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Lorsque le document est trop grand pour dtre reproduit en un seul clichd, il est filmi A partir de Tangle supirieur gauche, de gauche d droite, et de haut en bas, en prenant le nombre d'images nicessaire. Les diagrammes suivants illustrent la mithode. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 «< •'-..'rjff '/-J*^' -"'- ^^,'o^^^ o xn PI **» atDJClC / .^ Bmi/sck , ^4. a u T* in in •» T» •!?• HTf Vo. 1 Cataract, 2fo. 61 " 2 InternatioiL»l, " l\ A Goat Island Bridge , ' " 4/Niag»7ra House, "' 5 Churches, ACAneMv Vo. 1 Cataract, Ko. 6 " 2 International, " 7 J Goat iHland Bridge," 8 " A^iagaia House, "' i Churches, ^^^'^0\ ?* A Pi of — HE VICINITY or o- 7nyQ4c/ci^ Q^ FOR V GUIDE ^^ BIT . H. FAIRBANK BJE P Jl HB l^O E a I Cataract, JTo. 6 Spencer Houao, i Intematiojaal, " 7 Haiiroad. Seputa, Goat Iflland Bridge," 8 Park Place. LlTiagaia House, " » Churches, NIAGARA — TABLE ROCK. NIAGARA SUSPENSION BRIDGE. :i^^a^. : . 'V;; ^:t '^m^'^^..- '^:-'^ '\:^^-'m;.0'r^'^' >.m: ■ 'mmugj^/j/iiNr/MsmEamBaumsi^^ ACADCMV JBL Il£F£Ri:i Vo . 1 Cataract, No. ti 2 Intexnatiras}. M u A Goat Island Lr jge 1 It 4lJ'iag»ia House, f u' 5 Churches, Jfo. 1 Cataract, Ko. 6 " 2 luteruatioAAl. " 7 J Goat Iflland Bridge," 8 " 4^iagaxa House, "' 5 Churclie RSFJBRBirciSS Cataract. Ko. 6 Spencer HouAe, ! Inter national, " 7 Haiiroad Sepota, Goat Island Bridge," 8 Park Place, r^iagaxa Houae, '• I Chuxclies, J' A' ii ■ini ^!f^fi I^^X*^^'"-- m ^ - ., a. T-''— '^^- i "tiv.-Knw r '^^ '^|« "«•.-., i-^^' ^^j(^*»' > i|to«» ■«l.^: k^ I I IT J ^m'' I 'I :«* •^i ,-»■>»»* *iv -iiVJjk- * 3. - i •pjiAA »Mi JO MAP OF GO A T ISLAND. TUNIS' ILLUSTRATED GUIDE TO NIAGARA. REVISED AND PUBLISHED BY H. T. ALLEN, ■«♦*- BUFFALO: THE COURIER COMPANY, PRINTERS. 1879- f" ; \ . 1 • 1 a 1 i 1 GUIDE TO NIAGARA. » » » NIAGARA RIVER. •<^fe--M-i» IF the river itself much might be written, pre- senting as it does to the historian, the geologist and the pleasure-seeker, an inexhaustible fund *Tt of historical facts and incidents; an open book for geological research, and a series of views which for beauty and grandeur are unexcelled by any on the American Continent. From the source of the river at Buffalo, to Schlosser, a distance of twenty miles, it has a fall of twenty feet, or an average of a foot to the mile. Grand Island, twelve miles long and eight miles wide, lies directly in the center of the river, the distance from Buffalo to the head of the island, and from the falls to the foot of the island, being the same. The waters thus divided flow on, a grand and mighty river on either side, until it becomes again united opposite Gill Creek, from which point it assumes the majesty of an overwhelming torrent, falling from Schlosser to the brink of the preci- pice, a distance of <>o\.\\. three miles, fifty-three feet, in its onward course falling over numerous little declivities, forming as many pleasing little cascades, and anon sweeping forward in fierce and turbulent rapids, as if madly eager to make the awful leap into the seething ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 4 cauldron below. The river, as above by Grand Island, is here again divided by Goat or Iris Island, which division causes the formation of the two great cataracts, the American and Horseshoe Falls; again uniting at the foot of the island, after the awful plunge of one hundred and sixty-four feet, it sends up its bridal wreath of spray as if in token of a grand and harmonious reunion, often- times ascending to the height of a mile, appearing from a distance like the smoke of an immense conflagration, designating to the approaching tourist the location of this vast amphitheatre of struggling cataracts. From the foot of Goat Island to Lewiston, seven miles below, the river has a further fall of ninety-eight feet, from which point it flows grandly and serenely onward until its waters mingle with the unbroken swell of Lake Ontario. The Historical associations that cluster around this wonderful river are innumerable. From the early war whoop of tribal contention through the long French and English wars to the closing of our own war of 1812-15, its borders have been the arena for many sanguinary con- flicts, innumerable deeds of valor and strategy, through the long pioneer struggle for civilized existence, till the broad mantle of peace and Christian enlightenment settled smilingly down upon its borders, never again to be broken by the wild alarm of savage or civilized warfare. The faces of the cliffs below the falls disclose an open page for the study of geology. The different strata underlying one another are well defined, and their variations at different points of the river present an interesting study, especially as this wonderful gorge lies directly in the center of the distinctive geological i Island, I, which ataracts, Jg at the hundred of spray n, often- ing from agration, ation of "rom the 2I0W, the m which until its )ntario. ind this arly war mch and 1812-15, lary con- through , till the It settled e broken :lose an different ed, and present ul gorge jological ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 5 formation known as the "Niagara Limestone bed," the study of which has not been deemed unworthy by such minds as Lyell, Tyndall, Marsh and others. The varied and delightful scenery of Niagara is fully described in the following pages of this Guide, it being the purpose of the writer to follow and describe each point of interest in rotation, as it would most naturally follow its predecessor in a complete tour of all the interesting points. The map accompanying this work will be of great service to the Tourist, as it points out the relative position of the different points of interest. GO A T ISLAND BRIDGE. The old wooden bridge which had stood since 1818 was replaced by this costly and beautiful structure, in the summer of 1856. The foundations consist of massive oak timber cribs, filled with stone and covered with plates of iron. The superstructure is of iron, and consists of four arches of ninety feet span each, supported between the abutments of these piers. The whole length of the bridge is, therefore, three hundred and sixty feet, and ijs whole width is twenty-seven feet. Of this width a double carriageway occupies sixteen and a half feet, and two footways, one on either side of the carriageway, occupy, each, five and a quarter additional feet. f 5 tjs,^ I ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. No point commands so fine a view of the rapids as this bridge. The delicate tints of the water are here, especially, very attractive. The waves are breaking con- stantly into new forms, in each successive change catch- ing the sunlight under new conditions, and throwing it back in some novel transfusion of hues. It was while the old bridge was repairing, in the summer of 1839, that one of the workmen, a Mr. Cha- pin, was accidentally thrown from the frame-work into the river, and carried by the current to the first of the two smallest islands below, since called, from this cir- cumstance, Chapin Island. He was thence rescued by the strong nerve and skillful hand of Mr. Joel R. Robinson, a man associated with many a gallant rescue from these waters. The fall of the river's bed, from the head of the rapids to the verge of the precipice, is 58 feet. This gradual descent, by confusing the lines of vision as you gaze up the river, gives the farthest crest of the rapids a vague and skyish cast, suggestive of the Infinite ; so that, turning from this to where the river disappears in its final leap, you seem to have realized in space the simili- tudes of life " Standing 'twixt two eternities." Crossing the bridge, the first island you reach is Bath Island. Looking up the Rapids, that small sentimental looking island on your left, is called "Lovers' Retreat;" the island just beyond that, Brig Island. That large building on your right is a paper-mill, said to be the largest in the State. Passing from Bath Island over a short bridge, you stand on . / 8 11' V ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. GO A T ISLAND. This, though not the largest, is by far the most beau- tiful island in the Niagara. Long before it was bridged to the American shore, it was visited from time to time by the few to whom its attractions were of more potent consideration than the peril of reaching it. The late Judge Porter, who visited it in 1805, remembered having seen the names of strangers cut into the bark of a beech near Horseshoe Fall, with the subjoined dates of 1771, 1772 and 1779. The island is now owned by the Porter family, to whom it was ceded by the State of New York in 18 18. It de- rived its name from the circumstance of a Mr. Stedman having placed some goats on it to pasture. This was in 1770. The area of the island is sixty-one and a half acres ; its circumference about one mile. Three paths branch off from the road by which you ascend the bank, the middle one dividing the island into two nearly equal parts, the left leading to the head of the island, and the right (the one usually taken) to the Amer- ican Fall. Following this path you are conducted through a colonnade of forest trees, with the Rapids at your right, over a space of eighty rods to the north- western point of the island, called, by vhat process of association no mortal can tell, HOG'S BACK, It was while v*alking directly under this point that the lamented Dr. Hungerford, of West Troy, N. Y., was killed in the spring of 1839, by the crumbling of a por- tion of the rock from above. This is the only accident that has ever occurred at the Falls by the falling of rock. \P, w> ' ;t beau- bridged to time ' potent 'he late having a beech >f 1771, whom It de- tedman was in a half ch you nd into . of the Amer- ducted pids at north- :ess of lat the ^, was a por- :cident ling of AMERICAN FALLS FROM CO A T ISLAND. I 10 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. J ; ■M . j„ Passing by a narrow foot-path down the bank, and crossing the short bridge at your right, you stand upon a lovely spot called LUNA ISLAND. On the northern edge of this island, a few feet above the precipice, is a spot of mournful memory. On June 21, 1849, the family of Mr. Deforest, of Buffalo, together with Mr. Charles Addington, their friend, were viewing the scenery from this point. The party, in fine spirits, were about leaving the island, when Mr. Addington ad- vanced playfully to Miss Annetta, the little daughter of Mrs. Deforest, saying, " I am going to throw you in," at the same time lifting her lightly over the edge of the water. With a sudden impulse of fear the startled child flung herself from his hands, and struck the wild current of the river. With a shriek, the young man sprang to 'ler recovery, but before the stricken group on shore had time to speak or move, they had passed over the preci- pice. The crushed remains of the lately blooming and buoyant child were found in the afternoon of the same day in the Cave of the Winds ; and a few days afterward, the body of the gallant but fated young Addington was likewise recovered and committed with many tears to the village cemetery. This is, perhaps, the most touch- ing casualty that has ever occurred at the Falls. Leaving Luna Island, pause for a moment at the foot of the path before you ascend, while we point you out an appearance which certain imaginative persons have been pleased to call the THE THREE PROFILES. These so-called profiles are formed by the inequality of projection in that portion of the precipice which is ink, and d upon a ibove the June 21, together viewing le spirits, gton ad- ughter of )u in," at ^e of the led child d current sprang to bhcre had he preci- Tiing and the same ifterward, igton was ' tears to St touch- : the foot 3u out an ave been ILLUST TED ^ U I D „. II nequality which is formed by the westerr ide of Luna Island. The rock is adjacent to and almost under the American Fall. THE CENTER FALL. This is that portion of the American Fall -which is cut off by Luna Island. Having now ascended the bank, and rested from your fatigue, pass on a few rods to the Cave of the Winds' dressing rooms and Biddle's Stairs. BIDDLE'S STAIRS. These Stairs take their name from the well-kown Pres- ident of the United States Bank, Nicholas Biddle, Esq., at whose expense they were erected in 1829. They are secured to the solid rock by ponderous iron bolts, and are said to be perfectly safe. The perpendic- ular height of the bank at this place is 185 feet; the staircase itself being eighty feet high, and consisting of ninety steps. From the stairs to the river there is a rude pathway; but it is seldom traversed, except for the pur- pose of angling, an art which, at the right time of the year, ici here practiced with the happiest success. In 1829, shortly after the completion of the stairs, the eccentric Sam Patch, of saltatory memory, made his famous leap from a scaffolding ninety-six feet high, erected in the water at a point between this and the Center Fall From the foot of Biddle's Stairs, two paths lead in opposite directions, one toward the Canada, and the other toward the American Fall. The former has been obstructed by slides from above, and is not, perhaps, altogether safe. Taking the latter, a few minutes' walk brings you to the celebrated Cave of the Winds. If you have provided dresses, you here enter by a secure stairway. 0- »IS^, CA VE OF THE WINDS. L ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 13 The formation of this cave was of easy process. The gradual wearing away by the water of the shaly substra- tum of the precipice has left the Hmestone rock above projecting at least thirty feet beyond the base, thus form- ing an open cave, over which falls in deep folds of azure the magnificent curtain of the Center Fall. The com- pression of the atmosphere by the falling water is here so great that the cave is rendered as stormy and turbu- lent as that of old ^olus himself, from whose classical majesty, indeed, it derived its first name — BOLUS'S CAVE. Gazing now below you at that delicate textured rain- bow trembling in the angry surge, you will hardly fail to remember Byron's vivid description of the bow at the cascade of Vtlino : " From side to side, beneath the glittering morn, An Iris sits, amidst the infernal surge. Like hope upon a death-bed, and, unworn Its steely dyes, while all around is torn By the distracted waters, bears serene Its brilliant hues with cjI their beams unshorn ; Resembling, 'mid the torture of the scene. Love watching madness with unalterable mien," Ascending Biddle's Stairs, your course conducts you to the right, along the verge of the precipice. Observe how the bank is gradually wearing away, by slides of land and crumbling of rocks from its side. It was near these stairs that the crash occurred in 1843. The detached rock now lies at the foot of the staircase. By the time you have reached the other side of the island you will be prepared to duly appreciate the 14 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. \M\ ? fin IJ 1 ' estimate of its width, with which Dr. Goldsmith edified the ingenuous youth of his time. The width of the island from fall to fall is seventy-five rods. You have by this time reached the southwestern corner of the island. Be seated in the arbor near by, if you please, and we will pay you the highest possible compliment to yourself, while gracefully acknowledging our own im- pressions of the scene, by — silence. There are many descriptions of the Falls; but they are all too lucklessly true to the form of their subject — oceans of sublimity falling into perilous depths of pathos. It may, however, be remarked in passing that, take whatever point of view we may, we find Nature here expressing herself in bold and beautiful antitheses; the Titanic strength and majesty of the cataract, and the soft grovy tendrils that bathe their verdure in its spray — the wild, distracted, maniac surge, and delicate rainbow shivering in its embrace — the whirlwind roar of falling floods, and the braided lullaby of lapsing streams. Niagara is all antitheses, all "contrasted charms!" This is commonly called the Horseshoe Fall, a name derived from the shape that the curve formerly assumed. The gradual wearing away from beneath, and falling down from above of the rocks, has changed the figure from that of a horseshoe to something now more nearly resembling that of a right angle. The width of this fall is about one hundred and forty- four rods ; its height, one hundred and fifty-eight feet. The dej)th of the water in the center, or deepest part of the stream, is estimated at twenty feet, and this was proven by the fact of the ship Detroit, which drew eighteen feet, passing over without touching. II th edified th of the You have tr of the Du please, )liment to own im- are many lucklessly sublimity , however, point of ig herself strength •y tendrils distracted, ig in its >, and the ra is all :ommonly from the e gradual )wn from m that of esembling md forty- ight feet. St part of this was ich drew g til b: >i t>5 i6 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. TERRAPIN BRIDGE. This Bridge is subject to the action of the spray; a little care should therefore be taken in crossing it. In the winter of 1852, a gentleman from West Troy, N. Y., while crossing to the tower, fell into the current, and was carried to the verge of the fall, where he lodged between two rocks. He was discovered by two of the citizens, who rescued him by throwing out lines which he fastened around his body. He remained speechless for several hours after being taken to his hotel. From this point you get the best view of the shape of the fall, and the clearest idea of how it has been modified by the action of the water. This action has been especially violent during the last few years. On Sunday, February i, 1852, a portion of the precipice, stretching from the edge of the island toward the tower, about one hundred and twenty-five feet long and sixty feet wide, and reaching from near the foot to the bottom of the fall, fell with a crash of thunder. The next day another, a triangular piece, with a base of about forty feet, broke off just below the tower. Between the two portions that had thus fallen off, stood a rectangular projection about thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide, extending from the top to the bottom of the precipice. This immense mass became loosened from the main body of the rock and settled perpendicularly about eight feet, where it now stands, an enormous column one hundred and fifty feet high by the dimensions named above. The line of division between the government of the United States and that of Canada is in the deepest part of the ch-inr**! f^^ ^hroU"^h the .Tnn-nl.ir nnrf n^ tho fnll )ray ; a it. In , N. Y., ind was )et\veen ;itizens, astened several ; shape s been ion has rs. On ecipice, 2 tower, .d sixty bottom 2xt day Jt forty the two angular ;t wide, ecipice. e main ' about column ensions of the est part lif- f.ill to bo i ■( f i8 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. Leaving the Horseshoe fall and wending our way along the bank of the river to the east, the next point of interest is the Three Sister Islands, connected by three beautiful bridges. These costly and substantial structures, built over the three channels which separate the Three Sisters from each other and Irom Goat Island, present new and grand views of the rapids and falls, unequalled from any oth ^r point. These three bridges combine both strength and beauty. They are alike, being slightly oval, that is higher in the middle than at either end, thus adding to their strength. The ends are fastened into the solid rock. Two rods, two inches in diameter, pass under each bridge and are also fastened in the rocks at either end. The peculiar construction of the railing adds much to their strength and beauty. Pass over each bridge slowly, and care- fully view the rapids and cascades — views never before made apparent to the eye. Here Joel R. Robinson, in 1841, saved a Mr. Allen's life, and in 1854 he passed with his son over the rapids. From the head of the third Sister may be seen one continuous cascade for all, extending as far as the eye can reach, from Goat Island across to the Canada shore, varying from ten to twenty feet in height From this miniature Niagara rises a spray similar to that of the great Falls. The rapids here are very fine, surpassing in volume the rapids under Goat Island bridge, and much more beautiful in appearance. The pleasure of passing over these wild and romantic spots fully repays the visitor for ihe trip, to say nothing of the many other beautiful resorts that abound at Niagara, both winter and summer. A few rods further on, and you have reached the ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 19 HEAD OF GOA T ISLAND, This point commands a comprehensive view in outline of the river and its environs for some miles of its course. Looking up the right bank, you behold, at a distance of about a mile, a small, white farm house, with a chim- ney of most disproportionate size. This is a site of old Fort Schlosser, a name celebrated in border story. That towering chimney was taken entire from the mess-house attached to the establishment. This fort was built at an early date by the French, and called by them Little Fort, At the end of the Anglo-French war in America it was ceded to the English, and was first occupied as a military post by Captain Schlosser, from whom it derived its second name. One mile above Schlosser is Schlosser Landing. In a diagonal direction from this point, and near the Canada shore, is NAVY ISLAND. This island has an area of 304 acres, and belongs to the realm of Her Britannic Majesty. It is closely asso- ciated with Schlosser by an affair which, as it has not yet found its way into the pages of Bancroft or Hildreth, we will briefly relate: In 1837, a rebellion was stirred up against the authorities of Canada, by some disaffected "Radicals," under the leadership of VVm. 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 — /. 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 this island, desiijnins: to make it a rendezvous foi- the restless 20 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. '■« * •mi ill 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 demoral- ized 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 epassing 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 running his vessel as a ferry boat between the American shore and the islands, for his own pecuniary emolument." Accordingly, Friday, Deceuber 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 destruc- tion that very night. For this purpose a chosen band is detailed and placed under the command of Cap- tai" Drew, a retired-on-half-pay officer of the royal navy. I ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 21 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. 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 reply to his question, " Who goes there ? " came, first '''"Friends!" then a heavy plashing in the water; then, the leaping of armed 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 Caroline moves ^rom the shore in flam*^s ! 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 aff'air takes it for granted that the boat went over the Canada Fall aflame. You will read of the fated vessel lifting her fairy form to the verge of the precipice, lighting up the dark amphitheatre '^""' '■" 22 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. I 111 of cataracts, etc., to the end of endurance. 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. GRAND ISLAND Lies not far above Navy Island, is twelve miles in length, and from two to seven in breadth. The land is highly fertile, and much of it is in actual state of cultivation. It was on this island that the late Major Mordecai M. Noah, of New York, designed to build the "City of Ararat," as a place of refuge for the scattered tribes of Israel. In 1825, he even went so far as to lay the corner stone, amid infinite pomp, and to erect a monument com- memorative of the occasion. The monument is still standing, in excellent state of preservation. At the foot of this island lies Buckhorn Island, with an area of about 300 acres. Between these two islands is an arm of the river, deep and clear, called BURNT SHIP BA Y, From a circumstance connected with the close of the French war of 1759. The garrison at Schlosser had already made a gallant resistance to one attack of the English and were preparing for another, when, disheart- ened 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. 1i The case ed to the )ank while gentleman ation,,her instantly e head of in length, is highly ultivation. rdecai M. "City of d tribes of the corner ment com- mt is still id, with an lands is an )se of the losser had ick of the 1, disheart- esolved to ir military is bay and s day, are ba !^ ■s >3 to t*1 t»5 t5 24 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. PROSPECT PARK. t i "11 Following the couise of the river from Goat Island Bridge toward the precipice, a short walk brings you to the en- trance of Prospect Park. These grounds, compris- ing what are familiarly- known as the "Ferry Grove" and "Point View," were purchased by the Prospect Park Company in 1872. A carriage road leading from the entrance runs along the edge of the rapids to the brink of the Falls. A solid wall of masonry guards this spot, and from the angle can be obtained a magnificent view of the American Falls and the frowning rocks below, and continues along the bank of the river to the new Suspension Bridge, enabling persons to get a view of the American Falls, Goat Island, Horseshoe Falls, Table Rock, Clifton House, the Ferry and the new Suspension Bridge, without stepping from their carriage. Cool, shady walks run in all directions, and rustic seats at intervals invite the visitor to linger here and gaze at the magnificent scenery spread out before him. The Park Company have also erected a beautiful pavilion where visitors can " trip the light fantastic toe " within sound of the roar of the great Cataract. An elegant restaurant is also in the grounds, where they can regale the inner man when tired of sight- ^ the couise from Goat : toward the short walk to the en- ispect Park, is, compris- familiarly le "Ferry d "Point purchased pect Park 1872. A s along the A solid wall igle can be I Falls and g the bank e, enabling Falls, Goat :on Hou'ie, ^e, without walks run s invite the ;nt scenery r have also n " trip the )f the great le grounds, id of sieht- AMERICAN FALLS FROM BELOW. 26 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 1 n i seeing. From the Ferry House, near the center of the grounds, you can descend through a cut in the bank to the water's edge, a distance of 360 feet. The spiral stairs, constructed here in 1825, having become shaky with age, the present* novel but commodious contrivance was inaugurated in 1845. The flight of steps leading along the railway consists of 290 steps. The car is drawn up the inclined plane by water-power — an over- shot wheel being turned by a stream diverted from the river for that purpose. Around a wheel eight feet in diameter, which turns in a horizontal position at the head of the railway, runs a cable two and a half inches in diameter and 300 feet in length, attached to a car at either end, and supported by pulleys placed at convenient intervals down the grade. At the foot of the stairs, turn- ing to the left, the company have erected a commodious and substantial building, from whence may be obtained, from the base of the descending torrent, one of tl^e most magnificent views of the Falls. A view which the visitor should in no case fail to see. Here, alsr during the afternoon when the skies are bright and the direction of the wind is down the river, the spectator may behold a marvelous picture by "Nature's own tunning hand," in colors of red, orange and. violet, reflected and refracted by the spray beads of the ascending clouds. A passage has been made by which visitors may pass under and behind the American Fall as far as their inclination will prompt. CROSSING THE RIVER. The advisable course, we think, is to cross the river at the Ferry in going, and at the Suspension Bridge in returning. The best time for crossing at the Ferry, in nter of the he bank to The spiral ome shaky- contrivance ps leading "he car is ■ — an over- i from the ?ht feet in ion at the lalf inches to a car at convenient >tairs, turn- )mmodious e obtained, •f tli^ most the visitor during the lirection of y behold a J hand," in 1 refracted A passage under and nation will lie river at Bridge in Ferry, in JilPJiiilik ^***^!;#/i (///, ■/ FRONT OF CA VE OF THE WINDS. 1i u F'-*? i ■ i 28 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. summer, is either in the morning, or two or three hours before sunset. If the light is favorable — and in summer, at these hours, it almost always is — this crossing will probably afford you your most vivid and lasting impres- sion of the Falls. Nowhere do you have so fine a view of the Falls as from below. For from the base of the stupendous cataract, looking up to its towering crest, one gets a better idea of its grandeur and sublimity, the eye better appreciates the distance (one hundred and seventy- five feet) from below than when looking into its depths, and the feeling of disappointment which some experience when they first behold the Falls, vanishes as they gaze upon them from this spot. You may here test in your own experience the worth of Burke's aesthetic principle with regard to height and depth. " I am apt to imagine [Burke on the Sublime and Beautiful, §8] that height is less grand than depth, and that we are more struck at looking down from a preci- pice, than looking up at an object of equal height; but of that I am not very sure." This was a necessary result of connecting the feeling of the sublime with that of self- preservation. We doubtless feel more of terror (are more "struck") in looking down a depth than up a height; but terror, so far as being a principle, or even a condition of sublimity, cannot for a moment co-exist with its nobler forms. The voyageur who crosses here may be led to ask the depth of the river. From the latest U. S. survey we are enabled to give the actual figures. The actual depth near the center, between the Ferry stairs and the landing place on the Canadian side, was found to be 192 feet. If we take into account the vast mass of rock and shale that ages ago was hurled into the river's bed when the ree hours I summer, ssing will I impres- a view of e of the crest, one Y, the eye - seventy- :s depths, xperience they gaze he worth iight and )lime and epth, and a preci- it ; but of ■ result of t of self- are more ight; but idition of ts nobler ) ask the ;y we are al depth t landing 192 feet, nd shale when the 3>o ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. Falls were at this point, it is not unreasonable to suppose that then its depth was far greater — at least fifty feet. To show the extreme depth of the mighty trench Niagara has made from the crest of the Falls to the original bed of the river, must be some 420 feet. The mighty engine that still slowly performs this gigantic task, is Niagara's flood descending with resistless force, a distance of 420 feet, with the weight of 2,000,000 tons per minute. Carriages await you at the landing on the Canada side. The distance up the bank from the water's edge to the Clifton House is 160 rods. Proceeding from the Clifton House along the bank toward the Canadian Fall, the first object to arrest your stei)s is i I ,1 • T//E Af[/S£' . This collection of natural an^L ^irtificial curiosities is well worth seeing. The galleries are arranged to repre- sent a forest scene, filled with beasts, birds and creeping things. There are, besides, several chained-up ferocities in the yard, and a tastefully arranged green-house in the garden. The admission fee is twenty-five cents. A few rods below the Museum, Miss Martha K. Rugg fell from the bank while attempting to pick a flower that grew on its edge. She was living when reached, but expired soon afterward. The accident occurred August 24, 1844. TABLE POCR Is about twenty rods above the Museum, at the angle formed by the Horseshoe Fall with the Canadian bank. The bank here sends out, far beyond the line of its general perpendicular, a regular table-like ledge of rock, in the same plane with the crest of the cataract. t-,., o suppose ^feet. To iagara has bed of the igine that ira's flood 420 feet, lada side, dge to the le Clifton 1, the first losities is to repre- l creeping ferocities use in the K. Rugg jwer that :hed, but d August he angle xn bank. le of its of rock, 32 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. N ^^ J ' ' :i !; * it' . 1 ; ■ ii- ' .i_i_j__ V sfl roadway 00 feel in he mighty rds Lake the Falls e between :e of two rainage of ;o feet in from the )rmer site le Canada al skill, it :cites the le envy of 1 extends n«: on the osc nbout itendence ern Rail- s\'w York ■>! hi >3 t*l i ..^ ■1 'if 36 I L L U S T R A T E D G U I D E. The following are the dimensions : Length of span from center to center of towers 822 feet. Height of towtr above rock on the American side 88 " " " " " " " Canada side 78 " *' "■ " " floor of railway 60 "• " " track above water 258 " Number of wiie cables 4 Diameter of each cable 10^ in. Number of No. 9 wires in each calile Si^sg Ultimate aggregate strength of cables 12,400 tons. Weight of superstructure 800 " " " '' and maximum loads 1,250 " Maximum weight the cable and stays will support 7(309 " Note. — The wires were first got across by means of a kite, WHIRLFOOL RAPIDS. This wonderful spot is about two miles distant from the Falls, down the rushing, green river, which, flowing at a profound depth between high banks, looks so quiet yet sullen, after leaving the howling abyss at the foot of the Falls. But at Whirlpool Rapids ! what a change ! The whole force of the water concentrates itself here, and seems as though it would tear asunder the steep, wooded banks that inclose it, so wild and startling is its terrific power; as far as the eye can reach the water thunders down in seething, heaving masses of foam, throwing up streams of water covered with spray, and in places whirl- ing it up into angry billows twenty or thirty feet above the heads of the spectators standing on the shore. It is deafening in its roar, and here, even more than at the brink of the Falls, can we ^lave a realization of the terrific force of Niagara. At this point ah elevator has been built, worked by a water-wheel some 300 feet below the top of the bank, enabling the visitor to reach the water's edge without fatigue. 822 feet. 88 " 78 " 60 "• 258 '' 4 10^ in. 31659 12,400 tons. 800 '' 1,250 " 7,309 " It from the )wing at a quiet yet foot of the ige ! The here, and p, wooded its terrific thunders owing up ces whirl- above the e. It is m at the 11 of the ked by a he bank, without 38 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 1 .|Mi! Through a channel but about 300 feet in width, and walled-in by giant banks, from the summit of which it makes one giddy to look down, rush the gathered waters of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron, St. Clair and Erie ! Those who have descended co the river's edge, gazed upon the wild tumultuous surge, and listened to its roar, can form some idea of this mighty mass of struggling waters. No description can do it justice. Exaggeration itself is baffled. The depth of the water at the Rapids is estimated to be not less than two hundred and fifty feet ! The natural inquiry on reading the above would be : " How did you happen to find that out.?" The answer is: We know about the amount of water (very nearly) passing over the Falls, the rapidity with which it runs, and the width of the river at this point — hence the calculation is easily made, nor may the conclusion reached be characterized as a far-fetched or very erroneous one. In fact the river inust be very deep, as the visitor will readil/comprehend, to admit the passage of this immense volume of water. At this point, on the sixth day of June, 1861, occurred one of the most daring feats ever attempted by a human being. The little steamer Maid of the Mist left her moorings, about a quarter of a mile above the Suspension Bridge, June 6, 186 1, and swung l)oldly out into the river, to try one of the most perilous voyages ever made. She shot forward like an arrow of light, bowed gracefully to the multitude on the bridge, and witii the velocity of lightning passed on to meet her doom. Many beheld this hazardous, daring adventure, expecting at every instant she would be dashed to pieces and disappear n width, and ; of which it hered waters ir and Erie ! edge, gazed i to its roar, •f struggling Exaggeration is estimated ■ feet ! ^Fhe be : " How answer is : ^ery nearly) lich it runs, —hence the conclusion d or very visitor will |iis immense I, occurred 3y a human ?>/■ left her Suspension o the river, "lade. She racefully to velocity of my beheld at every disappear " \ 5 ' 40 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. Li 3 i' ' i forever. Amazement thrilled every heart, and it appeared as if no power short of Omnipotence could save her. " There ! there ! " was the suppressed exclamation that escaped the lips of all. " She careens over ! She is lost! She is 'lost!'' But, guided by an eye that dimmed not, and a hand that never trembled, she was piloted through those maddened waters by the intrepid Robinson in per- fect safety, and is now performing less hazardous voyages on the St. Lawrence. She is the only craft, so far as we know, that ever made this fearful trip and lived. Though our intrepid hero had performed many hazardous exploits in saving the lives of persons who had fallen into the river, yet this last act, in taking the Maid of the Mist through the Whirlpool, is the climax of all his adventures. The boat lost her smoke- stack, but otherwise received no injury, being very strongly built. Three men were on board. Pilot, Engineer and Fire- man, all safe. A short distance further down stream we find the Whirlpool, which is a vast basin or amphitheatre, with an ill-proportioned opening at right angles with the river above ; this opening is to the right as you have your back to the Falls, and is comparatively narrow. The pool is shut in on all sides, save the opening mentioned, by rocky cliffs 350 feet high, whose sides facing the river are quite smooth and perpendicular. The basin containing the pool is nearly circular, and together with the waters form a very picturesque scene. But as to the pool itself it must be acknowledged that many are disappointed with its appearance. It is not in the shape of a vast caldron or pool formed by an outlet in the bottom of a vessel, whereby the center is greatly depressed, etc., but, on the ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 4r contrary, the pool in question is actually ten feet higher in the center than at the sides; it is formed by the pent-up, agitated waters, in their bewildered course Lo find an outlet, terrifically "swinging round the circle." I can illustrate in nowise more plainly than to compare the river to some ferocious animal who, having never known defeat, has suddenly, by his own carelessness, fallen into a trap. His first impulse is to walk round the outer edge of the pit, that he may find a means of escape. This passage when found appears to be wholly inadequate, and yet it has answered for thousands of years. 'Facilities for seeing the Whirlpool .'.re afforded by an inclined railway on the Canadian sio.,, and by a most romantic stairway on the Amerirnn. Les; tl.an half a mile further down the river, on the American side, is the Devil's Hole, a terrible gloomy and savage chasm in the bank of the river, between one and two hundred feet deep Overhanging this dark cavern is a perpendicular precipice, from the top of which falls a small stream, usually dry in summer, named the " Bloody Run." LEW IS TON. On the twenty-fourth of May, 1798, Surveyor-General De Witt wrote to Mr. Ellicott, of the Holland Land Company, " to examine where a town could most con- veniently be placed on the Niagara River, where the Indian title had been extinguished," and to *' furnish a map and survey thereof." Mr. Ellicott recommended Lewiston as the place ; and surely a prettier, or at the time more eligible site, could not have been selected. It is seven miles below the Falls,, nestling at the foot of the mountain amid a wealth of " living greenness " — the verv I 42 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. ideal of rural loveliness. As the head of navigation on the lower Niagara, it is a place of considerable impor- tance, but has been much injured by the construction of the Erie and Welland canals. It contains, besides a pro- portionate number of stores and hotels, churches of all the various denominations, and an academy of consider- able size. In 1812, it was the head-quarters of Gen. Van Rensselaer, of the New York militia. Here may be seen the remains of the third Suspension Bridge erected at this place and destroyed. QUEENS TON Is a small village opposite Lewiston, containing about 200 inhabitant?, three churches — Episcopal, Presbyterian and Baptist — a telegraph office and a tannery. The name of this place is associated in history with the gallant defense by the British of the adjacent heights, in the war of 1812. The village is prettily situated, but its importance has been lessened by the same causes which have retarded the growth of Lewiston. BROCA"S MON UMEN T, On Queenstor. Heights, just above the village of this name, near the spot where the gallant soldier fell, stands a monument to Gen. Brock, beneath which his ashes and those of his aid-de-camp, McDonald, repose. The first monument was completed in 1826, and consisted of a plain shaft of freestone, about 126 feet high, and surmounted by an observatory, reached by a spiral stairs on the inside. This was blown up by some miscreant, on the night of the 17th of April, 1840. The present structure — inaug- urated Aug. T3th, 1853, amid the enthusiasm of over ■ 1: ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 43 10,000 people present — is far niore magnificent than the former. Its whole height is 185 feet. The sub-base is forty feet square and thirty feet high. On this are placed four lions, facing respectively north, south, east and west. Next is the base of the pedestal, twenty-one feet six inches square, and ten feet high. Then comes the pedes- tal, sixteen feet square and ten feet high, bearing a heavy cornice, ornamented with lion-heads alternately with wreaths in alto-relievo. From the top of the pedestal to the top of the base of the shaft, the form changes from square to round. The shaf' is a fluted column of freestone, seventy-five feet in height, and ten feet in di- ameter, surrounded by a Corinthian capital, ten feet high, on which is worked in relief a statue of the Goddess of War. Then comes a round dome, nine feet high, which is reached by 250 spiral steps from the base on the in- side. The whole is surmounted by a massive statue of General Isaac Brock. FORT NIAGARA Is built at the mouth of the Niagara River on the Amer- ican side. Within the last few years, important repairs have been made around the fort, and the entire wall has been constructed anew. " During the progress of these rejviirs, many relics of former days were found. The entrances to the several underground passages were dis- covered ; but owing to tlieir ruinous state, they were not entered ; could this have been done, no doubt many in- teresting discoveries would have been made." This spot is interesting as historic ground, when associated with tlie memory of the heroic Lr. Salle, and the gentle and courtly De Nonville, and all the gallant "rhiefs and 44 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. ladies fair " that have graced its frowning walls. The village adjacent to the fort is called Youngstown, from the name of its founder, the late John Young, Esq. Here was fought the battle of the 24th of July, 1759, in which Prideaux, the English general, fell, and after which the French garrison surrendered to Sir William Johnson, who succeeded to the command of the English. ill NIAGARA, Opposite Youngstown, is one of the oldest towns in Up- per Canada, and was at one time the capital of the prov- ince. It is on the site of the old town of Newark, burnt by Gen. M'Clure, December loth, 1813. It is a pleasant town, facing Lake Ontario on one side, and the river on the other. In former days, its importance was much more considerable than at present. Since 'the comple- tion of the Welland Canal, St. Catharines, being more centrally situated, has absorbed its trade, and detracted very much from its prosperity. A short distance above the village are seen the ruins of old Fort George, taken by the Americans, under Dear- born, May 29th, 1813, destroyed by M'Clure, December loth, and has never been rebuilt. A little below the town is Fort Mississaga, where a detachment of British soldiers is stationed. \ t trails. The town, from 3ung, Esq. Yy 1759, ill ifter which 1 Johnson, I. ns in Up- the prov- ark, burnt 1 pleasant J river on 'as much '■ comple- ng more detracted the ruins er Dear- ►ecember elow the f British f '!' f^ ;i:t 1 /r/.\'77;A' .vcv-.A'A' .;/• niacara fai.i. ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 45 NIAG/RA IN WINTER. » ♦ » vT^OMPARATIVELY few persons know anything of ^ ■ *, ♦ « ) the indescribable grandeur of Niagara in winter. " No one truly appreciates Niagara who has not seen it in winter. Deeply as the manifoM grand- eur and beauty of its sumu^er aspect impress the be- holder, and solemn and delicious as are the emotions it inspires when arrayed in the rich drapery of autumn, it is still more impressive when clad in the superb and daz- zling livery of winter. "There is at this time a universal bleakness which repels the vision from discursive move- ments, and concen- trates it, with over- whelm-' ig effect, upon the brilliant spectacle of the cataract itself, and certainly that spectack is among the most striking and splendid of earthly scenes. " Its wonderful enchantment is chiefly f'.'ie to the grad- u.i freezing of t' ■ -.pray, blown thinly o ^- the islands and adjacent shoics, until the simplest objects assume the most grotesque or pi' nificant forpv: :,hapcd in trr, ■?- ])Drent ice Very marvelous is the ch t'lge to one who stood by that majestic tide in the bright hours of Aug-ist 46 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. K i r or October. The islands that were then carpeted wif.i verdure, nvd beaming with the soft tints of summer, ?.re now laid in ice as p. ire and solid as the most stainless Parian; v:i "^i thi^ trees and shrubs, that so lately blazed with the splc;do:i> of ..LUunin, are robed in the same spotless vesture, and borne down to the very ground by its massy weight. Even the giant rocks, that shoot up so boldly from the far dep'lis of the precipice, are hooded SLTid wr -pped with vast breadths of ice, as if to rebuke thi ir lantastic ?! ^pertinence. All things are encased and en', eloped w"th gleaming ice. Ice islands are covered with forests of ice that bend down to the ice with the iciest of fruits. Everywhere, but in the immediate chan- nel of the swollen and surging river, the ice-giant reigns sovereign of the ascendant. " One of the most singular effects of this frosty domin- ion is displayed upon Luna Island (of beautiful memory), where the trees are bowed down to the earth with their snowy vestments, like so many white nuns doing saintly homage to the genius of the place. But the most magnifi- cent and bewitching effect is produced by the morning sun when it pours over these fairy-like islands and forests a flood of kindli'-'g rays. At such a moment Lhe charac- teristic attributjs jf Niagara seem fused and heightened into 'something more exquisite still.' Its intrinsic sub- limity and beauty experience a liberal transfiguration. Nature is visibly idealized. Nothing more brilliant or enchanting can be conceived. The Irif'^bJx'st iales of magic *p^^'e their ineffectual fires.' T jiids, whose Howers are thi» * diamonds, and forest , whose branches are glineri; .vith brilliants, and amethysts, and pearls, seem no • '• a luxurious figr ent of genius, but a living an J i iming reality One feels in the midst of such ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 47 rpeted wita immer, p.re >st stainless tely blazed the same ground by hoot up so re hooded to rebuke leased and e covered e with the iate chan- lant reigns ty domin- memory), with their ng saintly t magnifi- J morning id forests e charac- sightened nsic sub- gu rat ion. iiiiant or uiles of e lowers ches are ris, seem a living of such blazing coruscations and such glorious bursts of radi- ance, as if the magician's ring had been slipped upon his finger unawares, and, rubbed unwittingly, had summoned the gorgeous scene before him. It is as if Mammoth Cave, with its groves of stalactites, and crystal bowers, and Gothic avenue and halls, and star chambers, and flashing grottoes, were suddenly uncappe"^. to the wintry sun, and bathed in his thrilling beams; or as if the fabled palace of Neptune had risen abruptly from the deep, and Avere flinging its splendors in the eye of heaven." It is indeed a scene of peerless grandeur,, and would richly repay a pilgrimage from the extremest limits of the nation. A man of taste and feeling should be willing to "put a girdle round the globe" to witness it. We are amazed that parties of enterprising tourists do not flock there from all quarters of the Union. They surely have little passion for the sublime and beautiful who think of the scene only to shudder at it and forego it. NIAGARA FALLS BY MOONLIGHT. There is much the same difierence between Niagara in the "gairish light of day" and Niagara bathed in the soft splendor of moonlight, that there would be between the Paradise Lost in the freedom of its epic grandeur and the same translated into vapid prose. The peculiar charm of the scene is not in the separate enjoyment of the silvery light and of the forceful flood, nor yet in any contrast between the grace of the one and the strength of the other, but in the instantaneous blending of compli- men.p.rv influences, a sort of "gladness in accomplished promise." The peculiar effect of moonlight upon the 48 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. features of a landscape is to harmonize, to soften, to spiritualize. Everything within its smile is lighter and more graceful. The rivers are turned into "vales of winding light ;" the cliffs lose their harshness of outline ; the trees, in their picturesque repose, look like the trees of a dream; even sound itself, in sympathy with the scene, falls upon the ear with softer cadence. A favorite haunt at Niagara in this magical season is Goat Island. It is here that the best views are obtained of that rare phenomenon, the Lunar Bow. At the time of the full moon this* exhibition is as perfect as lunar light can make it. At best, however, it fs very faint, a mere belt of the saintly hue. Many persons consider the lunar bow a sufficient justification of^ immoderate raptures; but its attractiveness, we cannot but think, is owing more to its being so seldom seen than to any intrinsic beauty it may possess. THE FIRST MAN WHO SA W THE FALLS. The first white man who saw the Falls, so far as we have any authentic record, was Father Hennepin, Jesuit missionary, sunt out from the French among the Indians, as early as the year 1678 — 2 do years since. His descrip- tions were visionary and exceedingly exaggerated. He thought the Falls six or seven hundred feet high, and that four persons could walk abreast under the sheet of water without any other inconvenience than a slight sprinkling f'rom the spray. But we would not attribute this wild and fanciful description to a want of candor, or an intention to deceive. The fact probablv was, he had no means of measuring its height, and jubtedly got his account from the Indians, which very likely would be incorrect. #%. ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 49 The most graceful rhymes indigenous to the locality are the following by the late Colonel Porter, who was an artist both with the pencil and the pen. They were written for a young relative in playful explanation of a sketch he had drawn at the top of a page in her Album, representing the Falls in the distance, and an Indian chief and two Europeans in the foreground : "An Artist, underneath his sign (a masterpiece, of course), Had written, to prevent mistakes, ' This represents a horse ;' * ■* So, ere I send my Album Sketch, lest connoisseurs should e*r, I think it well my Pen shdLld be my Art's interpreter. " A chieftain of the Iroquois, clad in a bison'l 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 thpy 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 s once they fell two hundred years ago. " Ah, me ! what myriads of > ' \,since then, have come and gone ; What states have risen a.«a jrcayed, what prizes lost and won ; What varied tricks the juggler, Time^ has played w!*h all below r But the waters fall as once they fell two hundred years ago. "What troops of tourists have encamped upon the river's biin;'. What poets shed from countless quills, Niagaras of i.ik ; What artist armies tried to fix the evanescent bow Of the waters falling as they fell two hundred years ago. "And stately inns ttcu scores of guests from well replenished larder ; And hackmen drive their horses hard, but drive a bargain harder ; And screaming locomotives rush in anguish to and fro : But the waters fall as once they fell two hundred years ago. " Anf?, 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 bel'e goes forth to meet a lunar beau. By the waters falling as they fell two hundred years ago. 3 50 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. "And bridges bind thy breast, Oh, stream ! and buzzing mill-wheels turn, To show, like Samson, thou art forced thy daily bre. x 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. They 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." .si;: mM m THE NIAGARA FRONTIER. Niagara River, from lake to lake, com})rehends a length of only about thirty-six miles. Contracted as this border region is, as an important section of the geographical lines between governments lat have n )t always been on terms of amity, it has o: n beci. made the theatre of war. Its localities are therefore associated with the history of our country, and with the fame of her military chieftains, and on this, if on no ' her account, are worthy of a description. The history of this region discloses to our view, first, the lordly Indian, roaming the majestic solitude; next, the wary pioneers of the civilization and the vices of Europe, mingling the hereditary hatred of their respective nations when cross- ing one another's path; then, a protracted strife for the mastery between the delegated powers of the nations; then, a lull of peace and prosperity; .gain, the atrocities of war; and again, and now, the blessings of peace. First, our immediate predecessors, Ik i" ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 51 THE IROQUOIS. This was the name given by the French to the confed- eracy of the Five Nations, consisting of the Mohawks, on the river of that name, the Oneidas, on the southern shore of Oneida Lake, 'he Cayugas, near Cayuga Lake, and the Senecas, stretching from the Seneca Lake to the Niagara River. Father Hennepin says tliat there w^ere villages of the Senecas on the Niagara not many miles above the Falls. The Iroquois Senecas were, therefore, the immediate predecessors of the whites on this frontier. Remnants of this once mighty people, whom Volney, in a burst of enthusiasm, called the Romans of the West, still linger round their primeval homesteads. The Tus- caroras, a tribe incorporated with the Iroquois in 1712, still enjoy the reservation of their lands, and occupy a village about nine miles from the Falls. The remains of the Senecas dwell further to the south. It is a curious fact, that, while the rapacity of the white man has stripped them almost entirely of their possessions, and shorn them of their power, their ancient league is still in force, thpir traditional customs still observed. Yearly they glide to their council-fire through the waving grain-lands of their once forest-home, like lingering spirits of the past, to banquet on the recollections of their traditionary great- ness. From their ancient seat at Onondaga, the council- fire is transferred to Tonawanda. Here their representa- tives yet assemble and perform their ancient rites and ceremonies. It must not, however, be inferred that the Iroquois Senecas were the original proprietors of the soil, or the first of whom we have any account. Just above the hori- 52 LUSTRA TED GUIDE, I w - ■ ilM zon of history flits the shadow of a great and peaceful tribe, THE NEUTER NATION, Supposed to be identical with the Kah-Kwas, "in whose wigwams the fierce Hurons and relentless Iroquois met on neutral ground.'* Father L'AUemant, in 1641 men- tions distinctly " the easternmost village of the Neutral Nation, 'Ongniaarha' (Niagara), of the same name as the river." In the following year Charlevoix also men- tions this people, and says that they were called " * neutral ' because they took no part in the wars which desolated the country." Canada West was the seat of the "fierce Hurons." Situated between this warlike people and the Iroquois, the neutrality of the Kah-Kwas could not long be preserved. " To avoid the fury of the Iroquois they joined them against the Hurons, but gained nothing by the union." They fell victims to the furious power they sought to conciliate, and disappeared as a nation about the year 1643. To their seats, as we have said, suc- ceeded the Senecas, who were in occupation of them when first visited by THE EUROPEAN PIONEERS. It is not known when this region was first visited by Europeans, though such an event was possible any time after the discovery of the St. Lawrence in 1534. " French traders are said to have visited the Falls as early as 1610 and 1615, but there are no authentic ac- counts to confirm this statement." Side by side with the French trader came the missionary priest — first the humble Franciscan, and then the wary disciple of Loyola. . Father L'AUemant, writing of the Neuter Na- tion from St. Mary's Mission in 1641, says: "Although ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 53 many of our French in that quarte; have visited this people to profit by their furs and other commodities, we have no knowledge of any who have been there to preach the gospel except Father De La Roch Daillon, a Recol- lect, who passed the winter there in the year 1625." This good father was probably the first European in Western New York, and even of him it is said " there is no evidence that he ever saw the Falls." In the fall of 1640, two missionary fathers, Jean de Breboeuf and Jo- seph Marie Chaumont, found their way to some part of this region, but if they saw the Falls they made no men- tion of them. In 1660, Ducreux wrote a work called " Historiae Canadensis," and noted the Falls on a map ; but the probability is that he took them from hearsay, as he makes no allusion to them in his narrative. THE EXPEDITION OF LA SALLE. Robert Cavalier de La Salle, a native of France, set out for the new world in 1667. Following up the St. Lawrence, he explored Lake Ontario, and ascended to Lake Erie. La Salle had heard from the Indians of the majestic Ohio, and of the fertile regions beyond, and in the mind of this man was first formed the project of uniting Canada with the valley of the Mississippi by a chain of military posts. Presenting his plans in a memorial to his government, and obtaining a commission for the explora- tion of the Father of Waters, he set out on his expedition in the fall of 1678, with a numerous band of followers, among whom was Tonti, the Italian, and Father Henne- pin. Touching at the present site of Fort Niagara, he there established a trading post. Making the portage from Lewiston to Cayuga Creek, on the American side, the whole company improved the opi ortunity of viewing 54 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. ^,1 :.*f the Falls. Good Father Hennepin was quite bowed down beneath their grandeur. He is confident that they are above six hundred feet high, and describes them as "avast and prodigious cadence of water, which falls down after a surprising and astonishing manner, inso- much that the universe does not afford a parallel." As they purposed visiting the head waters of the Mississippi, it was necessary first to build a suitable vessel to navigate the upper lakes. Accordingly a vessel of sixty tons burden was built at the mouth of the Cayuga Creek, on the American side of the river, about five miles above the Falls. The vessel was named the "Griffin," in allusion to the arms of the Count de Frontenac, the early patron of La Salle. On the seventh of August, 1679, amid the firing of guns, and the singing of the Te Deum^ the Griffin lifted her sails to the breeze — the first keel to enter the waters of the upper lakes. i« THE EXPEDITION OF DE NONVILLE. AVhen Champlain came out from France in 1603, he unwisely made the Iroquois the deadly enemies of the Frencli, by actively co-operating with the Hurons against them. This course of policy had been afterward pur- sued as a tradition, and when the Marfjuis de Nonville succeeded to the government of New France, in 1685, he found himself involved in a war with the Iroquois, in defense of his Indian allies of the west. He at once resolved to attack the Senecas first, and to build a fort at Niagara, where La Salle had left a trading post. "The commandants of the French ])osts at the west were ordered to rendezvous at Niagara, with their troops, and the warrior-: of their Indian allies were in that quarter." ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 55 The French army set out from Montreal on the thir- teenth of June, and reached Irondequoit, on the southern shore of Lake Ontario, on the twelfth of July, Accord- ing to previous arrangements, the commandant at Niagara, with the re-enforcements from the west, reached Ironde- quoit in the same hour with the division of De Nonville. After laying waste the country in his course, and taking formal possession of some of the principal villages of the Senecas, De Nonville dispatched a detachment to Fort Frontenac (Kingston), to communicate the result of the expedition, and with the vest of his force set out for Niagara on the twenty-sixth, which he reached on the thirtieth. "In three days," says he, " the army had so fortified the post as to put it in a good cond'vion of defense in case of an assault." A detachment of one hundred men left here, soon fell beneath the combined attacks of disease and the Senecas, and the post was again deserted. De Nonville left Niagara on the second of August. La Hontan was ordered to take a detachment of troops, and accompany the Indian allies on their return to the west. Plowing up from the fort to Lewiston, they carried their canoes over the portage on the American side, and launched them again at Sclilosser. Scarcely had they pushed their skiffs from the shore, when a " thou- sand Iroquois " appeared on the river's bank. It was under the terror of such a pursuit that La Hontan, with three or four savages, left the main body to catch a hurried glimpse of that "fearful cataract" which, in his trepidation, he describes as " seven or eight hundred feet high, and half a league broad." The facts of He Nonville's expedition are woven into W. IL C. Ilosmer's beautiful poem of " Yonnondio." 56 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. If- I THE TUSCARORAS The Tuscarora reservation is upon a mountain ridge in the town of Lewiston, about nine miles northeast of the Falls. Driven from their original seats in North Carolina by the aggressions of the whites, they migrated to New York in 17 12, and became merged in the confederacy of the Iroquois. In the revolutionary war a part of them inclined to the English, and a part remained neutral. Such portions of the Tuscaroras and Oneidas as had been allies of the English in their flight from the total rout of Gen. Sullivan, embarked in canoes upon Oneida Lake, and down the Oswego River, coasting along up Lake Ontario to the British garrison at Fort Niagara. In the spring, a part of them returned, and a part of them took possession of a mile square upon the mountain ridge, given them by the Senecas. The Holland Com- pany afterward donated to them two square miles adjoin- ing their reservation, and in 1804 they purchased of the company 4,329 acres, the aggregate of which several tracts is their present possessions. ii NIAGARA FRONTIER IN iSrz. President Madison's proclamation of war threw the whole frontier into consternation. The pioneers, unpro- tected by a sufficient force, and dreading the treacherous warfare of the British Indians, were ready to abandon their homes to the tender mercies of the enemy. The strong positions of the Americans were Buffalo and Fort Niagara; those of the British were Fort Erie and Fort George, a redoubt opposite Black Rock, a battery at Chi])pcvva, another below the Falls, and the defenses on Queenston Heights. i ILLUSTRA fEO 57 1.T -^r r^neralVan Rensse- laer, of the New ^°'\~[-^^,,,,r.iU of October, he garters at ^^-iston O^*^ * ;^,„„ ,„, ,,Ue pos- letermined to cross the rwer ^^^^^^^ ^^^ ^^ session of Queenston Heights ^^^^^ ^„,^ed fS. Shortly after the occnV-^^p ;„ attempting to with a re-enforcemen °f «°°;;°j P;,,,, killed. H^aid- ,,Uy them after their fir t rep , ^^.^ ^. Mean- de-camp, McDonald, f«"' j' ^ ^„„ther re-enforcement, while, the British ^^--"g 'f^';„ Rensselaer's rear division, ;e undisciplined ->;;- /f,", ^i.er, preferred to remain as they had not yet ""''l'';. ^^re obliged to see their tVere'they were, '^^'^^fJ^JZ */-'• "^'"^ T^^^! gallant companions sufter campaign of 18.2. chief event on this f^o^'\"''^ ,8,3, General Dearborn on the twenty-sever^t of U^,^J ^^ ^^,.„,, „ear captured from the B-'tish, 1 ^.^^^_ Niagara, at the mouth o thNg ^^^^.^ ^^g^,,„ f,,ce "^ After the British had «;f '„^,i,,„ general in com- from the frontier, M C'^^^-jJ^^^ed the town of Newark, „andofFt.George,wanonyb ^^ ^^^ ,„^,,„. Teaving its homeless ^f^^\J conquered territory, !! Buffalo. Col. l^«=<'"«'^';Xe fort. Tbus it was that own house three >»"-;';;;*« Hver before day-break, -:Xtir^-:'Zvethefort.cal,edthe.ive- 58 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE* mile Meadows, surprised the garrison, and made them- selves masters of the post. Indian scouts left the main body, like bloodhounds, to scent up their prey, ^'he whole frontier was a scene of the most intense suffering. Lewiston, Niagara Falls, Black Rock and Buffalo fell an easy prey to the destroyer. All fled who could, the militia frequently leading the van. It was a motley throng flying from the torch and the tomahawk of an invading foe, with hardly the show of a military organization to cover the retrea ;. Buffalo was burned to the ground on the thirtieth of December. But the campaign of 1814 was destined to retrieve, as far as possible, the fortunes of this. The executive appointed Gen. Brown to the com- mand on this frontier, associating with him Winfield Scott, Gaines, Miller and others. Then followed a brill- iant succession of victories — the capture of Fort Erie, the battle of Chippewa, the battle of Lundy's Lane, and finally, the greatest of all victories, peace. RETROCESSION- OF THE FAILS, The fact that in historic times, even within the memory of man, the fall has sensibly receded, prompts the ([ues- tion, how far has this recession gone .'* At what point did the ledge which thus continually creeps backwards begin its retrograde course .? To minds disciplined in such researches the answer has been and will be, at the pre- cipitous declivity which crosses the Niagara from Lewis- ton on the American to Queenston on the Canadian side. Over this traverse barrier the affluents of all upper lakes once poured their waters, and here the work of erosion began. The dam, moreover, was demonstrably of sufii- ILLUSTRATED Ct U I D E. 59 n le Ln cient height to cause the river above it to submerge Goat Island and this would perfectly account for the finding by Mr. Hall, Sir Charles Lyell, and others, in the sand and gravel of the island, the same fluviatile shells as are now found in the Niagara River higher up. It would also account for those deposits along the sides of the river, the discovery of which enabled Lyell, Hall and Ramsay to reduce to demonstration the popular belief that the Niagara once flowed through a shallow valley. The physics of the problem of excavation, which I made clear to my mind before quitting Niagara, are re- vealed by a close inspection of the present Horseshoe Fall. Here we see evidently that the greatest weight of water bends over the very apex of the Horseshoe. In a passage in his excellent chapter on Niagara Falls, Mr. Hall alludes to this fact. Here we have the most copious and the most violent whirling of the shattered liquid ; here the most powerful eddies recoil against the shale. From this portion of the fall, indeed, the spray some- times rises without solution of continuity to the region of clouds, becoming gradually more attenuated, and passing finally through the condition of true cloud into invisible vapor, which is sometimes re-precipitated higher up. All the phenomena point distinctly to the center of the river as the place of the greatest mechanical energy, and from the center the vigor of the fall gradually dies away toward the sides. The horseshoe form, with the con- cavity facing downward, is an obvious and necessary consetjuence of this action. Right along the middle of the river the apex of the curve pushes its way backward, cutting along the center a deep and comparatively nar- row groove, and draining the sides as it passes them. I 6o ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. ! It Hence the remarkable discrepancy between the widths of the Niagara above and below the Horseshoe. All along its course, from Lewiston Heights to the present position, the form of the fall was probably that of a horseshoe; for this is merely the expression of the greater depth, and consequently greater excavat ng power, of the center of the river. The gorge, moreover, varies in width as the depth of the center of the ancient river varied, being narrowest where that depth was greatest. The vast comparative erosive energy of the Horse- shoe Fall comes strikingly into view when it and the American Fall are compared together. The American branch of the upper river is cut at a right angle by the gorge of the Niagara. Here the Horseshoe Fall was the real excavator. It cut the rock and formed the precipice over which the American Fall tumbles. But since its formation the erosive action of the American Fall has been almost nil, while the Horseshoe has cut its way for five hundred yards across the end of Goat Island, and is now doubling back to excavate a channel parallel to the length of the island. This po'nt, I have just learned, has not escaped the acute observation of Prof. Ramsay. The river bends; tlie Horseshoe immediately accom- modates itself to the bending, and will follow implicitly the direction of the deepest water in the upper stream. The flexil.'lity of the gorge, if I may use the term, is determined by the flexibility of the river channel above it. Were the Niagara above the Fall sinuous, the gorge would immediately follow its sinuosities. Once sug- gested, no doubt geographers will be able to point out many examples of this action. The Zambesi is thought to present a great difficulty to the erosion theory, because u ■ . ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 6[ IS [11 It a le >g It IS of the sinuosity oi' the chasm below the Victoria Falls. But assuming the basalt to be of tolerably uniform tex- ture, had the river been examined before the formation of this sinuous channel, the present zigzag course of the gorge below the Fall could, I am pursuaded, have been predicted, while the sounding of the present river would enable us to predict the course to be pursued by the erosion in the future. But not only has the Niagara River cut the gorge — it has carried away the chips of its own workshop. The shale being probably crumbled is easily carried away. But at the base of the Fall we find the huge boulders already described, and by some means or other these are removed down the river. The ice which fills the gorge in winter, and which grapples with the boulders, has been regarded as the transporting agent. Probably it is so to some extent. But erosion acts without ceasing on the abutting points of the boulder, thus withdrawing their support and urging tliem down the river. Solution also does its portion of the work. That solid matter is carried down is proved by the difference of depth between the Niagara River and Lake Ontario, where the river enters it. The depth falls from seventy-two feet to twenty feet, in consequence of the deposition of solid matter caused by the diminished motion of the river. Near lU'^ Tjouth of the gorge at Queenston, the depth, according to the Admiralty Chart, is i8o feet; well within the gorge it is 132 feet. In conclusion we may say a word regarding the proxi- mate future of Niagara At the rate of excavation assigned to it by Sir Charles Lycll, namely, a foot a year, five thousand years or so will carry the Horseshoe Fall far higher than Goat Island. As the gorge recedes it will M'tr, ' 62 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. drain, as it has hitherto done, the banks right and left of it, thi 3 leaving nearly a level terrace between Goat Island and the edge of the gorge. Higlier up it will totally drain the American branch of the river, the chan- nel of which will in due time become cultivable land. The American Fall will then be transformed into a dry precipice, forming a simple continuation of the cliffy boundary of the Niagara. At the place occupied by the Fall at this moment we shall have the gorge inclosing a right angle, a secor.^ whirlpool being the consequence of this. To those who visit Niagara a few milleniums hence I leave the verification of this prediction. All that can be said is, that if the causes now in action continue to act, it will prove itself literally true.* HACK ME 2/ AND GUIDES. Complaints are frequently made by strangers of being outrageously ^«/Ay/ by hackmen and guides. This com- plaint is a general one, and there is no reason for making it with peculiar emphasis at Niagara. The experienced tourist will always settle the price beforehand, and so avoid any unpleasant scene at the end of his trip. This pre- caution, sc regularly observed in all other matters, should not be omitted in this : the price of a thing should be known before we engage to pay for it. The usual charge for carriages is two dollars an hour. The compensation for the service of guides is less definitely fixed. Other complaints of a less specific character are also often made, such as, " a quarter is demanded at every corner," etc. The truth is, no more money is asked here than else- ♦The article on the "Retrocession of the Falls," was written by Professor Tyndall, after a visit to this place. i Ill ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 6;^ where for an equal, or perhaps less amount of value re- ceived ; but the greater part of the world are so much accustomed to consider a tangible material return as the only form of the ^uid pro quo, that they cannot under- stand how so gross an affair as money should enter into considerations of this kind, and consequently regret its expenditures the more keenly. tt. FRANCIS ABBOTT, THE HERMIT OF NIAGARA. The history of this singular individual has been given in various forms, from the hurried comp'lation of a guide-book to the extravagance of a romance. We pre- sent you with what is known of him by all who lived in the village at the time of his residing here. His first appearance at Niagara was in che afternoon of June 1 8, 1839. He Wc's a young man then, tall and well- formed, but emaciated ana haggard; of an easy and gentlemanly deportment, but sufficiently eccentric in appearance to arrest a stranger's gaze. Clad in a long flowing robe of brown, and carrying under his arm a roll of blankets, a book, portfolio, and flute, he proceeded to a small, retired inn, where he en- gaged a room for a week, stipulating, however, that the room was to be, for the time, exclusively his, rnd that only 2i part of his food was to be prepared by the family. Soon after, he visited the village library, entered his name, and drew books. He also purchased a violin. At the expiration of a week he returned to the library, where, falling into conversation, he spoke with much en- thusiasm on the subject of the Falls, and expressed his intention of remaining some time longer. 64 illustrate: ( . GUIDE. Shortly afterward he asked permission of the proprie- tor of these islands to erect a cabin on Moss Island, that he might /ivv: in greater seclusion than the village afforded him. Failing in his request, he took up his abode in a part of a small log-house, then standing near the head of Goat Island. Here for nearly two years he continued to live, with no companion but his dog, his books and his music — blameless but almost unknown. On this island, at hours when it was unfrequented by others, he delighted to roam, heedless, if not oblivious of danger. At that time a stick of timber about eight inches square extended from Terrapin Bridge eight feet beyond the precipice. On this he has been seen at almost all hours of the night, pacing to and fro, beneath the moonlight, without the slightest apparent tremor of nerve or hesitancy of step. Sometimes he might be seen sitting carelessly on the extreme end of the timber — sometimes hanging beneath it by his hands and. feet. Although exquisitely sensitive in his social habits, he seems to have been without an apprehension of danger. After residing on Goat Island two winters, he crossed Bath Island Bridge, and built him a rude cabin of boards at Point View, near the American Fall. Although brought into the immediate neighborhood of the villagers, he held but little intercourse with them ; sometimes, indeed, refusing to break silence by oral communication. However, he was at times extremely affable to all, easily drawn into conversation, and supporting it with a regard to conventionalism, and a grace and accuracy of expres- sion that threw a charm over the most trivial subject of remark. The late Judge De Veaux was perhaps the only person with whom he was really familiar. With him he would oft< of on the to ILLUSTRATED GUIDE. 65 often interchange arguments, by the hour, on some point of theology — his favorite topic of discussion. His views on this subject were by no means stable ; but as far as they absumed a definite form they seemed nearly akin to those held by the Society of Friends. But it was n h brilliant reminiscences of foreign lands and s ihat he was especially gloria ..,.,. He had wan- '. r iiong the ruins of Asia anc "■.'.ce, and studied trophies of art in the celebrated picture galleries of he ;r, ^d Js ;h s, X Of music he was passionately fond, and played his own compositions, in the opinion of some, with exquisite taste ; while others declare his execution to have been only mediocre, if not absolutely inferior. Every day, after his removal to the main-land, it was his custom to descend the ferry stairs to bathe in the river below; and it was while thus engaged that he was accidentally drowned, June 10, 1841. Ten days afterward his body was found at the outlet of the river, and brought back to the village, where it was com- mitted to the earth in sight of the scenes he so much loved. After his decease a number of citizens repaired to his cabin to take charge of his effects. Little, however, was to be found : his faithful dog guard' d the door; his cat lay on the lounge, and his books and music were scat- tered around the room. Writing was sought for in vain. It is said, notwithstanding, that he wrote much, but always in Latin, and committed his productions to the flames almost as soon as composed. Members of his family have, since his death, visited Niagara, from whom we learn only that Francis was a son of the late John Abbott, of Plymouth, England, a IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) /. {■/ 4bs f/. 1.0 I.I .'r lilM 2.5 2.0 1.8 1.25 1.4 J4 -* 6" — ► V. ^» A o c^l ^>jv' .-^ y^ v^ '^ 0/f I%otographic Sciences Corporation 33 WIST MAIN STRUT WIBSTIR.N Y USBO (716) 873-4503 iV -^ o -. * ^ "V &?^ C/j 66 ILLUSTRATED GUIDE, member of the Society of Friends, and that in his youth he alternated the most indefatigable devotion to his studies with the most excessive dissipations o^ a gay metropolis. We have given only what we know of his life. There still remains a wide margin which each may fill up as best suits himself, with the speculations of romance. I NCI DEN TS AND CASUAL TIES. The number of victims whom carelessness or folly has sent over the Falls is much larger than an ancient Indian tradition* (which says the spirit of the Cataract claims annually two victims) would lead us to suppose. In 1810 the boat Independence^ laden with salt, filled and sunk while crossing to Chippewa; the captain and two of the crew went over the Falls. In 182 1 two men in a scow were drawn into the current and went over. In 1825 two men and boat, from Grand Island, went over; in the same year three men in three different canoes went over. In 1841 two men engaged in smuggling — boat capsized in the current. One was found dead on Grass Island, the other went over the Falls. Also, two men in a scow, boatmg sand, went over. In 1847 a boy, aged 14, attempting to row across was drawn into the current and went over. In 1848 a man was seen to pass under Goat Island Bridge, close to the shore, and was heard distinctly to ask, "Can I be saved.' " Soon after his boat upset and he went over; he was never seen afterward. In the same year two children, a boy and a girl, were playing in a r>1,*;. . ,v ■-!l ■ '-^''i > ' , .>\ i 5 ^v :> '-f s . Ci ■/'?': '■*'■