old campaigners live and die, the one oc- cupying the post, is an original old campaigner, spiritually to say the least,) — has, they say, two versions of the action, which he pro- duces as he supposes may suit the nationality Drummondville, the original Canadian city at the Falls, so called in honor of General Drummond, the traveler wends his way along a pleasant road to the WHIRLPOOL RAPIDS just below the old Suspension Bridge.- Here a staircase and also an inclined railway conducts one easily and safely to the platform below, whence the sight of the old bridge above, the roaring rapids, the distant whirlpool, and the shady walk along the water's edge, give splendid views. The whole volume of water rushes by with marvelous rapidity, boiling and seething in its narrow channels. THE WHIRLPOOL. Below the Whirlpool Rapids is situated one of the most remarkable features of the gorge of Niagara — the Whirlpool, — worthy of more attention than is usually given to it by visitors in general. Brock's Monument, erected on the Queenston Heights, four miles distant, is visible from this point, and the Niagara river winds away to the north, till it is lost in Lake Ontario beyond. 106 of his auditors. The story goes, however, that years ago, General Scott was regaled with the English version, and then learned for the first time how thorough- ly he was beaten upon that well-contested field. Through the village of THE I?OfII^ OF THE F^IiIiS, ESPECTING the thundering of the waters, the eternal roar of the cataract, many and conflicting are the statements handed KMs down to us by the writers of two centuries past. Father Henne- jA pin, in a most candid manner, states its deafening powers, and in Lt> his sketch, represents the members of the observation party ^presents holding their hands to the ears, to shut out, as it were, the 'Mwxfjl?? ^^T?D unpleasant and terrific sounds. Robert Sutcliff, in 1805, |o\f^|? writes: "I could very distinctly hear the noise of the Falls of Niagara, lo?/$ although then about twenty-four miles from that stupendous cataract. The distance at which the people in these parts say the Falls may be heard, when the wind and other concurrent circumstances are favorable, is almost incred- ible. I met with a reputable looking farmer, driving a team of four fine oxen upon the road, who told me, with all the gravity of a man speaking the ^ truth, that he sometimes heard them very plainly at his residence, forty miles distant, when the air was calm and serene." Duncan, in 1S18, says: "Most of the accounts of the Falls mention that \ the sound of them is heard at a very great distance. This is comparatively seldom the case. I have been told, in the neighborhood, that in particular states of the barometer, and especially before stormy weather, the sound of the cataract is heard twenty miles off, or even farther; but on several occasions I could with difficulty distinguish it at a distance of two miles, and sometimes, I understand, it does not reach so far." Ten years later, in 1828, Stuart states positively: "We distinctly heard the sound of the cataract, about ten miles from the Falls; but it is often heard at a far greater distance in favorable states of the wind and atmosphere." Charles Dickens, the great English novelist, in American Notes, gives his experience as follows: "I am inclined to think that the noise of the Falls is very much exaggerated; and this will appear the more probable when the depth of the great basin in which the water is received is taken into account. At no time during our stay there was the wind at all high or boisterous, but we never heard them three miles off, even at the very quiet time of sunset, though we often tried." Some assert that along the course of the river, the sound is perceptible at a distance of fourteen miles. Yet it is scarcely heard within the precincts of the Falls, above and at a little distance from them. Indeed, the wonder is to the visitor, not that the cadence is so great, but so small, compared with the quantity of 'water that falls and the immense height from which it is precipitated. 107 DEPTHS OF NIJIGJU^TS CJINYON. W. H. BJILLDU, V li ANY A 1 l'h M I' ! S \vi re made previous to the government survey in ¥ ill' I ^' < - ) ' t() obtain the depth of the water in the canyon below the Falls. Bars of railroad iron, pails of stones, and all unreasonable and awkward instruments were attached to long lines and lowered from the railway suspension bridge, but positively refused to sink. The reason for this is obvious. The very bulk of the instruments was sufficient, no matter what their weight, to eive the powerful undercurrent the means to buoy them upon or near the surface. Our party, however, with a small sounding lead of twelve pounds weight, attached to a slender cord, easily obtained the depths from the Falls to the railway suspension bridge. One day we launched a small boat at the inclined railway, and entered on a most exciting and perilous exploration of this part of the canyon. The old guide, long in charge of the miniature ferry situated here, accompanied the '* party. \\ ith great difficulty we approached within a short distance of the American Falls, which darted great jets of water upon us and far out into the stream. The roar was so terrible that no voice or human sound, however near we were to one another, could be heard. The leadsman cast the line, which passed rapidly down, and told of eighty-three feet. This was quite near the shore. Passing out of the friendly eddy which had assisted us so near the Falls we shot rapidly down the stream. The next cast of the lead read one hundred feet, deepening to one hundred and ninety-three feet at the inclined railway. The average depth to the Swift Drift, where the river suddenly becomes narrow, with a velocity too great to be measured, was one hundred and fifty-three feet. Just under the railway bridge the whirlpool rapids set in, and so violently are the waters agitated that they rise like ocean billows to the height of twenty feet. At this point I computed the depth at two hundred and ten feet, which was accepted as approximately correct. The geological formation of Niagara's canyon is too well understood to bear comment. Some of the topographical appearances, however, may be mentioned. The canyon's walls range from two hundred and seventy to three hundred and sixty feet in height above the water level. Of course, they are highest at their termina- tion at Lewiston, where,, on the opposite side, the base of Brock's Monument is three hundred and sixty-five feet above water in the canyon. The walls are continually crumbling owing to the action of the atmosphere, frost and miniature springs. The debris is driven out into Lake Ontario, forming what are known as the Brickbat Shoals, situated three and a half miles from the river's mouth. The river witlfin the walls, more especially where the canyon is narrow, is subject to rise and fall at short intervals, if the wind is heavy on Lake Erie. 108 AMERTCAM FALLS FROM COAT IS1 109 IN WINTER. ■Sr ?M At ?! 3d 'I iw Hi |C*S ^ fee ■3^ « ^9 HS& ff&J ^ ^\^ ERY FEW persons, comparatively, are aware of the scenes of surpassing beauty presented by the Cataract of Niagara, in winter. Its appearance is then much more attractive and glorious, than in the summer. The trees are covered with the most brilliant and sparkling coruscations of snow and ice; the islands, the shrubs, the giant rocks, are robed in the same spotless vesture. Frozen spray, glittering and gleaming as brightly and vivaciously as frozen- sunlight, encases all things; Niagara Falls is the absolute domin ion of the Ice King. In bright sunshine, the flashing rays from millions of gems produce a bewitching effect. "At such a moment the characteristic attributes of Niagara seem fused and heightened into 'something more exquisite still.' Its intrinsic sublimity and beauty experience a liberal transfiguration. Nature is visibly idealized. Nothing more brilliant or enchanting can be conceived. The brightest tales of magic 'pale their ineffectual fires.' Islands, whose flowers are thickset diamonds, and forests, whose branches are glittering with brilliants, and amethysts, and pearls, seem no longer a luxurious figment of genius, but a living and beaming reality. One feels in the midst of such blazing coruscations and such glorious bursts of radiance, as if the magi- cian's ring had been slipped upon his finger unawares, and, rubbed unwittingly, had summoned the eorofeous scene before him. It is as if Mammoth Cave, with its groves of stalactites, and crystal bowers, and gothic avenues and halls, and star chambers, and flashing grottoes, were suddenly uncapped to the wintery sun, and bathed in his thrilling beams; or as if the fabled palace of Neptune had risen abruptly from the deep, and were flinging its splendors in the eye of heaven " Upon the occurrence of a thaw sufficient to break up the ice in Lake Erie, masses of floating ice, dissevered from the frozen lake and stream above, are precipitated over the Falls in blocks of several tons each. These remain at the foot of the cataract, from the stream being closed below, "and form a natural bridge across it. As they accumulate, they get progressively piled up, like a Cyclopean wall, built of huge blocks of ice instead of stone. This singular masonry of nature gets cemented by the spray, no EHIND THE HORSE-SHOE FALL. IN WINTER — ICY FOLIAGE AND FORMS. Ill which rising in clouds of mist as usual from the foot of the Falls, attaches itself in its upward progress to the icy wall, and soon gets frozen with the rest of the mass, helping to fill up the interstices between the larger blocks of which this architec- ture is composed." This icy wall or mound rises up from the base of the torrent in a bulwark of pyramidal form, in front of the Falls, within a few feet of the edge of the precipice, to a height of from twenty to forty feet above the level of the upper stream. Scal- ing the mound is an exhilarating and laborious exercise, but the near sight of the maddened waters plunging into the depths of an unfathomable vortex below, is a fitting reward for the adventurous undertaking. The ice-bridge generally extends from the Horse-Shoe Fall, to a point near the Railway bridge, lasts generally from two to three months, and is crossed by hun- dreds of foot passengers during the winter. The ice forming the bridge is ordin- arily from one hundred to one hundred and fifty feet thick — rising from fifty to sixty feet above the natural surface of the river. The tinge of the waters, from the dark green of summer, is changed to a muddy yellow; huge icicles, formed by an accum- ulation of frozen spray, hang perpendicularly from the rocks; the trees on Goat Island and Prospect Park seem partially buried; a mass of quaint and curious crystalline forms stand in lieu of the bushes; the buildings seem to sink under pon- derous coverings of snow and ice; the tops of trees and points of rock on which the dazzling white frost work does not lie, stand out in bold contrast, forming the deep shadows of the entrancing picture; the whole presents a wild, savage aspect, grand and imposing. Goat Island remains, in winter, one of the chief centers of attraction. A prominent English physician, Dr. Wm. Sharp, writes: "I can never forget my first visit to it in December, 1880. The snow was falling thickly at the time. Old Nicholson constituted himself as guide and proved to be both useful and amusing. The Canadian side was altogether hidden by the hazy mist of the falling snow, and never since or before did I look upon a scene so awfully grand and impressive as Niagara then presented. There, with old Nicholson in the back ground, I was alone with nature. A sense of vague immensity that was almost appalling engrossed the attention. All was solitude, vastness and silence, save the deep thunder of the Falls that swelled ever like a mighty anthem, and as if in keeping with the weird sublimity of the scene, two gulls, like restless, wandering spirits of the deep, swept ceaselessly to and fro, now vanishing from sight and now emerging from the mist and gloom." If one can see Niagara but once, it had better be in winter than in summer. The scene is one of peerless grandeur, worth going hundreds of miles to behold. 112 JL BOLD swim. Captain Webb's Hazardous Feat, Zj^* ASH IS THE man who incurs risk or hazard from ! ^5__ a mere impulse without counting the cost; adventur- • ous is he who does it from a love of the arduous and the bold; foolhardy he who throws himself into danger in disregard or defiance of the consequences. These qualifications of the mad attempt made by Captain Matthew Webb to swim down the Whirlpool Rapids J. and through the Whirlpool, on the 24th day of July, 1883, are certainly, in view of the facts, not too severe strictures. Moved by a desire for notoriety, this bold and brave athlete, who had many times faced the surging billows of an angry sea, without other means of safety than nature had provided him, announced his purpose to swim the Whirlpool Rapids in the Niagara River. This was heralded by the press, and discussions as to the possibilities and chances of success agitated many minds. Captain Webb looked upon the scheme as a pleasant undertaking. His friends and the public looked upon it as certain death. The great swimmer was confident that he could make the trip in safety, He carefully looked over the ground, but he had failed to realize the immensity of the undertaking, and so deliberately gave up his life. Captain Webb was a native of Shropshire, England, and the son of a physician. He went to sea at an early age, and became the captain of a merchantman. He first attracted public notice by jumping from the Cunard mail steamer " Russia." during a storm, to save a sailor who fell overboard. For this he received at the hands of the Duke of Edinburgh the first gold medal given by the Royal Humane Society. In 1875 he accomplished his greatest feat, swimming across the English Channel from Dover to Calais. The trial took place August 24th and 25th, and after a desperate struggle with the choppy sea he accomplished the distance of twenty-five miles in 2ih. 45mm., the best time on record. He has visited this country several times. On August 13th, 1879, he swam from Sandy Hook to Man- hattan Beach, Coney Island, a distance in line of ten miles. Owing to the tides and the fact that his contract would not permit him to land at the island before five p. m., he was in the water eight hours and swam in all about sixteen miles. He was a 113 man of powerful physique, being six feet one inch tall, finely proportioned and weighing about two hundred pounds in condition. He was forty years of age. He leaves a wife and two children. He has accumulated $15,000 by his exhibitions. For three-quarters of a mile below the Suspension Bridge run the Whirlpool Rapids, the wildest and most tumultuous portion of the river Niagara. The tremendous power of the current cannot be realized. The whole force of the water concentrates itself here; it seems as though it would tear asunder the steep, wooded hills that enclose it, so wild and startling is its terrific power. As far as the eye can reach the waters thunder down in seething.heav- ing masses, lashed into foam, dashing and whirling into angry billows twenty or thirty feet high, through the narrow passes of the gorge, i||| until it reaches s j^jjj^ climax at the bend in THE RAPIDS the river, where the water, ceaselessly coming down from the Falls in immense volume, is compressed into a space much too small for it, and meet- ing with this resist- ance, gathers its mighty force in one su- preme effort, and mounting- higher and higher, dashes past the bend in one continuous but changing surge of water, resembling nothing so much as the roll of the ocean on a lea shore. One hundred million tons of water passing over the Falls' cliff every hour, crowd through this narrow defile, less than three hundred feet in width, thundering along at a velocity of twenty-seven miles an hour. At no other point does the terrific force of Niagara so create wonderfully realistic impressions upon the beholder. 'ERE THE long valley crooks, and the flight of the river is broken; Headlong it plunges, despairing, and beats on the bars of its prison; Beats, and runs wildly from wall to wall, then strives to recover, Beats on another still, and around the circle is carried, Jostled from shoulder to shoulder, til] losing its galloping motion, Dizzily round it swirls, and is dragged toward the hideous Whirlpool. Round sweeps the horrible maelstrom, and into the whirl of its vortex Circle a broken boat, an oar-blade, things without number; Striving, they shove one another, and seem to hurry, impatient To measure the shadowy will-be, and seek from their torment a respite. Logs that have leapt the Falls and swum unseen 'neath the current, Here are restored again, and weird is their resurrection; Here like straws they are snapt, and grinding like millstones together, Chafing and splintering their mates, they wade in their deepening ruins; Till, without hope, on tiptoe they rise, lips shriveled and speechless, Seeing sure fate before them that tightens its toils to ensnare them; Hollow the hell-hole gapes, and ravenously it receives them, — All that is left is a sigh, and the echoes of that are soon strangled. — Houghton's Kiagara. 114- Such was the course selected by the plucky and resolute sailor for his exhibition of power and endurance — through a fearful channel, an eternal war of waters. From a boat rowed to the center of the stream, at a point about one-quarter mile from the head of the rapids, Captain Webb dived head first into the water. It was just twenty minutes past four o'clock. A few vigorous strokes and he was fairly in the rapids, going breast on, his form a mere speck, as seen from the great bluff above. He went like an arrow shot from a bow. The first great wave he struck he went under, but in a second appeared way beyond. The great waves seethed over him occasionally, but he always seemed ready to meet them. His great chest was boldly pushed forward, and occasionally half of the magnificent physique of the reck- less adventurer was lifted from the water, but he bravely kept his position through it all and seemed perfectly collected and at home. So the mad journey went on safely through the upper rapids. He passed then through the lower ones. There up one of his arms, as the waves dash higher, the water is confined in a narrower space, and the trip is in every way more perilous How far he went alive no one will ever know. He was seen by m a n y while passing through this awful sea. His body was borne onward, now rising above, now sink- ing beneath the white- capped waves. He was seen to enter the whirl- pool. Here he threw if to signal some unfor- seen danger. A second later he was buried in the foaming billows, which dash upwards forty or fifty feet, and whirl and seethe as if lashed by a thousand furies. This was the last seen of the intrepid swimmer, — his disap- pearance occurring thir- teen minutes after he entered the water. An active search was insti- tuted but no trace of his body had been found when the shades of night enveloped the troubled waters in a mantle of darkness. During the afternoon of July 28th, the body was recovered in the river below Lewiston. The arms were extended as though in the act of taking a swimming stroke, and the feet were likewise extended as though in the act of swimming. The scalp had a deep gash about four inches long, and the hips and left shoulder had long blue marks where the body had struck the rocks. Theories as to the direct cause of death are rife. Was the life crushed out of him by the weight of the water; was he drowned; or did he loose his life by diving and striking on a jagged stone or rock? These are questions surrounded with inscrutable mystery. 115 The official report, of the medical examiners, at the inquest held over the noted swimmer's remains, states that no bones were found broken, and the wounds were none of them sufficient to have caused death. The muscular tissue was peculiar; when the scalpel was used shreds of desiccated muscle would be carried along and collect on the edge of the knife. The blood was very red, showing that it had not been deoxidized by asphyxia. "As the result of our examination," say the examiners, "we are led to the conclusion that death was caused not by asphyxia or drowning, or by any local injury by the body coming in contact with any hard substance, but by the shock from the reactionary force of the water in the rapids coming in contact with the submerged body with sufficient force to instantly destroy the respiratory power, and in fact all vital action, by direct pressure and force of contact — a shock of sufficient intensity to paralyze the nerve centres, partially desiccate the muscular tissues, and forestall any possible sequel of death by drowning. The cause of death in passing through the rapids being thus constant and in no way accidental, as might be the case in drowning, forces the conclusion that no living body can pass through the rapids alive. In the first breaker he was submerged and subjected to this pressure, death resulting." This strongly sustains the first theory, and the appearance of the blood dispels entirely the second one, that of drowning. As to the third, its supporters claim un- disputable evidence in the disclosure of a new fact. It has been generally conceded that the water from the Falls to the Whirlpool was very deep, and that no rocks were within many feet of the surface. This is contradicted by George Barker, who for twenty years has been taking views of the river and of the Falls. He says: "One morning a few years ago I visited the Whirlpool Rapids for the purpose of taking some instantaneous photographs. The water was very low, caused by a heavy wind which had been blowing up the river above the Falls for several days. I was sur- prised to find that the points where usually were to be seen immense splashes, which are the great attractions of the Whirlpool Rapids, rocks were plainly to be seen, at some points just at the surface, at others rising out of the water two or three feet. Several negatives taken at the time, show immense rocks lying right in the course which Webb took in his fatal attempt. The views show beyond a doubt that the rapids of the Niagara river are studded with rocks, and the post mortem examiners may be wrong in their conclusions." This attempt of Captain Webb, although a failure, has brought to the front, numerous bold adventurers with unheard of schemes, such as descend the Falls, scale the mountains of falling waters, dive into the Whirlpool, walk across the upper rapids, etc., which, if carried into effect, will add new zest and spice to the ancient chronicles of Niagara's accidents and incidents, so diversely and wondrously elaborated by the loquacious hackman-guide of the Falls. 116 DER THE FALLS 117 INTEI^NJITIONjm P^K PROJECT. N THE fall of 1878, Lord Dufferin, then Governor-General of Canada, suggested the idea of creating-- an International Park at Niagara, from lands adjacent to and including the Falls, to be taken from both sides ^ of the river. Governor Robinson, of New York, was cordially in favor of the project, and the New York Legislature appointed a commission to investigate the subject and report thereon. In 1879, Mr. James I. Gardner, director of the New York State Survey, and Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted reported to the Legislature. The Canadian Government had also a survey made, embracing all the lands between the embankment above and the river front, and has been ready at all times to co-operate with the State of New York. The press and the pulpit took up the agitation of the question. Rev. Robert Collyer at the Church of the Messiah in New York made it the subject of an elaborate discourse. After extolling the glories of the place, he catalogued, in a forcible manner, the shames of Niagara, in substance as follows: " One of the greatest shames was cutting down a long, sweeping arbor, through which in such grand beauty the Falls used to loom up to view half a mile away, and through which the deep, soft thunders of the mighty cataract fell upon the ear, a grand diapason. The whole surrounding's were now changed. There was not a touch of sacredness. Mammon ruled. Of course those owning the land had a right to use it as they thought best. It was, however, clearly the duty of the sovereign people of the State of New York to purchase it. This thing had gone far enough. The noble park should be kept free to all visitors, the waters should be rescued from the hordes of mills, and all the land about the grand water flood be given to the world free." This matter of an International Park lingered, however, till this summer, when a commission empowered by the New York Legislature, to select and locate the lands most desirable for the object in view, and institute proceedings for acquiring the title to these lands, met at Niagara Falls. The result of their deliberations is briefly told by ex-Lieut.-Gov. Dorsheimer, the president of the commission: "At the conclusion of our inspection we determined to take all of the islands in the river within the jurisdiction of this State, both Goat, Bird, Luna, Chapin, and a few more adjacent to Niagara river. In addition to the islands we selected a strip of land on the main shore, beginning just above the head of the rapids, and ending at the upper suspension bridge." The selection embraces the lands immediately around the Falls, and the possession of this territory by the State of New York would prove sufficient for the preservation of the scenery. It is the opinion of many that the Whirlpool Rapids and Whirlpool are the natural complement of the Falls, and should by all means be included in the proposed park. Whatever may be the decision arrived at upon this last point, a Niagara Reservation may now be considered as a settled fact. 118 fL PlxKfl FOF£ P^ESEI^lfpTION. J. H, HHRRISDN, r^ECOGNIZING as I do the unequaled value of Niagara as a source or ■*• P means of strength, refreshment, and happiness for many millions of men and women, and of elevation and beauty in our National character, and feeling most deeply interested in the effort to restore and preserve it for these high uses, I am of the opinion that if the ground about the Fall were really needed for cotton and paper mills, or any other necessary and productive human industries, it would be right to take it and appropriate and occupy it for these objects. We shall have a vast and crowded population in this part of our country before any great time has elapsed, and we are preparing conditions here in America under which the mass of men must, in large degree, live for bread for themselves, and little beyond. Whenever there is a real conflict or antagonism between economic, business or industrial interests on = ^^=^^ === ^_ ======== ^ == for "huddling 1 factories the one hand, and ideal jpf or aesthetic considera- ||1 tions on the other, the ^§ latter must give way, =s and rightly, because m% they are secondary or pjf subordinate when com- pj pared with the necessi- §Hj ties of physical subsis- fij tence. But in this case pj of Niagara Falls, and the BE question of its preserva- ^g t i o n or destruction, there is no good reason = around the Falls," — no mud of it whatever. I think it the idlest thing in the world for anybody who desires the preser- 111 vation of the scenery here for ideal and spirit- ual uses to decry or con- temn the commercial spirit or business energy of our time, or to lament W= its application to this particular object, — the utilization of the water- power of Niagara for manufacturing purposes. He is a poor, shallow poet or artist who can see only the poetic or artistic side of things. The mass of men must always toil. Infinite drudgery is required to sustain human life under the conditions of civilized society. Millions of men must labor — must labor honestly, nobly, and happily — that one great poet may sing their life, or one man of divine genius paint a picture of immortal power and beaut)-. Build the factories, then, and let Niagara turn their wheels. ' But where shall the factories stand? It would be a most insane and outrageous thing to place them here, amid these scenes unparalleled on the planet. It would be a wholly wanton sacrilege, a profanation unusually culpable, because entirely unnecessary. The 119 BELOW THE WHIRLPOOL Niagara River above the Falls lies so high above all the country below them that the water can be taken almost anywhere from' the river channel. Only a very small region immediately adjacent to the cataract and the rapids, with the islands in the river — this is all that is required to make this place, or keep it what nature made it, a place endowed, as no other place on the globe is endowed, with qualities suited to refresh, elevate, and gladden the mind and heart of civilized man forever. It is a sad error and wrong that this small territory, which includes all that is essential to Niagara, — all its wild grace and ineffable charm, — should be held by any private or individual ownership. It should be the property of the State, the possession of the people, and should be held in trust and cared for by the government. All its wealth of beauty and of high uses should be accessible to the poorest children of toil who may, by wise forethought or self-denying frugality, save from the price of their labor the means for a pilgrimage to this shrine of ideal and spiritual reality. For we must have something besides factories, and turbine wheels, and supply and demand, and daily toil for daily bread, even for the toiler himself, so that he may have "a daily beauty in his life," to use Shakespeare's phrase. You see, gentle- men capitalists and manufacturers, the laborer must toil happily, or you may all come to grief together, and capital must supply and maintain the conditions of beauty and happiness for him. Labor, directed and ennobled by the ideal, moral or spiritual element, creates everything; but a democratic civilization, based on the labor of a class of serfs of the mine and mill, whose toil is unwilling, degraded, and faithless, would not be likely to endure long in a world where the deepest meaning of every- thing is moral. Let us have a great city of factories, sustained by the water-power of Niagara. We are destined to have it. It is entirely right that this immense endowment of mechanical forces for the use of mankind should be employed to supply their physical wants. Only let us have the mills a little at one side; not just here at the Falls. There are quite as good and even better sites for them a little farther away. Put them far enough back from the Falls and the Rapids to give room for a screen of trees between, — far enough for the distance to soften the clangor of steam whistles, so that on Sunday, or (as I observe that many laborers in New England mills have to work on Sunday) at least on the Fourth of July, the toiler of the factory may come to the Falls, and, looking upon their grandeur and noble purity, undefiled by tawdry electric lights, or watching the wild play of the rapids, or wandering amid the solitudes of "the forest primeval" on Goat Island, may feel that he has a soul, and is not a mere driven beast of burden, and that he has a country which cares for him as one of the great brotherhood of her children. — Boston Advertiser. 120 JIC^OSS NIJlQJll^l I^IVEI^ ThE New Michigan CEntral BridgE, A VERITABLE marvel of engineering, the canti-lever bridge uniting Canada and the United States, over the rushing torrent of the Niagara, at an altitude of two hundred and thirty-nine ft., is one among the attractive monuments evidencing the spirit of our progressive age, and the advance made in recent years in the art of bridge-building. In less than eight months, from the time of beginning operations, this elegant structure has been reared — perfect in every detail, substantial, safe and firm as the Rock of Ages! The location of the bridge, a short distance below the Falls of Niagara, pre- cluding the possibility of any supports in the center of the stream, which at this point is 500 feet from shore to shore at the water's edge ; and the construction of a suspension bridge being unadvisable on account of the very great expense and interminable time involved, and also the inevitable wave-motion of that class of structures when loads are moved over them, necessitated a peculiar manner of con- struction, and a style different from that of any bridge already constructed. The design is what is known as the canti-lever bridge, the principle of which is that of a trussed beam, supported at or near its centre, with the arms extending each way, and one end anchored or counterweighed to provide for unequal loading. It is in practice an entirely new design, no other bridge as yet having been completed upon this principle. Each end is made up of a section, entirely of steel, extending from the shore nearly half way over the chasm. Each section is supported near its center by a strong steel tower, from which extend two lever arms, one reaching the rocky bluffs, the other extending over the river 175 feet beyond the towers. The outer arm having no support, and being subject like the other to the weight of trains, a counter-advantage is given by the shore arm being firmly anchored to the rocks on the shore. The towers on either side rise from the water's edge ; between them a clear span of 495 feet over the river, the longest double-track truss span in the world. The ends of the canti-levers reaching on each side 395 feet from the abutments, leave a gap of 120 feet filled by an ordinary truss bridge hung from the ends of the canti- levers. Here provision is made for expansion and contraction by an ingenious arrange- ment between the ends of the truss bridge and of the canti-levers allowing the ends to move freely as the temperature changes, but at the same time preserving perfect 122 rigidity against side pressure from the wind. There are no guys for this purpose, as in a suspension bridge, but the structure is complete within itself. The total length of the bridge is 910 feet. It has a double track and is built strong enough to carry upon each track at the same time a freight train of the heaviest kind extending the entire length of the bridge, headed by two "consolidation" engines, and under a side pressure of thirty pounds per square foot, which pressure is produced by a wind having a velocity of seventy-five miles per hour, and even then will be strained to only one-fifth of its ultimate strength. The foundations rest on the solid rock; four blocks of most substantial masonry are carried up fifty feet above the surface of the water and from these the steel towers supporting the canti-levers rise 130 feet. The load of 1,600 tons that come upon each pair of steel columns is so distributed that the pressure upon the founda- tion rocks is only 25 pounds per square inch. From the tower foundations up, the whole bridge is steel, every inch of which was subjected to the most rigid tests from the time it left the ore to the time it entered the structure. The structure has very much the appearance of an ordinary truss bridge, but, in view of the conditions and surroundings, very different in the manner of its erection. The towers on the water's edge and the shore arms of the canti-levers have, of course, been erected with the help of temporary scaffoldings and a resting point on tcrra-firma and the superstructure is easily put in place from the shore to the steel towers. But after this comes the difficult portion of the work, i. e., to span the 495 feet across and 239 feet above a roaring river whose force no earthly power can stay. No temporary structure could survive a moment, and here the skill of the engineer came in to baffle nature and laugh at her powers. The design of the canti- lever is such that after the shore arm is completed and anchored, the river arm is built out, one panel or section at a time by means of great traveling derricks, and self-sustaining as it progresses. After one panel of twenty-five feet is built and has its bracing adjusted, the traveling derrick is moved forward and another panel erected. Thus the work progresses, section by section, until the ends of the canti- lever are reached, when a truss bridge is swung across the gap of 120 feet, resting on the ends of the canti-lever arms, thus forming the connecting link. This great work will remain for ages a fitting tribute to the earnestness, enterprise and energy of the Michigan Central management, and its successful completion in so short a time reflects great credit upon the advancement of American engineering and the ability and skill of the contractors the Central Bridge Works, of Buffalo, N. Y. 1? ■■»". 123 PI^OGI^KSS OF THE WO^K. WORK on foundations began April 15th, and the introduction of the " beton coignet" began June 6th and was completed June 20 on the American side, and seven days later on the Canada side. The first stone for the piers on the American side was laid June 26, and on the Canada side July 13. The American piers were capped August 20, and the Canadian September 3. On August 29 the first column of steel for the tower was lowered on the American side, and on the Canada side September 10. The last section of the American tower had been laid two days pre- vious, and on the Canadian tower it was put down September 18. On the 24th the first iron for the cantilever was run out and both cantilevers were completed on the 17th of November. Temporary scaffoldings of timber were built from the bluff on either side out to the edge of the water on a level with the top of the tower. Upon these the shore-arms of the canti levers were erected, one end resting on the steel towers and the other upon masonry on the bluff. The shore end was firmly anchored to this masonry, so that it will take an uplifting force of 1000 tons at each end to dis- place it. This constitutes the counter-weight to balance the unequal loading on the river arm. As this, under the most unfavorable conditions, can never exceed 340 tons, the provision is ample. There will not be any of that wave motion noticed on a suspension bridge as a train moves over it. Remembering that it took over three years to build the present suspension bridge for a single track, that this bridge for a double track, not only had to be finished within seven and a half months from the execution of the contract, but has been actually completed with eight days to spare, it reflects great credit upon the advancement of American engineering skill, as exemplified by the ability, capacity and skill of all who have been associated with the project in positions of responsibility. 400,000 feet of timber and fifteen tons of bolts were consumed in the false work. The piers contain 1,100 cubic yards of "beton coignet," and the abutments of the approaches 1 ,000 cubic yards of masonry. The traveling derricks are the largest yet built. They are calculated to sustain a weight of thirty-two tons on the overhanging arm, and project forty feet beyond any support. It is the only bridge of any magnitude completed upon this principle. The Firth of Forth bridge in Scotland, with a clear span of 1,600 feet, is to be built upon this plan, and also in this country the Fraser River bridge, 315 feet clear span, on the Canadian Pacific. These are the only examples of this design yet undertaken, but the principle espe- cially recommends itself to long span bridges that must be erected without false work. The total weight of the iron and steel entering into the composition of this massive structure is about 3,000 tons. The excavations were carried down until solid rock was reached, when blocks of "beton coignet" twenty feet wide and 124 NOV. 14TH--AMERICAN SlOE. NOV. t2TH--C*NAOA StOG CANTILEVER BRIDGE AT VARIOUS STAGES OF CONSTRUCTION. 125 forty-five feet long- and ten feet thick were put in. These form one single mass capable of withstanding a pressure almost equal to the best Quincy granite, inter- locking with the boulders in sides and bottom of pit, and so distributes the load of i, 600 tons that comes upon each pair of steel columns as to produce a pressure on the natural formation much less than a fashionable young lady brings upon the heel of her French boot every time she steps. The total weight resting on each of the tower; under a maximum condition of strain is in round numbers 3,200 tons. Each ingot of steel was submitted to a chemical analysis, and samples to a mechanical test. The standard of excellence adopted was more severe and exacting than usual, and all steel that failed to meet the requirements was rejected. The superstructure was designed by engineers Schneider and Hayes. General Field gave his personal attention for over seven months to all of the many questions connected with the building of such an important structure, and the entire field work has been under his directions. His plans have been ably carried out by superintendent of erection, S. V. Ryland, assisted by foreman A. Deyo, W. A. Lee and Thos. J. Sullivan. The shop organization of the Central Bridge Works, Mr. R. U. Wilson, Supt., is also entitled to much credit. The force consists of about 160 men all of whom have seemed to take a personal interest in the great work. Mr. Schnei- der's staff consisted of A. R. True, principal assistant, and J. A. Bell and B. F. Betts, assistant engineers, W. F. Zimmermann, inspector of material at the mills, and J. Jung, shop inspector. On the morning of November 21, 1883, the work of putting in the fixed span began, and when the hour of noon had arrived the sections had been connected, and the bridge practically completed. The weather during this performance was very bad, but a large crowd of spectators, which included ladies, railroad officials and bridge experts, stood patiently in the midst of a heavy rain storm and interestedly watched the operation. In the afternoon of November 21, the Central Bridge Works closed their shops and the entire force, under charge of Suot. Wilson, visited the bridge, their employ- ers furnishing free transportation. The capacity of their works and the ability and strength of their organization, needs no better monument than the cantilever bridge they have just completed, which, for novelty and excellence of design, and unprecedented time within which a work of this magnitude has been brought to successful completion, has not its equal in the history of engineering science. December 20th, 1883, a scientific test, under direction 01 prominent engineers took place in the presence of a vast concourse of spectators from all sections of the United States. The structure was pronounced safe as the safest, substantial, endur- ing and firm, a real triumph of engineering skill, management and enterprise. 126 fi c& 127 OFFENBjTCH ON NIJIGJII^I. From Notes of a Travelling Musician. l^tUCH has been written on the subject of this wonderful waterfall, but no one has yet been able to describe the impression produced by the sight of the great stream at the moment when it leaps headlong, from a height of a hundred and fifty feet, into the fathomless abyss beneath. The view of that vast amphitheatre, of that prodigious volume of water, breaking into foam, with a roar of thunder, like the huge tidal wave that follows an earthquake, made me giddy, and caused me to forget all I had ever read, all I had ever heard, and all that had ever suggested itself to my imagination. This diluvial torrent, framed within the wildest scenery, surrounded by lofty trees of the deepest green, upon which a shower of spray is constantly falling like perpetual dew, defies photography, painting, or description. In order to describe, there must be some point of comparison. To what can Niagara be compared, that unrivalled, everlasting phenomenon, to the magnificence of which we can never become accustomed! While we were absorbed in the contemplation of this wonder — " This is the spot," said our guide, " where an Indian met with his fate a fortnight ago. Carried away by the current, the slight craft that held him was drawing near to the Falls, notwithstanding all his efforts. The Indian, feeling his strength giving way, saw that he was lost. He ceased to struggle, wrapped himself up in his red blanket as in a shroud, and laid himself down in the bottom of his boat. A few seconds after he was on the crest of the gigantic wave, and was shot with the rapidity of lightning into this watery grave, covered with a mist of immaculate white." After hearing the story of this catastrophe, so fearful, yet so grand, I could not help envying the fate of the unfortunate red-skin, and I wondered that all Americans in distress did not prefer the Falls of Niagara to the insipid revolver. After having long enjoyed this wonderful spectacle, I crossed the bridge and set foot on Canadian soil. Here, I had been told, I would see Indians. I expected to find savages, and was surprised to find only dealers in bric-a-brac. They were hideous, I confess; they looked quite ferocious, I admit also: but I doubt whether they were genuine Indians. However that may be, they surrounded me on all sides, offered me bamboos, fans, cigar-holders, and pocket-books of a doubtful taste. They reminded me of the Indians of the forest of Fontainebleau who sell pen- holders and paper-knives. Nevertheless, I made a few purchases; but I verily believe that I brought back into France some curiosities which had been procured at the selling out of some Parisian bazar. 128 SPECULATIONS OF THE SCIENTISTS. RETROCESSION OF THE FJ1EES. SIR CHARLES LYEL1. WE FIRST came in sight of the Falls of Niagara when they were about three miles distant. The sun was shining full upon them — no building in view — nothing but the green wood, the falling water and the white foam. At that moment they appeared to me more beautiful than I had expected, and less grand; but after several days, when I had enjoyed a nearer view of the two cataracts, had listened to their thundering sound, and gazed on them for hours from above and below, and had watched the river foaming over the rapids, then plunging headlong into the dark pool, — and when I had explored the delightful island which divides the falls, where the solitude of the ancient forest is still unbroken, I at last learned by degrees to comprehend the wonders of the scene, and to feel its full magnificence. Early in the morning after our arrival, I saw from the window of our hotel, on the American side, a long train of white vapory clouds hanging over the deep chasm below the falls. They were slightly tinted by the rays of the rising sun, and blown slowly northwards by a gentle breeze from the pool below the cataract, which was itself invisible from this point of view. No fog was rising from the ground, the sky was clear above; and as the day advanced, and the air grew warm, the vapors all disappeared. This scene reminded me of my first view of Mount Etna from Catania, when I saw dense volumes of steam issuing from the summit of the highest crater in a clear blue sky, which, at the height of more than two miles above the sea, assumed at once the usual shape and hues of clouds in the upper atmosphere. These, too, vanished before noon, as soon as the sun's heat increased. Etna presents us not merely with an image of the power of subterranean heat, but a record also of the vast period of time during which that power has been exerted. A majestic mountain has been produced by volcanic action, yet the time of which the volcano forms the register, however vast, is found by the geologist to be of inconsiderable amount, even in the modern annals of the earth's history. In like manner, the Falls of Niagara teach us not merely to appreciate the power of moving water, but furnish us at the same time with data for estimating the enormous lapse of ages during which that force has operated. A deep and long ravine has been excavated, and the river has required ages to accomplish the task, yet the 129 same region affords evidence that the sum of these ages is as nothing, and as the work of yesterday, when compared to the antecedent periods, of which there are monuments in the same district. REDUCED HEIGHT. It has long been the popular belief, from a mere cursory inspection of this district, that the Niagara once flowed in a shallow valley across the whole platform from the present site of the Falls to the Oueenston heights, where it is supposed the cataract was first situated, and that the river has been slowly eating its way back- wards through the rocks for a distance of seven miles. According to this hypothesis, the Falls must have had originally nearly twice their present height, and must have been always diminishing in grandeur from age to age, as they will continue to do in future so long as the retrograde movement is prolonged. It becomes, therefore, a matter of no small curiosity and interest to inquire at what rate the work of excava- tion is now going on, and thus to obtain a measure for calculating how many thousands of years or centuries have been required to hollow out the chasm already excavated. RECENT PROOFS OF EROSION. It is an ascertained fact, that the Falls do not remain absolutely stationary at the same point of space, and that they have shifted their position slightly during the last half century. Every observer will also be convinced that the small portion of the great ravine, which has been eroded within the memory of man, is so precisely identical in character with the whole gorge for seven miles below, that the river supplies an adequate cause for executing the task assigned to it, provided we grant sufficient time for its completion. The waters, after cutting through strata of lime- stone, about fifty feet thick in the rapids, descend perpendicularly at the Falls over another mass of limestone about ninety feet thick, beneath which lie soft shales of equal thickness, continually undermined by the action of the spray driven violently by gusts of wind against the base of the precipice. In consequence of this disinte- gration, portions of the incumbent rock are left unsupported, and tumble down from time to time, so that the cataract is made to recede southwards. Mr. Bakewell * calculated that, in the forty years preceding 1830, the Niagara had been going back at the rate of about a yard annually, but I conceive that one foot per year would be a much more probable conjecture, in which case 35,000 years would have been required for the retreat of the Falls from the escarpment of Oueenston to their present site, if we could assume that the retrograde movement had been uniform throughout. This, however, could not have been the case, as at every step in the process of excavation the height of the precipice, the hardness of the materials at its base, and the quantity of fallen matter to be removed, must have varied. At some points it may have receded much faster than at present, at others much slower, 130 and it would be scarcely possible to decide whether its average progress has been more or less rapid than now. REMNANTS OF AN OLD RIVER-BED. While we have only meagre historical data, we are fortunately not without geo- logical evidence of the former existence of a channel of the Niagara at a much higher level, before the table-land was intersected by the great ravine. Long before my visit to the Niagara, I had been informed of the existence on Goat Island of beds of gravel and sand containing fluviatile shells, and some account had been given of these by Mr. Hall in his first report. I therefore proposed to him that we should examine these carefully, and see if we could trace any remnants of the same along the edges of the river-cliffs below the Falls. We began by collecting in Goat Island shells of the genera Unio, Cyclas, Melania, Valvata, Limnea, Planorbis, and Helix, all of recent species, in the superficial deposit. They form regular beds, and side, where two river-terraces, one twelve and the other twenty-four feet above the Niagara, have been cut in the modern deposits. In these we ob- served the same fossil shells as in Section at Niagara Falls. L. Limestone 80 feet thick, S. Shale SO feet thick. d. Freshwater Strata on Goat Island, above 20 feet thick. rf'. Same formation on the American side, containing bones of Mastodon. e . Ledge of bare limestone on the Canada side. /. Ancient drift numerous individ- uals of the Unio and Cyclas have both their valves united. We then found the same for- mation exactly op- posite to the Falls on the top of the cliff (at d\ fig. I.) on the American Goat Island, and learned that the teeth and other remains of a mastodon, some of which were shown us, had been found thirteen feet below the surface of the soil. We were then taken by our guide to a spot farther north, where similar gravel and sand with fluviatile shells occurred near the edge of the cliff overhanging the ravine, resting on the solid limestone. It was about half a mile below the principal Fall, and extended at some points 300 yards inland, but no farther, for it was then bounded by the bank of more ancient drift (/, fig. 1). This deposit precisely occupies the place which the ancient bed and alluvial plain of the Niagara would naturally have filled, if the river once extended farther northwards, at a level suffi- ciently high to cover the greater part of Goat Island. At that period the ravine could not have existed, and there must have been a barrier, several miles lower down, at or near the whirlpool. The supposed original channel, through which the waters flowed from Lake Erie to Oueenston or Lewiston, was excavated chiefly, but not entirely, in the superficial drift, and the old river-banks cut in this drift are still to be seen facing 131 each other, on both sides of the ravine, for many miles below the Falls. A section of Goat Island from south to north, or parallel to the course of the Niagara (fig. 2), shows that the limestone (B) had been greatly denuded before the fluviatile beds (c) were accumulated, and consequently when the Falls were still several miles below their present site. From this fact I infer that the slope of the river at the rapids was principally due to the original shape of the old channel, and not, as some have conjectured, to modern erosions on the approach of the Falls to the spot. The observations made in 1841 in- escaped destruction. FIGURE 2. Section of Goat Island from North to South, 2,500 feet in length. A. Massive compact portion of the Niagara limestone. B. Upper thin-bedded portion of the Niagara limestone, strata slightly inclined to the south. c. Horizontal freshwater beds of gravel, sand, and loam, with shells. D. E. Present surface of the river Niagara at the Rapids. duced me in the fol- lowing year to re- examine diligently both sides of the river from the Falls to Lewiston and Oueenston, to ascer- tain if any other patches of the an- cient river-bed had Accordingly, following first the edge of the cliffs on the eastern bank, I discovered, with no small delight, at the summer-house (E, fig. 3), above the whirlpool, a bed of stratified sand and gravel, forty feet thick, containing fluviatile shells in abundance. Fortunately, a few yards from the summer-house a pit had been recently dug for the cellar of a new house to the depth of nine feet in the shelly sand, in which I found shells of the genera Unio, Cyclas, Melania, Helix, and Pupa, not only identical in species with those which occur in a fresh state in the bed of the Niagara, r near the ferry, but corresponding also in the proportionate number of individ- uals belonging to each species, that of Cyclas similis, for example, being the most numerous. The same year I found also a remnant of the old river-bed on the opposite or Ca- Section at the Summer-house above Whirlpool, east bank of Niagara. A. Thick-bedded limestone, same as at Falls. b. Ancient drift. r. Boulders at base of steep bank formed by drift. d. Freshwater strata forty feet thick. E. Summer-house. nadian side of the river, about a mile and a half above the whirlpool, or two miles and a half be- low the Falls. These facts appear conclu- sive as to the former extension of a more elevated valley, four miles, at least, below the Falls; and at this point the old river- bed must have been so high as to be capable of holding back the waters which covered all the patches of fluviatile sand and gravel, including that of Goat Island. As the table-land or limestone-platform rises gently to the north, and is highest near Oueenston, there is no reason to suppose that there was a greater fall in the Niagara when it flowed 132 at its higher level, than now between Lake Erie and the Falls; and according to this view, the old channel might well have furnished the required barrier. I have stated that on the left, or Canadian bank of the Niagara, below the Falls, I succeeded in detecting sand with freshwater shells at one point only, near the mouth of the muddy river. The ledge of limestone on this side is usually laid bare, or only covered by vegetable mould (as at