THE

Condition of Niagara Falls,

AND THE

MEASURES NEEDED TO PRESERVE THEM.

EIGHT LETTERS
PUBLISHED IN
THE NEW YORK EVENING POST, THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE,
AND THE BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER,
During the Summer of 1882.

By j. B. HARRISaJS".

NEW YORK:
1882.

These 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.

THE

Condition of Niagara Falls,

MEASURES NEEDED TO PRESERVE THEM.

EIGHT LETTERS
PUBLISHED IN
THE NEW YORK EVENING POST, THE NEW YORK TRIBUNE,
AND THE BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER,
During the Summer of 1882.

Br J. B. HARRISON.

NEW YORK:
1882.

Univeesity Pkess:
John Wilson and Son, Cambridge.

NIAGARA FALLS.

[JVom the New York Evening Post, Aug. 9, 1882.]
VARIETY AND VITALITY OF THE GREAT CATARACT —
HOW TO SEE IT.
Niagaka Falls, N. Y., Aug. 7, 1882.
Is it worth while to report and describe truly the existing
conditions at Niagara Falls ? Thoughtful people find this a
place of wonderful interest, of unparalleled attraction ; yet
some 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 every observer who remains long enough to recog
nize the truth that the spectacle upon which he gazes is never
twice the same. The longer one studies the view at some
points the more unwilling he is to turn away. It is like leav
ing a play of entrancing interest which has not yet ended.
And here the play never ends. This is the great characteristic
of Niagara, — its " infinite variety." There are several places
in the rapids, and especially about the head of Goat Island, at
each of which the changing show of the forms and motions of
the water, — flinging, tossing, flying, exploding, thrown high
into the air in great revolving bands and zones of crystal drops,
shooting aloft in slender, vertical jets of feathery spray, swing
ing in wide-based, massive waves like those of the ocean, or
gathered into billows which forever break and fall in curving

b NIAGARA FALLS.
cascades, and yet seem not to fall because they are every mo
ment renewed, — are worth a journey across the continent to
see. FOUR SEPARATE WATERFALLS.
There is a great variety of beauty and interest even in the
Falls themselves. As Luna Island divides the American Pall,
making a beautiful separate cascade of the narrow stream which
runs next to Goat Island, so the small island called Terrapin
Rocks (on which Terrapin Tower formerly stood) cuts off a
broader portion of the stream on the Canadian side of Goat
Island, and makes a separate cataract there. Thus, when the
spectator is on the lower end of Goat Island, there is on each
side of him, first, a narrow strait or portion of the river, just
large enough to form a fine fall by itself, then a small island,
and farther on a great cataract, — the American Fall on one
side, and the Horse-Shoe Fall on the other. These divisions of
the stream, with four separate waterfalls, different in volume
and environment, and so each jjossessing a marked individuality
of character, yet so related to each other that they may be
regarded as forming two great falls, and also as constituting,
when all taken together, the one great cataract of Niagara, —
render the scene far more beautiful and interesting than one
great fall of tho 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-encompass
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 are also many dlfierent 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 cliflT till it
strikes the stones at the bottom, there are 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. 7
the face of the cataract. In some places the stream pours with
a steady roar into soundless depths of water at the foot of
the precipice ; in others it dashes with indescribable violence
upon great masses of rock below, from which it is hurled out
ward with terrific force in hissing streams and spouts of spray.
The color of the falling water also varies everywhere. It is of
snowy, dazzling whiteness where the current is shallow above,
and the descending stream consequently thin. There is a little
green mingled with the white where the volume of water is
somewhat greater, and in the central portions of the Great or
Horse-Shoe Fall the deep, intense, solid green of the water has a
wonderful vitality and beauty.
THE framework of FOLIAGE.
The magnificent framework of green foliage in which this
glorious spectacle of the myriad forms and 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 shore
give to the scene such sylvan aspects of grace, of softness and
tenderness, as constitute some of the chief elements in its un
speakable charm, and some of the most forceful qualities by
which it makes its eternal appeal to the heart of man. Niagara
would not be what it is now if it rolled through a bare, brown
desert of Umestone. It is not the water — the river — alone
that gives to the place its unequalled attraction, its companion-
less grandeur and loveliness. If the trees should be destroyed,
and the shores and islands denuded of their green and living
beauty, the waters might rush and leap in the rapids, and roll
over the cliflfinto the gulf below, as now; but our sense of their
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 inspired by it, would be wholly difi'erent
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

8 NIAGARA FALLS.
uplifting, vivifying inspiration for those who can receive and
enjoy such influences, would be terribly, fatally impaired.
WHY SOME persons AEE DISAPPOINTED.
Some people do not see or feel, in any considerable degree,
the spiritual charm of which I speak. They would not think
of coming to Niagara for reinforcement of strength, for sooth
ing, healing delights, or uplifting peace, or for help of any kind
for the deeper needs of this life. They come hither because it
is the fashion; the place lies in the round of travel, and they sit
in their carriages at the top of the stairway leading 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
curious and interesting spectacle than they had expected to see,
and that, " on the whole," Niagara disappoints them. Of course
it disappoints, and must forever disappoint, all who look at it in
this foolish, hurried way. It requires time for the faculties of the
human mind to be put in motion, and to respond to such a spec
tacle as this. Nay, it takes time even for the senses to recognize
its most obvious material forms and aspects, and such persons
do not give themselves time for 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 fi'om 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 people to whom Niagara means much.
It ofiers to those who are weary from toil of any kind, of hand
or brain, or from the wearing, exhausting quality which is so
marked in modern life, — it oflTers 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 things 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 infinitely varied grandeur and
beauty, at last opens communication between itself and what is
highest and most vital in the mind and heart of man. It is
little worth while to try very hard to " enjoy " or " appreciate "
Niagara. It is worth while to try to see, to become well 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 ii-om 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 experiences and feelings, like all the higher moods and
activities of the soul, have something shy and elusive about
them, and it is not often best to try to describe them. And
Niagara itself, in its sovereign dignity and perfection, shames
and silences all effort at description or eulogy. It is to be seen,
felt — not talked about. And as the weeks and months pass
while I dwell here, by the very shrine of this awful beauty, this
veiled and shrouded grandeur, I become more and more 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 unappeasable
longing to express his feelings upon canvas, — if, indeed, the
scene is not too great to be painted.
MISUSED OPPORTUNITIES.
But I write of Niagara for two reasons : one is, that so many
people, who ought to have pleasure and delight in seeing it,
now come here and go away without having felt delight at all,
2

10 NIAGARA FALLS.
— go away, in fact, with feelings of disappointment and vexar
tion, which settle at last into a decided impression 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 attempt at description, that I write on this subject. Most
of the people who come hither are possessed of but moderate
means to sustain the expenses of travel for pleasure or recreation,
and, in consequence, they can remain at the Falls but a short
time. Now, this is the class of persons who most need, and
should be able in greatest degree to enjoy, whatever delights
or benefits the place can minister to its visitors. The rich are
better able to take care of themselves, here as everywhere. Or,
if they do not know how to enjoy Niagara, they are able to stay
long enough to learn. But thousands come hither for whom a
day, or two days, is all the time that can be devoted to this ex
perience. If people 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 part of their time, so limited
and precious, and lose the real opportunities of the visit almost
wholly. They go to the wrong places, and do the wrong things,
and so waste not only their time but their money. If one can
be here but six or eight hours, he should not think of using a
hack or carriage. He should walk. And any woman who can
walk two miles at home can see Niagara, can see all 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
could easily walk wherever it is necessary for short-time visitors
to go. PROSPECT PARK.
The proper place to be first visited by all uitelligent persons
is the point at the top of the American Fall, on the American
or village side ofthe river. This place is included in "Prospect
Park," and twenty-five cents is charged for admission at the
gate. It is much to be regretted tliat there is now no point

NIAGARA FALLS. 11
from which an inhabitant of our country can see 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 which 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 here
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 appreciable degree to national
advancement in civiUzation. The view of the American Fall
from this point, ofthe 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 the 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 al

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 American Fall on that side.
When ready to proceed keep to the right from the top of the
stairway, by a pleasant path along the edge of the island, 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. Look at it first from the head of the stairway, then
from Terrapin Rocks (where Terrapin Tower formerly stood).
THE RAPIDS.
You must not think you have seen Niagara because you
have seen the Falls. The rapids at the head of Goat Island,
and the varied and wonderful scenery of the "Three Sisters"
at that point, — all this is indispensable. You have not seen
Niagara if you have omitted this region. It is but a few
minutes' walk again, still keeping to the right along the edge
of the island after you leave the Great Fall. Leaving the
" Three Sisters," go directly across the carriage road, up the
steps and past the excursion or picnic building in the woods,
passing to the right of it. A broad path through the woods
leads to the end of the bridge by which you crossed to Goat
Island. Having paid your half-dollar to go to the island every
point and prospect upon it and around it is free to you. There
are no further fees.
And now, if one has followed the course here indicated,
spending, of course, as much time as he can afford at the 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 11.25. 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 pubhc road follows the edge of the clifif.

14 NIAGARA FALLS,

II.
\_From the New York Evening Post, Aug. 14, 1882.]
THE SMALL SWINDLES AND SHAMS OF THE PLACE, AND
WHAT TO DO WITH THEM.
Niagara Falls, N. Y., Aug. 9, 1882.
As there is much complaint of the excessive cost of a visit to
Niagara, it seemed worth while to note, as I did in my first let
ter from here, the fact that many persons might see all that is of
great interest at the Falls with very little expense. 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 are
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-

NIAGARA FALLS. 15
ceptible effect 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 things 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 their wares, is
in the fact that they reflect the civiUzation, 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-DRIVERS.
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 caUed "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 are not ia 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 engage 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 would 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, so far as is desirable ; but I often observe in

16 NIAGARA FALLS.
their dealings with strangers an element of trickiness. The
information which they give to visitors is not always trus1>
worthy. It is commonly understood here that hackmen receive
commissions on admission fees paid by their passengers at some
points, while for taking people to other places 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 especiaUy profit
able to him; but places which do not yield him a share of
their revenues are naturally uninteresting. They are "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 these men know little about the scenery, in any true sense,
and care nothing about it. It would be foolish to depend upon
their judgment or estimate of anything which attracts sensible
people to Niagara. They 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 ofthe
time at least, no fixed schedule of prices. They take all they
can get, and take advantage ofthe ignorance, inexperience, 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 IN 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

NIAGARA FALLS. 17
which he was to receive for the trip for which he 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
agreed to take them "all around" for a dollar and a half; but
the young fellow fooUshly 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 ofiensive 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 apparently intelligent, came up the 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 the 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 ofiensive 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 hackmen's ubiquitous and persistent annoyance —
keeps many people from coming hither, and especially that it
3

18 NIAGARA FALLS.
prevents many who have been here once from returning, and
remaining long enough to know and enjoy more deeply the
charm of the scenery, which 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 large places." But I
have been in all the large towns of our country, and I have
never seen anywhere else conduct so foolishly and stupidly
offensive on the part of hackmen. The people here say, also,
" Every man that complains has the remedy in his own hands.
Let him prosecute the drivers, and have them punished, if they
have done anything wrong." Now, however praiseworthy it
might be for a man to undertake by any means to reform the
manners of such 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 efibrt 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 pubUo spirit, which is injurious to the interests of the
place and of their own business.
THE EIGHT 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-go in', sleepy old town — some nice people here, but things
goes on rather accidental Uke." I think it is plain that there is
not here, on the ground, such a conjunction of intelUgence,
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 unequaUed attractions of this scenery. The truth

NIAGARA FALLS. 19
is that Niagara is too great to be 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 unimpaired, 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
shaU provide for these changes.

20 NIAGARA FALLS.

III.
[From the New York Evening Post, Aug. 17, 1882.]
CAN THEY BE SAVED? — HOW A MILLION DOLLARS COULD
BE WELL INVESTED — AN OPPORTUNITY THAT MAY BE
LOST IN TWO YEARS. Niagara Falls, N. Y., Aug. 15, 1882.
While the people of this town who are interested in Niagara
Falls as a watering-place or summer resort are in a complaining
or discouraged mood, those who are engaged in manufacturing
enterprises, or who own lands which offer suitable sites for shops
and factories, are in high spirits. They lament sincerely, I
doubt not, the necessity of sacrificing Niagara, and aU its beauty
and attractiveness, to business and commercial interests. They
say, " We should be glad if somebody — if the State — would
buy this property and preserve the scenery. But we cannot
afford to keep these lands merely for the sake of beauty and the
pleasure it will give to other people, 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 " vandahsm " or barbarian tastes.
The men who own Goat Island, or the river front along the
American Rapids, are no more under obligation to sacrifice the
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
ing with the questions and interests involved, which leads to
criticism of the land-owners and manufacturers here, — or of
any other class of the people of this town, — as its chief result.
It is not the vandalism or soulless greed of the people here
which is imperiUing Niagara, and which will soon destroy it
forever unless some effectual interposition prevents the consum
mation of this ruin. It is really science, or the changed meth
ods and conditions of life which the modern development of
science has produced, that is sweeping away the ancient
beauty of this wonderful place, and that threatens the desola
tion which, if we sufler it to be completed, 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 multiplied many times
the value of the lands near the Palls 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
lands, — as it should, in order to preserve the scenery, — the
water-power could be utiUzed just as fully, and the miUs and
shops would be quite as valuable, a httle 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 the water-power of Niagara.
The water can be taken from the river above the rapids, by
means of canals, and carried wherever it is wanted. There is
more room and there are far better sites for factories at some
distance away from the 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 instance 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.
paid for. It is probable that such a measure would encounter
little opposition from those who would be directly or chiefly
afiected 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 tenitory for the purposes of a reservation.
Goat Island and the smaller islands near it, aU taken together,
contain between 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 only about seventy-
seven acres. In 1879, Mr. James I. Gardner, director of the
New York State Survey, and Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted re
ported to the Legislature that " on the main shore, by the
removal of seven good buildings and 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 the same now as when these gentlemen exam
ined the ground and made their admirable and interesting
report. The probable 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 New York to invest in securing so
great a possession and benefit to her people forever. To restore
the river shore along the American Rapids to its pristine beauty
would be a real triumph 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, undespoiled and

NIAGARA FALLS. . 23
undisfigured. 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 the dismal, hopelessly littered and neglected look of the
suburbs of some towns in Arkansas. (My readers must say
Arkansaiv, or they will not feel the full force of this com
parison.) THE WORK OP DISFIGUREMENT.
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 the 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 Kapids. 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 Hair 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 and decay ;
smaU 'hotels,' mills, carpenter 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 element of ruin
and confusion to the impression of solid ughness given by the better
class of buildings. And all this is the background to one of the
grandest spectacles in theworld, — 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

24 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 man 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,
the point of view is the conviction that for all the 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-
telUgently and seriously, they all converge to this conclusion.
GOAT ISLAND TO BE SOLD.
I am informed that the youngest heir to the estate of which
Goat Island is a part will be of age in less than two years fi-om
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 efforts to purchase the island for
purposes 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
necessity. There was much talk here a few years ago, as well

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 the
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 apjiUances 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 Niagara, 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 does not
become the property of the State, it is likely to be purchased
for manufacturing purposes. 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 de
voted to industrial uses, there would 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.

26 NIAGARA FALLS.

IV.
[From the New York Evening Post, Aug. 29, 1882.]
THE CHEAP EXCURSIONS — CHARACTER AND MANNERS OF
THE EXCURSIONISTS— IMPENDING RUIN OF NIAGARA —
THE DUrr 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 travelUng 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 agricultural region of our country,
can now afibrd to come to Niagara. The fact that many tens
of thousands of these people from the fanjas and the riu-al towns
do come each summer is often spoken of as something to be
regretted as one of the most disagreeable 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 numbers for their brief stay of a day,
or a day and night, many persons of wealth, who would tarry
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 undoubtedly true that the number of visitors who
remain for a considerable time has greatly diminished within a
few years, and that this is, in various ways, to many persons,
a very serious matter. But, after much observation of tbe
facts and conditions of the situation here, I incline to the opin
ion that we must look in other directions for 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 " oflfensive,"
and as one ofthe "vulgarities " ofthe place.
CONDUCT OP EXCURSIONISTS.
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-behaved and reputable members of their commu
nities at home. When we remember that almost every excur
sion party is largely composed of famiUes 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 then habit of walking about in the town five
or six abreast, so as to crowd people into the gutters from even
the very broad sidewalks of the village. A company of young
men from the country seemed much surprised when I refused to

28 NIAGARA FALLS.
turn out, and thus halted the entire band of them as they were
walking with " locked arms." I explained that the people 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 are criticised for dancing boisterously with
in sight of the cataract and within hearing 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 manners 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 sesthetic sublimities, or
communing with the Absolute and Infinite. I saw one excur
sion which was largely made up 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 here 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 only
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 iutelUgently
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."

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 left 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
ofthe 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 chiefiy responsible. Thus
the young women at the " Indian stores " and bazaars are blamed
for inviting passers-by to come inside. But they do so because
strangers 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

30 NIAGARA FALLS.
particular class of goods. She accompanied him to every show
case in the room, exhibiting the goods, and replying to his con
stant questioning. He occupied more than half an hour in this
inspection, and bought nothing ; and I noted, as he 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 me 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 opportunities for knowing them as young
women of good character. No one who comes hither to enjoy
the scenery need be in fear of annoyance at the hands of the
shop-girls. GOOD AND BAD MANNERS.
Most of the impressions derived from my observation of
American manners, character, and civiUzation at Niagara, are
favorable and encouraging rather than otherwise. There are
some exceptions, of course. There is often room for consider
able improvement in manners. I saw in Prospect Park a coarse
fellow, with grimy hands and clothing, serving a party of young
girls with ice-cream while 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 women 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. 31
THE REAL CAUSE OP NIAGARA'S DECLINE.
I see two classes of facts at Niagara. There is abundant
proof that there is a large class or number of people in our
country who feel the charm and worth of beautiful scenery, and
who find great delight and refi-eshment 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 presence 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 feeUng for beauty, and some ot
them appear to have a morbid and horrible delight in Uttered
and disorderly ugUness. This belongs to the saddening, dis
couraging class of facts respecting our national character and
feeUng. We have multitudes of people 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 while the " gentlemen " of their party do
these things. In what schools, Sunday schools, and churches,
are these people educated, and what is the nature ofthe 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

32 NIAGARA FALLS.
are comparatively so few that they have Uttle influence, and
they do not constitute a class ; they have no voice, no aim, no
co-operation. Doubtless, if even the few cared enough for such
spiritual verities, they would find some means for the propaga
tion of their faith in them. The masses in our weU-to-do de
mocracy feel no discomfort from hideous ugUness and vulgarity
in the objects and scenery around them at home. Our wealthy
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 Utter, filth,
and squalor. Even dealers in flower-seeds in our country choose
to advertise then- business by means of repulsive pictures. There
is an enormous popular appetite for things grotesque, monstrous,
and vulgar, for thorough, debasing ugUness. 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 Uttle 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 capitahsts and manufacturers, Niagara wiU be
" a joy forever," etc. The truth is that manufacturers and capi
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. 38
These erroi-s should be corrected, and should not hereafter be
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.

34 NIAGARA FALLS.

V.
\_From. the Boston Advertiser, Aug. 3, 1882.]
THE RESIDENTS DESPONDENT AT THE DEARTH OF VISIT
ORS—THE CAUSES WHICH HAVE BROUGHT THE FALLS
INTO DISREPUTE — A PRACTICAL REMEDY SUGGESTED.
Niagara Falls, N. Y., July 29, 1882.
The people of the town are despondent this summer. The
number of visitors to the Falls 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-place 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 warmer weather which has recently begun,
the older residents shake their heads, and say, " Yes, we hope
so; but things have changed. Niagara will never be what it
has been unless something is done." This opinion seems to be
well founded. Men who have always been connected with
" the Falls business " say frankly that people do not like to
come here so well as formerly ; that 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 probably 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

NIAGARA FALLS. 35
elders should have seen so much here, and the elders themselves
are disappointed and indignant. They lament the loss of all
the wildness from the American side of the river, the all-per
vading impertinence of the hackmen, the perpetual solicitation
of patronage by various classes of people, and the horrible vul
garity of the cblored electric lights. Many of them say that
twenty-five years ago it was pleasant to remain here for several
weeks, but now " one day and two nights is enough ; " and the
younger folk are equally ready to seek other scenes after this
brief stay.
I have also talked, with some business men from New York
City, from Buffalo 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 and character ofthe Amer
ican people, and the tendencies of the modern world, this char
acter can never be restored to it. They say, " The State 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 factories and dung-heaps right around the Falls.
Something — anything — ought to be done, but nothing will
be. We shall make cloth and paper, flour and beer and whis
key, with this unlimited power, and the people who like to look
at beautiful things must go somewhere where we can't build
mills." " No," said one of the company, after remarks like
these, "the artistic people can go over yonder to the art gallery
in the park."
Let us consider some of the matters here suggested. Recog
nizing as I do the unequalled value of Niagara as a source or
means of strength, refreshment, and happiness 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 ground about the Falls were really needed
for cotton and paper 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 shaU have a vast

36 NIAGARA FALLS.
and crowded population in this part of our country before any
great time has elapsed, and we are preparing conditions here in
America under which the mass of men must, in large degree,
live for bread for themselves, and little beyond. Whenever
there is a real conflict or antagonism between economic, business
or industrial interests on the one hand, and ideal or esthetic
considerations on the other, the latter must give way, and
rightly, because they are secondary or subordinate when com
pared with the necessities of physical 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 which 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 for anybody who desires the preseiwa-
tion of the scenery here for ideal and spiritual uses to decry or
contemn the commercial spirit or business energy of our time,
or to lament its application to this particular object, — the util
ization of the water-power of Niagara for manufacturing pur
poses. He is a poor, shallow poet or artist who can see only
the poetic or artistic side of things. The mass of men must
always toil. Infinite drudgery is required to sustain human life
under the conditions of civilized society. Millions of men must
labor — must labor honestly, nobly, and happily — that one great
poet may sing their life, or one man of divine genius paint a
picture of immortal power and beauty.
Build the factories, then, and let Niagara turn their wheels.
But where shall the factories stand ? It would be a most
insane and outrageous thing to place them here, amid these
scenes unparalleled on the planet. It would be a wholly 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 from 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
suited to refresh, elevate, and gladden the mind and heart of
civilized man forever. It is a sad error and wrong that this
small territory, which includes all that is essential to Niagara, —
all its wild grace and ineffable charm, — should be held by any
private or individual ownership. It should be the property of
the State, the possession of the people, and should be held
in trust and cared for by the government. All its wealth of
beauty and of high uses should be accessible to the poorest
children of toil who may, by wise forethought or self-denying
frugality, save from the price of their labor the means for a pil
grimage to this shrine of ideal and spiritual reality.
For we must have something besides factories, and turbine
wheels, and supply and demand, and daily toil for daily bread,
even for the toiler himself, so that he may have " a daily beauty
in his life," to use Shakespeare's phrase. You see, gentlemen
capitalists and manufacturers, the laborer must toil happily, or
you may all come to grief together, and capital must supply and
maintain the conditions of beauty and happiness for him.
Labor, directed and ennobled by the ideal, moral, or spiritual
element, creates everything; but a democratic, civilization, based
on the labor of a class of serfs of the mine and 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

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
which cares for him as one of the great brotherhood of her
children. 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 shop 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 Falls, — this, with Goat Island and the
other islands in the river, forms the extent of the proposed res
ervation. Many people here 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 sons of the Old Bay State are now business men in
the city and State of New York, I send this notice of affairs
here to the readers of the " Advertiser."

NIAGARA FALLS. 39

VI.
IFrom the New York Tribune, Aug. 23, 1882.]
AN INLAND RESORT.
NIAGARA FALLS: THEIR TRUE INFLUENCE, POWER, AND
SPIRIT, AND THEIR IMPENDING RUIN.
Niagara Falls, N. Y., Aug. 21, 1882.
One 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, with 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 of 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 ought 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 a1^
tractive, engaging interest here. I can only indicate, not de
scribe, its character. Prom 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.
blance to the form of a horseshoe), there arises a peculiar dis
play of mist, or white vapor, produced by the concussion ofthe
water against the rocks below. If this were constant in char
acter, or of uniform appearance, it might 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 of 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
swift flashing motion the top of the column expands on every
side, forming a mighty dome, 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 Uttle 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 hurrying, 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 the 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 them 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 wide 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 infiuences
most potent 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 think of it, at least
when they are not here. What then is it that gives its peculiar
potency to the appeal 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 the islands, would not be
especially beautifuh The spiritual power and grace of the
scene, its peculiar and deUcate chai-m and delightfulness, 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

42 NIAGARA FALLS.
grandeur and beauty pervades these gigantic trees (which stood
here, extending their boughs abroad in the sweet air and light,
before our nation's history began), with the umbrageous thickets
and festooning vines which crowd around their 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 foUiige, belong to
gether, and together they build and perpetuate the surpassing
beauty and wonder of the scene, creating it anew each year
forever. 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 green baniers 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
openings in the green foliage. It is all beautiful here at first
sight, but 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 infiuences of glad and soothing
repose. This part of the scenery of Niagara has peculiar attrac
tions for thoughtful, earnest women, and is greatly enjoyed by
them. It might be said that feminine characteristics are pre
dominant in the local qualities here, — in the brightness and free
dom, and the gay, capricious motion which on every side invite
the eye, — and it is all brooded over by a spirit 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 terror, 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 huraan 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
higher faculties ofthe soul 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. But Niagara would be
destroyed beyond the possibility of restoration. All that now
constitutes its peculiar charm, 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 there 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 Niagara Falls would
still be interesting, attractive, and valuable as a spectacle of
grandeur and beauty, after the woods on the islands and river-
banks shall have been removed, and when wing-dams sprawl
in every part ofthe American rapids, apportioning the drudging
waters to their several race-ways and mill-wheels, — they are
in error, through not fully understanding the matter, and 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 miUs and fac
tories. (This can as well be applied, and the water-power ot
the Niagara River can be utUized to any 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 enterprises now contemplated are carried for
ward, Niagara will be one of the saddest, most painful scenes

44 NIAGARA FALLS.
on the globe to all thoughtful 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.

NIAGARA FALLS. 45

VII.
[From the New York Tribune, Aug. 29, 1882.]
DEFACEMENT OF SUBLIJIE SCENERY : THE COLORED-LIGHT
ABOMINATION — ROOKERIES AND RUBBISH-HEAPS — EVIL
EFFECT OF SUCH EXHIBITIONS ON PUBLIC MORALS —
THE CALL FOR PROMPT ACTION BY THE STATE.
Niagara Falls, N. Y., Aug. 23, 1882.
There are sorae things at Niagara Falls which belong to the
lowest and worst world of which man knows anything; to a
world whose elements and infiuences are worse than wicked
ness or positive wrong-doing, — the realm of ugliness and vul
garity, of infiuences which defile and befoul what is beautiful
and admirable, and so corrupt and poison the sources of life aud
excellence. The tendency of friendly familiarity with ugliness
and vulgarity is to m.ake the people not so much immoral as un
moral ; it leads to regions and conditions of life where the devel
opment ofthe moral sense, of the imagination, and of all high
qualities or faculties of the mind of man, is impossible. Nature's
Niagara is — or rather was — 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 potent 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 place to visit first, on arrival here, is the point at
the top of the American Fall on the " continental " side, that

46 NIAGARA FALLS.
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 fall
from Goat Island. It is the true place for the first view of
the Falls, and the scene, in its natural aspects, is indescribably
beautiful. One of America's foremost writers, whose works
have probably ministered a pure and wholesome delight to a
greater number of readers than those of any other American
author, 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 j'ou are at once made at home by a perception
of its greatness, in which there is no quality of aggression, as
there always seems to be in minor places, as well as in minor
men, and you gratefully accept its sublimity as a fact in no way
contrasting with your own insignificance."
Let me quote further, for I have a purpose : —
" In fact, that prodigious presence does make a solitude and silence
round every spirit worthy to perceive it, and it gives a kind of dignity
to all its belongings, so that the rocks and pebbles in the water's edge,
and the weeds and grasses that nod above it, have a value far beyond
that of such common things elsewhere. In all the aspects of Niagara
there seems a grave simplicity, which is perhaps a reflection of the
spectator'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, dwelt 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, edged all round with faint lines of white, where
the air that filled the water freed itself in foam. What had been clear

NIAGARA FALLS. 47
green on the face of the cataract was here more like rich verd antique,
and had a look of firmness almost like that of the stone itself. So it
showed beneath the bridge, and down the river till the curving shores
hid it. These, springing abruptly from the water's brink, and shagged
with pine and cedar, displayed the tender verdure of grass and bushes
intermingled with the dark evergreens that climb from ledge to ledge,
till they point their speary tops above the crest of the bluffs. In
front, where tumbled rocks and expanses of naked clay varied the
gloomier and gayer green, sprung those spectral mists ; and through
them loomed out, in its manifold majesty, Niagara, with the seem
ingly immovable, white Gothic screen of the American Fall, and the
green massive curve of the Horse-Shoe, solid and simple and calm as
an Egyptian wall ; while behind this, with their white and black ex
panses broken by dark-foliaged little isles, the steep Canadian rapids
biUowed down between their heavily wooded shores."
The last paragraph describes the view from the new suspen
sion bridge, just below the Falls. These passages present, with
the delicacy and accuracy possible to genius alone, a picture of
the scene which is repeated almost every evening through
weeks of fair summer weather every year. But now it is suc
ceeded every night, almost before the sunset hues are fully with
drawn, by an indescribably painful and debasing exhibition.
Electric lights are thrown through variously colored glasses,
full upon " the white Gothic screen of the American Fall, and
the green, massive curve of the Horse-Shoe." Blue and red
and yellow rays are shot suddenly hither and thither upon
the billowy rapids, and the boys who manage the lights amuse
themselves by flashing their intolerable brilliance in the faces
of people wherever they can be seen within range, and thus
driving them from place to place to escape the blinding glare.
When a red glass is used the American Fall has the appear
ance of the discharge-way of an enormous beet-sugar manu
factory. When the yellovyish glass is interposed the cataract
looks much Uke the " tail-race " of an old-time wild-cat distillery
on the Lower Maumee.
I was 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.
was a very earnest temperance advocate. As the scent reached
us he sniffed two or three times, then turned in the saddle, and
observed, " I smell hell." We have not this particular fragrance
at the Falls as yet, but even this may be here before many years
have passed, for one ofthe projects "for the development ofthe
resources of Niagara " talked of here is the erection of a mum-
moth distillery on Goat Island.
As things are now, the evening exhibition at the Falls on the
American side resembles the combination of a poor circus with
a cheap celebration of the Fourth of July. No description can
give to those who have not seen it an adequate notion of the
abominable effect of the colored electric lights when directed
upon the Falls. It is debasing, vulgarizing, and horrible in the
extreme. That children and young people should be exposed
to the influence of such a spectacle is matter for deepest regret
and sadness. It is evident that neither the people who make
this exhibition nor those who enjoy it would have any rooted
objection against the actual defilement of these crystal waters,
as their taste is actually so perverted that they have no joy in
their purity 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 deadly feelings of delight as well as vital ones, and if young
people are not surrounded by beautiful and ennobling objects
and spectacles, many of them will come to delight in things
that are false, debasing, and monstrous. These evil influences
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 people 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 people 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.

NIAGARA FALLS. 49
After I had been here for some time this summer, being weary
of hearing sensible-looking men and women say, "Oh, how
beautiful!" and « Is n't that lovely?" I asked a gentleman at
the hotel to go down with me one evening and help me try the
effect of expressing dissent and dissatisfaction. He consented,
and we were in the company at the parapet at Prospect Point
when the red lights were turned on the beautiful cascade. We
looked at it for a few moments, until the people around us began
to talk, and then my friend observed earnestly that the exhibition.
was in wretchedly bad taste, and tended to cheapen and degrade
a sublime and noble spectacle, that it suggested a " variety "
entertainment in a dance-hall in a mining town, and that it
seemed as if the next thing should be the appearance of a girl
in tights, with cymbals, to sing a comic song. I added 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 quietly
enjoy the beauty and 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 persons near us expressed similar ideas and
sentiments, and some even said, " Let us go ; I do not care to
look at that." As we 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 times, with similar results.
There is reason to believe that many people are influenced very
considerably by the 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 infiuences
are potent to propagate 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 predominant 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 colored-light nuisance is
7

50 NIAGARA FALLS.
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 different kinds of ugliness
and slovenliness as is not often seen in a territory so contracted.
In a short walk one sees piles of lumber, heaps 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, unsightly 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 conditions of private land-ownership at Niagara. It
was a great and mischievous error — I fear a fatal mistake — to
allow the 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 Robinson (Jan. 9, 1879), and in a special report of the
Board of Commissioners of the State Survey, and the report of
the Director on the Preservation of the Scenery around Niagara
Falls. This report was transmitted to the Legislature of New
York March 22, 1880, by Horatio Seymour, President of the
Board. The commission 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 pity
that it could not be published in sorae more popular form, and
so made accessible to the general public. It should be read in
every family in the State of New York.

NIAGARA FALLS. 51
It recommends the purchase, by the State of New York, of
Goat Island and the smaller islands near it, and of the land on
the Araerican side of the river immediately contiguous to the
Falls and to the rapids. By this means this invaluable 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. But 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 infiuences are of great
importance to national character. Those who understand the
relation of material conditions to a high civilization ought to
speak and act promptly ana vigorously, in connection with this
enterprise. I write of it in the hope that the press of the coun
try may publish the facts widely, and discuss the subject thor
oughly, with its usual intelUgence, candor, and approval of all
things good.

52 NIAGARA FALLS.

VIII.
[From the Boston Daily Advertiser, Aug. 18, 1882.]
MILLS AND MANUFACTORIES OCCUPYING THE SHORES AND
ISLANDS— THE BEAUTY OF THE AMERICAN SHORE AL
READY DESTROYED —NECESSITY OF PROMPT ACTION TO
AVERT THE RUIN. Niagara Falls, N. Y., Aug. 14, 1882.
" Can Niagara be saved ? Is it worth while to try ? " These
are among the questions which thoughtful and public-spirited
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. Politicians 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 work and business
interests. No 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 preoccupied, — always
has been, and always will be. And yet, in time past, public
attention has been awakened, and public interest secured, for
various matters which at first seemed to be outside of the range
of practical and necessary affairs ; 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 hear, to read, to attend sufficiently to become
acquainted with the facts of the case, so that they can judge

NIAGARA FALLS. 53
intelligently of their importance. Perhaps it may require con
siderable time and much effort to accomplish this. But it can
probably be done, and will be, I suppose, if a few men of char
acter and ability come to feel how 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 selfish individualism which accompanies it (and
which corrupts many who are not rich), seems to weaken all
properly social motives and efforts. Men 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 individualism in a well-to-do
democracy." There are great obstacles in the way ofthe effort
to save Niagara from destruction ; but I suppose our democracy
can learn. It must, or it may not always be well-to-do. It may
be that we cannot bring the mass of Americans to recognize
any responsibility for the preservation of Niagara, or to feel any
of the higher motives for doing so. If this should prove to be
true, then the work would be not so much to save the FaUs as
to save our own souls. Were we to see the Falls destroyed
without an effort 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 green foliage of the trees and
vines on the shores and 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 precipice in a wilderness of mills
and factories will yield no delight to any huraan being.
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 miUs and manufactories
of various kinds. This is entirely unnecessary, because there
are better sites far enough away from the Falls to leave the
scenery undisturbed. But it is inevitable under the circum-

54 NIAGARA FALLS.
stances, because business interests demand it, the owners of the
land not being able to afford the luxury of such scenery, pre
served and maintained at their private cost.
3d. All the evils which beset and the dangers which threaten
Niagara are the natural and necessary result of the private or
individual ownership of the lands contiguous to the river, and
are inseparable from it. So far as human judgment or foresight
can discover, the complete destruction of Niagara is certain to
be accomplished unless these lands can be converted from a
private possession into a public trust. Unless the State inter
poses, Niagara will soon be a memory.
The beauty of the American shore of the river along nearly
the whole extent of the rapids has been entirely destroyed ; the
lovely growth of trees and swaying vines which forraerly fringed
it, and overhung the rushing water, having been gradually re
moved. A long array of unsightly buildings (with heaps 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
occupied in part by a new paper-mill (which has a most piercing
and intolerable steam-whistle, which awakens every sleeper at
the nearer hotels), and in part by the desolation where an old
mill was burned down. In less than two years the youngest
heir to the estate of which Goat Island is a part will be of age,
and the island will then be sold. There is the strongest proba
bility that, unless the State becoraes the purchaser, it will be
bought for manufacturing purposes, 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 be most deeply concerned to avert this ruin. The
learned men who are specially interested in science, in its new
developments and broader applications, should not be silent
while Niagara is being destroyed by the commercial spirit
using science as its servitor. Shall science serve only the lower

NIAGARA FALLS. 55
practical and economic interests of human Ufe ? Are we to
witness the complete ruin of this unique 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 of regret
will not be wanting ; but eloquence would be better employed
in preventing the catastrophe than in bewailing it.
The educators of our country should be deeply interested. I
suppose the colleges could save Niagara ; certainly the men
who have been trained in them could do so. It is highly grati
fying and encouraging to thoughtful Americans 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 the American Archaeological Insti
tute, for instance. Yet Niagara 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 permits the destruction
of Niagara cannot be expected to be favorable to high culture
of any kind. It will be matter of interest to learn what is the
feeling at Harvard, at Yale, at the University of Virginia, and
in the colleges of the higher class generally in this country,
regarding the interests imperilled here.
Our statesmen, who are interested in the higher aspects 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 indifferent while this evil
threatens. Clergymen should be especiaUy interested in the
preservation of Niagara. The sentiments which it inspires,
and the feelings which it nourishes, — the "vital feeUngs of
delight " (to use Wordsworth's phrase of profound meaning)
which are awakened here, — these infiuences are such as, in
all times and lands, have been found especially favorable to
religion and to aU the higher activities and experiences of the
spiritual 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 spiritual interests of the nation see without concern
the 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 not destroyed, it is certain to be made more and more ac
cessible and enjoyable to them. Whatever may be the measure
of the influence and consequent responsibility of any of the
classes which I have named, it is certain that here there is all
necessary power. 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 plainly brought home to them. The revenues of
a great and highly civilized people 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 once unparalleled glory and
loveliness.

APPENDIX.

I.
[_From Harper's Weekly, Aug. 26, 1882.]
THE RESCUE OF NIAGARA FALLS.
More than once we have spoken of the fatal injury done 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 off in the number 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 hackmen and Indian shops, and a multitude of
petty annoyances, fairly repel the visitor, and give the worst
of reputations for comfort and agreeabUity 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, wdll be effectu
aUy 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
shorn of foliage, of trees and vines, and covered with miUs,
bams, sheds, and unsightly structures. In two years the
8

68 APPENDIX.
youngest heir 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 for the delight of the world ? If it is, what
shall be done ?
Niagara is a great water-power, and there is no need of losing
it as such. But that is not the question. It is not whether
Niagara is more valuable as factory power 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 Falls lies high over the lower country. Its power is
available everywhere. By drawing it off above the cataract,
and reserving a little sjDace 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 eight hundred or a thousand feet
above the Falls, inclosing the cataract and its immediate neigh
borhood, and capable of such landscape treatment as to plant
out every unsightly object, is all that is necessary. Such a plan
was suggested four or five years ago, and was most urgently
commended by leading men on both sides of the river. But it
was a general proposition, evidently most proper and desirable,
but involving expense and trouble. It was nobody's business
in particular, and after an admirable report from Mr. Olm
sted, and some attempts to arouse public interest, the subject
dropped. The representations now mside, however, show that without
prompt action Niagara is lost, except as a water-power. The
rescue of the cataract, its proper preservation, and the perma
nent maintenance of its imraediate vicinity as a public park,
is a duty which the State of New York may wisely undertake.
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, intelUgent, 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. 59
further suggestions as might occur, the work would be done.
Suitable representations to the Governor and general discussion
in the press would unquestionably procure a recommendation
to the Legislature, which would find then a responsive public
spirit, so that it would be seed sown in a fruitful soil. Let
New York sj)are herself the shame of the practical obhteration
of Niagara Falls.

II.
^ [From a Letter in the New York Herald, Sept. 9, 1882.]
Columbus, Ohio, Sept. 5, 1882.
Is there not throughout the State of New York a general
apathy toward this great improvement which intelligent dis
cussion and patriotic appeal alone can overcome ? Such meas
ures as free canals, a new aqueduct or new park for New
York City, may appear as more practical and pressing wants.
Yet, sorely needed as those things are, it is yet true that if the
Niagara reforra were fairly considered on the length and breadth
of its merits, its importance would appear even higher and
greater than any other need of the State. This transcendent
gift of nature must be restored and reconsecrated to the high
uses of its own subliraity and beauty. This must be done in
the interest of the State, of the nation, and of travellers from
every clirae and country. Not another year should pass with
out finding this work well in hand.
There has been considerable desultory writing upon this sub
ject, inadequate, however, to produce much effect. 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, squander more milUons upon its Capitol than the
United States have expended upon theirs, will not, when it
comes to the sticking point, begrudge a million or two to save
Niagara. Niagara is a beautiful narae, and it stands for a
scene which, from the days of Father Hennepin, has been an
object of wonder and delight, almost of worship, to pilgrims
from every portion of the globe. Will you not for the public
good renew the agitation of this question with some such en
ergy and good effect as that with which you are now urging a
wise selection for the next State Executive ? To permit the
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 their 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 the
Louvre by the Commune were an act of supreme wisdom.
Even the Louvre might in time be restored ; but, once destroyed,
who shall restore thee, Niagara, thou " cunningest pattern of
most excelling Nature " ? Let the defilers of this temple of
divine beauty be driven out with the scourge of law and
righteous indignation.

III.
[From the New' York Tribune, Sept. 12, 1882.]
NIAGARA — A SUGGESTION.
The Marquis of Lome, 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. PracticaUy the Canadians have left the great
Fall to Nature. Every Araerican of decent feeling, or the

APPENDIX. 61
slightest regard for propriety even, agrees with the Marquis in
this matter. That the owners of the property think differently
is a pity, but not perhaps to be wondered at. It is a matter
with them mainly of taste, and of luxury and comfort for them
selves and their children during life. If the whole American
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 ? 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
for paper-mills and washing-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 ?
There has been a good deal of vague talk about this Interna
tional Park. Meetings have been held, and influential men
have declared themselves boldly in favor of it. But there the
matter has stopped. Why ? Is it that we do not see how
urgent the need of action is ? No American can go to Niagara
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 the Nation, Sept. 14, 1882.]
The " Tribune " calls upon the women of America, who " saved ,
Mount Vernon," to unite in a movement to save Niagara and I
keep it free frora the vulgar desecration from which it is now
suffering. It says : '' If neither Congress nor the State of New
York will move in the matter, why do not the women of Amer
ica?" There is a fundamental difference between the case of
Mount Vernon and that of Niagara which the " Tribune " seems
to have ovei'looked. The interest in Mount Vernon is due to
historical, political, and patriotic causes, and was widespread.
The amount of money, too, required was very small. But the
work of saving a waterfall frora desecration involves an appeal
to the love of the beautiful, — a sentiment much less strong in
the United States than some other sentiments. Governor Cor
nell probably fairly represents the feeling of the average Amer
ican man as to Niagara, and his observation, on hearing of the
movement for an international park, was an inquiry as to whether
the defeat of the scheme would prevent the water from coming
over the falls. There is no doubt, however, that for the Araer
ican woraan the beautiful possesses a deeper 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 raade of the violent opposition of the hack-
men, guides, and other waterfall parasites who now make
money out of the laissez-faire systera prevailing at Niagara.
But this has been a good deal overestimated. It is indifference
which is at the root of the trouble.

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