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Con 
 
 THE ; 
 
 ^-s" 
 
THE 
 
 Condition of Niagara Falls, 
 
 AKD THB 
 
 MEASURES NEEDED TO PRESERVE THEM. 
 
 EIGHT LETTERS 
 
 FDBLISUED IN 
 
 THE NEW YORK EVENING POST, THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE, 
 AND THE BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER, 
 
 DUHING THE SUSIMEU OF 1882. 
 
 By J. B. HARRISON. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 1882. 
 
En 
 
 wit 
 wo 
 chi 
 thr 
 ini 
 
Jliese Letters, the result of a recent study of Niagara and its 
 Environment, are respectfully inscribed to 
 
 The Journalists of America, 
 
 with the conviction that if the final ruin of this scene of beauty and 
 wonder shall be averted, that fortunate result will be brought about 
 chiefly by the intelligence and public spirit which find expression 
 through the newspapers of the two countries having a common 
 interest in the subject herein presented. 
 
 Franklin Falls, New Hampshire, 
 October 25, 1882. 
 
C' 
 
THE 
 
 Condition of Niagara Falls, 
 
 AND THB 
 
 MEASURES NEEDED TO PRESERVE THEM. 
 
 EIGHT LETTERS 
 
 FDBLISHED IN 
 
 THE NEW YORK EVENING POST, THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE. 
 AND THE BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER, 
 
 During the Summer of 1882. 
 
 By J. B. HARRISON. 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 
 1882. 
 
 170543 
 
r 
 
 UNivEnsiTY Phess: 
 John Wilson and Son, CAMnniDOE. 
 
 •^mma 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 I. 
 
 [Trom the New York Evening Post, Aug. 0, 1882.] 
 
 VARIETY AND VITALITY OF THE GUEAT CATARACT — 
 
 now TO SEE IT. 
 
 NiAOAHA FvLL9, N. Y., Aug. 7, 1882. 
 
 Is it worth while to report and describe truly the existing 
 conditions at Niagara Falls ? Thoughtful pcoitle find this a 
 jdacG of wonderful interest, of unparalleled attraction ; yet 
 sonic of their most vivid impressions and remembrances of the 
 spot are eminently unsatisfactory and disagreeable. The sce- 
 nery here has an absolutely exhaustless vitality. Its beauty 
 grows upon evei'y observer who remains long enough to recog- 
 nize the truth that the spectacle upon which lie gazos 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 leav- 
 ing a play of entrancing interest which has not yet ended. 
 And here the jjlay never ends. This is the great characteristic 
 of Niagara, — its " infinite variety." There arc several places 
 in the rapids, and especially about the head of Goat Isl.and, 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, swing 
 lag in wide-based, massive waves like those of the ocean, or 
 gathered into billows which forever break and fall in curving 
 
6 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 cnacadcs, and yet sccni not to f;ill bccnnso thoy aro rvrry mo- 
 nu'iit renewed, — are wortl» a journey across the continent to 
 Bee. 
 
 rotrU SKPAUATK, WATKUrM.r.S. 
 
 There is a j^reat varii'ty of bfauty and interest even in the 
 F'alls tlieniselves. As Luna Island divides tiie American Fall, 
 making a beautiful separate eascade of the narrow stream which 
 runs next to Goat Island, ho the Binall island called Terrapin 
 Rocks (on AN hich Terrapin Tower formerly stood) cuts olF a 
 broader ])ortion of the stream on the Canadian side of Goat 
 Island, and makes a sei)arate catara(!t llu're. Thus, when the 
 Bpectator is on the lower end of (Joat Island, there is on each 
 side of him, first, a narrow strait or ]»ortion of the river, just 
 large em)ugh to form a fine fall by itself, then a small island, 
 and farther on a great cataract, — the American Fall on ono 
 side, and the Ilorse-Shoe Fall on the other. These divisions of 
 the stream., with four separate waterfalls, diU'crent in volume 
 and environment, and so each ])ossessing 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 groat 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-cncom[)ass- 
 ing unity in the central spectacle of the place. There is great 
 variety, again, in the lines of the curves made by the descend- 
 ing water as it leaves the brink of the fall, as an artist would at 
 once observe, and some of these curves are wonderfully majes- 
 tic and beautiful. There aro also many different curves and 
 irregular variations in the line of the top or brow of the preci- 
 pice 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 arc in some places pro- 
 jecting 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 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 ycry mrv 
 |iii(-'nt to 
 
 1 in tlio 
 |«n R'lll, 
 '1 wliich 
 Vrrapiii 
 ^s ofF'ri 
 >t' Goat 
 it'n tlio 
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 <•'•, just 
 
 island, 
 
 on one 
 
 ions of 
 
 volume 
 
 •luality 
 
 ii;iy bo 
 
 tutincr. 
 
 urn, — 
 
 fin one 
 
 le the 
 
 ■ly the 
 
 nj)ass- 
 
 great 
 
 icend- 
 
 lUl nt 
 
 aajes- 
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 )rcci- 
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 ill it 
 
 pro- 
 
 hich 
 
 own 
 
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 Y to 
 
 the face of the catarmit. In some plaeos the stream pours with 
 .1 steady roar into Houn<lU'ss depths of water at the foot of 
 the precipice; in others it dashes wilh iiidescrihaltle violence 
 upon great masses of roc^k below, from which it is hurled out- 
 ward wilh terrlllc force in hissing streams and spouts of sjiray. 
 The color of the falling water also varies everywhi-re. It is of 
 snowy, dazzling whiteness whcrc! tlie current is shallow above, 
 and the descending stream consequently thin. Tlirn; is a little 
 green mingled with the white where the vohuiic of water is 
 somewhat greater, and in the central ] tortious of the (treat or 
 II(jrse-Slioe Fall the deep, intense, aolid green uf the water has a 
 wonderful vitality and beauty. 
 
 TIIK FRAMKWORK OF FOLIAGK. 
 
 The magnificent framework of iivcon foliage in which tliis 
 glorious spectacle of the myriad forms ami shows of moving 
 water — from the wild, gay tossing of the rapids to the solemn 
 fall of the cataract — is set, is an essential and indispensable 
 part of its interest and loveliness. The massive growth of trees 
 and enveloping vine canopies on the islands and river shoro 
 give to the scene such sylvan aspects of grace, of softness and 
 tenderness, as constitute some of the chief elements in its un- 
 speak.ablo charm, and some of the most forceful (pialities by 
 which it mni.es its eternal api)eal 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 jdace its unequalled attraction, its companion- 
 les^s grandeur and loveliness. If the trees >Iiould 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 (heir 
 sparkling gladness and gayety, and of the tenderness and pas- 
 sionate, eager youthfulness in the life of the scene would be 
 gone. The sentiment of the place, and the thoughts and feel- 
 ings appealed to and insjjired by it, woidd 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 
 
 m 
 
8 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 uplifting, vivifying inspiration for those who can receive and 
 enjoy such influences, would bo terribly, fatally impaired. 
 
 
 WHY SOME PERSONS AKE DISAPPOIXTICD. 
 
 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 sooth- 
 ing, healing delights, or uplifting, peace, or for hel]) of any kind 
 for the deeper needs of this life. They come hither because it 
 is the fashion; the place lies in Uie round of travel, and they sit 
 in their carriages at the top of the stairway leading down 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 
 ciirious and interesting spectacle than they had expected to see, 
 and that, " on the whole," Xiagara disappoints them. Of course 
 it disaj^jwints, 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 spec- 
 tacle as this. Nay, it takes time even for the senses to recognize 
 its most obvious material forms and aspects, and such jiersons 
 do not give themselves time ^or even that. " May be I can't 
 appreciate it as some can," they say. No; they might, in a min- 
 ute 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. Un- 
 less they can become more thoughtful, the scene here is not for 
 them. There are other i)eople to whom Niagai'a means much. 
 It offers to those who are weary from toil of any kind, of liand 
 or brain, or from the wearing, exhausting quality which is so 
 marked in modern life, — it offers to all such a vital change, 
 the relief and benefit of new scenes and new mental activities 
 and experiences consequent upon observing them and becoming, 
 interested in them. Then, for those who will 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 of the mind, an awakening of the imagina- 
 tion ; the soul expands and aspires, rising to the level of a new 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 9 
 
 and mighty companionship. Self-respect becomes more vital. 
 Good tilings seem nearer and more real, and the nobleness and 
 worth which but now we thought beyond 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 iiilinitely 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 sec, to become well ac- 
 quainted 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, with- 
 out any straining after high feeling or raptures of any 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 expcrioncos and feelings, like all the higher moods and 
 activities of the soul, have something shy ami 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 sJirine of this awful beauty, this 
 veiled and shrouded grandeur, I become more and more unwill- 
 ing 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 una])peasable 
 longing to express his feelings upon canvas, — if, indeed, the 
 scene is not too great to be painted. 
 
 m 
 
 :i, 
 
 i; I 
 
 MISUSED OPPORTtlNITIES. 
 
 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, 
 
 2 
 
J 
 
 10 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 — go awny, in fact, with feelings of disappointment and vexa- 
 tion, wiiic'h settle at last into a decided inijjression and perma- 
 nent remembrance of Niagara as a disagreeable place. In a 
 great many cases this might be wholly or in very great measure 
 prevented ; and it is for this reason, and not at all for the sake of 
 any attemjit at description, that I write on this subject. Most 
 of the peoj)le who come hither arc 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 Avho 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 everywhere. Or, 
 if they do not know how to enjoy Niagara, they are able to stay 
 lono; cnourrh to learn. But thousands come hither for whom a 
 day, or two days, is all the time that can be devoted to this ex- 
 ])erience. If i)e()])le will manage wisely it is worth while to 
 travel five hundred miles to see Niagara, even if they can re- 
 main here but six hours. Most people who are here but for a 
 day or two throw away the larger jiart 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 onlv their time but their money. If one can 
 
 • *■ 
 
 be liere 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 that 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 
 coidd 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 village side of the river. This jHacc is included in " Prospect 
 Park," and twenty-five cents is charged for admission at the 
 gate. It is much to be regretted that there is now no point 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 11 
 
 from which an inhabitant of our country can sec Niagara Falls 
 without the payment of a fee. But it is a fact, and visitors 
 must, of course, accept existing conditions and conform to 
 them. The evil is not one for Avhich any individual persons are 
 to be blamed. It is inseparable from the personal ownership of 
 the land adjacent to the river at this point. The land hero 
 should have remained permanently the property of the State 
 or of the National Government; and if the State should re- 
 acquire the title to all the land which is essential to the scenery 
 of Niagara, it would be a most wise and beneficent measure, 
 and would, no doubt, tend in an ajipreciable 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 indispensable 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 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 in- 
 clined plane through the bank to the river below ; there are 
 guides, and dressing-rooms, and waterproof 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 
 untenable wonders, nobody could see them. Here at Niagara, 
 where the fees are heaviest, the " sights " have least interest and 
 value. 
 
 GOAT ISLAND. 
 
 Everybody appears to be specially interested in having you 
 visit these places, where it is all feeing and no seeing ; but the 
 intelligent short-time visitor will say no, in a way to be under- 
 stood, and, leaving the Park by tlie gate nearest the river, will 
 walk a few rods up the stream (by the very edge of the Ameri- 
 can Rapids) to the 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 
 
 lii 
 
 ^ . ■ 
 

 
 •AfiBOi 
 
 12 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 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 Amcricnn 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, paus- 
 ing 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., requiring time and money in 
 proportion. The walk to the Great Fall requires but a few 
 moments. liOok 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 differ- 
 ent points of interest, and especially in the solitudes of the 
 islands, he may rightly feel that 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 $1.25. If the visitor must leave now, he need 
 not think with much regret of what he has not seen. If he can 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 13 
 
 stay another day it would be wise to go over the same ground. 
 But if he would see more, the next thing to be done is to cross 
 the new suspension bridge into Canada, and go up to that side 
 of the Great Fall ; and the next after this is the visit to the 
 Whirlpool, some miles down the river. This last will require a 
 carriage for most visitors. The fee on the bridge is fifty cents 
 to go and return. The view of the Falls from the Canada side 
 is free. A public road follows the edge of the cliff. 
 
 i ■ 
 
\i\\\i 
 
 14 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS, 
 
 II. 
 
 IFrom the New York Evening Post, Aurj. 14, 1882.] 
 
 THE SMALL SWINDLES AND SHAMS OF THE PLACE, AND 
 WHAT TO DO WITH THEM. 
 
 n! 
 
 Niagara Falls, N. Y., Aug. 9, 1882. 
 
 As there is much comphiint of the excessive cost of a visit to 
 Niagara, it seemed worth wliile to note, as I did in ray first let- 
 ter from hero, the fnct that many persons might see all that is of 
 great interest at the Falls with very little exi)ense. What may 
 be called the territorial concentration of the interest and value 
 of the scenery here is most remarkable. The region which 
 contains all that is greatly worth seeing is a very small one, and 
 easily accessible on foot. Thus, if visitors wish to go only to 
 places of real interest and importance, they need not waste 
 money in either admission fees or hack-hire. 
 
 THE CURIOSITY SHOPS. 
 
 But it is said that the charges at the Indian stores are exces- 
 sive, and that the principal waste of money by visitors is in 
 purchases made at these places. This may be true, but I have 
 little sympathy for people who complain of the extravagant 
 prices charged at these " curiosity shops." It is true that few 
 of the articles sold in these places are of any use whatever. 
 Most of them are also extremely ugly, and have, therefore, no 
 value as ornaments. The only reason for regarding them as 
 " souvenirs of Niagara " is that they are sold here. They arc 
 not, generally, made here, or made by Indians anywhere. In 
 some of the shops the girls tell the truth about the things they 
 sell. I am not informed whether their candor is an injury or a 
 benefit to the business of these places. Probably it has no per- 
 
 i! 
 
 Iff 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 15 
 
 r 
 
 I^ACE, AND 
 
 ig. 9, 1882. 
 
 of a visit to 
 ny first let- 
 11 that is of 
 
 What may 
 
 and value 
 
 gion which 
 
 all one, and 
 
 go only to 
 
 uot waste 
 
 are cxces- 
 iitors is in 
 •nt I have 
 ctravagant 
 s that few 
 wliatever. 
 irefore, no 
 J them as 
 They are 
 here. In 
 ings they 
 jury or a 
 IS no per- 
 
 ceptiblo ciTect in either way. " The prices are unreasonable, 
 and the same things can be bought much cheaper elsewhere." 
 Then why not buy them elsewhere? And what would be rea- 
 sonable prices for tilings that are ugly, tawdry, and useless, 
 vulgar in design and coarse and flimsy in workmanship ? Let 
 the people who like to " adorn " their parlors with such articles 
 buy them, and pay whatever prices the sales-girls choose to ask. 
 The real interest of the "Indian stores," and of thoir wares, is 
 in the fact that they reflect the civilization, culture, and taste of 
 — the purchasers. If the people of our country wished to buy 
 tasteful and beautiful things at Niagara, doubtless such articles 
 would be offered for sale in these stores. But why should 
 sensible people wish to do their shopping here ? 
 
 THE HACK-DRIVKUS. 
 
 What is the truth about what is called the "hack nuisance"? 
 The first thing to be noted is that each hotel keeps its own car- 
 riages, or hacks, and employs its own drivers, and these are not 
 permitted to solicit custom. Persons in the house, desiring a 
 carriage (and any outside as well), have but to apply at the 
 office of the hotel. The house at which I live while here 
 charges a dollar and a half per hour, or, for what is called "the 
 round trip,'' or " going everywhere," five dollars. I think there 
 is rarely or never any complaint regarding these drivers, or 
 any reason for it. The men who have made the term "Niagara 
 hack-driver" a name of terror all over the civilized world are 
 men who arc not in the employ of the hotels. They are " out- 
 siders," or independents, who work for themselves or for differ- 
 ent employers. They constantly solicit custom, as, I suppose, 
 is unavoidable if they are to engnge in the business at all. But 
 it is apparent that they do not understand their business very 
 well, and that they injure it by bad methods of work. It may 
 be that there are some good and sensible men among them, and 
 it is possible that people expect too much from them. Perhaps 
 no man vrould long retain many high qualities if he followed 
 their occupation. I have never had any trouble with any of the 
 class, and have found it easy to be on friendly or comfortable 
 terms with them, bo far as is desirable ; but I often observe in 
 
 \':' 
 
16 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS, 
 
 their dealings with strangers an element of trickincss. The 
 information which thoy give to visitors is not always trust- 
 worthy. It is commonly understood hero that hacknicn receive 
 commissions on admission fees j)aid by their passengers at some 
 points, while for taking people to other j)laces they receive only 
 the carriage fares. Now it follows, under these circumstances, 
 that, in the judgment of a hackman, the view or scenery at a 
 particular place is especially interesting, attractive, and beauti- 
 ful if his commission makes the drive thither especially profit- 
 able to him ; but places which do not yield him a share of 
 their revenues are naturally uninteresting. They aro "hum- 
 bugs " ; they " don't amount to anything " ; they are " no good." 
 The truth seems to be — and it is what we should expect, I think, 
 — that those men know little about the scenery, in any true sense, 
 and care nothing about it. It would be foolish to dej)cnd upon 
 their judgment or estimate of anything which attracts sensible 
 people to Niagara. Thoy do not know what is best worth see- 
 ing, but they find it most profitable, of course, to convey visitors 
 to the most distant points. Their only interest or concern is, 
 usually, to obtain the greatest possible amount of money for the 
 least possible amount of work or service. There is, much of the 
 time at least, no fixed schedule of prices. They take all they 
 can get, and take advantage of the ignorance, inex2:»erience, and 
 mistakes of strangers, without scruple or limit. So far from 
 manifesting a disposition of general courtesy and serviceable- 
 ness, which is profitable in all occupations, these men often 
 appear delighted to see anybody who does not employ them 
 get into trouble or difficulty. 
 
 CASES IX POINT. 
 
 A day or two ago I saw a quarrel between a driver and four 
 young men whom he had agreed to take around Goat Island 
 for three dollars. They got in just outside of Prospect Park 
 and rode to the entrance of the bridge leading to the island, a 
 distance of but a few rods. Here they met some friends, or for 
 some other reason changed their minds, and decided not to go 
 to Goat Island. They offered the driver fifty cents, and wished 
 to dismiss him, but he insisted on the payment of the full sum 
 
 f 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 17 
 
 ncss. The 
 ^••lys trust- 
 en receive 
 rs at some 
 ccivo only 
 nnstances, 
 -"cry at a 
 '<! beautl- 
 'IJy profit- 
 sliare of 
 '0 "hum- 
 lo good." 
 t, I think, 
 ■uc sense, 
 nd upon 
 sensible 
 )rth see- 
 visitors 
 iccrn is, 
 ^ for the 
 ^hofthe 
 all they 
 ice, and 
 iir from 
 iceablc- 
 1 often 
 /' them 
 
 d four 
 Island 
 
 Park 
 and, a 
 or for 
 to go 
 ished 
 
 sum 
 
 which he was to receive for the trip for which ho was at first 
 engaged, and when the young men refused, threatened to col- 
 lect it by law. I have not learned whether he did so or not. 
 A young Canadian came over a few days ago with his wife and 
 two or three little children. At the railway station a driver 
 agi'ecd to take them "all around" for a dollar and a half; but 
 the young fellow foolishly paid in advance. The hackman 
 drove a short distance, to the first point at which the visitors 
 left the carriage to look at something, and then went away and 
 left them. The drivers are often wantonly oflfensive and un- 
 civil to strangers. One morning recently I saw seven or eight 
 carriages standing in line on a street leading to the river, waiting 
 for custom. A gentleman and lady of middle age, well dressed 
 and ai^parently intelligent, came up tho sidewalk, engaged in 
 quiet conversation. The first hackman began : " Gentleman, 
 hev a kerridge this morning? — take you to the Whirlpool 
 Rapids, 'n' all the points of int'rest — see everything f-four dol- 
 lars." The gentleman answered respectfully but decidedly, 
 as he walked on, " Thank you, I do not wish to ride." All the 
 nearer hackmen must have heard his answer, but the next one 
 took up tho same sing-song lecture, in a little higher key, and 
 at the end added an insolent injunction to the traveller not to 
 let anybody make a fool of him. This was all repeated along 
 the entire line, each driver making some insulting addition to 
 the " cry " of the first, until two or three of them were scream- 
 ing at the same time. The last one, lolling on his seat in a 
 vulgar attitude, called out with most offensive tone and manner, 
 " Come yere ! I '11 take ye and yer lady all round for nothin'." 
 "Yes," chorused the others, "take him for nothin' — that's 
 what he wants." I did not see the visitors again, and it is not 
 likely that they remained long at Niagara. 
 
 BAD MANAGEMENT. 
 
 There should be some efficient supervision of this business ; 
 but there appears to be no system, no responsibility, connected 
 with it. Nearly all old visitors to Niagara say that this nui- 
 sance — the hackraen's ubiquitous and persistent annoyance — 
 keeps many people from coming hither, and especially that it 
 
 8 
 
18 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 Ill 
 
 jtreventa many who liavo been here once from returning, and 
 remaining Imig enough to know and enjoy more deeply the 
 charm of the scenery, wliich seen once always beckons and 
 draws them hitherward again, with ever-increasing attraction. 
 It is common in the village to defend or excuse the hackmen by 
 saying that "it's the same in all other largo places." But I 
 have been in all the large towns of our country, and I have 
 never seen anywhere I'lsc conduct so foolishly and stupidly 
 offensive on the part of hackmen. The people hero say, also, 
 " Every man that complains has the remedy in Ids own hands. 
 Let him prosecute the drivers, and have them punished, if they 
 liave done anything wrong." Now, however praiseworthy it 
 might ])e for a man to undertake by any means to reform the 
 manners of sucli a class as the Niagara hack-drivers, such a 
 work is no part of the object which one has in view in travel- 
 ling for pleasure, rest, and recreation. I cannot find that there 
 is any public sentiment here which concerns itself in any con- 
 siderable degree with these matters, or with anything else, 
 except the effort to obtain as much money as possible from 
 visitors; and even in this, as I have indicated, many people 
 here exhibit, in some things, a lack of foresight, of judgment, 
 and true public spirit, which is injurious to the interests of the 
 place and of their own business. 
 
 THE RIGHT REMEDY. 
 
 I would not describe this village as a bad, or " rough," place. 
 I only mean to say that as to its management of its own interests 
 as a watering-place, or summer resort, there does not seem to 
 be adequate wisdom, energy, or co-operation among its inhabi- 
 tants. An old resident here said to me yesterday, " We 're a 
 slow-goin', sleepy old town — some nice people here, but things 
 goes on rather accidental like." I think it is plain that there is 
 not here, on the ground, such a conjunction of intelligence, 
 organizing powers, pecuniary resources, and efficient public 
 spirit, as is required for the direction of the affairs and enter- 
 prises of the local community in its relation to Niagara Falls and 
 the scenery about them, and to the interest of the American 
 people in the unequalled attractions of this scenery. The truth 
 
 t 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 19 
 
 is that Niagara is too great to bo the possession of any local 
 community, or of the individuals composing it. It should 
 belong to the larger community, the State, or the nation, and 
 be under its care as a possession of the whole people, so that 
 this spectacle may be preserved forever unim])aired, to be to all 
 generations the source of the highest intellectual and spiritual 
 pleasures. It would tend greatly to benefit this town and its 
 people if the State would purchase the land adjacent to the Falls 
 and rapids, and the islands in the river, and assume, as would of 
 course result, the supervision of all business that should be car- 
 ried forward within these limits. And I must do the people 
 here the justice to say that they appear very generally to under- 
 stand this, and to desire the consummation of some plan which 
 shall provide for these changes, 
 
20 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 III. 
 
 [From the Kew York Evening Post, Aug. 17, 1882.] 
 
 CAN TIIFY BE SAVED? -HOW A MILLION DOLLARS COULD 
 HE WELL INVESTED — iVN OPruU'l UNITY TILVT MAY BE 
 LUST IN TWO YEARS. 
 
 Niagara Falls, N. Y., Aug. 15, 1882. 
 
 While the })Cople of this town who are interested in Ning.ira 
 Falls as a watering-iilace or Rummer resort are in a coni|tlaining 
 or discouraged mood, those who arc engaged in manufacturing 
 enterjtrises, or who own lands which offer suitable sites lor shops 
 and factories, are in high spirits. They lament sincerely, I 
 doubt not, the necessity of sacrificing Niagara, and all its beauty 
 and attractiveness, to business and commercial interests. They 
 say, " We should be glad if somebody — if the State — would 
 buy this i)roperty and preserve tlio scenery. But we cannot 
 afford to keep these lands merely for the sake of beauty and the 
 pleasure it will give toother peoi)le, when their use for manufac- 
 turing purposes will yield a large and permanent income." It is 
 not just to blame these persons, nor to impute sordid motives 
 to them, or accuse them of " vandalism " or barbarian tastes. 
 The men who own Goat Island, or the river front along tlie 
 American Rapids, are no more under obligation to sacrifice tlie 
 fortunes of their families in order to provide and maintain a 
 beautiful place of resort for the people of our country than are 
 the farmers of the Genesee Valley or of Southern Illinois. They 
 have the same right that other men have to use their property 
 for their own profit and advantage. These men appear to me 
 to possess as much public spirit as can be found anywhere 
 among the best people of our country. I doubt if any possible 
 change of owners could put this property into much better 
 hands. It seems to be an extremely superficial method of deal- 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 21 
 
 iiig with the qncHtions ami interests involved, which lends to 
 criticism of the hind-owners and nviniifacturers here, — or of 
 any other elnss of the people of thi- town, — as its chief result. 
 It is not the vandalism or soulless j^reed of the people hero 
 which is imperilling Niagara, und which will -oon destroy it 
 fori'ver unless some eflectual interposition prevent* the consuiu- 
 ination of this ruin. It is really •-oicnco, or the ehange^l meth- 
 ods and conditions of life which the modern development of 
 science has produced, that is sweepioi/ away the ancient 
 beauty of this wonderful place, and that thrcjitcns the desola- 
 tion which, if we sutfer it to be com}»lete<l, will be matter of 
 deepest regret to the civilized world for all coming time. Mod- 
 ern improvements in manufacturing appliances and methods, 
 and in the means of transportation, have multii»lied many times 
 the value of the lands ne:ir the Falls as sites for mills, and have 
 rendered the utilization of the immense water-power of the river 
 imperatively necessary. If the State should purchase these 
 lauds, — as it should, in order to preserve the scenery, — tlie 
 water-power could be utilized just as fully, and the mills and 
 shops would be quite as valuable, a little farther away from the 
 Falls. 
 
 WHAT THE LAND WOULD COST THE STATE. 
 
 The purchase by the State of territory which should include 
 all the characteristic scenery connected with the place, all that 
 is really valuable for its beauty in the region about the Falls, 
 would not, in any degree or manner whatever, interfere with 
 the development or application of tlie water-power of Niagara. 
 The water can be taken from the river above the rapids, by 
 means of canals, and carried wlierever it is wanted. There is 
 more room and there are far better sites for factories at some 
 distance away from tlie Falls than can be obtained in their im- 
 mediate vicinity, with just as much water and more fall — far 
 more of both, indeed, than can ever be utilized. It is not pro- 
 posed to injure any private interest in this instimce in order to 
 benefit the public. Nobody is to be forcibly or wrongfully dis- 
 possessed. All the property that is situated within the limits 
 of the proposed reservation should be justly or even generously 
 
22 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 i 
 
 paid for. It is probable that such a measure would encounter 
 little opposition from those Avho would be directly or chiefly 
 affected by it, — the owners of the lands and improvements ly- 
 ing within the region referred to as essential to the restoration 
 and preservation of the scenery about the Falls. It is a won- 
 derful thing that, owing to the conformation of the ground 
 here, and the peculiar grouping of the various objects or places 
 of chief interest, the beauty of the scenery can be restored, and 
 its value retained forever unimpaired, by the appropriation of 
 so small a region or territory for the purposes of a reservation. 
 Goat Island and the smaller islands near it, all taken together, 
 contain bctAveen sixty and seventy acres. The other islands, 
 though very beautiful, are, most of them, very small. Then, on 
 the American side of the river, the extent of ground which 
 would have to be purchased, according to the best plan that has 
 been proposed for a reservation, would be oidy about seventy- 
 seven acres. In 1879, Mr. James I. Gardner, director of the 
 New York Gtate Survey, and Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted re- 
 ported to the Legislature that "on the main shore, by the 
 removal of seven good buildings nud ten of little value, the 
 river front of Niagara village may be cleared from Port Day to 
 Upper Suspension Bridge, giving a belt of public land a mile 
 long and widening from one hundred feet at the head of the 
 rapids to eight hundred feet broad at the Falls, where most 
 room is needed for visitors." The "improvements" on this 
 belt are about tlie same now as when these gentlemen exam- 
 ined the ground and made their admirable and interesting 
 report. Tlie i)robable cost of establishing the proposed reser- 
 vation has been estimated at about $1,000,000. This would be 
 a small sum for the State of Xew York to invest in securing so 
 great a possession and benefit to her people forever. To restore 
 the river shore along the Amciioan Rapids to its pristine beauty 
 would be a real triumi)h of civilization, and a notable instance 
 of the employment of the noble art of landscape gardening in 
 successful co-operation with nature for the attainment of the 
 highest and most beneficent ends. Some of the eldest among 
 my readers can recall the sylvan loveliness and wildness of this 
 shore when it was yet, in great part at least, uudespoilcd and 
 
 J 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 28 
 
 undisfigurecl. Now it is difficult to imagine, if one has not seen 
 it, so much ugliness, untidiness, and, in places, squalor, as one 
 sees on parts of this small belt of land. There are spots that 
 recall tlie dismal, hopelessly littered and neglected look of tho 
 suburbs of some towns in Arkansas. (My readers must say 
 Arkansaio, or they will not feel the full force of this com- 
 parison.) 
 
 THE WORK OP DISFIGUKEMENT. 
 
 Let me quote again from the special report of the Commis- 
 sioners of the State Survey on the Preservation of the Scenery 
 at Niagara Falls : — 
 
 ♦' Half- way between Goat Island and the American side of the river 
 is Bath Island, whose position in the middle of these rapids must have 
 made it a fascinating place in early days. In an evil hour it entered 
 into some man's mind to start a paper-mill there, — small at first, but 
 extending year by year, till, in place of graceful woods, the ground is 
 covered with unsightly sheds and buildings, and tlie rapids above are 
 disfigured by wing-dams and ice-barriers; the whole group forming a 
 shocking contrast to the natural scenery. This paper-mill is, however, 
 only one among the many abominations which mar the beauty of the 
 American Rapids. Their eastern bank was once rich in verdure, and 
 overhung with stately trees. In place of the pebbly shore, the grace- 
 ful ferns, and trailing vines of former days, one now sees a blank 
 stone wall with sewer-like openings, through which tail-races dis- 
 charge; some timber crib-work, bearing in capitals a foot high the 
 inscription, 'Parker's Ilair Balsam;' then, further up stream, more 
 walls and wing-dams. Overlooking this disfigured river brink stands 
 an unsightly rank of buildings in all stages of preservation aud decay; 
 small ' hotels,' mills, carpeiiter shops, stables, ' bazaars,' ice-houses, 
 laundries with clothes hanging out to dry, bath-houses, large, glaring 
 white hotels, and an indescribable assortment of miscellaneous rook- 
 eries, fences, and patent-medicine signs, which add an clcniciit of ruin 
 and confusion to the impression of solid ugliness given by the better 
 class of buildings. And all this is the background to one of the 
 grandest spectacles in the wcrl^, — the rapids of a mighty torrent 
 writhing and foaming in the fury of its downward rush. Is it any 
 wonder that visitors do not desire to remain long in the presence of 
 such discords, but, when the first feehng of curiosity is satisfied, hasten 
 away ? In looking at the Falls from Goat Island or the Canada side, 
 one cannot help seeing these rows of buildings which line the village 
 
 ^ 11 
 
 
 ■■; n 
 
 ' »J 
 
 k\ 
 
 ' i\ 
 
2-1 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 shore of the river. Only one spot invites the eye to rest on its green 
 trees. This is Prospect Park, at the east end of the American Falls. 
 But even here the hand of the progressive owner has torn away the 
 shrubs and rich masses of woodbine that clustered along the edge of 
 the precipice, and in their place are seen walls and structures sup- 
 posed to be for the safety and entertainment of travellers. The Falls 
 themselves uiau cannot touch; but he is fast destroying their beauti- 
 ful frame of foliage, and throwing around them an artificial setting of 
 manufactories and bazaars that rouse in the intelligent visitor deep 
 feelings of regret, and even of resentment." 
 
 It will be observed that, in all that I write of this subject, 
 tlie point of view is the conviction tliat for all tlie disfigure- 
 ment and destruction of the lovely scenery here that has yet 
 taken place, little if any blame rests upon the owners of the 
 land, or, indeed, upon anybody ; or, if anybody is really culpa- 
 ble, the fact is a barren one, and nothing can come of insisting 
 upon it. The gradual, ever-advancing, total ruin of Niagara is 
 inevitable, if the private, personal ownership of the lands under 
 consideration is to continue. Under no possible circumstances 
 could this ruin be prevented and the permanent preservation of 
 the scenery be secured, without the extinguishment of the titles 
 by which the ownership of these lands is now vested in individ- 
 uals, and the conversion of this small territory into a public 
 domain and trust. There are various things worth attention 
 here, in their relations to national civilization and the wisdom 
 and happiness of the American people ; but when regarded in- 
 telligently and seriously, they all converge to this conclusion. 
 
 GOAT ISLAND TO BE SOLD. 
 
 I am infoiTnod that the youngest heir to the estate of which 
 Goat Island is a part will be of age in less than two years from 
 this time, and that steps will then at once be taken for the sale 
 of this property. We already owe much to the Porter family 
 for having so long resisted all effor+s to purchase the island for 
 jiurjioses of perversion and destruction, but their guardianship 
 over this magnificent piece of primeval forest cannot be much 
 longer continued. The sale of the island will soon become a 
 nece.ssity. There was much talk here a few years ago, as well 
 
i' (I 
 
 i' < 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 25 
 
 as in Buffalo and in New York City, of building a great summer 
 hotel on the island, with bowling-alleys, a rifle range, and vari- 
 ous means of amusement for visitors. But solid, practical busi- 
 ness judgment is now in the ascendant here, and people begin 
 to see pretty clearly that, as the woods are cut away, and tlie 
 scenery disfigured and ruined, the number of visitors to Niag- 
 ara diminishes ; and that if Goat Island were dismantled of its 
 beautiful trees, and its ruin completed by the erection of a 
 mammoth hotel and api)liances for popular amusement, the real 
 attractions of the place would be destroyed, and nobody would 
 come to be entertained or amused. The value of hotel prop- 
 erty here is likely to suffer serious decline unless something 
 effective is done to save Xiagara, and it is not probable that 
 new investments of any great magnitude will be made in en- 
 terprises of this class. When Goat Island is sold, if it docs not 
 become the property of the State, it is likely to be purchased 
 for manufacturing j^urposes. Regarded without reference to its 
 value for the high uses of beauty, or its worth to the intellec- 
 tual and spiritual side of man's nature, the island furnishes a 
 convenient site for the greatest factory in the world. Once do- 
 voted to industrial uses, there Avould be no reason whatever 
 why it should not be completely covered with mills and shops 
 and the canals and race-ways supplying them with water. In 
 my first letter I observed that Niagara would not be what it is 
 now if it rolled through a bare, brown desert of stone ; let us 
 extend the terms of the statement a little, and say that it will 
 not help the matter in the least, so far as beauty is concerned, 
 if we pile the stone into gigantic mills and manufactories. 
 
2G 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 IV. 
 
 [From the New York Evening Post, Aug. 29, 18S2.] 
 
 THE CHEAP EXCURSIONS — CHARACTER AND MANNERS OF 
 THE EXCURSIONISTS — IMPENDING RUIN OF NIAGARA — 
 THE DUTY OF THE STATE. 
 
 ', ' 
 
 Niagara Falls, N. Y., Aug. 25, 1882. 
 
 I HAVE been engaged for several weeks this summer in study- 
 ing American civilization and manners as they are observable 
 in the appearance and deportment of visitors and excursionists 
 at Niagara Falls. It has for some years been the fashion to 
 lament the growth, to the enormous proportions they have 
 attained, of cheap excursions to the Falls. They now bring 
 people hither from as far away as the banks of the Mississippi, 
 in great companies of neighbors and friends travelling together, 
 and return them safely to their homes, at so small a cost that, as 
 a matter of fact, nearly everybody who lives in the prosperous 
 " old West," or great interior agricultui*al region of our country, 
 can now aiford to come to Niagara. The fact that many tens 
 of thousands of these people from the farms and the rural towns 
 do come each summer is often spoken of as something to be 
 regretted as one of the most disagi-eeable features of the situa- 
 tion at Niagara. It is said that the presence of the excursion- 
 ists keeps the better class of visitors from coming hither ; that 
 because they come in such nvmibers for their brief stay of a day, 
 or a day and night, many persons of wealth, who would tariy 
 for weeks or months at the great hotels, now remain away 
 altogether, or, if they come at all, make their sojourning but 
 little more protracted than that of the excursionists. This is 
 the view of some hotel-keepers, and of some persons who write 
 pleasant and entertaining letters from the Falls to the news- 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 27 
 
 papers. It is unrloubtedly true that the number of visitors who 
 remain for a considerable time has greatly diminished within a 
 few years, and that this is, in varior.a ways, to many persons, 
 a very serious matter. But, after much observation of the 
 facts and conditions of the situation hero, I incline to the opin- 
 ion that we must look in other directions I'or the principal 
 causes of this diminution. I do not think that many people 
 who wish to come here are kept away by the excursionists. 
 Why should they be ? I have seen nearly every excursion that 
 has come to Niagara this summer, and have gone about the 
 place with the people, observing their proceedings and charac- 
 teristics as thoroughly as possible. They are often described 
 as "rough people," as "crowds of free-and-easy men and 
 women," and their presence here is spoken of as " offensive," 
 and as one of the " vulgarities " of the place. 
 
 CONDUCT OF EXCUKSIONISTS. 
 
 Much of this seems to me rather a European than an Ameri- 
 can view of the matter. Among a hundred thousand people 
 here this summer I have seen little rudeness or coarseness of 
 any kind. There has not been a noisy or boisterous company 
 in Prospect Park, where all excursionists go. The records of 
 the magistrate's court in the village show that there is very 
 little more disorder here than if nobody came to see the Falls. 
 A very great proportion — by far the larger part — of the peo- 
 ple who have come here in excursions this summer were 
 evidently well-bch.aved and reputable members of their commu- 
 nities at home. When we remember that almost every excur- 
 sion party is largely composed of families travelling together, 
 we can understand, what I am sure is the fact, that the behavior 
 of the great mass of excursionists at Niagara is about the same 
 as the behavior of the great mass of the well-to-do, comfortable, 
 respectable people of this country when they are at home. The 
 worst thing I have observed in the conduct or manners of visi- 
 tors of this class is their habit of walking about in the town live 
 or six abreast, so as to crowd people into the gutters from even 
 the very broad sidewalks of the vill.age. A company of young 
 men from the country seemed much surprised when I refused to 
 
 '! \i- 
 
 if 
 
28 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 turn out, and thus halted the entire band of them as they were 
 walking with " locked arms." I explained that the jieople of 
 the town were, equally with themselves, entitled to the use of 
 the sidewalk. They apologized, and broke into couples. Their 
 fault probably resulted from thoughtlessness. 
 
 The excursionists arc criticised for dancing boisterously with- 
 in siiiht of the cataract and within hearinuj of its solemn roar. 
 As to boisterous dancing, I can only say that I have each week 
 attended the "hops" at the principal hotels, which are con- 
 ducted by the guests, people of the highest social position and 
 character, and have also looked on at all the dances in Prospect 
 Park, and there were only very slight differences observable 
 in the nianners of the people at the different entertainments. 
 Young people cannot sit in silence gazing at the Falls, through 
 all of a long summer day, thinking of aisthetic sublimities, or 
 communing with the Absolute and Infinite. I saw one excur- 
 sion which was largely made np of school-teachers from Ohio, 
 Indiana, and Illinois. I talked with some of these, and found 
 that a good many of them come every year. I was interested 
 in learning how they regarded the place and its attractions and 
 opportunities. One woman who is growing old in teaching in 
 the same country neighborhood in Western Ohio said she had 
 been hero every year since the cheap excursions were arranged. 
 " It is a great blessing to many teachers," she went on, " and 
 to other people, of course, that they can come here at such 
 slight expense. If we had to pay the regular fare we could not 
 come at all. This is my one holiday for the year, the oidy 
 indulgence I can afford, and though I live so far away, Niagara 
 is a great deal to me. I do not see how I could live without 
 it." This all seemed reasonable enough, but I was a little sur- 
 prised when she said that she read everything she saw relating 
 to Niagara. I found that she had followed very intelligently 
 the newspaper discussions regarding the progressive destruction 
 of the scenery here, and the need of some interposition to save 
 what remains. She said, " The newspapers say that the col- 
 ored lights are thrown on the Falls to please us excursionists, 
 but they need take no such pains for us. I am sure all intelli- 
 gent people feel disgusted and indignant at the sight." 
 
 h 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 29 
 
 LOCAL OFFENCES. 
 
 I think we should rejoice that it is possible for the people of 
 our country to come in such multitudes and from so great dis- 
 tances to enjoy this wonderful spectacle of Niagara; and if they 
 could be loft to the natural influences of the scenery, all would 
 be well. The excursionists do not bring with them the vulgari- 
 ties and impertinences which make the place disagreeable to 
 intelligent persons. These offences against good taste are es- 
 tablished and maintained here in the rivalry of the proprietors 
 of the different points of approach to the river. This competi- 
 tion develops more and more sensational and vulgar efforts to 
 attract sight-seers. Such shows help to corrupt the public 
 taste, doubtless, but it is not fair to say that the popular taste 
 produces or requires them. They all result from the private 
 ownership of the land at all the points from which the river or 
 the Falls can be seen, and no essential reform or improvement 
 in these repects is possible while this continues. 
 
 SHOP-GIRLS AND CUSTOMERS. 
 
 For some of the " annoyances " of which visitors to Niagara 
 complain they are themselves often chiefly responsible. Tims 
 the young women at the " Indian stores " and bazaars are blamed 
 for inviting passers-by to come inside. But they do so because 
 strangei*s stop at the tables or show-cases outside and examine 
 or handle the goods. If people will proceed directly upon their 
 errands, and not themselves invite the attentions of the shop- 
 girls, I think they will never be asked to enter a shop or to buy 
 anything. But most visitors appear to regard the shops as 
 museums, or places for the free exhibition of " curiosities," merely 
 for the entertainment of strangers, and many, even of the " car- 
 riage people," manifest greater interest in looking at the queer 
 goods in the bazaars than in seeing the Falls, or any part of the 
 wonderful scenery here. A few evenings ago I was observing 
 the movements and characteristics of a crowd of people in one 
 of the largest of these places, when a well-dressed young man 
 entered and began a tour of the store. One of the young women 
 advanced, and courteously asked if he wished to look at any 
 
 II 
 
30 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 particular class of goocls. She accompanied him to every show- 
 case in tlic room, exhibiting the goocls, and replying to his con- 
 stant questioning. He occupied more than half an hour in this 
 inspection, and bought nothing; and I noted, as lie passed me 
 in going out, that he did not even thank the young woman, or 
 in any way acknowledge the patient courtesy of which he had 
 been the object. After much observation in these places it 
 seems to nie not entirely just to apply the term " low " to the 
 shop-girls here. Most of them live here, and many are mem- 
 bers of the churches of the village, and are regarded by those 
 who have the best opj)ortunities for knowing them as young 
 women of good character. No one Avho comes hither to enjoy 
 the scenery need be in fear of annoyance at the hands of the 
 shop-girls. 
 
 GOOD AND BAD MANXEKS. 
 
 Most of the impressions derived from my observation of 
 American manners, character, and civilization at Niagara, are 
 favorable and encouramncc rather than otherwise. There are 
 some exceptions, of course. There is often room for consider- 
 able imjirovement in manners. I saw in Prospect Park a coarse 
 fellow, with grimy hands and clothing, serving a ])arty of young 
 girls with ice-cream Avhile he smoked a cheap cigar and puffed 
 the smoke in their faces. The crowds are, in general, wonder- 
 fully well-behaved. One thing, which is, as I am told, in large 
 degree peculiar to America, is most gratifying here and else- 
 where, — that is, the behavior of young men and Avomen when 
 together. It is somewhat common of late to hear our customs 
 and methods of social life in this particular respect compared 
 with those of European countries in a manner unfavorable to 
 our habits and character. But the great mass of American 
 young men care more for the society, or "company," of the 
 young women of their acquaintance than they do for lascivious 
 pleasures, and the young women are far more secure from evil 
 than they would be if European ideas of the relations between 
 the sexes were generally adopted by our people. 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 81 
 
 THE REAL CAUSE OP NIAGARA'S DECLINE. 
 
 I SCO two classes of fivcts at Niagara. There is abundant 
 proof that there is a hirge class or luunbor of i)eople in our 
 country who feel the charm and worth of beautiful scenery, and 
 who find great delight and refreshment in the natural loveliness 
 and grandeur peculiar to this place. Each year people of this 
 class are less and less inclined to visit Niagara, and their aver- 
 sion is due to the increasing disfigurement and destruction of 
 the scenery. The desolation and ugliness through which one 
 must now pass to reach Goat Island, and all the best places 
 from which to see the Falls, repel far more of the better class 
 of visitors than are kept away by the i)resence of the excur- 
 sionists. It may, or may not, be strange, but it appears to be 
 true, that the people who are interested in " commercial enter- 
 prises " near the Falls have no feeling for beauty, and some ot 
 them appear to have a morbid and horrible delight in littered 
 and disorderly ugliness. This belongs to the saddening, dis- 
 couraging class of facts respecting our national character and 
 feeling. "We have multitudes of peojile who cut and destroy 
 the finest trees and shrubs about the Falls (the excursionists 
 are not worse than other visitors), and who cut up and pull to 
 pieces, whenever it is possible, the seats and railings provided 
 for their pleasure and safety. At many points on Goat Island 
 from which good views can be obtained comfortable seats fur- 
 nish opportunity for rest. Each one must be constructed of 
 heavy timber, and have an iron rod attached, which holds it to 
 a broad foot, or anchor, many feet underground, or it would be 
 torn up and thrown into the river. Well-dressed " ladies " 
 stand by and applaud Avhile the "gentlemen " of their party do 
 these things. In what schools, Sunday schools, and churches, 
 are these people educated, and what is the nature of the instruc- 
 tion by which their character is formed ? 
 
 The danger of complete extinction, which now menaces all 
 Niagara's natural loveliness, arises primarily from the fact that 
 we have, in our national character, so little feeling or regard 
 for beauty, or for anything beautiful. Those who find refresh- 
 ment, delight, and spiritual sustenance in beauty of any kind 
 
 i 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 are comparatively so few that tlicy have little influenco, and 
 they do not constitute a class ; thoy have no voice, no aim, no 
 co-operation. Doubtless, if evt-n the few cared enough for such 
 spiritual verities, they wouM find some means for the propaga- 
 tion of their faith in them. The masses in our well-to-do de- 
 mocracy feel no discomfort from hideous ugliness and vulgarity 
 in the objects and scenery around them at home. Our wealtliy 
 manufacturers buy costly pictures which they do not understand, 
 while the village sites which they own, and the grounds around 
 their mills and tenement-houses, are arid wastes of litter, filth, 
 and squalor. Even dealers in flower-seeds in our country choose 
 to f.dvertise their business by means of repulsive pictures. There 
 is an enonnous popular appetite for things grotesque, monstrous, 
 and vulgar, for thorough, debasing ugliness. Our young people 
 are being taught to enjoy comic lives of the world's saints and 
 heroes. We behold, without remonstrance or regret, the de- 
 struction of sylvan scenery of exquisite loveliness along the 
 streams of the Adirondack region, wrought for the sake of 
 making those wildwood river-channels navigable for vulgar and 
 wholly unnecessary little steamboats. (They are vulgar be- 
 cause they are wholly unnecessary and out of place.) 
 
 I observe that it is common to say of the Falls that they have 
 an eternal beauty which man cannot destroy, and that whatever 
 may be done by capitalists and manufacturers, Niagara will bo 
 " a joy forever," etc. The truth is that manufacturers and iiapi- 
 talists can wholly destroy the beauty of the Falls, and they are 
 likely to do so, and to make the place one in which no human 
 being can ever feel joy again. Another misconception is the 
 notion that the people here have so impaired their property, 
 and lowered its value, that they are now anxious to have the 
 State, or the country, take it off their hands, paying them a 
 good price for it, and that they are likely, by and by, to 
 " beg to sell out." Nothing could be farther from the truth. 
 The value of the land here is increasing year by year, and 
 what threatens the final destruction of Niagara is the fact 
 that the very land which is essential to the beauty here has 
 become so valuable for manufacturing purposes that the present 
 owners cannot afford to keep it for the sake of the scenery. 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 These errors should bo corrected, and should not hcreai'tcr bo 
 repeated by journals of character and influence. 
 
 If the people of the State of New York shall decree the pur- 
 chase and preservation of Niagara, it will be an important step 
 in its bearing upon national character and civilization. It will 
 help to prepare us for wiser treatment of some matters of serious 
 moment than we have hitherto been able to give them. 
 
84 
 
 NlAGAliA FALLS. 
 
 [From the Boston Advertiser^ Aug. 3, 1882.] 
 
 THE RESIDENTS DESPONDENT AT THE DEARTH OF VISIT- 
 ORS — THE CAUSES WHICH HAVE BUnUJHIT THE FALLS 
 INTO DISREPUTE — A PRACTICAL REMEDY SUGGESTED. 
 
 NiAGAiu Falls, N. Y., July 29, 1882. 
 
 TriTc people of the town are despondent this summer. The 
 number of visitors to the F.alls is much less than usual, and 
 some of the best hotels are not nearly half full. As most of 
 the people of the place are largely or wholly dependent on its 
 character as a summer resort or watering-] dace for the means of 
 subsistence, they have reason for feeling, as they express it, 
 " mighty blue." It has, for the most part, been a cool summer 
 here ; but when I refer to this fact, and predict a rush of visitors 
 on account of the wanner weather which h.as recently begun, 
 the older residents shake their heads, and s.iy, " Yes, we hojio 
 so ; but things have changed. Niagara will never be what it 
 has been unless something is done." This oj)inion seems to bo 
 well founded. JNIen who have always been connected with 
 "the Falls business" say frankly that people do not like to 
 come here so well as formerly ; th.at the special attractions and 
 points of interest have been multiplied beyond reason ; that 
 there are too many hackmen, too many " Indian stores," too 
 many hotels. All this is prob.ably true. 
 
 I have met here this summer, as at the time of other visits, a 
 good many elderly gentlemen who, remembering their enjoy- 
 ment here " in the old times," as they phrase it, come back now 
 with their children and grandchildren, to enjoy the young peo- 
 ple's surprise at their first vision of the grandeur and beauty 
 peculiar to the place. But the young people wonder that the 
 
MAG A HA FALLS. 
 
 85 
 
 elilors hIiouM h:vvo hoou ho much hero, and tlic t'lth-rs thciMsolvt'a 
 nro diH!i|)jH)iutc'il !iii«l indigiiaut. Thoy laiiu'iit lliu loss of ull 
 the wiNhicss from the Aim'ri(!aii sido of tho rivt'i', the all-pur- 
 vatHiif; itii| crtiiit'iiou iyf tliu hackmcn, tlio perpetual solieitalioii 
 (»f piitronaijje l»y various claHses of people, and llie horrible vul- 
 garity of the eolol'td eleetric lights. Many of iheiu say that 
 tweiity-five years ago t was pleasant to remain hero for several 
 weeks, hut now " one day and two nights is enough ; " and tlio 
 younger lolk arc equally ready to seek other scenes after this 
 brief stay. 
 
 I have also talked with some business men from New York 
 City, from nutfalo and Rochester, who say that Niagara is really 
 already destroyed, — the old or true Niagara, — that is, that its 
 character as a place appealing to the heart and imagination by 
 its wondrous beauty and grandeur has already been taken from 
 it, and that, considering the temper anil character of tlu; Amer- 
 ican people, and the tendencies of the niodi'rn world, this char- 
 acter can never he restored to it. They say, "The Stale ought, 
 of course, to buy it and preserve it forever, but it will not; 
 or the National Government ought to interfere to stop this 
 huddling of Victories and (lung-hea))S right around the Falls. 
 Something — anything — ought to be done, but nothing will 
 be. AVe shall mak(f chtth and paper, flour and beer and whis- 
 key, with this unlimited power, and the people who like to look 
 at beautilul things must go somewhere where we can't build 
 mills." "No," said one of the company, alter remarks like 
 these, " the artistic people can go over yonder to the art gallery 
 in the i)ark." 
 
 Let us consider some of the matters here suggested. Recog- 
 nizing as I do the uiietpudled value of Niagara as a source or 
 means of strength, refreshment, and ha|)piness for 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 still of the 
 opinion that if the gro\md about the Falls were really needed 
 for cotton and })aper mills, or any other necessary and produc- 
 tive human industries, it would be right to take it and appro- 
 priate and occupy it for these objects. We shall liave a vast 
 
 
 I 
 
86 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 and crowded population in this part of our country before any 
 great time has ehipsed, and we arc preparing conditions here in 
 Anierica under whicli the mass of men must, in large degree, 
 live Ibr bread for themselves, and little beyond. Whenever 
 there is a real conllict or antagonism between economic, business 
 or industrial interests on the one hand, and ideal or rcsthetic 
 considerations on the other, the latter must give way, and 
 rightly, because they are secondary or subordinate when com- 
 pared with the necessities ofpliysical subsistence. 
 
 But in this case of Niagara Falls, and the question of its 
 preservation or destruction, there is really no such antagonism 
 between practical business interests and those whidi are ideal 
 and spiritual. There is no good reason for " huddling factories 
 around the Falls," — no need of it whatever. I think it the 
 idlest thing in the world ior anybody who desires the preserva- 
 tion of the scenery here for ideal and spiritual uses to decry or 
 contemn the connnercial spirit or business energy of our time, 
 or to lament its application to this particidar object, — the util- 
 ization of the water-power of Niagara for manufacturing pur- 
 poses. He is a ]ioor, shallow ])oet or artist who can see only 
 the poetic or artistic si<le 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 innnortal power and beauty. 
 
 Build the factories, then, and let Niagara turn their wheels. 
 But where shall the factories stand? It Avould be a most 
 insane and outrageous thing to place them here, amid these 
 scenes unparalleled on the planet. It would be a wholly wan- 
 ton sacrilege, a profanation unusually culpable, because entirely 
 unnecessary. The Niagara River above the Falls lies so high 
 above all the country below them that the water can be taken 
 almost anywhere away irom the river channel. Only a very 
 small region immediately adjacent to the cataract and the rap- 
 ids, 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 en- 
 dowed, as no other place on the globe is endowed, with qualities 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 37 
 
 suitcfl to refresh, elevate, and gladden the mind and heart of 
 civilized man forever. It is a sad error and wrong that this 
 small territory, Avhich 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 ])roperty 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 sell-denying 
 frugality, save from the price of their labor the means tor a pil- 
 grimage to this shrine of ideal and spiritual reality. 
 
 For we must have something besides fiotories, 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, gentlemen 
 capitalists and manufacturers, the laborer must toil happibj, 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 the 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 1 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 
 
 II 
 
38 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 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 
 wbich cares for liim as one of the great brotherhood of her 
 cliildren. 
 
 All this may be realized if the plan for the purchase by the 
 State of the land immediately contiguous to the Falls is taken 
 up and carried forward by the men foremost for business abil- 
 ity, intelligence, and patriotism in the State of New York. But 
 there is need for earnest and prompt action on their part. Al- 
 ready there are mills and factories of various kinds where no 
 factory or shoj) should ever have been built. Some of these are 
 being enlarged. One beautiful island has been entirely de- 
 stroyed for all purposes of beauty of scenery. Others are 
 threatened by the same destiny. The river bank along the 
 whole extent of the American rapids has been denuded of the 
 beautiful forest growth of trees and vines which formerly gave 
 it such loveliness, and is now disfigured by a long array of un- 
 sightly buildings, — mills, sheds, houses, barns, etc. 
 
 A strip of land about a hundred feet wide here, broadening 
 to some eight hundred or a thousand feet in width around the 
 American side of the Prills, — this, with Goat Island and the 
 other islands in the river, forms the extent of the proposed res- 
 ervation. Many peojile iiere appear eager to have the State 
 (Obtain control of the Falls, believing that such a change would 
 be of great benefit to all the interests of the town. Knowing 
 that many sous of the Old Bay State are now business men in 
 tho city and State of New York, I send this notice of aifairs 
 here to the readers of the " Advertiser," 
 
 t 
 

 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 89 ! 
 
 'the forest 
 
 
 ! 
 
 ^onl, and is 
 
 
 1 
 
 a country 
 
 
 
 nod of her 
 
 
 
 lase by the 
 lis is taken 
 
 VI. 
 
 
 siness abil- 
 Yoik. But 
 
 IFrom the New York Tribune, Aug. 23, 1882.] 
 
 
 ' part. Al- 
 3 -Nvhcre no 
 
 AN INLAND RESORT. 
 
 
 of these are 
 ■ntircly de- 
 Others are 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS: THEIR TRUE INFLUENCE, ROWER, 
 SPIRIT, AND THEIR IMPENDING RUIN. 
 
 AND 
 
 \i aloncc the 
 ided of the 
 rmerly gave 
 array of un- 
 
 broadening 
 around the 
 ind and the 
 roposed res- 
 e the State 
 lange would 
 . Knowing 
 less men in 
 ce of affairs 
 
 Niagara Falls, N. Y., Aug. 21, 1882. 
 
 OxE of the positions where one seems to approach nearest to 
 the very seat and throne of the grandeur of this place is at the 
 end of the bridge or platform at the west side of Goat Island, 
 which extends for some distance over the waters of the Great 
 or Horseshoe Fall. This affords the most perfect view of the 
 central portions of the great cataract. It is perhaps the place 
 at which one should linger longest. The soul of Niagara is 
 there, visible yet elusive, revealed fitfully, Avith features and 
 elements which are essential to natural scenes of the very highest 
 order of interest and wonderfulness. The awful beauty of the 
 water in the deeper portions o'' the current, as it rolls over the 
 brow of the precipice; its strange and indescribably impressive 
 color; the apparent slowness of its calm motion in the first few 
 yards of its downward course, which somehow seems an image 
 or actual revelation of eternity, — these things make one feel as 
 if he ouidit not to come to the place too often, as if on some 
 days, or in some moods, he ought not to come at all. 
 
 Then there is another feature of marvellous beauty and at- 
 tractive, engaging interest here. I can only indicate, not de- 
 scribe, its character. From the centre of the Great Fall, or 
 extreme upper part of the curve (which has of late years been 
 cut so far back by the current that it now bears little real resem- 
 
40 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 
 t 
 
 bianco to the form of a horseshoe), there arises a peculiar tlis- 
 play of mist, or white vapor, produced by the concussion of the 
 water against the rocks below. If this were constant in char- 
 acter, or of unilbrni appearance, it miglit be beautiful, perhaps ; 
 but it could not have the strange power of fascination which it 
 now possesses, — the power to hold one watching for hours its 
 fitful, irregular, always startling returns, and to beckon and 
 draw him back from distant lands to seek the same spot and 
 yield himself again to the spell. From the gulf below, at this 
 heart of the Great Fall, there arises now and then what may be 
 described as a great upward explosion of the mist, reminding 
 one of the play of volcanic forces or the spouting of an enor- 
 mous geyser. A great column <jf white vapor is suddenly shot 
 upward, far above the top of the fall. The explosive force still 
 seems to be at play in the heart of it as it rises, and with a 
 swid flashing motion the top of the column expands on every 
 side, forming a mighty don^e, which for the time of one quick 
 glance sometimes looks like solid marble, but is in a moment all 
 unbuilt and dissolved again. At other times the freakish wind 
 leaps at the column as it reaches its greatest height, and drives 
 and scatters it all abroad in strange forms, that seem almost to 
 have meaning and purpose. 
 
 A little farther east than this is a place at which slender 
 jets of water and spray are projected perpendicularly to a great 
 height. Sometimes a great number of these appear, springing 
 upward, side by side, slightly unequal in altitude, and looking, 
 "for one transcendent moment," just before they begin to waver 
 and sink, not domelike, but like a great cluster of delicate Gothic 
 spires or pinnacles. The background of the picture of which 
 these mist projections and creations form the centre, is, on the 
 right, the face of the western side of the Great Fall ; on the 
 left it is the breadth of the river above, filled from shore to 
 shore, and to the sky-line in the distance, by the glad, eager 
 dance, and hun-ying, wanton rush of the rapids. Here, if any- 
 where, one can forget the burden of care, of " greetings where 
 no kindness is," and the inevitable vulgarities of the struggle 
 for the survival of tlie strongest. It seems as if one had been 
 admitted to the primal home of the forces which made the 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 41 
 
 world and can unmake it again, and had found thorn in full 
 
 . play- 
 
 Another scene of perfect, unsurpassable grace and power, 
 displayed in forms wholly unlike those I have just described, is 
 the region at the head of Goat Island, including the many small 
 islands there, and the swift, arrowy currents dividing them, 
 with the Avide expanse of plunging, rock-tormented water be- 
 yond. In places the river is as rough as a storm-swept sea. 
 But the manifestation of power here is not greater than that of 
 beauty. The scene is full of grace and delicacy, of influences 
 most jjotent to soothe and gladden and refresh the spirit of 
 man. It is fitted, in a remarkable degree, to inspire, " vital 
 feelings of delight." This upper end of Goat Island is probably, 
 for most people, the best of Niagara. It is not likely that there 
 is anywhere else on the globe so much beauty and interest of 
 the very highest character and variety, displayed in a region so 
 small as this. All the conditions appear to be perfect, and for 
 the higher uses of the human spirit the scenery is of inestimable 
 worth. If, now, people could be brought to think a little, so as 
 to understand what is most essential in the conditions and ele- 
 ments which constitute this perfect charm and loveliness, it 
 would be well for them ; they would regard their possession in 
 this unparalleled landscape with deep and passionate delight, 
 instead of the languid, superficial interest, scarcely above in- 
 difference, with which they now usually thiidc of it, at least 
 when they are not here. What then is it that gives its peculiar 
 potency to the a])peal which nature here makes to the heart 
 and imagination of man? The water — the river — is not the 
 whole of it. This alone, or in association with masses of bare 
 rock of the same size and form with tlie islands, Avould not be 
 especially beautiful. The spiritual power and grace of the 
 scene, its peculiar and delicate charm and delightfulncss, would 
 be wholly destroyed if the trees and shrubs and vines which 
 now cover the islands with the glory of their foliage were re- 
 moved. There is a natural congruity and harmony between 
 the forms and appearances of swiftly tossing waters, with their 
 bright, glancing rush and passionate dance, and the forms of 
 the native vegetation as nature shapes them. One soul of 
 
 6 
 
I 
 
 42 
 
 NIAOARA FALLS. 
 
 ) 
 
 il 
 
 S J 
 
 grandeuv ancl beauty pervades these gigantic trees (which Ptoocl 
 licre, extending tlicir bouglis abroad in the sweet air and light, 
 before our nation's liistory began), with the umbrageous tliickets 
 and festooning vines which crowd around tlieir feet, and the 
 broad and generous waters which nourish and sustain them all. 
 The river, with the loveliness of its dividing flow, and the 
 mighty trees, with their masses of draping foliage, belong to- 
 gether, and together they build and perpetuate the surpassing 
 beauty and wonder of the scene, creating it anew each year 
 Ibrever. If the trees were removed, the scenery here, with all 
 its peculiar interest and beauty, would be entirely and irre- 
 trievably ruined. 
 
 The trees with their foliage form gi'cen barriers and leafy 
 screens, cool arbors and entrancing vistas, and the imagination 
 is quickened and exalted as the eye is caught by the white 
 gleam of the free streams flashing through the natural, irregular 
 ojtenings in the green foliage. It is all beautiful here at first 
 sight, bul this also is a region which should be seen in quietness 
 and peace, with time enough for the mind to feel the spell of 
 the place, and to respond to its influences of glad and soothing 
 repose. This part of the scenery of Niagara has peculiar attrac- 
 tions for thonglitful, earnest women, and is greatly enjoyed by 
 them. It mighi be said that feminine characteristics are pre- 
 dominant in the local qualities here, — in the brightness and free- 
 dom, and the gay, cajnicious motion which on every side invite 
 the eye, — and it is all brooded over by a si)irit of deep and joyous 
 peace. At the Great Fall one feels the power of sterner, more 
 masculine elements, of massive strength and grandeur, and of 
 eternal, inexorable doom. The fateful element, the suggestion 
 of teiTor, the glad, unpitying play of resistless power, is, indeed, 
 everywhere present at Niagara, the fierceness of the tigress 
 under all the shrouding beauty, and making part of it ; but this 
 is true of many kinds of beauty, and of some of the highest 
 things in human life, and the value and gladness of life are not 
 destroyed or lessened, but greatened thereby. 
 
 The beauty and charm of Niagara are not warm or sensuous 
 or tropical, but pure and bright and spiritual, belonging, as 
 already noted, to the realm of thought, and appealing to the 
 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 43 
 
 ensuous 
 
 higher faculties of the sonl of man. And this beauty and charm 
 are not in the Falls alone, or even in the river alone. The in- 
 terest and the value of the place depend even more upon the 
 natural forest growth covering the islands and the banks of the 
 river, the complex effect of the shrouding foliage, the solitudes 
 thus created, and the natural shrines and sanctuaries of beauty, 
 not yet marred and defiled by the hand of man, or desecrated 
 by disfiguring buildings. If the trees on Goat Island and on all 
 the smaller islands were cut down, and all the natural shrubbery 
 and greenery destroyed, as it is probable will soon be done, the 
 river would of course remain, and the waters would of necessity 
 still pour over the precipice, as now. IJut Niagara Avould be 
 destroyed beyond the possibility of restoration. All that now 
 constitutes its peculiar cliarm, and its value as a source of quick- 
 ening and life to the human spirit, all that now makes it a 
 precious possession to the American people and to mankind, 
 would have departed forever. 
 
 I am told that Lhcre are many people who do not understand 
 this, because the truth and reason of the matter have never 
 been presented to them. None of us know or understand such 
 things until we learn them, until somebody teaches us their 
 truth. If there are people who think that Ning.ira Falls would 
 still be interesting, attractive, and valuable as a spet^tacle of 
 grandeur and beauty, after the woods on the islands and river- 
 banks shall have been removed, and Mhen wing-dams sjjrawl 
 in every part of the American rapids, apportioning the drudging 
 waters to their several race-ways and mill-wheels, — they are 
 in error, through not fully understanding the matter, aiul by 
 reason of not having sufficiently examined it. They would 
 themselves, if these disfiguring changes should be accomplished, 
 find Niagara entirely devoid of interest except in the direction 
 of its commercial value, as a source of power for mills and fac- 
 tories. (This can as well be applied, and the water-power ot 
 the Niajxara River can be utilized to anv desired degree, without 
 injury to the scenery about the Falls, but Goat Island is not the 
 place for manufactures of any kind.) 
 
 If the business enterpiises now contemplated arc carried for- 
 ward, Niagara will be one of the saddest, most painful scenes 
 
Ti 
 
 44 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 on the globe to all tlioughtful civilized men. They will behold 
 here the utter desolation and ruin of one of the fairest and 
 most precious possessions of the human race, the destruction by 
 our happy-go-lucky democracy of what should become one of 
 the chief sources of civilized enjoyment and spiritual delight to 
 the American people forever. 
 
 ^l 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 r 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 46 
 
 VII. 
 
 [From the New York Tribune, Aug. 20, 1882.] 
 
 DEFACEMENT OF SUBLIME SCENERY : THE COLORED-LIGHT 
 ABOMINATION — ROOKERIES AND RUBBISII-IIEAPS — EVIL 
 EFFECT OF SUCH EXHIBITIONS ON PUBLIC MORALS — 
 THE CALL FOR PROMPT ACTION BY THE STATE. 
 
 Niagara Falls, N. Y., Avg. 23, 1882. 
 
 There arc some things at Niagara Falls whicli belong to tlie 
 lowest and worst world of which man knows anything; to a 
 world whose elements and inliiiences are worse than wicked- 
 ness or ])ositive wrong-doing, — the realm of ugliness and vul- 
 garity, of influences which defile and befoul what is beautiful 
 and admirable, and so corrupt and poison the sources of life and 
 excellence. The tendency of friendly familiarity with ugliness 
 and vulgarity is to make the people not so much immoral as un- 
 moral ; it leads to regions and conditions of life where the devel- 
 opment of the moral sense, of the inuigination, and of all high 
 qualities or faculties of the mind of man, is impossible. Nature's 
 Niagara is — or rather Av.as — one of the grandest and loveliest 
 places on the globe. Some portions and features of this origi- 
 nal Niagara still remain, — enough of them to be well worth 
 preserving, — but they are, nearly all of them, likely soon to be 
 destroyed. Much of the natural loveliness, of the old charm, 
 of Niagara has already been obliterated and replaced by agen- 
 cies and influences jiotent to vulgarize and debase the young 
 and untaught of the American people who for any reason visit 
 this spot which Nature made sacred to beauty and to all high 
 influences. 
 
 The best j.lace to visit first, on arrival here, is the point at 
 the top of the American F.all on the " continental " side, that 
 
40 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 ■' I 
 
 
 ii 
 
 is, nearest to the village. It is right and natural to begin 
 here, because the view from this point is more moderate, 
 or less striking and wonderful, than the view of the same tall 
 from Goat Island. It is the true j)lace for the first view of 
 the Falls, and the scene, in its natural aspects, is indescribably 
 beiiutil'ul. One of America's foremost writers, whose works 
 have probably ndnistered a pure and wholesome delight to u 
 greater number of readers than those of any other American 
 author, tells us, in his history of a certain never-to-be-forgotten 
 journey to Niagara Falls, that as the visitors approached this 
 spot, they enjoyed, " at every instant, their feeling of arrival at 
 a sublime destination;" and he adds, " In this sense Niagara 
 deserves almost to rank with Rome, the metropolis of history 
 and religion ; with Venice, the chief city of sentiment and fan- 
 tasy. In either you are at once made at home by a percei)tion 
 of its greatness, in which there is no quality of aggression, as 
 there always seems to be in minor places, as well as in nnnor 
 men, and you gratefully accept its sublimity as a fact in no way 
 contrasting with your own insignificance." 
 
 Lei me quote further, for I have a purpose : — 
 
 " In fact, that prodigious presence does make a solitude and silence 
 round every siiirit wortliy to perceive it, and it gives a kind of dignity 
 to all its belongings, so tiiat the rocks and pebbles in the water's edge, 
 and tlie weeds and grasses that nod above it, have a value far beyond 
 that of such comiuon things elsewhere. In all the aspects of Niagara 
 there seems a grave simplicity, which is perhaps a reflection of the 
 spectfvtor"s soul, for once utterly dismantled of affectation and con- 
 vention. 
 
 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 per- 
 fectly clear radiance, better than any other for local color, dvv'elt upon 
 the scene. Far under the bridge the river smoothly ran, the under- 
 currents forever unfolding themselves upon the surface with a vast 
 roselike evolution, edgpd all round with faint lines of white, where 
 the air that filled the water freed itself in foam. What had been clear 
 
 i 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 47 
 
 green on the f.ace of the cataract was here more like rich verd antique, 
 and had a look of finiiiicss almost like that of tiio stouc itself. So it 
 showed bouoath the bridi^'c, and down the river till tho curviiii^ shores 
 hid it. These, springing abruptly from the water's brink, and .shagged 
 with pine and cedar, disfjlayed tho tender verdure of grass and bushes 
 uitermingled with the dark evergreens that climb from ledge to ledge, 
 till they point their si)eary tops above the crest of tho blulfs. In 
 front, where tumbled rocks and expanses of naked clay varied tho 
 gloonner and gayer green, sprung thu.se spectral niLsts ; and through 
 them loomed out, in its manifold nuije.sty, Niagara, with the seen»- 
 ingly immovable, white (iothic screen of the Amtrican Fall, and the 
 green massive curve of the Ilorse-Shoe, solid and simple and calm as 
 an Egyptian wall ; while behind this, with their white and black ex- 
 panses broken by dark-foliaged little isles, the steep Canadian rapids 
 billowed down between their heavily wooded shores." 
 
 Tho last paragraph describes the view from the now suspen- 
 sion bridge, just below the Falls. Those jinssages present, with 
 tlie delicacy and accuracy possible to genius alone, a picture of 
 the scone wliidi is repeated almo.st every evening through 
 weeks of fair sununer weather every year. But now it is suc- 
 ceeded every iiiglit, almost before the sunset lines are fully with- 
 drawn, by an indescribably painful and debasing exhibition. 
 Electric lights are thrown througli variously colored gla.sses, 
 full upon "the white Gothic screen of tho American Fall, and 
 the green, massive curve of the Ilorse-Shoo." Blue and red 
 and yellow rays are shot suddenly hither and thither upon 
 the billowy rapids, and the boys who manage tho lights amuse 
 themselves by Hashing their intolerable brilliance in tho fates 
 of people wherever they can be seen within range, and thus 
 driving them from place to place to escape the blinding glare. 
 When a rod glass is used the American P""all has the appear- 
 ance of the discharge-way of an enormous beet-sugar manu- 
 factory. When the yellowish glass is interposed the cataract 
 looks much like the " tail-race" of an old-time wild-cat distillery 
 on the Lower Maumee. 
 
 I w^as once riding on horseback near the Maumee River, in 
 company with several Methodist ministers, when the wind 
 brought to us very distinctly the odors from a distillery across 
 the valley, half a mile away. The foremost man in the group 
 
48 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 iy 
 
 ■'I 
 
 wn« a vovy earnest tcMtipcranoe ndvoonte. As tlio seont renelied 
 us lie snilll'il two or three times, then turned in the saddle, and 
 observeil, " I siuell hell." We have not this particular rr.ij^ranee 
 lit the Kails as yet, hut even this may be liere before many years 
 have passed, for one of the projects "for the developnu'ut of tlio 
 resources of Niai^ara" talked of here is the erection of a mam- 
 moth distillery on (loat Island. 
 
 As things are now, the evening exhibition at the Falls on the 
 American side resembles the combination of a ]>oor circus with 
 ji cheap celebration of the Fourth of July. No descri|ttion can 
 give to those who have not seen it an adequate notion of the 
 abominable effect of the colored electric liglits when directed 
 ujion the Falls, It is debasing, vulg.irizing, and horrible in the 
 extreme. That chihb'en and young peojde should be exposed 
 to tlie influence of such a spectacle is matter for dec])est regret 
 and sadness. It is evident that neither the ])eople who make 
 tliis exhibition nor those who enjoy it would have any rooted 
 objection agiiinst the actual defilement of these crystal waters, 
 as their taste is actually so perverted that they liave no joy in 
 their ]turity or beauty, but have a morbid and diseased pleasure 
 in their being made to look as if they were disgustingly be- 
 fouled and impure. Wordsworth's phrase, " vital feelings of 
 delight," is a most pregnant and suggestive expression ; for there 
 are deatlly feelings of delight as well as vital ones, and if young 
 people are not surrounded by beautiful and ennobling objects 
 and si)ectacle8, many of them will come to delight in things 
 that are false, debasing, antl monstrous. These evil intluences 
 propagate themselves according to natural and universal laws, 
 and this exhibition of Niagara Falls in colors, by means of 
 electric lights, is a kind of evil missionary agency for the educa- 
 tion of the young ])eo])le of America in the love of vulgarity 
 and ugliness. It is the fashion here to praise this exhibition as 
 something beautiful and "artistic," and it is often painful to 
 hear peo])le talking such rubbish who ought to know better. 
 But it is always a little dull in the crowd of those who watch 
 the lights, and if anybody starts a conversation with a com- 
 panion many will listen, and, if propriety admits, as when a 
 general subject is discussed, will express agreement or approval. 
 
 -: i 
 
MAG AHA FALLS. 
 
 49 
 
 After 1 liad boon lioro for some tlmo tlu^ Runimor, hntvj; wojiry 
 of lioarin;:; KonsiUlo-lookiiiu; men and wonun say, "()|i, liow 
 boautil'iil!" and " Is n't that lovoly?" I asked a ij;cnlleni!in at 
 the hotel to go down with me ono evening and help me try the 
 eff'cc-t of expressing dissent and dissalislliction. lie eonsenteil, 
 and we were in the company at the purapet at Prospect I'nint 
 when tlio red lights were turned on the bi'autit'iil ciiscade. We 
 looked at it for a few moments, until the people around iis Ixgan 
 to talk, and then my friend observed earnestly that the exliibili(*n. 
 Avas in wretcliedly bad taste, and tended to cheapen and degrade 
 a sublime and ncjbh^ spectacle, that it suggested a '' variety " 
 entertainment in :i dance-liall in a mining town, an<I that it 
 seemed as if the next thing should be tin' appearance of a girl 
 in tights, with cymbals, to sing a comic song. I addi'd that, as 
 all the people had either seen the Falls during the day, or would 
 do so on the morrow, it would be far better if we could (piietly 
 enjoy the beauty an<l wonder of the scene by the natural light 
 of the moon and stars. We talked in this way for a few mo- 
 ments, and many j)ersons near us expressed similar ideas and 
 sentiments, and some even said, "Let us go ; I do not care to 
 look at that." As wo walked back to the hotel the gentleman 
 said, " I had seen it many times, but really I never thought 
 before how ugly and unnatural it looked." Since then, as the 
 company is mainly a new one each evening at the Point, we 
 have repeated the experiment several limes, with similar results. 
 There is reason to believe that many jteople are inlluenced very 
 considerably by tlie mere utterance and iteration of sentiments 
 or opinions in their hearing, and in newspapers which they read ; 
 and as erroneous opinions and vicious tastes and inlluenevs 
 are potent to profiagate themselves by this means, it is very 
 desirable that people who have knowledge and wholesome 
 taste should also be ready to encourage adherence to high 
 standards. 
 
 The press of the country can do much to bring about a better 
 state of things at Niagara Falls. The predomin iut element in 
 the existing state of things is the prevalence of ugliness, marring 
 and neutralizing the nobility and harmony of a scene of wonder- 
 ful natural grandeur and beauty. The cokrcu-light nuisance is 
 
m 
 
 60 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 |i 
 
 m 
 
 ^ 
 
 but one feature, or instance, of this ugliness. Most of the struc- 
 tures in Prospect Park are obtrusively unbeautiful ; but outside 
 of it, as one passes along the river front of the village, going up 
 the stream by .the side of the American rapids, he encounters 
 such a variety or conglomeration of <lifferent kinds of ugliness 
 and slovenliness as is not often seen in a territory so contracted. 
 In a short walk one sees piles of lumber, hea])S of sawdust and 
 of manure, scattered litter of scrap-iron and of many other 
 kinds of waste, old, unpainted, decaying buildings and sheds, 
 here the foundations of a house that has tumbled down, and 
 there a dirty area overgrown with rank, imsightly weeds. All 
 this, and much besides of similar repulsiveness, just where there 
 should be a walk shaded by beautiful trees, between the river 
 on one side and a forest belt on the other, which should shut 
 out the village from view. 
 
 But no real or considerable improvement is possible under 
 existing contlitions of private land-ownership at Niagara. It 
 was a great and mischievous error — I fear a fatal mistake — to 
 allow tl'.e land adjacent to the Falls to become private property. 
 It should have been held forever by the State or by the Na- 
 tional Government, in trust for the use and pleasure of the 
 people of our country. The only remedy which it now seems 
 possible to apply is the one suggested in the message of Gov- 
 ernor liobinson (Jan. D, 1879), and in a special report of the 
 Board of Commissioners of the State Survey, and the rejwrt of 
 the Dn'ector on the Preservation of the Scenery around Niagara 
 FaMs. This report was transmitted to the Legislature of New 
 York March 122, 1880, by Horatio Seymour, President of the 
 Board. The connnission was composed of the following distin- 
 guished gentlemen: W. A. Wheeler, Robert S. Hale, William 
 Dorsheimer, Francis A. Stout, George Geddes, and F. A. P. 
 Barnard. The report was made by Mr. James T. Gardner, 
 Director of the State Survey, and Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted. 
 It is a document of unusual interest and importance ; and, what 
 is not always true of State reports or official documents, it 
 is wonderfully interesting and entertaining. It is a great juty 
 that it could not be published in sonie more popular form, and 
 60 made accessible to the general public. It should be read in 
 every family in the State of New York. 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 61 
 
 It recommends the purchase, by the State of Xew York, of 
 Goat Island and the smaller islands near it, and of the land on 
 the American side of tlie river immediately contiguous to tlio 
 Falls and to the rapids. By this means this invalual)le national 
 possession may be rescued from certain destruction. But what- 
 ever is done must be done speedily, or it will be too late. This 
 would not be a great or difficult undertaking for the great State 
 of New York. IJut American business men and leaders of so- 
 ciety are usually ashamed or reluctant to acknowledge a real 
 and practical interest in matters of taste. And yet every intel- 
 ligent man knows that such agencies and iniluences are of great 
 importance to national character. Those Avho understand the 
 relation of material conditions to a high civilization ought to 
 speak and act i)romptly and vigorously, in comiectiun with this 
 enterprise. I write of it in the hope that the press of the coun- 
 try may ])ublish the facts widely, and discuss the subject thor- 
 oughly, with its usual iutelligeuce, candor, aud approval of all 
 things good. 
 

 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 VIII. 
 
 [From the Boston Daily Advertiser, Aug. 18, 1882.] 
 
 MILLS AND MANUFACTOHIER OCCUPYING THE SHORES AND 
 ISLANDS— THE BEAUTY OF THE AMERICAN SHORE AL- 
 READY DESTROYED— NECESSITY OF TROMPT ACTION TO 
 AVERT THE RUIN. 
 
 Niagara Falls, N. Y., Aiip. 14, 1882. 
 
 ** Can NiaQ;ar:i be saved ? Is it worth while to try ? " These 
 are among the questions which thouglitful and public-sjiirited 
 Americans ask. as they survey the difficulties which must be 
 overcome in order to make this great undertaking successful. 
 It is, of course, extremely difficult to obtain any considerable 
 attention for such an enterprise. The public mind is preoccu- 
 pied. Puliticians are, naturally and not unreasonably, reluctant 
 to concern themselves with matters not included in the scope or 
 issues of practical political affairs; and in this country almost 
 every man who can in any manner or degree influence public 
 opinion or action is a politician. Americans are a busy people, 
 and few of them have time or room for much thought or inter- 
 est regarding anything outside of their daily Avork and business 
 interests. Xo wonder there seems little chance of bringing 
 many people to care about Niagara in time to prevent its de- 
 struction. But the public mind is always preoccu})ied, — always 
 has been, and always will be. .And yet, in time past, public 
 attention has been j;wakened, and public interest secured, for 
 various matters which at first seemed to be outside of the range 
 of practical and necessary .'iffiiirs; and such things will doubt- 
 less, from time to time, be done again. It is a very difficult 
 work, this of inducing the people of the country or of the State 
 of New York to heai-, to read, to attend sufficiently to become 
 acquainted with the facts of the case, so that they can judge 
 
 r 
 
 II 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 58 
 
 intelligently of tlicir importance. Perhaps it may require con- 
 si(lcral)lo time and much effort to accomplish this. IJut it can 
 probably l>e done, and will be, I suppose, if a few men of char- 
 acter and ability come to feel bow valuable are the interests 
 which are imperilled here. Let us consider another class of 
 obstacles or discouragements, which may be formulated or de- 
 scribed in some such words as these: "The growth of wealth 
 and of the selfisli Individualism which accompanies it (an(i 
 which corrupts many who arc not rich), seems to weaken all 
 properly social motives and efforts. Ml'u in cities and towns 
 feel much less relation with their neighbors than of old. There 
 is less civic patriotism ; less sense of a spiritual and moral com- 
 munity. Though this is owing in part to other causes, it is 
 mainly due to the selfishness of the indiviilualism in a well-to-do 
 democracy." There are great obstacles in the way of the eff(.)rt 
 to save Niagara from destruction; but I s\ippose our democracy 
 can learn. It must, or it may not always be well-to-do. It may 
 be that we cannot brine: the mass of Americans to recojjjnizo 
 any resjionsibility for the ])reservation of Niagara, or to feel any 
 of the hig1"'r motives for doing so. If this should prove to be 
 true, then t' woi-k would be not so much to save the Falls as 
 to save o' . i iouls. Were we to see the Falls destroyed 
 
 without an «... .u to save them, the sin would be ours. 
 
 It is necessary to keep always clearly in mind the actual sit- 
 uation here. It may be very briefly described. It has three 
 main features. 1st. The charm, interest, or value of Niagara 
 is not in the river alone. The m'con foliacce of the trees and 
 vines on the shores aiul islands is an essential part of it, and if 
 this natural framework of beauty is destroyed, the mere tum- 
 bling of the water over the j)recipice in a wilderness of mills 
 and factories will yield no delicjht to anv human beini;. 
 
 2d. The territory which is essential to the beauty and value 
 of the scenery is being rapidly appropriated, and without some 
 effectual interposition is likely soon to be all appropriated to 
 industrial uses in the form of sites for mills and manufactories 
 of various kinds. This is entirely unnecessary, because there 
 are better sites far enough away from tlie Falls to leave the 
 scenery imdisturbed. But it is inevitable under the circum- 
 
54 
 
 MAGARA FALLS. 
 
 stnnccs, liocnnse business interests demand it, the owners of the 
 l:\nd not being able to afVord tlie luxury of such scenery, pre- 
 served and ninintiiiiied at tlieir jirivate cost. 
 . nd. All the evils which beset and the dangers which threaten 
 Niagara are the natural and lueessary result of the private or 
 individual ownership ot the laii<ls contiguous to tlie river, and 
 are insei)aiable froiu it. So far as human judgment or foresight 
 can discover, the c()iiii)lete destruction of Xiagara is certain tt> 
 be accoiujilislu'd uidess those lands can be converted from a 
 private possesssion into a public trust. Unless the State iuter- 
 poscs, Niagara will soon be a memory. 
 
 The beauty of the American shore of the river along nearly 
 tlie whole extent of the rajti<ls has been entirely desti'oyed ; the 
 lovely urowth of trees and swavimr vines which foimerlv frin<fed 
 it, au<l oAcrhung the rushing water, having been gradually re- 
 moved. A long array of unsightly buildings (with heai)S of 
 litter of various kinds) now takes the place of the ancient syl- 
 van beauty. The same thing is true, essentially, of what was 
 once the most beautiful island in the American rapids. It is 
 occu])ied in jiartby a new ])aper-inill (which h;is a most jiincing 
 and intolerable steam-whistle, which awakens every sleeper at 
 the nearer hotels), and in part by the desolation where an old 
 mill was burned df)wn. In less than two years the youngest 
 heir to the I'state of which Goat Island is a part will be of age, 
 and the island will then be sold. There is the strongest proba- 
 bility (hat, uidess the State becomes the purchaser, it will be 
 bought for manufacturing purjioses, and made the site of exten- 
 sive mills and shops. All the beauty of Niagara that now 
 remains unimpaired belongs to the islands, and this is the 
 fate that threatens it. Already wing-dams and ice-barriers 
 sprawl widely across what was the finest part of the American 
 rapids. 
 
 There are several classes of persons in this country who 
 should lie most deeply concerned to avert this ruin. 1 he 
 learned men who are specially interested in science, in its new 
 develojmients and broader applications, should not be silent 
 while Niagara is being destroyed by the commercial spirit 
 using science us its servitor. Shall science serve only the lower 
 
 I, i 
 
NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 Bo 
 
 practical and economic interests of Imnian life? Are avc to 
 witness the complete ruin of this uiii(jue spectacle of natural 
 beauty and grandeur without any remonstrance from the great 
 teachers of science in this and other lands? Doubtless, when 
 the destruction is accomplished, eloquent expressions uf regret 
 will not be wanting; but eloquence would be better cmjjluycd 
 in preventing the catastro])he than in bewailing it. 
 
 The educators of our coinitry should be deeply interested. I 
 suppose the colleges couhl save Niagar.a ; certiiinly the men 
 who have been tr;iined in them could do so. It is highly grati- 
 fying and encouraging to thoughtful .Vmericnns to see the 
 growing interest of our universities in classical learning and 
 antiquities. It would be a misfortune and a shame not to sus- 
 tain such work as that of tlu^ American Archieol(>gic;d Insti- 
 tute, for instance. Yet Ningara is worth more to the people of 
 our country than the noblest temple that ever lifted its white 
 front in the "pellucid air" of Greece. The intellectual condi- 
 tions and atmosphere of a country that ]>ermits the destiuction 
 of Ni;ii>'ara cannot be exiiected to be favorable to hi''h cidture 
 of any kind. It will be matter of interest to learn what is the 
 feeling at Harvard, at Yale, at the University of ^'i^gini;l, and 
 in the colleu'cs of the lii<>'her class Lienerallv in this countrv, 
 retiardiu"" the interests imperilK'd here. 
 
 Our statesmen, who are interested in the higher asjjccts of 
 national character and action, and who believe that democracy 
 is specially suited to produce the most exalted and noble civil- 
 ization, should not remain silent and inditfercnt while this evil 
 tlireatens. Clergymen shotdd be especially interested in the 
 preservation of Niagara. Tiie sentiments which it ins})ires, 
 and the feelings which it nourishes, — the " vital feelings of 
 delight " (to use Wordswort'i's ])hrase of prof ni.id meaning) 
 which arc awakened here, — these influences are such as, in 
 all times and lands, have been found especially f'vorable to 
 religion and to all the higher activities and exi)criences of the 
 si)iritual nature of man. If there is any spectacle on earth 
 which, more than any other, awakens what is deepest and best 
 in the soul, filling it with adoring, reverent awe, that spectacle 
 is Niagara. Will those whose special function it is to guard 
 
56 
 
 NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 the higher ppiritnal interests of the nation see without concern 
 tliG blotting out of this wonder of loveliness and grandeur? 
 
 But, far more than any particular or limited class, the com- 
 mon people of our country should feel interested in the preser- 
 vation of Niagara. It is pre-eminently their possession, and if 
 it is Jiot destroyed, it is certain to be made more and more ac- 
 cessible and enjoyable to them. Whatever may be the measure 
 of the inilncnce and consequent responsibility of any of the 
 classes which I have named, it is certain that hero there is all 
 necessary i)owcr. The people of New York can decree the 
 preservation of Niagara. No doubt they would do so with all 
 desirable promptness and emphasis, if the facts of the situation 
 here could be ])lainly brought home to them. The revenues of 
 a great and highly civilized peoi)le were never, in time of peace, 
 used for a nobler object than this. The artists of the world, 
 and all other lovers of natural beauty who have not seen Niag- 
 ara, should visit it as soon as possible. In a very few years 
 little may remain to suggest the ouce unparalleled glory and 
 loveliness. 
 
 i 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 
 I I 
 
 I. 
 
 \^From Uarperh Weekly, g. 26, 1882.] 
 
 THE KESCUE OF NIAGARA FALLS. 
 
 More than once we have spoken of the fatal injury clone to 
 the State of New York, and to the national character itself, 
 by the desecration of Niagara Falls. In the letters of cor- 
 respondents during this summer we have observed a complaint 
 of the diminishing public interest in the Falls as a resort, and of 
 the great falling oft" in the nun>ber of visitors. This is due to 
 the total want of care in preserving the attractive character of 
 the neighborhood. Every kind of disagreeable object is huddled 
 along the shore, until the complete vulgarization of all the ap- 
 proaches and points of vantage, the nuisance of encroaching 
 buildings and hacknien and Indian shops, and a multitude of 
 petty annoyances, fairly repel the visitor, and give the worst 
 of reputations for comfort and agreeability to a resort which 
 should be among the most delightful in the country. When 
 the immediate neighborhood of Niagara is covered with fac- 
 tories and tenement-houses and their dependencies, the sublime 
 spectacle, one of the true wonders of the world, will be effectu- 
 ally and forever lost as an influence of moral elevation and happi- 
 ness. And this fate is already impending. One of the islands 
 has been already ruined as a part of the landscape ; others are 
 threatened. The bank all along the American rapids has been 
 ehorn of foliage, of trees and vines, and covered with mills, 
 barns, sheds, and unsightly structures. In two years the 
 
68 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 yonnfjost lioir of the Goat Island estate will come of age, and 
 the- island will then be sold and covered with factories. This 
 is the time for action to save Niagara Falls. A few months 
 later, even, will be too late. Is it worth while to preserve this 
 natural wonder tor the delight of the world ? If it is, what 
 shall be done ? 
 
 Niairara is a threat water-nower, and there is no need of losincr 
 it as such. Hut that is not the (juestion. It is not whether 
 Niagara is more valuable as factory i)0wer or as beauty and 
 sublimity, but how it shall best serve both use and beauty. 
 The answer is simple, for the situation is obvious. The river 
 above the I'alls lies high over the lower country. Its power is 
 available everywhere. By drawing it off above the cataract, 
 and reserving a little space of shore, bank, and island all 
 around the Falls, the problem is solved : the factories are built 
 below; the cataract is saved. A strip of land broadening from 
 a hundred feet at the end to eicht hundred or a thousand feet 
 above the Falls, inclosing the cataract and its immediate neiijh- 
 borhood, and capable of such landscape treatment as to ]»lant 
 out every unsightly object, is all that is necessary. Such a jtlan 
 was suggested four or five years ago, and Avas most urgently 
 commended by leading men on both sides of the river. J bit it 
 was a general proposition, evidently most jtroper and desirable, 
 but involving ex])ense and trouble. It was nobody's business 
 in particular, and after an admirable report from Mr. Olm- 
 sted, and some attempts to arouse i)ubllc interest, the subject 
 dro])ped. 
 
 The representations now made, however, show that without 
 })rompt action Niagara is lost, exeejit as a wuter-jjower. The 
 rescue of the cataract, its proper jirescrvation, and the perma- 
 nent maiutennnce of its imme(liato vicinity as a imblic ]>ark, 
 is a duty which the State of New York may wisely un<lertake. 
 It is one of the public works for a high public purpose, like the 
 gift of statues of eminent New-Yorkers to the Capitol at Wash- 
 ington, which public opinion would undoubtedly authorize. 
 There is no doubt that if a few active, intelligent, and interested 
 men in the State should take the project in hand upon the gen- 
 eral basis of Mr. Olmsted's report, inviting him to make such 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 69 
 
 furtlicr snggost"K)iH as niiglit owur, tlie work wouM be (Idik.-. 
 Suit.'iliU' rc'prcst'iit.'itions to tlic Govorrior and gciionil (li.sciissioii 
 ill (111' prcf-s would Mnqut'slionably |)rocuro a rccom inundation 
 to tlie Legislature, which would find tlicn a resiioiisivc puLlie 
 spirit, so that it would be seed sown in a fniitliil soil. I,iL 
 Now York spare herself the tdiaine of the practical obliteraliun 
 of Niagara Falls. 
 
 TI. 
 
 [From a Lrlhr In the. New York Hrrald, S,'pt. 0, 1882.] 
 
 CoMMius, Ohio, Sept. 5, 1882. 
 
 Is thorp not throughout the Slate of New York a g neral 
 ajiathy tow.'ird this great iniproveiueiit which iiitelligeiit dis- 
 cussion and patriotic appi'al alone can ovcrcoine? Such ineas- 
 uros as free canals, a new afjueduct or new jiark lor New 
 York City, may a])pear as more practical and pri'ssing wants. 
 Yet, sorely needed as these things are, it is yet true that if the 
 Niagara reform were fairly considered on the length aiul breadth 
 of its merits, its importance would appear even higher and 
 greater than any other need of the State. This traii.sceiident 
 ffift of iKitiire must be restored and reconsecrated to the hioh 
 uses of its own sublimity and beauty. This must be done in 
 the interest of the State, of the nation, and of travellers from 
 every clime and country. Not another year should pass with- 
 out finding tliis work well in hand. 
 
 There has been consi<lerable desultory writing upon this sub- 
 ject, inadequate, however, to proibice much efl'ect. A vigorous 
 general discussion in the press would greatly aid in making clear 
 the urgency of the movement. It would arouse the interest ot 
 the many thousand citizens who possess sufficient culture to 
 perceive the priceless value and utility of such imperial gran- 
 deur for its own sake. A State that can, without serious 
 
60 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 opposition, sqiiandor more miHions ujion its Capitol than tlie 
 United States have expended upon theirs, will not, wlien it 
 comes to the sticking jioint, beiirudge a million or two to savo 
 Niairara. Niagara is a beautiful name, and it stands for a 
 Bcene which, from the days of Father Hennepin, has been an 
 object of w(tnder and delight, almost of worship, to pilgrims 
 from every portion of the globe. Will you not for the ))ublic 
 good renew the agitation of this question with some siu'h en- 
 ergy and good etlect as that with which you are now urging a 
 wise selection for the next State Executive'? To iK>rniit tho 
 beggarly crew of millers, paper-makers, sawyers, showmen, and 
 the vermin of small venders who now infest Niagara's brink to 
 go on and complete tlieir work of destruction, as they surely 
 will unless thrust out by the strong arm of the State, were a 
 folly and madness compared to which the burning of tlie 
 Louvre by the Ccmimune were an act of supremo wisdom. 
 Even the Louvre might in time be restored ; but, once destroyed, 
 who shall restore thee, Niagara, thou " cunniiigest pattern of 
 most excelling Nature " ? J^'t (he defders of this temple of 
 divine beauty be driven out with the scourge of law and 
 righteous indignation. 
 
 in. 
 
 [From the New York Tribune, Sept. 12, 1882.] 
 NIAGARA — A SUGGKSTION. 
 
 The Marquis of Lornc, it is stated, favors the scheme of the 
 International Park at Niagara, and will probably take steps to 
 forward it. But what can Lord Lome do in the premises? It 
 is not the Canadian side of the Falls that is disgraced with 
 gigantic factories, or penny schemes of cheating, or tawdry 
 electric lights. Practically the Canadians have Icfl the great 
 Fall to Nature. Every American of decent feeling, or the 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 Gt 
 
 slightest rognnl for propriety even, agrees with tlie Marquis in 
 this mutter. That the owners of the property think ilitferently 
 is a I'ity, but not perhaps to be wondered at. It in a inatti-r 
 with them nninly of taste, and of luxury and comfort for them- 
 selves and their ehildren during life. If the whole AiUL'riean 
 nation, which professes to be outraged by the vulgar desecra- 
 tion of this wonder of Nature, cannot afford to buy it and keep 
 it free from desecration, why should two or three individuals 
 bear the whole burden V A dollar apiece from the wealthy 
 men of two or three of our large cities would save the country 
 from the disgrace of turning Niagara into a great natural engine 
 fc»r paper-niills and Wiishiiig-tub factories ; and so long as they 
 do not give it, how can they ask the Smiths or Joneses, whose 
 whole property is this Fall, to sacrifice their entire substance ? 
 Tiiere has been a good deal of vague talk about this Intern.'v- 
 tional Paik. Meetings have been held, and influential men 
 liave decrlared themselves boldly in favor of it. But there the 
 matter has stopi)ed. Why ? Is it that we do not see how 
 urgent the need of action is? No American can go to Niagar.i 
 without feeling his face burn with shame. Vulgarity, preten- 
 sion, a trading spirit of the very lowest kind, have taken posses- 
 sion of this most sublime gift of Nature to us. It gives a 
 character to the nation in the eyes of foreigners, a character 
 which we actually do not deserve. If neither Congress nor the 
 State of New York will move in the matter, why do not the 
 women of America? They saved Mount Vernon, by a little 
 steady, persistent effort, to be a sacred possession for us for all 
 time. Why can they not save Niagara? 
 
62 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 IV. 
 
 [From Ihn Nation, Sept. 14, 1882.] 
 
 TiiK " Trihuiic " cmIIs upon tlu' woiiu'ii olWim'ricn, wlio "saveil 
 .Mount Vi-rnon," to unilf in ii niovcnu'iit to suvc Niiigiirii and 
 kiH'p it fiTf from tlio vulgar (losi'orution from wliii-h it is now 
 sufferini^. It says : " If noithor Congress nor tho State of New 
 York will move in the matter, why do not thi! women of Amer- 
 ica?" There is a fundamental diflerenee between the caso of 
 JNIount Vernon and that of Niagara whi<-h the " Trihune " seems 
 to have overlooked. The interest in .Mount Vernon is due to 
 historical, it(ditical, and patriotic causes, and was widespreiid. 
 The amount of money, too, recjuired w;ih very small. lint tlie 
 work of saving a w.aterfall from desecration involves an a])peal 
 to the love of the beautiful, — a sentiment iniuih less strong in 
 the Unitetl States than some other sentiments. Governor Cor- 
 nell prob.ably (airly represents tho feeling of the average Amer- 
 ican man as to Niagara, and his observation, on hearing of tho 
 movement for an international park, was an inquiry as to whether 
 the defeat of the s(!li(>me would ])revent the water from coming 
 over the falls. There is no doubt, however, that for the Amer- 
 ican woman the beaiitiful possesses a deej)er interest than for 
 the American man, and if she can be roused to do something 
 for Niagara, there is no telling what she may accomplish. A 
 good deal has been made of the violent opposition of the hack- 
 men, guides, and otlier waterfall panisites who now make 
 money out of the Idixstx-fith'c system prevailing at Niagara, 
 lint this has been ii good «leal overestimated. It is iudifference 
 which is at the root of the trouble. 
 
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