CHAPTER XV.

"Ladies fair, most beauteous of the race,Beware and shun a dangerous place.Miss Martha Rugg here lost a life,Who might now have been a happy wife."

"Ladies fair, most beauteous of the race,

Beware and shun a dangerous place.

Miss Martha Rugg here lost a life,

Who might now have been a happy wife."

An envious competitor, one of his own countrymen, brought his own table of wares, and placed it just above the original mourner. Thereupon, the latter, determining that his rival should not have the benefit of his sign, removed it below his own table, having first removed the table itself as far down as circumstances would permit. Then he added his master-stroke of policy. Up to that time the monument had been stationary. Thenceforward, every day on quitting business he put it on a wheelbarrow and took it home, bringing it out again on resuming operations in the morning.

Previous to the War of 1812, the Niagara River abounded in swans, wild geese, and ducks. Since that war none of the swans have been seen here, except two pair which came at different times. One of each pair went over the Falls, and was taken out alive but stunned. Their mates, faithful unto death, were shot while watching and waiting for their return.

Eagles have always been seen in the vicinity, and a few have been captured. A single pair for many years had their aerie in the top of a huge dead sycamore tree, near the head of Burnt Ship Bay. It was interesting to watch the flight of the male bird when he left his brooding mate to go on a foraging expedition. Leaving the topmost limb that served as his home observatory, he would sweep round in a circle, forming the base of a regular spiral curve, in which he rose to any desired height. Then, having apparently determined by scent or sight, or by both, the direction he would take, he sailed grandly off. How grandly, too, on his return, he floated to his lofty perch with a single fold of his great wings, and sat for a few moments, motionless as a statue, before greeting his mate. When the young eaglets had but recently chipped their shells, passing sportsmen were content to view the majestic pair at a respectful distance. A pair of eagles, each carrying ten talons, a hooked beak, a strong pair of wings, and an unerring eye, all backed and propelled by an indomitable will and courage, are not to be recklessly trifled with.

Early in July, 1877, two farmers riding in a buggy from Bergholtz, in the easterly part of the town of Niagara, toward the town of Wilson on Lake Ontario, saw a large gray eagle sitting on a fence by the roadside, and watching with much interest some object in a field beyond. Leaving their buggy, they ascertained that the object of its solicitude was an eaglet sitting on the ground, unable to fly, his wings and feathers having been drenched by a heavy shower. One of the men who first reached the young bird found it rather bellicose, andwhile attempting to secure it was surprised by a vigorous thump on the head from the old bird, accompanied with a sensation of sharp claws in his hair which nearly prostrated him. His assailant then rose quickly some forty feet in the air, and, turning again, descended upon the man with such force as to compel him to relinquish his game. His friend joined him, and for nearly half an hour the two were engaged in a fierce fight with the resolute bird, which they estimated would measure eight feet across the extended wings. The eagle would soar quickly upward as at first until it reached the desired range, when it would turn upon them with great fierceness, thumping with its wings and striking with its talons at their very faces. Finally, securing a number of good-sized cobble-stones, they advanced again upon the eaglet, and were at once attacked by the parent. But they used their stone artillery with vigor, and succeeded in getting the eaglet to their buggy, leaving its gallant defender still unconquered and soaring in the air with a slightly injured wing.

Before the War of the Rebellion, Niagara was a favorite resort of that winged scavenger, the crow, and, at times, they were very numerous. But after the first year of the war they entirely disappeared. Snuffing the battle from afar, they turned instinctively to the South, and did not re-appear among us until several years after the war had ended.

Large numbers of ducks formerly went over the Falls, but not for the reason generally assigned, namely, that they cannot rise out of the rapids. It is true that they cannot rise from the water while heading up-stream.When they wish to do so, they turn down the current, and sail out without difficulty. No sound and living duck ever went over the precipice by daylight. Dark and especially foggy nights are most fatal to them. In the month of September, 1841, four hundred ducks were picked up below the Falls, that had gone over in the fog of the previous night. In two instances, dogs have been sent over the Falls and have survived the plunge. In 1858 a bull-terrier was thrown into the rapids, also near the middle of the bridge. In less than an hour he came up the ferry-stairs, very wet and not at all gay.

The reason why the dogs were not killed may be thus explained. From the top of the Rapids Tower, before its destruction, the spectator could get a perfect view of the Canadian Fall. On a bright day, by looking steadily at the bottom of the Horseshoe, where water falls into water, he could see, as the spray was occasionally removed, a beautiful exhibition of water-cones, apparently ten or twelve feet high. These are formed by the rapid accumulation and condensation of the falling water. It pours down so rapidly and in such quantities that the water below, so to speak, cannot run off fast enough, and it piles up as though it were in a state of violent ebullition. These cones are constantly forming and breaking. If any strong animal should fall upon one of these cones, as upon a soft cushion, it might slide safely into the current below. The dogs were, doubtless, fortunate enough to fall in this way, aided also by the repulsion of the water from the rocks in the swift channel through which they passed.

Wedding tourists at the Falls—Bridges to the Moss Islands—Railway at the ferry—List of persons who have been carried over the Falls—Other accidents.

For many years Niagara has been a favorite resort for bridal tourists, who in a crowd of strangers can be so excessively proper that every one else can see how charmingly improper they are.

The three fine, graceful bridges which unite Goat Island with the three smaller islands—the Moss Islands, or the Three Sisters—lying south of it were built in 1858. They opened up a new and attractive feature of the locality, with which all visitors are charmed. Those who have been on them will remember what a broken, wild, tangled mass of rocks, wood, and vines they are. Nothing on Onalaska's wildest shore could be more thoroughly primitive.

The Three Sisters or Moss Islands

A rude path with steps cut in the slope of the bank was for several years the only way of getting down to the water's edge at the ferry. In 1825 several flights of stairs were erected, with good paths between, which made the task quite safe and easy. The double railway-track at the ferry was completed in 1845. When the necessary excavations were nearly finished, and people were told the object of it, the scheme met no approval from thoseconservative persons who have no faith in new things. The idea of a railway "to go by water" was not considered a brilliant one. Indeed, the greater number shrugged their shoulders at the thought of riding downthathill. But as soon as the lumber cars were started for the convenience of the workmen, and people saw how expeditious and easy was the trip, it was difficult to keep them off the cars. Hundreds of thousands of passengers have ridden in them without accident or injury. The motive power is a reaction waterwheel set in a deep pit, and as all the machinery is concealed, it has quite the appearance of a self-working apparatus. There is alongside of the railroad a straight stair-way of two hundred and ninety steps, for those who prefer to use it.

The number of victims whom carelessness or folly has sent over the Falls is large, and, it may be believed, is quite independent of the Indian tradition that the great cataract demands a yearly sacrifice of two human victims.

Over the Falls.

Below the Falls.

The narrowest escape at the Falls was that of the man who, in January, 1852, fell from the Tower Bridge into the rapids, and was caught between two rocks just on the brink of the precipice, whence he was rescued, nearly exhausted, by means of a rope.

In 1874, Mr. William McCullough, while at work painting the small bridge between the first and second Moss Islands, missed his footing and fell into the middle of the channel; he was carried down about fifty rods, and, going over a ledge into more quiet water, got on his feet and waded to a small rock projecting above the water, upon which he seated himself to collect his senses and await results. After several vain efforts to get a rope to him, Mr. Thomas Conroy, a guide, then connected with the Cave of the Winds, who had in the previous autumn conducted Professor Tyndall up to Tyndall's Rock, put on a pair of felt shoes, and, holding to an inch rope, picked his way with an alpen-stock, from a point a short distance up-stream, through favoring eddies and pools to McCullough. After a short rest, he put the rope around McCullough, under his arms, and winding the end around his own right arm, the two started shoreward. On reaching the deep water near the shore, both were taken off their feet, and, as the people pulled vigorously at the rope, their heads went under for a short distance, but they were safely landed. A contribution was taken up for Conroy's benefit, and Professor Tyndall, on hearing of the rescue, sent him a five-pound note.

In view of the fact that nearly every year persons are drawn into the rapids and carried over the Falls, a NewYork journalist suggested a most extraordinary method of saving them. He proposed that a cable should be stretched across the rapids, above the Falls, strong enough to arrest boats, and to which persons in danger might cling until rescued. But this kind and ingenious person forgot that old canal-boats, rafts of logs, and large trunks of trees, with roots attached, would be troublesome things to hold at anchor. As well hope to stay an Alpine avalanche with pipe-stems.

The first Suspension Bridge—The Railway Suspension Bridge—Extraordinary vibration given to the Railway Bridge by the fall of a mass of rock—De Veaux College—The Lewiston Suspension Bridge—The Suspension Bridge at the Falls.

On the partial completion of the Hydraulic Canal, the principal stockholders, with a number of invited guests, celebrated the event on July 4, 1857, by an excursion from Buffalo in theCygnet, the first steamer that ever landed within the limits of the village of Niagara. The same route is followed during the season of navigation by tugs towing canal-boats and rafts out and in. No passenger boat, however, has been placed on the route, although the sail on the river is a charming one.

How the Suspension Bridge was Begun

Mr. Charles Ellet, in 1840, built the first suspension bridge over the chasm. He offered a reward of five dollars to any one who would get a string across it. The next windy day all the boys in the neighborhood were kiting, and before night a youth landed his kite in Canada and received the reward. The first iron successor of the string was a small wire cable, seven-eighths of an inch in diameter. To this was suspended a wire basket in which two persons could cross the chasm. The basket was attached to an endless rope, worked by a windlass on each bank. At an entertainment given on the occasionof the completion of the bridge, the good people of the embryo village at the bridge, elated with their new acquisition, were inclined to regard their neighbors at the Falls with patronizing sympathy. One of the latter said to Mr. Ellet, "This bridge is a very clever affair, and you only need the Falls here to build up a respectable village." "Well," he replied, "give me money enough and I will put them here." He had great faith in dollar-power.

This bridge was an excellent auxiliary in the construction of the present Railway Suspension Bridge, built by Mr. John A. Roebling. It was begun in 1852, and the first locomotive crossed it in March, 1855. It is one of the most brilliant examples of modern engineering, and stands unrivaled for its grace, beauty, and strength. Seizing at once upon the natural advantages of the location, the engineer resolved to combine the tubular system with that of the suspension bridge. The carriage way was placed level with the banks of the river at the edges of the chasm. The railway track was placed eighteen feet above, on a level with the top of the secondary banks across which the two railroads were to approach it. The plan was perfect, and perfectly and faithfully executed in all its details. It is practically a skeleton tube. As the traveler passes over it in a carriage or a railway car, from the almost total absence of any vibratory motion he feels at once that he is on a safe basis, and his sense of security is complete.

One feature of the construction of the bridge may be noticed as having a bearing on the question of its durability. It is well known that when wrought-iron isexposed to long continued or oft repeated and rapid concussions, its fibers after a time become granulated, whereby its strength is greatly impaired and finally exhausted. It is also known that the effect of rhythmical or regular vibrations is more destructive than the effect of those which are inharmonious or irregular. Because of this, a body of men is never allowed to march to music across a bridge, nor is a large number of cattle ever driven across at one time, lest they should, by accident, fall into a common step and so overstrain or break down the bridge. It is the difference between a single heavy blow and an irregular succession of light ones. Hence, when harmonious, regular vibrations can be broken up, the destructive influence is greatly modified and retarded.

The bridge is supported by two large cables on each side, one pair above the other, the lower pair being nearer together horizontally than the upper pair, so that a cross section of the skeleton tube would be shaped somewhat like the keystone of an arch. Each of these large cables is ten inches in diameter, and is composed of seven smaller ones, called strands. These smaller strands are made of number nine wire, and each one contains five hundred and twenty wires. Each of these wires was boiled three several times in linseed oil, giving it an oleaginous coating of considerable thickness and great adhesive power. Each wire was carried across the river separately, from tower to tower, by a contrivance of the engineers, the chief feature of which was a light iron pulley about twenty inches in diameter, suspended on what might be called a wire cord. This apparatus was called atraveler, and curious and interesting was its performance as seen from below. It looked like a huge spider weaving an iron web.

Six of the seven strands forming each of the cables were laid around the seventh as a center, and when all were properly placed they were again saturated with oil and paint. After this, by another contrivance of the engineers, they were wound or wrapped with wire, like winding a rope cable with marlin, and thus the whole cable was made into a thoroughly compact, huge, round, iron rope. This was covered with numerous coats of paint to prevent the oxidation of the inner wires. The oleaginous coating of the wires, together with the small triangular spaces between them, would seem to reduce the destructive power of the vibrations to zero. But the vibrations are very greatly reduced and the stiffness of the structure is greatly increased by the use of a series of triangular stays, the triangle being the only geometrical figure whose angles cannot be shifted. There are sixty-four of these triangles. Their hypothenuses are formed by over-floor stays of wire rope reaching from the tops of the towers to different points in the lower floor, this latter, of course, forming their common base and the towers their altitude. The stays are fastened to the suspenders so as to form straight lines. As the towers and the floor are rigid and solid in the direction of the lines they represent, it follows that the intersections of the hypothenuses with the common base form so many stationary points in the latter. These stationary points present a powerful resistance to vibrations. The side trusses, with their system of diamond-work braces and the weightof the railway track on the upper bridge, also help to stiffen the structure. There are likewise fifty-six under stays or guys of wire rope fastened to the rocks below, designed to prevent upward and lateral vibrations. A heavy locomotive with twenty loaded cars produced a depression of the upward curvature of the track of nearly ten inches. The ordinary loads make a depression of only five inches.

In Part II., attention was directed to a point on the American side of the river, just below this bridge, where the disintegration of the shale and abrasion of the superposed rock is strikingly exhibited. A singular phenomenon was witnessed here in 1863. A mass of rock and shale, about fifty feet long, twenty feet wide, and sixty feet deep, fell with a great crash. Directly following the fall a remarkable motion was developed in the bridge itself. A strong wave of motion passed through the whole structure from the American side to the opposite shore, and returned again to the same side.

Some twelve or fifteen mechanics, who were at work on the upper or railway track, were so alarmed that they fled with all speed to the shore. The motion imparted to the bridge was incalculably greater than, and of a different character from, any motion imparted by the crossing of the heaviest trains. The rocky mass which fell was forty rods below the bridge, and the hard floor on which it struck was more than two hundred and thirty feet beneath it. The mass itself fell about sixty feet average distance, and might have weighed five thousand tons. The extraordinary motion imparted to the bridge by the concussion must have been transmitted along the bed-rock to theanchorages on the American side, thence through the cables and the bridge across to the anchorages on the Canadian side, whence it returned to the American side.

Mr. Donald McKenzie, master carpenter and superintendent of repairs, who has been connected with the bridge constantly since its erection, and all the men under him at the time, confirm this statement, and declare it is impossible to exaggerate or describe the wave-like motion which they experienced while escaping to the shore.

Half a mile further down is De Veaux College, a noble charity endowed by the late Mr. Samuel De Veaux. He was for many years an active business man at Niagara, and by his integrity, industry, and wise enterprise accumulated a handsome fortune. His death occurred in 1852, and by his will he left nearly the whole of his estate to certain trustees to establish an institution for the care, training, and education of orphan boys. In addition to these, other pupils are received who pay a fixed price for their tuition, board, and incidentals. The institution has gained a high reputation for the thoroughness of its instruction and the excellence of its discipline. One of its sources of income is the amount received annually for admissions to the Whirlpool. Every visitor to that interesting locality will cheerfully pay the fee charged when he understands this fact.

The suspension bridge below the mountain near Lewiston, spanning the river where the water emerges from the fearful abyss through which it dashes for five miles, was built in 1856, by Mr. T. E. Serrel. The guys designed to protect it from the effect of the wind were fastened in the rocks on either side at the water's edge.The great ice jam of 1866 tore from their fastenings, or broke off, many of these guys. Before they were replaced a terrific gale in the following autumn broke up the road-way, severed some of the suspenders, and left the structure a melancholy wreck dangling in the air.

The New Suspension Bridge, as it is called, just below the ferry at the Falls, was built in 1868. It is a light, graceful structure, standing one hundred and ninety feet above the water. Its length is twelve hundred feet, after the Brooklyn bridge the longest structure of the kind in the world, and it is the narrowest of those designed for carriage travel. To its narrowness it probably owed its safety from destruction during a fierce gale which occurred in the fall of 1869. The fastenings or dowels of several of the guys on the Canadian side were torn out, and the bridge at its center deflected down-stream more than its width, so that the surface of its road-way could not be seen half its length. Then its undulations from end to end—like a stair-carpet being shaken between two persons—were frightful, and for a time it was feared that either cables or towers must give way. After the gale subsided the old guys were made fast again, new ones were added, and two two-inch steel wire cables were stretched from bank to bank, and connected with the bridge by wire stays. Wrought-iron beams were afterward placed on the bottom stringers, and channel irons on the top beams of the side trestles, all of which were strongly bolted together. These improvements added much to the strength of the whole structure, and greatly increased its ability to resist horizontal deflection.

Blondin and his "ascensions"—Visit of the Prince of Wales—Grand illumination of the Falls—The steamerCaroline—The water-power of Niagara—Lord Dufferin and the plan of an International Park.

In the year 1858, a short, well-rounded, fair-complexioned, light-haired Frenchman made his appearance at the Falls, and expressed a wish to put a tight-rope across the chasm below them, for the purpose of crossing on the rope and exhibiting athletic feats. He received little encouragement, but, having a Napoleonic faith in his star, he persevered, and finally obtained the necessary authority to place his rope just below the Railway Suspension Bridge. It was a well and evenly twisted rope, about two inches in diameter; and after stretching it as taut as it could be drawn, it hung in a moderate catenary curve. Commencing at the shore ends he secured stays of small rope to the large one, placing them about eight feet apart. These were made fast to the shore in such a manner that all the stays on one side of the main rope were parallel to each other from the center outward to the ends. They were made tight somewhat in the manner that tent-cords are tightened, and when the structure was complete it looked like the opposite sections of a gigantic spider-web.

At each end was a spacious inclosure, formed by a rough board fence, for the use of spectators. M. Blondin—for this was the name of the new aspirant for acrobatic honors—also made an arrangement with the superintendent of the railway bridge for its occupation during what, with a shade of irony, he called his "ascensions." Those who went within the inclosures and upon the bridge paid a certain sum. A contribution was asked of all outsiders. He selected Saturday as the day for fortnightly ascensions, and advertised his intentions very liberally. The speculation was successful and gave great satisfaction to the spectators. He exhibited a variety of rope-walking feats, balancing on the cable, hanging from it by his hands and feet, standing on his head, and lowering himself down to the surface of the water. He also carried a man across on his back, trundled over a loaded wheelbarrow, and did divers other things, and also walked over in a sack. He sprinkled in a few extras to heighten the effect, as the knowing ones declared, such as slipping astride the cable, falling across a stay-rope, or dropping something into the water. In 1860, he gave a special ascension in honor of the Prince of Wales. The Prince and his party occupied a sheltered space on the Canadian side, and Blondin walked to it from the opposite side, performing various feats on the way over. The Prince shook hands with him as he stepped into the shed, and commended his courage and nerve.

Blondin Crossing the Niagara

As illustrating the power of the imagination over the nerves it may be noted that, if the great spider's-web had been stretched out anywhere on a level surface, and notmore than three feet above the ground, a dozen men in any large community could have been found to walk it as unconcernedly, if not as gracefully, as the famous "ascensionist." After three years of successful labor at Niagara, he sought other air-spaces.

The most notable occurrence, however, which emphasized the visit of the Prince of Wales in that year was the illumination of the Falls late in the evening of a moonless night. On the banks above and all about on the rocks below, on the lower side of the road down the Canadian bank, and along the water's edge, were placed numerous colored and white calcium, volcanic, and torpedo lights. At a signal they were set aflame all at once. At the same time rockets and wheels and flying artillery were set off in great abundance. The shores were crowded with spectators, and the scene was a most remarkable one. The steady, lurid light below and the intermittent flashes and explosions overhead, the seething, hissing volumes of flame and smoke rolling up from the deep abyss, the ghostly appearance of the descending stream, the ghastly swift current of white foam, the weird appearance of the cloud of spray with a faint and fantastic illumination at its base, which faded out in the dim light of the stars as it ascended, the peculiarly deep but muffled and solemn monotone of the falling water, the livid hue imparted to the faces of the quiet but deeply interested spectators, all made the scene memorable and impressive. When the Marquis of Lorne and the Princess Louise visited the Falls in January, 1879, they saw them illuminated by electricity, the light having the illuminating power of 32,000 candles.

In December, 1837, the steamerCarolinecame down from Buffalo to aid, it was said, the so-called Patriots, then engaged in an insurrection against the Canadian Government. A motley collection of adventurers on Navy Island constituted the disturbing, not to say attacking, force. At Chippewa was stationed a body of Canadian militia, under the command of Colonel—afterward Sir—Allan McNabb, who had the good fortune to win his spurs in a single almost bloodless campaign. By his direction a boat expedition was sent to attack theCaroline, as she lay at the old Schlosser dock. In themêléeone American was killed. The steamer was set on fire, and her fastenings must have been burnt away, as also a part of her upper works, since the writer, ten years later, while returning from a fishing expedition, discovered her smoke-pipe lying at the bottom of the river, in a quiet basin not thirty rods below the dock. A cat-fish of moderate dimensions appeared to be keeping house in it, and, with his head barely projecting from one end, was serenely watching the current for whatever game it might bring to his iron parlor. After the new bridges were built connecting the Three Sisters with Goat Island, the guides and drivers, in their desire to enhance the interest of the scene, astonished travelers by informing them that it was the boiler of theCarolinewhich caused the extraordinary elevation of the water which we have before referred to as the Leaping Rock.

Nine miles from the Falls is the Tuscarora Reservation of four thousand acres. On this there are about three hundred and fifty Indians, mostly half-breeds,engaged in agricultural pursuits, which supply a portion of their necessities. The Indian women who are seen at the Falls in the summer season working and vending different articles of bead-work belong to this community. The Tuscaroras have not been more fortunate than others of their race in bargaining with their white brothers, and their lands are now stripped of the fine oak timber and valuable wood which stood upon it a few years since, and which was sold in large quantities at small prices.

Indian Women Selling Bead-work

As a compensation for this system of robbery we maintained a Christian missionary among them for a few years, and we boast that they are all Protestants. The resident missionary, a very worthy man, but a rather prosy preacher, always addressed his dusky audience in the English language, his thoughts being conveyed to them by an interpreter. For many years the interpreter was a native Tuscarora, a fine specimen of his race, six feet tall, with a tawny complexion, dark, flashing eyes, and a musical voice. It was interesting to note his manner while acting as interpreter for different clergymen. When interpreting the pious but humdrum utterances of the passionless missionary, he stood at the right side of the preacher, with his left elbow resting on one end of the modest pulpit, and delivered himself with an air that seemed to say, "It does not amount to much, but I give it to you as it is." But the change was magical when, as sometimes happened during the summer season, some eloquent preacher addressed the congregation. The natural courtesy of the interpreter led him, instead of putting his elbow onthe pulpit, to stand a little to the rear of the strange preacher, respectfully waiting for his words. As the priest warmed into his subject the interpreter caught his spirit, straightened his fine figure to its full height, advanced to a line with the speaker, and as the theme was developed and the orator grew more and more eloquent, the excitement became contagious; the Indian entered fully into its spirit, his face glowed with animation, his eyes shone with a warmer light, his long arms were stretched forth, and with gestures energetic or subdued, but always graceful, and the varied inflections of his voice in harmony with the theme, he followed the discourse to the end. His audience, too, would become thoroughly aroused, and a little more animation would be infused into the plaintive tones of the closing hymn.

One of the future attractions of Niagara, to sportsmen at least, may be the catching of California trout, twenty thousand of the fry having been put into the rapids by the writer in June, 1881.

Concerning the manufactories, shops, rubbish, and litter along the race near the brink of the American Falls, which appear so uncouth and inharmonious, and which are noticed by strangers as being a desecration of the scene, it is only just to remark that the utilization of the water-power here, in the easiest and most economical manner, was one of the imperative necessities of the early settlement of the country. For many years a large territory, lying on both sides of the river, was dependent upon the manufacturing, repairing, and milling facilities of this place. For furnishing these in those days,water-power was the only agent. And the name—Manchester—given to the place by its early settlers only foreshadowed their hope that it would one day rival its great English namesake.

There are fewer manufactories on the old race-ways now than there were forty years ago, but many new ones have been located on the hydraulic canal that has been excavated at great expense, which leaves the river a mile above the Falls, and empties into the chasm half a mile below. The three years of unusual drought in the northern half of the United States, from 1876 forward, demonstrated how little dependence can be placed during the summer season on the ordinary water-powers of that region, and the attention of manufacturers has been newly drawn to Niagara.

The early dream of growth in population and wealth at Niagara seems likely to be realized. Already extensive milling and manufacturing establishments have been put in operation, and others are in contemplation. When it is considered that engineers estimate the sum-total of all the water-power in the northern portion of the United States at less than 500,000 horse-power, and that, according to data furnished by the United States Lake Survey Bureau, the water-power of Niagara is equal to 1,500,000 horse-power, we can form some idea of the vastness of the force which awaits the enterprise of American manufacturers.

"I understand, Mr. President," said Daniel Webster, in a speech prefacing a toast complimentary to the citizens of Rochester for their generous hospitality at theNew York State Fair in 1844, "that the Genesee River has a fall of 250 feet within the limits of the city of Rochester. Sir, if the Thames had a fall of 250 feet within the limits of the city of London, London would not be a town—it would be a-l-l t-h-e w-o-r-l-d!" and as he deliberately stretched out his great arms, and expanded his broad chest, while slowly pronouncing the last three words, one could almost see London gradually enlarging its ample borders in all directions. When the 1,500,000 horse-power of Niagara is utilized for the economic wants of men, Niagara will not be a town—it will be a large part of all the world.

On the 25th of September, 1878, in an after-luncheon speech before the Ontario Society of Artists at Toronto, Lord Dufferin, Governor-General of Canada, first publicly suggested the idea of creating an International Park from lands to be taken from both sides of the river adjacent to and including the Falls. He stated that he had conferred with Governor Robinson of New York upon the subject, and that the project was cordially approved by him. Governor Robinson, in his annual message the following winter, commended the project to the consideration of the Legislature, by whom a commission of distinguished gentlemen was appointed to investigate the subject and report thereon. After a full examination this commission reported warmly in favor of the plan, and their recommendation was cordially indorsed by a great many prominent citizens residing in different sections of the country. The press, too, was almost unanimously for it. A majority of the members of the Legislature to whom the report wasmade would have passed a bill for the further prosecution of the scheme, but, unfortunately, it was ascertained that any bill they might pass for this purpose would be vetoed for economical reasons. It is hoped that better counsels may ultimately prevail, and the plan be perfected. Nothing else can save Niagara from total desecration and disgrace. The fact that there is not a square foot of land in the United States from which an untaxed view of the great cataract can be obtained is a disgrace to the State, the nation, and the civilization of the age.

Poetry in the Table Rock albums—Poems by Colonel Porter, Willis G. Clark, Lord Morpeth, José Maria Heredia, A. S. Ridgely, Mrs. Sigourney, and J. G. C. Brainard.

Before the last fall of Table Rock, there stood upon it for many years a comfortable summer-house, where people could take refuge from the spray, look at the Falls, partake of luncheon, and procure guides and dresses to go under the sheet. In the sitting-room was a large round table, on which were placed a number of albums, as they were called. In these visitors could write whatever thoughts or sentiments might be suggested by the scene. With the grand reality before them but few persons attempted anything serious, by far the greater number adopting the facetious vein. It was emphatically light literature. One or two collections of it have been published, furnishing the reader with only a modicum of sense to an intolerable quantity of nonsense.

The following specimens are better than the average:

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