Niagara Bond and Free
No one acquainted with the Niagara of to-day can imagine what were the
conditions existing here before the days of the New York State
Reservation and Queen Victoria Park. That old Niagara of private
ownership, with a new fee for every point of vantage, was a barbarous
incongruity only matched by the wonder and beauty of the spectacle
itself. The admission to Goat Island was fifty cents, and to the Cave of
the Winds, one dollar. To gain Prospect Park, the "Art Gallery," the
inclined railway, or the ferry, the charge was twenty-five cents. It
cost one dollar to go to the "Shadow of the Rock," or go behind the
Horseshoe Fall. The admission to the Burning Spring was fifty cents,
likewise to Lundy's Lane battle-ground, the Whirlpool Rapids, the
Whirlpool. It cost twenty-five cents to go upon either of the suspension
bridges. In addition to this a swarm of pedlars were hawking their wares
at your elbows, and tents were pitched at every vantage point,
containing the tallest man or the fattest woman, or the most astonishing
reptile then in a state of captivity in all the world.
[Illustration: Beacon on Old Breakwater at Buffalo.]
Not even the five-legged calves missed their share of plunder at
Niagara, according to Mr. Howells, who paid his money out to assure
himself, as he affirms, that this marvel was in no wise comparable to
the Falls. "I do not say that the picture of the calf on the outside of
the tent," he observes, "was not as good as some pictures of Niagara I
have seen. It was, at least, as much like." A writer of a decade before
this (1850) speaks very strongly of the impositions to which a traveller
is subjected at Niagara. How early in the century complaints began to
appear cannot be stated; it would be interesting to be able to get
information on this point since it would determine a more important
matter still--the time when the Falls began to attract visitors in
sufficient proportions to bring into existence the evils we find very
prevalent at the middle of the century. The latter writer observes:
It would be paying Niagara a poor compliment to say that,
practically she does not hurl off this chaffering by-play from
her cope; but as you value the integrity of your impression, you
are bound to affirm that it hereby suffers appreciable
abatement; you wonder, as you stroll about, whether it is
altogether an unrighteous dream that with the slow progress of
culture, and the possible or impossible growth of some larger
comprehension of beauty and fitness, the public conscience may
not tend to ensure to such sovereign phases of nature something
of the inviolability and privacy which we are slow to bestow,
indeed, upon fame, but which we do not grudge, at least, to art.
We place a great picture, a great statue, in a museum; we erect
a great monument in the centre of our largest square, and if we
can suppose ourselves nowadays building a cathedral, we should
certainly isolate it as much as possible and subject it to no
ignoble contact. We cannot build about Niagara with walls and a
roof, nor girdle it with a palisade; but the sentimental tourist
may muse upon the chances of its being guarded by the negative
homage of empty spaces, and absent barracks, and decent
forbearance. The actual abuse of the scene belongs evidently to
that immense class of iniquities which are destined to grow very
much worse in order to grow a very little better. The good
humour engendered by the main spectacle bids you suffer it to
run its course.
There was at least no bettering of conditions at Niagara between 1850
and 1881, when more or less active steps began to be taken for the
freeing of the beautiful shrine. True, Goat Island was kept ever in its
primeval beauty, which by far counterbalanced the Porter mills on Bath
Island; as William Dean Howells wrote, while these "were impertinent to
the scenery they were picturesque with their low-lying, weatherworn
masses in the shelter of the forest trees beside the brawling waters'
head. But nearly every other assertion of private rights in the
landscape was an outrage to it."
[Illustration: Winter Scene in Prospect Park.]
One of the strongest direct appeals to the nation's conscience in behalf
of enslaved Niagara appeared in 1881 and is worthy of reproduction, if
only for its vivid description of the status of affairs at the Falls at
that time:
The homage of the world has thrown a halo round Niagara for
those who have not seen it, and Niagara has left its own impress
upon every thoughtful person who has seen it, and every
unpleasant feature therefore is brought into bold relief. Where
the carcass is, there also will the eagles be gathered together.
A continuous stream of open-mouthed travellers has offered rare
opportunities to the quick-witted money-makers of all kinds; the
contrast between the place and its surroundings, perceived at
first by the few, has been for years trumpeted throughout the
country by the number of correspondents who write periodical
accounts of the season, and to-day every sane adult citizen may
be said to know two things about Niagara: first, that there is a
great waterfall there, and second, that a man's pockets will be
emptied more quickly there than anywhere else in the Union. . . .
Niagara is being destroyed as a summer resort. It has long
since ceased to be a place where people stay for a week or more,
and it is now given up to second-class tourists, and
excursionists who are brought by the car-load. The constant
fees, the solicitation of the hackmen, the impertinences of the
store-keepers, have actually been so potent that it is a rare
thing to find any of the best people here. The hotels are not to
blame; the Cataract House for instance, is a quiet, comfortable
hotel, excellently managed, and in the hands of gentlemanly
proprietors, and it is probably by no means alone in this
respect. The hotel-keepers are aware of the state of things;
they do not encourage the excursion traffic. Some even seek to
avoid the patronage of the excursionists. From all over the
country--from places as far as Louisville--the railway company
bring the people by thousands: they pour out of the station in a
stream half a mile long. Of course, like locusts, they sweep
everything before them. Several places--Prospect Park, for
instance--cater to the tastes of this class alone. Several
evenings in the week Prospect Park is filled with a crowd of
free-and-easy men and women, fetching their own tea and coffee
and provisions and enjoying a rollicking dance in the Pavilion.
And all this within fifty yards of the American fall! For their
entertainment there is an illuminated spray-fountain, and their
appreciation knows no bounds when various coloured lights are
thrown upon the Falls. Then a crowd of fifty swoops down upon
one of the hotels--men, women, and children--all in brown linen
dusters; all hot, hungry, and careless. These people must not be
deprived of their recreation. Heaven forbid! None have a greater
right than they to the influence of Niagara. But this way of
visiting the place is all wrong; they derive little benefit, and
they do infinite harm.
In this second sense the destruction of Niagara is making rapid
strides in a far more dangerous direction. The natural
attractions of the place are being undermined. On the American
side the bank of the river above the Falls is covered for a
quarter of a mile with structures of all kinds, from the
extensive parlors and piazzas of the Cataract House to the
little shanty where the Indian goods of Irish manufacture are
sold.
For the purpose of securing bathrooms and water-power, dams of
all kinds have been built; these are wooden trenches filled with
rough paving-stones. Some of the structures project over the
Rapids, being supported by piles. The spaces between the various
buildings are used to store lumber, and as dust heaps. One of
them contains a great heap of saw-dust, another a pile of
scrap-iron. The banks and fences bear invitations to purchase
Parker's hair-balsam and ginger tonic. The proprietor of
Prospect Park has made a laudable attempt to plant trees upon
his land; these extend for a few yards above the Falls. In
return, however, he has erected coloured arbours, and a station
for his electric light, which are almost as unpleasant as the
other buildings.
Just below the Suspension Bridge the gas-works discharge their
tar down the bank into the river; a few yards further on there
are five or six large manufactories, whose tail-races empty
themselves over the cliff. The spectator on Goat Island, on the
Suspension Bridge, or on the Canadian side cannot help seeing
this mass of incongruous and ugly structures extending along the
whole course of the Rapids and to the brink of the Falls. Of
course, under these circumstances the Rapids are degraded into a
mill-race, and the Fall itself seems to be lacking a
water-wheel.
One half of Bath Island--which lies between Goat Island and the
shore--is filled with the ruins of a large paper-mill which was
burnt in 1880. It is now being rebuilt and greatly enlarged.
Masses of charred timbers, old iron, calcined stones and bricks,
two or three great rusty boilers, the dirty heaps surmounted by
a tall chimney--such are the surroundings of a spot, which, for
grandeur and romantic beauty, is not equalled in the world. A
short distance below Bath Island lies Bird Island, a mere clump
of trees in the midst of the rushing water, a mass of dark-green
foliage overhanging its banks and trailing its branches
carelessly in the foam. This little spot has been untrodden by
man--the most fearless savage would not risk his birch-bark boat
in these waters. But what those who profit by it call the rapid
strides of commercial industry, or possibly the development of
our national resources, will soon destroy this little piece of
Nature; already the owners of the paper-mill have built their
dam within twenty yards of it, extending through the waters like
the limb of some horrid spider, slowly but surely reaching its
prey. Let the connection be made, and a couple of men with axes
turned loose in this little green island, and before long the
rattle of a donkey-engine or the howl of a saw-mill swells the
chorus of this _soi-disant_ civilisation. The following does not
sound very encouraging for the preservation of Niagara's
scenery. It is taken from a paper, _Niagara as a Water Power:_
" . . . Hence it is that we are soon to see a development of
this peculiar power of Niagara which will stand unrivalled among
motors of its class in the world.
"Already people talk of the storage of electricity and quote the
opinions of scientists about the possibilities of the future.
Sir William Thompson--it is said--gave as his opinion that it
would be perfectly feasible to light London with electricity
generated at Niagara.
"There is no assurance that Goat Island may not be sold at any
moment for the erection of a mill or factory. Indeed if a rapid
development of the mechanical application of electricity should
take place--thus enabling speculators to offer very high prices
for the immense power that could be controlled from Goat Island,
it is almost certain that such a sale would result. And with its
accomplishment would disappear the last chance of saving
Niagara!"
The honour of first suggesting the preservation of Niagara Falls has
been claimed by many persons. But the first real suggestion dates back
as early as 1835, though made without details. It came from two
Scotchmen, Andrew Reed and James Matheson, who, in a volume describing
their visits to Congregational churches of this country, first broached
the idea that Niagara should "be deemed the property of civilised
mankind."
In 1885, by the labours of several distinguished men, principally Mr.
Frederick Law Olmsted, a bill was passed in the Legislature of New York
instructing the commissioners of the State Survey to prepare a report
on the conditions and prospects of Niagara. This report was prepared by
Mr. James T. Gardner, the director of the New York State Survey, and Mr.
Olmsted. It strongly protested against such waste and degradation of the
scenery as have been described in this chapter; it set forth the dangers
of ultimate destruction, and made an eloquent appeal in favour of State
action to preserve this natural treasure. The report strongly urged the
establishment of an "International Park," and gave details of its
construction with maps and views. It proposed that a strip of land a
mile long and varying from one hundred feet to eight hundred feet broad,
together with the buildings on it, should be condemned by the State,
appraised by a commission, and purchased. The erections on Bath Island
and in the Rapids were to be swept away. Trees and shrubberies were to
be planted, roads and foot-paths appropriately laid out. The cost was
estimated at one million dollars.[11]
Why the bill should have met with so much opposition before it was
finally passed, is to-day a question hard to answer; at any rate the
political history of the bill is interesting.
As in the case of most modern propositions the question was generally
asked:
"Is the game worth the candle? Is it worth while to spend a million
dollars--to take twenty-five cents out of the pocket of each tax-payer
in the State of New York--in order to destroy a lot of good buildings
and plant trees in place of them, and, moreover, to do this for the sake
of a few persons whose nerves are so delicate that the sight of a
tremendous body of water rushing over a precipice is spoiled for them by
a pulp-mill standing on the banks?"
Indeed, it is said on good authority, that Governor Cornell, after
listening to a description of the shameful condition at the Falls and
the surroundings at the time when he sat in the gubernatorial chair
remarked: "Well, the water goes over just the same doesn't it?"
Mr. Cleveland, being elected Governor of New York in 1882 seemed always
in favour of the preservation of the scenery at Niagara Falls. Governor
Robinson, in 1879, likewise an advocate of the idea, even caused some
preliminary steps to be taken but the following gentlemen especially
deserve to be entered in the _Golden Book of Niagara_: Thomas K.
Beecher, James J. Belden, R. Lenox Belknap, Prof. E. Chadwick, Erastus
Corning, Geo. W. Curtis, Hon. James Daly, Benjamin Doolittle, Edgar van
Etter, R. E. Fenton, H. H. Frost, General James W. Husted, Thomas L.
James, Thomas Kingsford, Benson J. Lossing, Seth Low, Luther R. Marsh,
Randolph B. Martine, Rufus H. Peckham, Howard Potter, D. W. Powers,
Pascal P. Pratt, Ripley Ropes, Horatio Seymour, Geo. B. Sloan, Samuel J.
Tilden, Senator Titus, Theodore Vorhees, Francis H. Weeks, Wm. A.
Wheeler. They all made strenuous efforts to advance the bill introduced
into the Legislature by Jacob F. Miller of New York City. One of its
foremost promoters also was Mr. Thomas V. Welch, Superintendent of the
New York State Reservation at Niagara, whose valuable pamphlet _How
Niagara was Made Free_ affords much of our material for this chapter. A
bill entitled "Niagara Reservation Act" passed the New York Assembly and
the Senate, and was signed by Grover Cleveland on April 30, 1883.
Commissioners were appointed consisting of William Dorsheimer, Sherman
S. Rogers, Andrew H. Green, J. Hampden Robb, and Martin B. Anderson. But
the final bill had to undergo many vicissitudes ere it was lastly
amended and passed. The appraisals alone amounted to $1,433,429.50, and
the then existing financial depression had to be dispelled before
anything definite could be done. Between 1883 and 1885 there arose a
most unjustifiable raid against the measure. I have already alluded to
it above. John J. Platt of the _Poughkeepsie Eagle_ wrote for instance:
"We regard this Niagara scheme as one of the most unnecessary and
unjustifiable raids upon the State Treasury ever attempted." Mr. Platt
became later on a warm advocate of the plan, but the wrong was done.
Some denounced the bill as a "job" and a "steal" and berated Niagara
Falls and its citizens, particularly the hackmen, hotel-men, and
bazaar-keepers as sharks and swindlers, who had robbed the people
individually and were now seeking to rob them collectively. They said
they would oppose the bill by every means, hoped it would be
defeated--bursts of temper mildly suggestive of strangers who had
visited Niagara and had suffered at the hands of her showmen in the
golden days of Niagara's army of fakirs and extortionists.
[Illustration: Bath Island, American Rapids, in 1879.
From New York Commissioners' Report.]
Thus the matter dragged and great fears were entertained that the case
would be lost. Meanwhile the above-named prominent citizens had not been
idle. They had sent to their friends and constituents a kind of a
circular and obtained about four thousand signatures in favour of the
measure. Clergymen, educators, editors, and attorneys were well
represented; medical men without exception signed the petition, which
was finally submitted to Governor Hill. For a time it almost seemed that
the Governor shared the views of Governor Cornell. He was "pestered to
death" in behalf of the bill until the matter actually created a stir,
as though the very welfare of the State depended on it. Great pressure
was brought on Mr. Hill to sign the bill; he visited the Falls himself,
went over the ground, but he was non-committal and even his intimates
had no idea whether he would affix his signature. Yet he seemed
apparently more favourably disposed than heretofore.
There was left a feeling of uneasiness and uncertainty [writes
Mr. Welch], concerning the fate of the bill. Another week
passed. Rumours were rife concerning the intention of the
Governor to let the bill die, in lack of his signature, and thus
arrived the 30th of April, 1885, the last day for the scheme
allowed by law.
The forenoon was spent in a state of feverish anxiety--not
lessened by frequent rumours of a veto in the Senate or
Assembly; some of them started in a spirit of mischief by the
newspaper reporters. When noon came, it seemed as if the bill
would surely fail for lack of executive approval. But the
darkest hour is just before daybreak. Shortly after noon a
newspaper man hurriedly came to the writer[12] in the Assembly
chamber and said that the Governor had just signed the Niagara
Bill. A hurried passage was made to the office of the Secretary
of State to see if the bill had been received from the Governor.
It had not been received. At that moment the door was opened by
the Governor's messenger who placed the bill in the hands of the
writer saying "Here is your little joker." A glance at the bill
showed it to be the "Niagara Reservation Bill," and on the last
page was the much coveted signature of David B. Hill, rivalling
that of Mr. Grover Cleveland in diminutive handwriting.
It is reported that the "King of the Lobby," a man notorious for
years in Albany, expressed his satisfaction at the approval of
the bill, saying "The 'boys' wanted to 'strike' that bill, but I
told them that they must not do it; that it was a bill which
ought to pass without the expenditure of a dollar--and it did."
The Report of the Commissioners of the State Reservation at Niagara lies
before me. It is dated February 17, 1885.[13] The commissioners were
appointed in 1883 to consider and report what, if any, measures it might
be expedient for the State to adopt carrying out the project to place
Niagara under the control of Canada and New York according to the
suggestions contained in the annual message of Governor Cleveland with
respect to Niagara Falls. The report states that the attractions of the
scenery and climate in the neighbourhood of the Falls are such that with
their ready accessibility by several favourite routes of travel it might
reasonably be expected that Niagara would be a popular summer resort;
that there was nevertheless, no desirable summer population, attributed
chiefly to the constant annoyances to which the traveller is subjected:
pestering demands and solicitations, and petty exactions and impositions
by which he is everywhere met. While it is true that such annoyances are
felt wherever travellers are drawn in large numbers, at Niagara the
inconvenience becomes greater because the distinctive interest of
Niagara as compared with other attractive scenery is remarkably
circumscribed and concentrated. That the value of Niagara lies in its
appeal to the higher emotion and imaginative faculties and should not be
disturbed and irritated; that tolls and fees had to be removed; traffic
was to be excluded from the limits from whence the chief splendour of
the scenery was visible. That the only prospect of relief was to be
found in State control; that the forest was rapidly destroyed which once
formed the perfect setting of one of Nature's most gorgeous panoramas,
and that the erection of mills and factories upon the margin of the
river had a most injurious effect upon the character of the scene.
It was therefore resolved on June 9, 1883, that
in the judgment of this board it is desirable to select as
proper and necessary to be reserved for the purpose of
preserving the scenery of the falls of Niagara and of restoring
the said scenery to its natural condition, the following lands
situate in the village of Niagara and the County of Niagara
to-wit: Goat Island, Bath Island, the Three Sisters, Bird
Island, Luna Island, Chapin Island, and the small islands
adjacent to said islands in the Niagara River, and the bed of
said river between said islands and the main land of the State
of New York; and, also, the bed of said river between Goat
Island and the Canadian boundary; also a strip of land beginning
near "Port Day" in said village, running along the shore of said
river, to and including "Prospect Park" and the cliff and debris
slope, under the same, substantially as shown by that part
coloured green on the map accompanying the fourth report of the
Board of Commissioners of the State Survey, dated March 22,
1880; and including also at the east end of said strip
sufficient land not exceeding one acre for purposes convenient
for said reservation, and also all lands at the foot of said
falls, and all lands in said river adjoining said islands and
the other lands hereinbefore described.
By the adoption of the foregoing resolution, the area of a reservation
was preliminarily defined. A commission of appraisement was installed.
As was to be expected the claims for the condemned land were about four
million dollars. The awards, however, amounted to $1,433,429.50 only.
Some interesting and important questions were raised as to the rights
of the riparian owners to use the power afforded by the Niagara River
for hydraulic purposes and to receive compensation therefor. Upon this
basis the owners were prepared to present claims aggregating twenty or
thirty millions of dollars. After full argument and careful
consideration, the commissioners of appraisement rejected all such
claims, except where the water power had been actually reduced to use
and used for a period long enough to create a prescriptive right. They
held:
(1) that Niagara is a public stream, and its bed and waters
belong to the State; (2) that as against the State private
riparian owners have no right to encroach on its bed to divert
its waters or to subject them to the burden of manufacturing
uses, unless they have acquired such right by grant from the
State or by prescription.
The preamble of the Preservation Act[14] which was to make Niagara free
read:
_Whereas_, the State Engineer and Surveyor has completed and
submitted to this board a map of the lands selected and located
by it in the village of Niagara Falls and the County of Niagara
and State of New York, which, in the judgment of this board are
proper and necessary to be reserved for the purpose of
preserving the scenery of the falls of Niagara, and restoring
the said scenery to its natural condition; now, therefore, it is
Resolved, etc.
On the morning of July 15th the Seventh Battery unlimbered its howitzers
to salute the rising sun with a hundred salvos. The day unfortunately
proved dark and foreboding. A storm burst in the morning and drove the
crowds to shelter, and the last drops had hardly ceased pattering, when
the hour of noon, the time fixed for the ceremony, arrived. The grounds
of Prospect Park were wet and the trees shook their water freely in the
light breeze, but some thousands collected on the grass around the
pavilion, notwithstanding these disheartening circumstances. When
President Dorsheimer, however, began his speech the sun smiled through
the clouds, and the day thereafter was perfect overhead.
[Illustration: Path to Luna Island.]
The excursion trains began to pour their passengers into the village
early. They came from the counties bordering on the Pennsylvania line
and from the northern and western ends of the State and from the towns
in the Canadian dominion. It is estimated that at least thirty thousand
strangers were unloaded in the village. The visitors included country
folk and residents of the city, and about two thousand militiamen,
principally from the Fourth Division, although there were several
organisations among them representing Cleveland, Detroit, Utica,
Buffalo, and Rochester. There was a sprinkling of British redcoats among
the gold-laced officers who dotted the village streets. One of the
Canadian battalions desired to come over and join in the celebration.
The United States authorities extended a welcome but the Canadian
authorities declined to allow their soldiers to cross the river. A few
of the officers got permit to come.
Governor Hill and his staff were met by a committee appointed to receive
them, consisting of Thomas V. Welch and O. W. Cutter. There were also
Senators Bowen, Low, Lansing, Ellsworth, Baker, Van Schaick, Titus and
"Tim" Campbell. Of Assemblymen there were present Mr. Hubbell of
Rochester, who fathered the bill in the last Legislature which led to
the day's ceremonies; Hon. Jacob L. Miller, who, in 1883, introduced the
bill creating the Niagara Park Commission; Hendricks, Kruse, McEwen,
Bailey, Scott, Raines, Haskell, Dibble, Connelly, Major Haggerty,
General Barnum, Whitmore, Storm, Ely, Secretary of the Senate John W.
Vrooman, and Ex-Senators MacArthur and Loomis.
Of editors and other public men well known "up in the State" there were
Carroll E. Smith and W. H. Northrup of Syracuse; S. Callicott and John
A. Sleicher of Albany; Willard S. Cobb of Lockport; William Purcell of
Rochester; Congressman Wadsworth; Ex-Congressmen Brewer and Van Abram
and Solomon Scheu. Of State officials were mentioned Civil Service
Commissioner Henry A. Richmond; Professor Gardner of the old State
survey; Secretary Carr; Attorney-General O'Brien; Treasurer Maxwell;
Engineer Sweet; Insurance Superintendent John A. McCall; and
Superintendent of Public Instruction William H. Ruggles. Letters of
regret were received from Governor-General Lansdowne of Canada, Samuel
J. Tilden, and President Cleveland.
The last admission fee to Prospect Park was collected in the night of
July 15, 1885, and a till full of quarters was taken before the gates
were thrown open at midnight. The owners of Goat Island left their gates
open all night. Everything was free, however, on the 15th and such a
company as swarmed over the islands in consequence was never seen
before. They crowded the walks and fringed the cliffs and shores at
every available point. They recklessly clambered down to the bottom of
the Falls and clustered on the ledge of rocks overlooking the Horseshoe
and American Falls. Persons who had lived all their lives within twenty
miles of the Falls now beheld them for the first time. They brought
their luncheons, and when the sun came out they picnicked on the
greensward.
The hurdy-gurdy shows which had sprung up like mushrooms within
twenty-four hours all over the village were doing a brisk business. The
Indian shops also were all open but the other stores and places of
business in the village were closed for the day. The air was filled from
morning till night with the blare of military bands, the monotonous
sound of numberless organs, and the shouts and cries of venders and
showmen. Every building in the village was decorated with bunting.
[Illustration: Green Island Bridge.]
The pavilion in the park was reserved for invited guests and for those
who participated in the ceremonies. Near the Governor and his staff sat
the Commissioners of the Niagara Park Reservation. Among the
distinguished guests were prominent Canadians who took a warm interest
in the project of an International Park at Niagara. They were
Lieutenant-Governor Robinson, Captain Geddes, and Lieutenant-Colonel
Gowski, members of the Niagara Park Association; the Hon. O. S. Hardy,
Secretary of Ontario, and the Attorney-General of that Province, the
Hon. O. Mowat.
The opening-prayer was offered by the Right-Reverend A. Cleveland Coxe.
He was followed by Erastus Brooks, who, in a brief speech, introduced
the subject of the day's celebration, and concluded by saying that no
better investment had ever been made by any State, corporation, or
people, and added that Lord Dufferin had promised that Canada would join
in establishing a free park on their own side of the Falls. Great
enthusiasm followed, and the whole audience of five thousand people then
joined in singing _America_. President Dorsheimer, in behalf of the
Commission, then formally presented the Park to the State of New York.
After briefly reciting what the Commission had done he said: "From this
hour Niagara is free. But not free alone; it shall be clothed with
beauty again, and the blemishes which have been planted among these
scenes will presently be removed. As soon as the forces of Nature,
nowhere more powerful than at this favoured place, can do the work,
these banks will be covered with trees, these slopes made verdant, and
the Cataract once more clothed with the charms which Nature gave it."
As he concluded the firing of guns signalled to the crowds on the
islands and on the Canadian side that Niagara was the possession of the
State of New York, and that Governor Hill was about to accept the gift
in the name of the people of the State. The Governor was warmly cheered
when he stepped forward to speak. He gave a brief sketch of the history
of the Falls, and likewise alluded to the opening of the Erie Canal, the
laying of the corner-stone of the State's magnificent Capitol at Albany
and the opening of the East River bridge. Then he accepted the Park with
some appropriate words, concluding as follows: "The preservation of
Niagara Park, the greatest of wonders is, indeed, a noble work. Its
conception is worthy the advanced thought, the grand liberality, and the
true spirit of the nineteenth century."
After this followed the singing of the _Star Spangled Banner_, the
audience joining earnestly in the chorus. The oration was delivered by
that polished member of the New York Bar, Mr. James C. Carter, giving a
full history of the region. The two Canadian officials,
Lieutenant-Governor Robinson and Attorney-General Mowat were then
introduced, and congratulated the State of New York for the enterprise
and public spirit shown by the people and the public officers. The
exercise concluded with the Doxology and a benediction. In the afternoon
Governor Hill with Generals Jewett and Rogers reviewed the militia. In
the evening fireworks were set off from Prospect Park, Goat Island, and
the brink of the Falls from the Canadian side. Earlier in the day the
Comptroller's check for five hundred thousand dollars was received by
the Porter family, the Goat Island property had been transferred to the
commissioners, and Niagara was free.
There had been, of course, strong objection on the part of the army of
landholders and monopolists who were to be thrown out of their "easy
money" livelihoods. Of this the excellent "leader" in the New York
_Times_ of July 15th deals as follows:
It would be alike idle and unjust to blame the people of Niagara
Falls for this state of mind. They have done what the members of
any other community would have done in making the most of their
neighbourhood as a wonder of nature. Even the obstinate . . .
who declines to be bought out, and insists upon his right to
make merchandise out of the river, is entitled to respect for
the tenacity with which he proposes to resist the acquisition of
his property by the State upon the ground that the law
authorising the acquisition is unconstitutional.
He would very possibly be willing to acknowledge the right of
eminent domain if it were proposed to take his land for a
railroad, but the idea that it shall be taken in order that a
river . . . shall be kept for dudes to look at undoubtedly
strikes him as unmixed foolishness. However excusable this state
of mind may have been, nobody who does not own a point of view
or at least a hack at Niagara will dispute that its consequences
have been deplorable. Though Niagara has continued to be a
frequential resort it has by no means been as popular as it
would have become with the increasing facilities of travel and
the increasing advantages taken of them, if the fame of the
gross and petty extortions had not been almost as widely spread
as the fame of Niagara itself. While the local monopolies have
deterred people from visiting the Falls, they have nevertheless
been so lucrative that the most important of them is reported
upon the authority of one of its managers to have returned a net
annual profit, of thirty thousand dollars, and the report is not
incredible, prodigious as the figure seems as a profit upon the
mere command of a point of view. This hedging about and looking
up of a boon of nature was perhaps the most objectionable
incident of the private shore of Niagara. To a tourist who goes
to Niagara from any other motive than that of saying that he had
been there the importunity to which he had been subjected at
every turn was absolutely destructive of the object of his
visit. The prosaic and incongruous surroundings of the cataract
completed the disillusion which importunity and extortion were
calculated to produce. Many tourists would have been glad to pay
down, once for all, as much as their persecutors could have
reasonably hoped to extract from them for the privilege of being
allowed to look without molestation upon the work of nature
undisfigured by the handiwork of man. "For many years this has
been impossible, and for several years it has been evident that
it could be made possible only by the resumption on the part of
the State, as a trustee of its citizens and for all mankind, of
the ownership and control of the shore. This resumption will be
formally made to-day. But it was really brought about in the
Legislature in the winter of 1884, when the full force of the
opposition to the project was brought out and fairly defeated.
The State of New York has in effect decided that the
preservation of a sublime work of nature under conditions which
will enable it to affect men's minds most strongly is an object
for which it is worth while to pay the money of the State. It is
this emphatic decision which marks a real advance in
civilisation over the state of mind of the Gradgrinds of the
last generation and of the contemporaneous wood-pulp grinder
that the proper function of the greatest waterfall in the world
is to turn mill-wheels and produce pennies by being turned into
a peep show."
The Reservation forms a beautiful State Park within the growing city of
Niagara Falls, N. Y., which lies just back of it numbering now a
population of nearly twenty-five thousand people. The city is well laid
out, and its promoters "point with pride" to the advances made during
the last decade and bespeak for "Industrial Niagara" a future of great
distinction in the commercial world.
The first town worthy of the name here on the American side of the Falls
was named Manchester by Judge Porter when he settled here in 1806, 102
years ago, believing that the site could eventually be occupied by the
"Manchester of America." Judge Porter's many inducements to promoters
were not accepted until about the middle of last century (1853) when the
present canal was begun. For many years even this improvement lay
unused; it was not until 1878 that the present company was organised and
any real advance was made. Of the recent wonderful development along
power lines at Niagara we treat in another chapter under the title of
"Harnessing Niagara Falls." But the supreme interest in these lines of
activity must not let us lose sight of the important element of local
environment.
It is of almost national interest that Niagara is so centrally located,
that within seven hundred miles of this great cataract live two-thirds
of the population of the United States and Canada. This of itself, were
there no Niagara Falls, would guarantee the growth of the town of
Niagara Falls. Add to this strategic location the exceptional advantages
to be found here by industrial plants looking for a home, and also the
evident fact that Niagara Falls is a delightful spot in which to reside,
it is clear that if a great and beautiful city does not develop here in
the next century human prophecy will have missed its guess and tons of
advertising will have been wasted. Twenty-five million dollars are, it
is said, invested in capital now in the present town, and the value of
imports and exports in 1906 was over two millions and over twelve
millions, respectively. Fourteen railways here find terminals and the
town has over one hundred mails daily. With splendid educational
advantages, with twenty miles and more of pavement already laid, with a
beautiful and efficiently conducted public library, with a city water
pumping plant capable of handling twenty million gallons daily, and
nearly forty miles of drains, with a citizenship active, patriotic, and
capable, is it any wonder that Niagara Falls' real estate agents and
suburban resident promoters are thriving like the old cabmen and
side-show operators thrived in the "good old days" of private ownership
along the Niagara's bank?
There is no discounting the advances this interesting little city has
made in the past ten years and more, and there is very little
possibility, on the face of things of a tremendously accelerated growth
in the coming century. Big problems are here being worked out; big
schemes are afoot, big things will happen--an advance will come because
of the plain merit of the bare facts of the case without unnecessary
inducement or overcapitalisation of the advertising agencies. The world
needs power to do its work, and until we sit down calmly and figure out
a way for the ocean tides to do our work, as ought in all conscience to
be the case to-day, Niagara Falls will hold out extraordinary inducement
to all industrial promoters which cannot be rivalled in many ways at
any other point. If only the ends of industry can be achieved without
destroying this great continental scenic wonder! There are those who are
unwilling to take a single rainbow from that ocean of rainbows amidst
the Falls to drive another wheel. But there is surely a sane middle
ground to be found here, and it is certain that brave, thinking men are
on the sure track to find it.
Similar in geographic position, quite as much could be said for Niagara
Falls, Ont., as has been said of her twin city on the American shore. In
point of beauty nothing can excel the magnificent Queen Victoria Park,
opened in 1888, which lies opposite the New York State Reservation; the
view of the two falls from it, or from the airy piazzas of the superb
Clifton Hotel which flanks it, is unmatched. At present writing the
guardians of the New York State Reservation, and other sensitive
persons, are justly exercised over a genuine "Yankee trick," more or
less connived in, they darkly hint, by the authorities, who have
permitted a series of hideous signboards to be erected on the Canadian
shore to serve the purpose of bringing out more vividly by contrast the
unrivalled beauties of Queen Victoria Park.
[Footnote 11: _The Nation_, No. 84 (September 1, 1881).]
[Footnote 12: Mr. Thomas V. Welch, _loc. cit._]
[Footnote 13: Senate Document, No. 35, Albany, N. Y.]
[Footnote 14: _Resolved_, That this board hereby selects and locates the
lands hereafter described, situate in the village of Niagara Falls, and
the County of Niagara and State of New York, as in the opinion of this
board proper and necessary to be reserved for the purpose of preserving
the scenery of the falls of Niagara, and restoring the said scenery to
its natural condition, and does hereby determine to take such land for
the purposes aforesaid, and which said land is bounded and described as
follows, to-wit: All that certain piece or parcel of land situate in the
village of Niagara Falls, town and County of Niagara, State of New York,
distinguished in part as part of lots numbers forty-two (42),
forty-three (43), and forty-four (44) of the mile strip, as the same was
surveyed and conveyed by the State of New York, in part as islands known
as Goat island, Bath island, the Three Sisters, Bird island, Luna
island, Chapin island, Ship island, Brig island, Robinson's island, and
other small islands lying in Niagara river adjacent and near to the
islands above-named, and in part as lands lying under the Niagara river,
bounded and described as follows, to-wit:
Beginning at a point on the easterly bank of the Niagara river, where
the same is met and intersected by the division line between lands now
or formerly occupied by Albert H. Porter, and lands now or formerly
owned or occupied by the Niagara Falls Hydraulic and Manufacturing Canal
Company; running thence on a course north three degrees forty-nine and
one-fourth minutes west; along said last mentioned division line, one
(1) chain and ninety-five (95) links to a stone monument standing in the
southerly line of Buffalo street, in the village of Niagara Falls;
thence on a course south eighty-six degrees forty-five and one-fourth
minutes west along said southerly line of Buffalo street ninety and
nine-tenths (90.9) links to a point in the division line between lands
now or formerly owned or occupied by Albert H. Porter, and lands now or
formerly owned or occupied by the estate of Augustus S. Porter; thence
on a course south eighty-six degrees forty-five and one-fourth minutes
west along said southerly line of Buffalo street ninety and nine-tenths
(90.9) links to a point in the division line between lands now or
formerly owned or occupied by the estate of Augustus S. Porter and lands
owned or occupied by Jane S. Townsend; thence on a course south
eighty-six degrees forty-five and one-fourth minutes west, along said
southerly line of Buffalo street, two (2) chains and seventy (70) links
to the intersection of the same with the easterly line of Seventh
street; thence on the same course south eighty-six degrees forty-five
and one-fourth minutes west, across said Seventh street, one (1) chain
and three-tenths (.3) of a link to the westerly boundary thereof; thence
along said westerly boundary of Seventh street and on a course south
three degrees forty-nine and one-half minutes east, one (1) chain and
fifty-four and seventy-seven one-hundredths (54.77) links to a point in
said westerly line of Seventh street, distant seventy-six (76) links
northerly, measuring on said westerly line of Seventh street, from the
intersection of the same with the northerly line of River street; thence
on a course south fifty-seven degrees forty-seven and one-fourth
minutes, west one (1) chain and sixteen (16) links to a point in the
division line between lands now or formerly owned or occupied by Albert
H. Porter and lands now or formerly owned or occupied by Mrs. George W.
Holley, which said point is distant northerly measuring along said
division line seventy (70) links from the northerly line of River
street; thence on a course south fifty-six degrees fifty-five and
one-half minutes west, one (1) chain and sixteen (16) links to a point;
thence south fifty-eight degrees forty minutes west, one (1) chain and
fifteen (15) links to a point; thence south sixty-three degrees
forty-three and one-fourth minutes west one (1) chain and eleven (11)
links to a point; thence south sixty-seven degrees nineteen and
one-fourth minutes west, one (1) chain and sixty (60) links to a point
in the division line between lands owned or occupied by Mrs. George W.
Holley and lands owned or occupied by Jane S. Townsend distant sixty
(60) links northerly measured on said division line from the northerly
boundary of River street; thence on a course south seventy-two degrees
nineteen minutes west, two (2) chains and ten (10) links to a point in
the division line between lands owned or occupied by Jane S. Townsend,
and lands owned or occupied by Josephine M. Porter, distant, measuring
on said division line sixty-four (64) links northerly from the northerly
boundary of River street; thence on a course south seventy-three degrees
thirty-four and one-half minutes west, one (1) chain and four (4) links
to a point; thence south seventy-six degrees twenty-eight and one-half
minutes west, one (1) chain and two (2) links to a point; thence south
eighty-two degrees four and three-fourths minutes west, one (1) link to
a point, thence south eighty-six degrees forty-three and one-fourth
minutes west, one (1) chain to a point; thence south eighty-nine degrees
fifty-six minutes west, one (1) chain to a point; thence north
eighty-eight degrees forty-three minutes west one (1) chain and one (1)
link to a point in the easterly boundary of Fourth street, distant
ninety (90) links northerly, measuring on said easterly boundary of
Fourth street, from the intersection of the same with the northerly
boundary of River street; thence across said Fourth street and on a
course north eighty-two degrees thirty-two and one-half minutes west,
one (1) chain and one (1) link to a point in the westerly boundary of
Fourth street, distant eighty-six (86) links northerly measuring on said
westerly boundary of Fourth street; from the intersection of the same
with the northerly line of River street: thence on a course north
seventy-eight degrees fifty-three minutes west, two (2) chains and six
(6) links to a point in the division line between lands owned or
occupied by Peter A. Porter, and land owned or occupied by S. M.
Whitney, which point is distant seventy (70) links northerly, measuring
on said division line, from the northerly line of River street; thence
on a course north seventy-nine degrees seventeen and three-fourths
minutes west, one (1) chain and three (3) links to a point; thence north
seventy-six degrees eight minutes west, one (1) chain and four (4) links
to a point; thence north seventy-three degrees seven and one-fourth
minutes west, ninety-five (95) links to a point; thence north
seventy-one degrees twenty-five and one-fourth minutes west, fifty (50)
links to a point in the division line between lands owned or occupied by
S. M. Whitney, and lands owned or occupied by Albert H. Porter which
point is distant northerly, measuring on said division line, seventy
(70) links from the northerly line of River street; thence on a course
north sixty-eight degrees thirty-five and one-fourth minutes west,
sixty-eight (68) links to a point; thence north sixty-three degrees
thirty-eight and one-fourth minutes-west, ninety-eight (98) links to a
point; thence north fifty-three degrees fifteen and one-fourth minutes
west, one (1) chain and thirteen (13) links to a point in the division
line between lands owned or occupied by Albert H. Porter and lands owned
or occupied by Jane S. Townsend, which point is distant northerly,
measuring on said division line, ninety-two (92) links from the
northerly line of River street; running thence on a course north
forty-eight degrees fifty-six and one-fourth minutes west, eighty-nine
(89) links to a point; thence north fifty degrees one and one-half
minutes west, one (1) chain and two (2) links to a point; thence north
fifty-five degrees two and one-half minutes west, one (1) chain and one
(1) link to a point; thence north sixty degrees ten minutes west, fifty
(50) links to a point in the division line between lands owned or
occupied by Jane S. Townsend and lands owned or occupied by the heirs of
Augustus S. Porter, which point is distant northerly, measuring on said
division-line, one (1) chain and fifty-six (56) links from the northerly
line of River street; thence on a course north sixty degrees fifteen and
one-half minutes west, fifty (50) links to a point; thence north
sixty-seven degrees ten and one-half minutes west, ninety-nine (99)
links to a point; thence north sixty-eight degrees nineteen and
three-fourths minutes west, one (1) chain to a point; thence north
seventy-one degrees forty-five and one-fourth minutes west, one (1)
chain to a point distant one (1) chain and twenty-eight (28) links,
measuring on a course north twenty-seven degrees east from the northerly
line of River street; thence on a course north sixty-three degrees
fifty-five and one-half minutes west, one (1) chain and eleven (11)
links to a point; thence north fifty-five degrees one and one-fourth
minutes west, one (1) chain to a point; thence north fifty-one degrees
forty-one and one-half minutes west, eighty-nine (89) links to a point;
thence north forty-seven degrees fifty minutes west eighty-three (83)
links to a point; thence north forty-five degrees forty-two minutes
west, one (1) chain and two (2) links to a point; thence north forty-two
degrees twenty-five minutes west, two (2) chains and two (2) links to a
point; thence north forty-three degrees seventeen and three-fourths
minutes west, one (1) chain and nine (9) links to a point in the
easterly boundary of Mill street, distant northerly, measuring along
said easterly boundary of Mill street, twenty (20) links from the
intersection of the same with the northerly boundary of River street;
thence on a course north twenty-eight degrees nineteen and one-fourth
minutes east, and along said easterly boundary of Mill street, two (2)
chains and thirty (30) links to the intersection of said easterly line
of Mill street with the southerly line of Buffalo street; thence on a
course north sixty-two degrees forty-five minutes west, across said Mill
street, one (1) chain to the westerly boundary line thereof, and to the
point of intersection of the westerly line of Mill street with the
southerly line of Buffalo street; thence on a course north sixty-one
degrees thirty-two minutes west, along the southerly boundary of Buffalo
street, five (5) chains and thirty-two (32) links to the point of
intersection of the southerly line of Buffalo street with the easterly
boundary line of the Mill slip (so called), which point is distant
northerly measuring on said easterly line of the Mill slip, seventy-one
(71) links from the intersection of the same with the northerly line of
River street; thence on a course north sixty-one degrees thirty-two
minutes west, across said Mill slip, fifty-one and forty-two
one-hundredths (51.42) links to a point in the westerly boundary line
thereof, distant northerly, measuring along said westerly line of said
Mill slip, seventy-five and twenty-three one-hundredths (75.23) links
from the intersection of the same with the northerly line of River
street; thence along said westerly boundary line of said Mill slip and
on a course south fifty-four degrees four and three-fourths minutes
west, seventy-five and twenty-three one-hundredths (75.23) links to the
intersection of said westerly boundary line of said Mill slip with the
northeasterly boundary line of River street; thence on a course north
thirty-three degrees ten minutes west, along said north-easterly
boundary line of River street, five (5) chains and seventy-four and
two-tenths (74.2) links to a point in said northeasterly line of River
street, where the same is intersected by the southerly line of Bridge
street, which point is marked by a stone monument erected at the
intersection of said lines of said streets; thence on a course north six
degrees thirty-six and one-fourth minutes east, across said Bridge
street, one (1) chain and three (3) links to the northerly boundary line
thereof, and to the point of intersection of the northerly boundary line
of Bridge street with the northeasterly line of Canal street; thence on
a course north thirty-seven degrees thirty-three and one-half minutes
west, and along said northeasterly boundary line of Canal street four
(4) chains and eighty-seven (87) links to the intersection of said
northeasterly line of Canal street with the southerly line of Falls
street; thence on a course north thirty-seven degrees thirty-six and
three-fourths minutes west, one (1) chain and eighty-two (82) links
across Falls street to the northerly boundary thereof; thence on a
course north thirty-seven degrees thirty-six and three-fourths minutes
west, and along said north-easterly line of Canal street, one (1) chain
and twenty-two (22) links to an angle in said north-easterly line of
Canal street; thence on a course north two degrees thirty-eight and
one-fourth minutes west, and along the easterly line of Canal street,
ten (10) chains and one and eighty-five one-hundredths (1.85) links to
the intersection of the easterly line of Canal Street with the southerly
line of Niagara street; thence on a course south eighty-seven degrees
fourteen minutes west, across said Canal street, one (1) chain and fifty
and thirty-four one-hundredths (50.34) links to the westerly boundary
line thereof; thence on a course south two degrees fifty-one minutes
east, along said westerly boundary line of Canal street, two (2) chains
and sixty-seven and twelve one-hundredths (67.12) links to a point in
the westerly line of Canal street, supposed to be the northeasterly
corner of Prospect Park (so called); thence on a course south eighty-six
degrees nineteen and one-half minutes west, along the north boundary of
said Prospect Park, one (1) chain and three (3) links to an angle in
said boundary line; thence on a course north fifty-two degrees eighteen
minutes west, along said northerly boundary of said Prospect Park, six
(6) chains and eighty-five (85) links to the water's edge of the Niagara
river; thence along said line prolonged into said river, and on a course
north fifty-two degrees eighteen minutes west, more or less, to the
boundary line between the United States of America and the Dominion of
Canada; thence along said boundary line up the middle of said river to
the Great Falls; thence up the falls through the point of the Horse
Shoe, keeping to the west of Iris or Goat island and the group of small
islands at its head, and following the bends of the river, and along
said boundary line to a point at which said boundary line meets, and is
intersected by the prolongation of the line running north three degrees
forty-nine and one-fourth minutes west, first above mentioned; thence
following said line, and on a course north three degrees forty-nine and
one-fourth minutes west, more or less, to the point or place of
beginning.
Together with all the right, title, and interest of all persons or
corporations of, in, and to the premises embraced within said boundary
lines, including all water-rights, made-land (so called), debris,
titles, or claims (if any) to lands lying under the Niagara river,
rights of riparian owners, easements, and appurtenances of every name
and nature whatsoever, including all the rights of, in, and to all
streets, or portions of streets, embraced and included within said
boundary lines.]