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Title: The Niagara River
Author: Archer Butler Hulbert
Release Date: February 7, 2011 [EBook #35194]
Language: English
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The
Niagara
River
Archer Butler Hulbert
_By Archer Butler Hulbert_
The Ohio River
A Course of Empire
_Large Octavo, with 100 Full-page Illustrations and a Map. Net, $3.50.
By express, prepaid, $3.75_
The Niagara River
_Large Octavo, with many Full-page Illustrations and Maps. Net, $3.50.
By express, prepaid, $3.75_
G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York London
[Illustration]
The Niagara River
By
Archer Butler Hulbert
Professor of American History, Marietta College; Author of "The Ohio
River," "Historic Highways of America," "Washington and the West";
Editor of "The Crown Collection of American Maps."
With Maps and Illustrations
G. P. Putnam's Sons
New York and London
The Knickerbocker Press
1908
Copyright, 1908
BY
G. P. PUTNAM'S SONS
The Knickerbocker Press, New York
TO
HENRY CARLTON HULBERT
IN
APPRECIATION OF ENCOURAGEMENT AND FRIENDSHIP
AND AS A TOKEN OF
ESTEEM
Note
In the endeavour to gather into one volume a proper description of the
various interests that centre in and around the Niagara River the author
of this book felt very sincerely the difficulties of the task before
him. As the geologic wonder of a continent and the commercial marvel of
the present century, the Niagara River is one of the most remarkable
streams in the world. In historic interest, too, it takes rank with any
American river. To combine, then, into the pages of a single volume a
proper treatment of this subject would be a task that perhaps no one
could accomplish satisfactorily.
Works to which the author is most indebted, especially the historical
writings of Hon. Peter A. Porter, Severance's _Old Trails of the Niagara
Frontier_, _The Niagara Book_, and the writings of the scholar of the
old New York frontier, the late O. H. Marshall, and the collections of
the historical societies along the frontier, are indicated frequently in
footnotes and in text. The author's particular indebtedness to Mr.
Porter is elsewhere described; he is also in the debt of F. H. Mautz,
Henry Guttenstein, Superintendent Edward H. Perry, whose kindness to the
author was so characteristic of his treatment of all comers to the
shrine over which he presides, E. O. Dunlap, and many others mentioned
elsewhere. He has appreciated Mr. Howells's characteristic
conscientiousness when he wrote concerning Niagara, "I have always had
to take myself in hand, to shake myself up, to look twice, and recur to
what I have heard and read of other people's impressions, before I am
overpowered by it. Otherwise I am simply charmed." The author has
laboured under the difficulty of attempting to remain "overpowered"
during a period of several years. That there have been serious lapses
in the shape of lucid intervals, the critic will find full soon!
It has seemed best to treat of modern Niagara under what might have been
called "Part I." of this volume. The history of the Niagara region
proper begins in Chapter VII., the problems of present-day interest
occupying the preceding six chapters.
A. B. H.
Marietta College, Marietta, Ohio,
_January 26, 1908_.
Contents
CHAPTER PAGE
I.--Buffalo and the Upper Niagara 1
II.--From the Falls to Lake Ontario 23
III.--The Birth of Niagara 52
IV.--Niagara Bond and Free 72
V.--Harnessing Niagara Falls 99
VI.--A Century of Niagara Cranks 123
VII.--The Old Niagara Frontier 153
VIII.--From La Salle to De Nonville 171
IX.--Niagara under Three Flags 196
X.--The Hero of Upper Canada 231
XI.--The Second War with England 263
XII.--Toronto 292
Index 315
List of Illustrations
PAGE
View of Horseshoe Falls from the Canadian Side
From a photograph. _Frontispiece_
A Glimpse of Buffalo Harbor 4
Lafayette Square 8
St. Paul's Church, Buffalo 12
Niagara Falls 14
From the original painting by Frederick Edwin Church, in
Corcoran Gallery.
The American Rapids 16
The View from Prospect Point 20
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal.
Goat Island Bridge and Rapids 24
Horseshoe Falls from Below 26
"The Shoreless Sea" 28
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal.
Rustic Bridge, Willow Island 30
The Cave of the Winds 32
The American Fall 36
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal.
Remains of Stone Piers of the "First Railway in
America"--the British Tramway up Lewiston
Heights, 1763 38
Amid the Goat Island Group 40
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal.
Horseshoe Falls from the Canadian Shore 44
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal.
Looking up the Lower Niagara from Paradise Grove 46
From a photograph by Wm. Quinn, Niagara-on-the-Lake.
The Mouth of the Gorge 48
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal.
The Whirlpool Rapids 50
The American Fall, July, 1765 54
From an unsigned original drawing in the British Museum.
The Horseshoe Fall, July, 1765 60
From an unsigned original drawing in the British Museum.
Ice Mountain on Prospect Point 64
Cave of the Winds in Winter 66
"Maid of the Mist" under Steel Arch Bridge 70
Beacon on Old Breakwater at Buffalo 72
Winter Scene in Prospect Park 74
Bath Island, American Rapids, in 1879 80
From New York Commissioners' Report.
Path to Luna Island 86
Green Island Bridge 92
Bird's-eye View of the Canadian Rapids and Fall 100
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal.
American Falls from Below 106
The Riverside at Willow Island 118
Goat Island Bridge, Showing Niagara's Famous Cataract
and International Hotels 124
The Path to the Cave of the Winds 130
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal.
American Falls from Goat Island 136
Horseshoe Falls from Goat Island 142
Ice Bridge and American Falls 148
Colonel Römer's Map of the Country of the Iroquois,
1700 154
Champlain 160
Map of French Forts in America 164
Niagara Falls by Father Hennepin 166
The first known picture of Niagara, dated 1697.
R. Réné Cavelier, Sieur De La Salle 172
Frontenac, from Hébert's Statue at Quebec 178
Luna Island Bridge 184
"Carte du Lac Ontario." A Specimen French Map
of the Niagara Frontier Dated October 4, 1757 190
From the original in the British Museum.
Stones on the Site of Joncaire's Cabin under Lewiston
Heights, where the "Magazine Royale" was
Erected in 1719 198
Specimen Manuscript Map of Niagara Frontier of
Eighteenth Century 204
From the original in the British Museum.
A Drawing of Fort Niagara and Environs Showing
Plan of English Attack under Johnson 208
A Sketch of Fort Niagara and Environs by the
French Commander Pouchot Showing Improvements
of 1756-1758 210 and 211
Canadian Trapper, from La Potherie 212
Youngstown, N. Y., from Paradise Grove 214
The Stone Redoubt at Fort Niagara, Built in 1770 216
From the original in the British Museum.
Pfister's Sketch of Fort Niagara and the "Communication."
Two Years before the Outbreak
of the Revolutionary War 220
Fort Erie and the Mouth of the Niagara, by Pfister,
in 1764 226
From the original in the British Museum.
Major-General Brock 232
A Plan of Fort Niagara after English Occupation,
by Montresor 238
"Navy Hall Opposite Niagara" 244
A drawing on bark by Mrs. Simcoe.
Queenston and Brock's Monument 250
From a photograph by Wm. Quinn, Niagara-on-the-Lake.
Brock's Monument 260
"Queenston or Landing near Niagara" 266
A drawing on bark by Mrs. Simcoe.
Lieutenant Pierie's Sketch of Niagara, 1768 272
From an old print.
Old View of Fort Mississauga 278
Monument at Lundy's Lane 284
Lieutenant-General Simcoe 294
"York Harbor" 296
A drawing on bark by Mrs. Simcoe.
"The Garrison at York" 302
A drawing on bark by Mrs. Simcoe.
Captain Sowers's Drawings of Fort Niagara, 1769 308
From the original in the British Museum.
The Niagara River
Chapter I
Buffalo and the Upper Niagara
The Strait of Niagara, or the Niagara River, as it is commonly called,
ranks among the wonders of the world. The study of this stream is of
intense and special interest to many classes of people, notably
historians, archæologists, botanists, geologists, artists, mechanics,
and electricians. It is doubtful if there is anywhere another thirty-six
miles of riverway that can, in this respect, compare with it.
The term "strait" as applied to the Niagara correctly suggests the
river's historic importance. The expression, recurring in so many of the
relations of French and English military officers, "on this
communication" also indicates Niagara's position in the story of the
discovery, conquest, and occupation of the continent. It is probably the
Falls which, technically, make Niagara a river; and so, in turn, it is
the Falls that rendered Niagara an important strategic key of the vast
waterway stretching from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the head of
Lake Superior. The lack--so far as it does exist--of historic interest
in the immediate Niagara region, the comparative paucity of military
events of magnitude along that stream during the old French and the
Revolutionary wars proves, on the one hand, what a wilderness separated
the English on the South from the French on the North, and, on the
other, how strong "the communication" was between Quebec and the French
posts in the Middle West. It does not prove that Niagara was the less
important.
The Falls increased the historic importance of Niagara because it
limited navigation and made a portage necessary; the purposes of trade
and missionary enterprise, as well as those of conquest, demanded that
this point be occupied, and occupation necessarily meant defence. Here,
from Lewiston and Queenston to Chippewa and Port Day (to use modern
names) ran the two most famous portage paths of the continent. Here were
to be seen at one time or another the footprints of as famous explorers,
noble missionaries, and brave soldiers as ever went to conquest in
history.
The Niagara River was important in the olden time to every mile of
territory drained by the waters that flowed through it. What an empire
to hold in fee! Here lies more than one-half the fresh water of the
world--the solid contents being, according to Darby
1,547,011,792,300,000; it would form a solid cubic column measuring
nearly twenty-two miles on each side.
The most remote body of water tributary to Niagara River is Lake
Superior, 381 miles long and 161 miles broad with a circumference of
1150 miles. The Niagara of Lake Superior is the St. Mary's River,
twenty-seven miles in length, its current very rapid, with water
flowing over great masses of rock into Lake Huron. Lake Huron is 218
miles long and 20 miles wider than Lake Superior, but with a
circumference of only 812 miles. Lake Michigan is 345 miles long and 84
broad and enters Lake Huron through Mackinaw Straits which are four
miles in length, with a fall of four feet. In turn Lake Huron empties
into the St. Clair and Detroit rivers which, with a total fall of eleven
feet in fifty-one miles, forms the Niagara of Lake Erie. This sheet of
water is 250 miles long and 60 miles broad at its widest part. The area
drained by these lakes is as follows, including their own area:
Lake Superior 85,000 sq. m.
" Huron 74,000 "
" Michigan 70,040 "
" Erie 39,680 "
--------
Total 268,720 "
Considering this as a portion of the St. Lawrence drainage, we have the
marvellous spectacle of a navigable waterway from the St. Louis River,
Lake Superior, to Cape Gaspé at the mouth of the St. Lawrence, of
twenty-one hundred miles in length, the Niagara River being paralleled
to-day by the Welland Canal, and lesser canals affording a passageway
around the rapids of the St. Mary's in the West and the St. Lawrence in
the East. In a previous volume in the present series[1] it was seen that
the improved rivers in the Ohio basin now offered a navigable pathway
over four thousand miles in length; how insignificant is that prospect
in view of this great transcontinental waterway two thousand miles in
length but including the 268,000 square miles in the four great lakes
alone! Well does George Waldo Browne in his beautiful volume on this
subject, _The St. Lawrence River_, say:
Treated in a more extended manner, according to the ideas of the
early French geographers, and taking either the river and lake
of Nipigon, on the north of Superior, or the river St. Louis,
flowing from the south-west, it has a grand total length of over
two thousand miles. With its tributaries it drains over four
hundred thousand square miles of country, made up of fertile
valleys and plateaux inhabited by a prosperous people, desolate
barrens, deep forests, where the foot of man has not yet left
its imprint.
Seldom less than two miles in width, it is two and one-half
miles wide where it issues from Ontario, and with several
expansions which deserve the name of lake it becomes eighty
miles in width where it ceases to be considered a river. The
influence of the tide is felt as far up as Lake St. Peter, about
one hundred miles from the gulf, while it is navigable for
sea-going vessels to Montreal, eighty miles farther inland.
Rapids impede navigation above this point, but by means of
canals continuous communication is obtained to the head of Lake
Superior.
If inferior in breadth to the mighty Amazon, if it lacks the
length of the Mississippi, if without the stupendous gorges and
cataracts of the Yang-tse-Kiang of China, if missing the ancient
castles of the Rhine, if wanting the lonely grandeur that still
overhangs the Congo of the Dark Continent, the Great River of
Canada has features as remarkable as any of these. It has its
source in the largest body of fresh water upon the globe, and
among all of the big rivers of the world it is the only one
whose volume is not sensibly affected by the elements. In rain
or in sunshine, in spring floods or in summer droughts, this
phenomenon of waterways seldom varies more than a foot in its
rise and fall.
[Illustration: A Glimpse of Buffalo Harbor.]
The history of the Niagara is so closely interwoven with that of the
great "Queen City of the Lakes," Buffalo, that it would seem as though
the famous waterway was in the suburb of the city and its greatest
scenic attraction. However true this is to-day, it was very far from the
case a century ago, for though the site of Buffalo was historic and
important, the city, as such, is of comparative recent origin, coming to
its own with giant strides in those last decades of the nineteenth
century. Writes Mr. Rowland B. Mahany in his excellent chapter on
"Buffalo" in _The Historic Towns of the Middle States:_
Few cities of the United States have a history more picturesque
than Buffalo, or more typical of the forces that have made the
Republic great. At the time of the adoption of the Federal
constitution, in 1787, not a single white settler dwelt on the
site of what is now the Queen of the Lakes; and it was not until
after the second presidency of Washington, that Joseph Ellicott,
the founder of Buffalo, laid out the plan of the town, which he
called New Amsterdam.
On February 10, 1810, the "Town of Buffaloe" was created by act of the
State Legislature, a name originally given to the locality by the Seneca
Indians, who, we shall see, dominated the old Niagara frontier; it is
believed that the name came from the animals which visited the
neighbouring salt licks; and the name therefore may be much older than
any settlement or even camping site. The village of New Amsterdam was
now merged into the town of Buffalo, which boasted a newspaper in the
second year of its existence, 1811. The story of the following years
falls naturally into that of the disastrous war with England from 1812
to 1814, in which Buffalo suffered severely. As Mr. Mahany suggests, the
story of Buffalo is characteristically American, and its phases, as such
offer an inviting field, but one too wide for full examination in the
present history.[2]
The important position of the city with reference to the Great Lakes was
very greatly increased with the building of the Erie Canal from 1817 to
1825. It is interesting to recall the fact that it was in reality fear
of the possibility of another war with England that caused the deciding
vote for the Erie Canal project to be cast in its favour.[3] In the
proper place we shall have impressed upon us the great distance that
separated the Niagara frontier from the inhabited portion of the
Republic at this early period, the great length of the land route and
the difficulty of it; it was said to be far more than a cannon was worth
to haul it to the frontier during the War of 1812. All this shows very
distinctly the early condition surrounding the rise of the metropolis of
the Niagara country, and, from being strange that little Buffalo did not
grow faster, it is amazing to find such rapid growth during the first
twenty-five years of her life.
With the opening of the canal in 1825 a new era dawned; the work of the
great land companies in north-eastern New York drew vast armies of
people thither, and the canal proved to be the great route for a much
longer migration from the seaboard to the further north-west, to
Michigan and Wisconsin, as well as to neighbouring Ohio. All this helped
Buffalo. Numbers of travellers arriving at the future site of the Queen
City of the Lakes at once decided that they could at least go farther
and fare very much worse, and so sat down to grow up with the Niagara
frontier. The proximity of the Falls had something to do, of course,
with bringing increasingly larger numbers of travellers and transients
to the Lake Erie village. But it was slow work, this building up a great
city, and no doubt the very fact that the stones of the mighty edifice
one finds beside that beautiful harbour to-day were laid slowly accounts
for the solidity of the structure; Buffalo was not built on a boom.
From James L. Barton's reminiscences, for instance, we have clear
pictures of the early struggle for business in this frontier town, which
prove it to have been typically American. Mr. Barton owned a line of
boats on the Lakes and canal but found it very difficult to find freight
for the boats to carry down the State:
A few tons of freight [he writes], was all that we could furnish
each boat to carry to Albany. This they would take in, and fill
up at Rochester, which place, situated in the heart of the
wheat-growing district of Western New York, furnished nearly all
the down freight that passed on the canal. Thus we lived and
struggled on until 1830. Our population had increased largely,
and that year numbered six thousand and thirty-one. In the fall
of 1831, I received from Cleveland one thousand bushels of
wheat. . . . The next winter I made arrangement with the late
Colonel Ira A. Blossom, the resident agent of the Holland Land
Company, to furnish storage for all the wheat the settlers
should bring in, towards the payment on their land contracts
with the company. The whole amount did not exceed three thousand
bushels. . . . In 1833 the Ohio canal was completed, which gave
us a little more business. Northern Ohio was then the only
portion of the great West that had any surplus agricultural
products to send to an eastern market. In 1833 a little stir
commenced in land operations, which increased the next year, and
in 1835 became a perfect fever and swallowed up almost
everything else. Nearly every person who had any enterprise got
rich from buying and selling land; using little money in these
transactions, but paying and receiving in pay, bonds and
mortgages to an illimitable amount.
In 1837 the panic affected the young lake city as it did all parts of
the land, but by 1840 the population of Buffalo had swelled to over
eighteen thousand. The record of growth of the past century is a matter
of figures strung on the faith of a great company of active,
enterprising, far-sighted business men, until Buffalo ranks among the
cities of half a million population, with a future unquestionably secure
and brilliant.
The Niagara River is some nineteen hundred feet in width at its mouth
here at Buffalo and forty-eight feet deep; the average rate of current
here is under six miles per hour, but when south-west gales drive the
lake billows in gigantic gulps down the river's mouth the current
sometimes races as fast as twelve miles per hour. Old Fort Erie, built
here at the mouth of the Niagara immediately after England won the
continent from France, in 1764, was formerly the only settlement
hereabouts, Black Rock, now part of Buffalo, at the mouth of the Erie
Canal, was not settled until near the close of that century. It is
believed that five forts have guarded the mouth of this strategic river,
all known as Fort Erie. When the people of the opposite sides of the
river were in conflict in 1812, Black Rock was the rival of Fort Erie.
The large black rock which formed the landing-place of the ferry across
the river here, and which gave the hamlet its name, was destroyed when
the Erie Canal was built. Black Rock was formally laid out in 1804 and
in 1853 was incorporated with the city of Buffalo.
[Illustration: Lafayette Square.]
The upper Niagara with its even current and low-lying banks is not
specially attractive. Grand Island, two miles below the mouth, divides
the river into two narrow arms. This beautiful island, the Indian name
of which was Owanunga, so popular to-day as a summering place, is
remembered in history especially as the site selected in 1825 for Major
M. M. Noah's "New Jerusalem," the proposed industrial centre of the Jews
of the New World, but nothing was accomplished on the island itself
toward the object in view.
At Buffalo, however, Noah took the title "Judge of Israel," and held a
meeting in the old St. Paul's Church, where remarkable initiatory rites
took place. In resplendent robes covered by a mantle of crimson silk,
trimmed with ermine, the Judge held what he termed "impressive and
unique ceremony," in which he read a proclamation to "all the Jews
throughout the world," bringing them the glad tidings that on the
ancient isle Owanunga "an asylum was prepared and offered to them," and
that he did "revive, renew, and establish (in the Lord's name), the
government of the Jewish nation, . . . confirming and perpetuating all
our rights and privileges, our rank and power, among the nations of the
earth as they existed and were recognised under the government of the
Judges." Mr. Noah ordered a census of all the Hebrews in the world to be
taken and did not forget, incidentally, to levy a tax of about one
dollar and a half on every Jew in order to carry on the project. A
"foundation stone" was prepared to be erected on the site of the future
New Jerusalem; the following inscription was engraved upon it:
Hear, O Israel, the Lord
is our God--the Lord is one.
ARARAT,
A CITY OF REFUGE FOR THE JEWS,
FOUNDED BY MORDECAI MANUEL NOAH,
IN THE MONTH OF TISRI 5586--SEPT. 1825
IN THE FIFTIETH YEAR OF
AMERICAN INDEPENDENCE.
At the lower extremity of Grand Island is historic Burnt Ship Bay, made
famous, as hereafter related, in the old French War.
The little town of Tonawanda, with its immense lumber interests, and La
Salle, famous in history as the building site of the _Griffon_,
elsewhere described, lie opposite Grand Island on the American shore,
the former at the mouth of Cayuga Creek. On the opposite shore, a little
below the beautiful Navy Island, is the historic town of Chippewa.
Below Navy Island the river spreads out to a width of over two miles; it
has fallen twenty feet since leaving Lake Erie, and now gathers into a
narrower channel for its magnificent rush to the falls one mile below.
In this mile the river drops fifty-two feet, through what are known as
the American and Canadian Rapids, on their respective sides of the
river.
From a scenic standpoint it is questionable whether any of the delights
of Niagara surpass those afforded by this beautiful series of cascades;
sightseers are prepared from their earliest days for the magnificent
beauty of the Falls themselves, but of the Rapids above little is known
until their insidious charm gradually works its way into the heart to
remain forever an image of beauty and rapture that cannot be effaced.
Guide books will give adequate advice as to the best points of vantage
from which to view the various rifts and cascades.[4]
Some years ago [writes Mr. Porter], Colin Hunter, then an
Associate, now a Royal Academician, came over from London to
paint Niagara. Of all the points of view he selected the one as
seen up stream from the head of the Little Brother Island. A
temporary bridge was built to it, and here, with a guard at the
bridge, so as to be secure from intrusion, he painted his grand
view, looking up stream. The upper ledge of rocks, with its
long, rapid cascade, was his sky-line; in the foreground were
the tumbling Rapids; far to the right of the picture the tops of
a few trees appearing on the Canada shore above the waters alone
showed the presence of any land. We advise . . . the visitor to
clamber over the rocks on the Canadian shore of the Island . . .
go out as near the water's edge as possible, and you will
appreciate the difference that a few feet in a point of
observation may make in what is apparently the same scenery.
Just before you reach the foot of the island a gnarled cedar
tree and a rock, accessible by leaping from stone to stone,
gives you access to a point of observation than which there is
nothing more beautiful at Niagara. Do not fail to get this view,
for it is the Colin Hunter view, as nearly as you can get it,
and you will appreciate the artistic sense of the great painter
who chose this incomparable view in preference to the Falls
themselves for a reproduction of the very best at Niagara.
Another beautiful point from which to view the Rapids is on Terrapin
Rocks, the so-called scenic and geographical centre of Niagara. Here the
power of the magnificent river, the "shoreless sea" above you, the
clouds for its horizon, grows more impressive with every visit. By day
the sight is marvellously impressive; by night, under some
circumstances, it is yet more wonderful. Of this night view Margaret
Fuller wrote, most feelingly:
After nightfall as there was a splendid moon, I went down to the
bridge and leaned over the parapet, where the boiling rapids
came down in their might. It was grand, and it was also
gorgeous: the yellow rays of the moon made the broken waves
appear like auburn tresses twining around the black rocks. But
they did not inspire me as before. I felt a foreboding of a
mightier emotion to rise up and swallow all others, and I passed
on to the Terrapin Bridge. Everything was changed, the misty
apparition had taken off its many coloured crown which it had
worn by day, and a bow of silvery white spanned its summit. The
moonlight gave a poetical indefiniteness to the distant parts of
the waters, and while the rapids were glancing in her beams, the
river below the Falls was as black as night, save where the
reflection of the sky gave it the appearance of a shield of blue
steel.
As the Falls of Niagara slowly creep backward in tune to their
stupendous recessional toward Lake Erie they encroach more and more on
the magnificent domain of the Rapids, nor will their gradual increase in
height atone for this savage invasion nor palliate the offence
committed. A thousand years more, we are told, and the visitor will view
the "Horseshoe" Fall from the upper end of the Third Sister Island, and
the marvellous canvas of Colin Hunter will be as meaningless as
Hennepin's picture of two centuries and more ago. The American Fall,
receding much more slowly than the Horseshoe Fall, will invade the
beautiful rapids above Goat Island bridge at a very much later date,
for, as we shall see, the greater fall recedes almost as many feet per
year as the lesser recedes inches. And in this connection it is
interesting to note that if the recession continued to Lake Erie and
onward into that lake until the line of fall was a mile long at its
crest, with the water falling 336 feet, Victoria Falls in the Zambesi
River would still exceed their American rival by sixty-four feet in
height!
[Illustration: St. Paul's Church, Buffalo.]
The accessibility of the Niagara Rapids, because of the fortunate
location of the Goat Island group is, in itself, one of the great charms
of the region, and this may explain in part the insuppressible desire of
early visitors to reach these glorious points of vantage. The view of
the rapids from the Goat Island bridge to-day is said to be the source
of chief pleasure "to half the visitors to Niagara."[5]
George Houghton's beautiful lines on "The Upper Rapids" express with
fine feeling the effect of these racing cascades on the sensitive mind:
Still with the wonder of boyhood, I follow the race of the Rapids,
Sirens that dance, and allure to destruction,--now lurking in shadows,
Skirting the level stillness of pools and the treacherous shallows,
Smiling and dimple-mouthed, coquetting,--now modest, now forward;
Tenderly chanting, and such the thrall of the weird incantation,
Thirst it awakes in each listener's soul, a feverish longing.
Thoughts all absorbent, a torment that stings and ever increases,
Burning ambition to push bare-breast to thy perilous bosom.
Thus, in some midnight obscure, bent down by the storm of temptation
(So hath the wind, in the beechen wood, confided the story).
Pine-trees, thrusting their way and trampling down one another,
Curious, lean and listen, replying in sobs and in whispers;
Till of the secret possessed, which brings sure blight to the hearer,
(So hath the wind, in the beechen wood, confided the story),
Faltering, they stagger brinkward,--clutch at the roots of the grasses,
Cry,--a pitiful cry of remorse,--and plunge down in the darkness.
Art thou all-merciless then,--a fiend, ever fierce for new victims?
Was then the red-man right (as yet it liveth in legend),
That, ere each twelvemonth circles, still to thy shrine is allotted
Blood of one human heart, as sacrifice due and demanded?
Butterflies have I followed, that leaving the red-top and clover,
Thinking a wind-harp thy voice, thy froth the fresh whiteness of daisies,
Ventured too close, grew giddy, and catching cold drops on their pinions,
Balanced--but vainly,--and falling, their scarlet was blotted forever.
When, about 1880, William M. Hunt was commissioned to decorate the
immense panels of the Assembly Chamber of the Capitol at Albany, N. Y.,
he chose, with true artistic feeling, the view of the rapids above Goat
Island bridge as the choice picture to represent the great marvel and
chief wonder of the Empire State--Niagara. It is generally conceded that
Church's _Horseshoe Falls_ takes rank over all other paintings of
Niagara, but Colin Hunter's _Rapids of Niagara_ excel any other view of
either the Falls, Gorge, or Rapids on canvas to-day.
[Illustration: Niagara Falls.
From the original painting by Frederick Edwin Church, in Corcoran
Gallery.]
But we must observe here that these Rapids were something aside from
beautiful to the French and English officers whose duty it was to
defend and supply "the communication" from Fort Frontenac to Fort
Chartres; they probably seemed very "horrid," in the old time sense, to
those who struggled under the burdens of the ancient portage path. The
southern termini of the two pathways--one on either side of the
river--were Chippewa and Port Day, respectively. The route from Lewiston
to Port Day was evidently the common portage until after the War of 1812
when the Canadian path was opened. A little below what is known as
Schlosser Dock stood the French fort guarding this end of their old
portage path. Fort du Portage or Little Fort Niagara, built about 1750,
nine years before England conquered the region. Near by stands the one
famous relic of the old régime, the Old Stone Chimney of Fort du
Portage, later a chimney of the English mess-house at Fort Schlosser. As
will be noted later Fort du Portage was destroyed by the retreating
French, after the capture of Fort Niagara by Sir William Johnson: to
guard that end of the portage the English under Colonel Schlosser built
Fort Schlosser in 1761. The road occupying the course of the ancient
portage does not extend to the river now, but it bears the old name, and
on it you may see, not half a mile back, outlines of the earthen works
of one of the eleven block-houses built in 1764 by Captain Montresor the
first of which was erected on the hill above Lewiston: these
block-houses guarded the important roadway from the assaults of Indians
such as the famous Bloody Run Massacre of 1763. Frenchman's Landing is
the modern name for the cove below the Old Stone Chimney where was the
terminus of the earliest portage path guarded by the block-house known
as the first Little Fort Niagara. This whole district is now the site
of the power-houses and mills that are making Niagara a word to conjure
with in the centres of trade as certainly as in the ancient day it was a
mesmeric word in the courts and camps of the Old World.
The thunder of Niagara Falls reaches our ears even amid the music of
these beautiful Rapids, and we are drawn on to the marvellous group of
islands that impinge upon the cataract.
[Illustration: The American Rapids.]
What is commonly known as the Goat Island group consists of the island
of that name, containing some seventy acres of land, and sixteen other
islands or rocks contiguous thereto. Without undertaking to dispute or
defend many of the extravagant assertions made in behalf of Goat Island,
to which have been given the titles "Temple of Nature," "Enchanted
Isles," "Isle of Beauty," "Shrine of the Deity," "Fairy Isles," etc. it
would, I think, be difficult to disprove the statement often made that
no other seventy acres on the continent are more interesting than these
bearing this homely name. From the standpoint of the artist and
naturalist this statement would probably pass unquestioned. The views
already alluded to of the American and Canadian rapids to be gained from
this delightful vantage point are probably unparalleled. To the botanist
Goat Island is a paradise. Sir Joseph Hooker affirmed that he found here
a greater variety of vegetation within a given space than he had found
in Europe or in America east of the Sierras, and Dr. Asa Gray confirmed
the extravagant statement. Wrote Frederick Law Olmsted:
I have followed the Appalachian chain almost from end to end,
and travelled on horseback "in search of the picturesque" over
four thousand miles of the most promising parts of the continent
without finding elsewhere the same quality of forest beauty
which was once abundant about the Falls, and which is still to
be observed on those parts of Goat Island where the original
growth of trees and shrubs has not been disturbed, and where
from caving banks trees are not now exposed to excessive dryness
at the root.
In a report, prepared by David F. Day for the New York State Reservation
Commissioners, we find explained, in part, the notable fertility of this
little plot of ground, although the oft-returning misty rain from the
Falls, and the fact that Goat Island never experiences the dangers of a
"forward" spring have much to do in preserving its beautiful robe of
colours:
A calcareous soil enriched with an abundance of organic matter
like that of Goat Island would necessarily be one of great
fertility. For the growth and sustentation of a forest and of
such plants as prefer the woods to the openings it would far
excel the deep and exhaustless alluvians of the prairie states.
It would be difficult to find within another territory so
restricted in its limits so great a diversity of trees and
shrubs and still more difficult to find in so small an area such
examples of arboreal symmetry and perfection as the island has
to exhibit.
The island received its flora from the mainland, in fact the
botanist is unable to point out a single instance of tree,
shrub, or herb, now growing upon the island not also to be found
upon the mainland. But the distinguishing characteristic of its
flora is not the possession of any plant elsewhere unknown, but
the abundance of individuals and species, which the island
displays. There are to be found in Western New York about 170
species of trees and shrubs. Goat Island and the immediate
vicinity of the river near the Falls can show of these no less
than 140. There are represented on the island four maples, three
species of thorn, two species of ash, and six species,
distributed in five genera, of the cone-bearing family. The one
species of basswood belonging to the vicinity is also there.
Mr. Day has a catalogue of plants in his report to the Reservation
Commissioners, giving 909 species of plants to be found on the
Reservation, of which 758 are native and 151 foreign. Wrote Margaret
Fuller:
The beautiful wood on Goat Island is full of flowers, many of
the fairest love to do homage there. The wake robin and the May
apple are in bloom, the former white, pink, green, purple,
copying the rainbow of the Falls, and fit it for its presiding
Deity when He walks the land, for they are of imperial size and
shaped like stones for a diadem. Of the May apple I did not
raise one green tent without finding a flower beneath.
Explaining the climatic advantages of the island Mr. Olmsted remarks:
First, the masses of ice which every winter are piled to a great
height below the Falls and the great rushing body of ice cold
water coming from the northern lakes in the spring prevent at
Niagara the hardship under which trees elsewhere often suffer
through sudden checks to premature growth. And second, when
droughts elsewhere occur, as they do every few years, of such
severity that trees in full foliage droop and dwindle and even
sometimes cast their leaves, the atmosphere at Niagara is more
or less moistened by the constantly evaporating spray of the
Falls, and in certain situations bathed by drifting clouds of
spray.
It is a very irony of fate that this marvellous gem among the islands of
earth could not bear a name befitting its place in the admiration and
esteem of a world; it was, I believe, Judge Porter himself that named
this beautiful spot "Iris Island," a name altogether fitting in both
wealth of suggestion and beauty of association. One John Steadman,
remembered as a contractor to widen the old portage path from Lewiston
to Fort Schlosser, and former owner of the island under a "Seneca
patent," planted some turnips here, we are told, in the year 1770 A.D.,
and in the following autumn placed here "a number of animals, among them
a male goat," to get them out of the reach of the bears and wolves that
infested the neighbouring shore near his home two miles up the river. In
the spring of 1771 it was found that the severe winter had been too much
for all but the "male goat," who, unfortunately, survived the ordeal,
and by so doing bids fair to hand his name down through the centuries
attached to the most beautiful island in the world. In the Treaty of
Ghent, which set our boundary line here, the island bears the name
"Iris." Mr. Porter has stated that even if it were desirable to change
the name now "it would seem impossible now to do so."[6] Is this the
truth? Could not the commissioners who have the matters in hand do a
great deal toward inaugurating a change to the old official name that
would in the long run prove effective? The present writer is most
positive that this could be done and that it is a thing that ought
certainly to be attempted immediately. It would be surprising how much
the change would be favoured if once attempted, if guide books and maps
followed the new nomenclature. The only possible satisfaction that one
can have in the present name is in the horrifying reflection that if the
male goat had died the island would probably have been "Turnip Island"
if not "Colic Island."
Below the islands resound the Falls. Perhaps there is no better method
of describing this almost indescribable wonder than by taking the
familiar walk about them beginning at the common point of commencement,
Prospect Point.
[Illustration: The View from Prospect Point.
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal.]
It is important on visiting the Falls for the first time to obtain as
good a view as possible, as the first view comes but once. Many are
somewhat disappointed with it, since from a distance the Falls give the
idea of a long low wall of water, their great height being offset by
their great breadth of almost a mile. The best view is from the top of
the bank on the Canadian side; but as most of the tourists reach the
American side first it is from this standpoint that most visitors gain
their first impression. No better vantage ground can be gained on the
American side than Prospect Point. Here, placed at the northern end of
the American cataract, is the best position to make a study of the
geography of Niagara. Stretching from your feet along the line of sight
extends the American Fall to a distance of 1060 feet. At the other side
of the American Fall is the Goat Island group. This group stretches
along the cliff for a distance of 1300 feet more. Beyond this extends
the line of the Horseshoe Fall for a further distance of 3010 feet,
making in all a total of slightly over a mile. To the right, down the
river is the gorge which Niagara has been chiseling and scouring for
unnumbered centuries; this chasm extends almost due north for a distance
of seven miles to Lewiston. Down the gorge the gaze is uninterrupted for
a distance of nearly two miles, almost to the Whirlpool where the river
turns abruptly to the left on entering this whirling maelstrom, issuing
again almost at right angles to continue its mad plunges. To the left,
up the river lie the American Rapids, where the water rushes on in its
madness to hurl its volume over the 160 feet of precipice and into the
awful chasm below. Just below Prospect Point and somewhat higher in
altitude than it, is what has been called Hennepin's View, so named
after Father Hennepin, who gave the first written description of the
Niagara. Here one sees not only the Horseshoe Fall in the foreground, as
at Prospect Point, but the American Fall also, which lies several feet
lower than our point of vantage.
Proceeding up the river the next point of interest reached is the steel
bridge to Goat Island. The first bridge to this island was constructed
by Judge Porter in 1817 about forty rods above the site of the present
one. In the spring of the next year this bridge was swept away by the
large cakes of ice coming down the river. It was rebuilt at its present
site, its projector judging that the added descent of the rapids would
so break up the ice as to eliminate any danger to the structure; and the
results proved his theory true. This structure stood until 1855 when its
place was taken by a steel arch bridge, which served the public until
1900. In that year the present structure authorised by the State of New
York took its place.
Looking upon this structure, one wonders how the foundations could
possibly have been laid in such an irresistible current of water. First,
two of the largest trees to be found in the vicinity were cut down and
hewn flat on two sides. A level platform was erected on the shore at the
water's edge and on this the hewn logs were placed about eight feet
apart, supported on rollers with their shore ends heavily weighted with
stone. These logs were then run as far out over the river as possible,
and a man walked out on each one armed with an iron pointed staff. On
finding a crevice in the rock forming the bottom of the river, these
staffs were driven firmly into the rock and then lashed to the ends of
the timbers, thus forming a stay to them and furnishing the means
necessary for beginning the construction of the crib. The timbers were
planked, and the same process was pursued until the island was reached.
While the second bridge was under construction, the famous Indian
chieftain and orator, Red Jacket, visited the Falls. The old veteran is
said to have sat for a long time watching the process of bridging the
angry waters, the transforming power of the white man at work,
conquering a force which to him appeared more than able to baffle all
the ingenuity of man. On being asked by a bystander what he thought of
the work of construction he seemed mortified that the white man's hand
should so desecrate these sacred waters; folding his blanket slowly
about him, with his eyes fixed upon the works, he is said to have given
forth the stereotyped Indian grunt, adding "D----n Yankee!"
Upon this bridge we find one of the best positions, as we have noted,
from which to view the Rapids. From the point of their beginning, about
a mile above the Falls to the crest of the cliff the descent is over
fifty feet. Here, standing upon what seems in comparison but a frail
structure, one can realise the grandeur of the Rapids. In the terrible
race they seem to be trying to tear away the piers of the bridge which
are fretting their current.
[Footnote 1: _The Ohio River; A Course of Empire_, p. 359.]
[Footnote 2: Frank H. Severance in his delightful _Old Trails of the
Niagara Frontier_ has several most interesting chapters relating to the
Buffalo neighbourhood. Mr. Severance has done, through the Buffalo
Historical Society, much good work in keeping warm the affection of the
present generation for the memory of the past, its heroes and its
sacrifices.]
[Footnote 3: See A. B. Hulbert, _The Great American Canals_, vol. ii.,
p. 111.]
[Footnote 4: Congressman Peter A. Porter's Guide Book may be recommended
highly; its use to the present writer, taken in addition to its author's
personal assistance and advice, must be acknowledged in the most
unreserved way. Numerous references to Mr. Porter's various monographs,
especially his _Old Fort Niagara_ and _Goat Island_, in addition to his
Guide, will be met with frequently in this volume. To one really
interested in Niagara history _Old Fort Niagara_ will be found most
attractive and comprehensive; its numerous references to authorities put
it quite in a class by itself among local histories.]
[Footnote 5: Frederick Almy in _The Niagara Book_, p. 51. This volume
has been of perennial interest to the author because of the
contributions of the venerable William Dean Howells and E. S. Martin. No
one who in early life has essayed the life of journalist and
correspondent can read Mr. Howells's article in this little book without
immense relish: its humour is contagious, and its descriptions of
Niagara in 1860, fascinating.]
[Footnote 6: _Goat Island_, p. 28. This most interesting pamphlet by Mr.
Porter will be found quite a complete guide to a study of Niagara Falls,
and is most worthy the perusal of those who care to examine more than
the mere surface of things at Niagara.]
Chapter II
From the Falls to Lake Ontario
These American rivers of ours have their messages, historical, economic,
and social, to both reader and loiterer. And, too, are not these streams
so very much alive that through the years their personalities remain
practically unchanged, while generations of loiterers come and go on
forever? Are not the eccentricities of these great living forces forever
recurrent, however whimsical they may seem, to us as we stop for our
brief instant at the shore?
The word Niagara stands to-day representing power; the most common
metaphor used, perhaps, to represent perpetual irresistible force is
found in the name Niagara. Now it is admitted that nothing is more
interesting than to observe the contradictions noticeable in most strong
personalities. View the Niagara from this personal standpoint. I think
its most attractive features may be summed up in a catalogue of its
eccentric contradictions. It is famous as a waterfall, yet its greatest
beauty is to be found in its smallest rapids. Its thundering fall
outrivals all other sounds of Nature, yet you can hear a sparrow sing
when the spray of the torrent is drenching you; the "noise" of Niagara
is often spoken of as the greatest sound ever heard, yet most of the
cataract's music has never been heard because it is pitched too low for
human ears. Niagara's Whirlpool is a placid, mirrored lake compared to
the rapids above and below it and brings from the lips of the majority
of sightseers, looking only at the surface of things, words of
disappointment. The great message and influence of the foaming cataract
and rapids and terrible pool, to all awake to the finer meanings, as has
been so beautifully brought out by Mr. Howells, should be one of
singular repose. The louder the music the more certain the strange
influence of this message of quiet and calm.
Take, for instance, what is so commonly called the roar of Niagara, but
which ought to be known as the music of Niagara, first at the Rapids and
then the Falls.
There is sweet music in Niagara's lesser rapids. Mrs. Schuyler Van
Rensselaer observes, most felicitously:
It is a great and mighty noise, but it is not, as Hennepin
thought, an "outrageous noise." It is not a roar. It does not
drown the voice or stun the ear. Even at the actual foot of the
falls it is not oppressive. It is much less rough than the sound
of heavy surf--steadier, more homogeneous, less metallic, very
deep and strong, yet mellow and soft; soft, I mean, in its
quality. As to the noise of the rapids, there is none more
musical. It is neither rumbling nor sharp. It is clear,
plangent, silvery. It is so like the voice of a steep
brook--much magnified, but not made coarser or more harsh--that,
after we have known it, each liquid call from a forest hillside
will seem, like the odour of grapevines, a greeting from
Niagara. It is an inspiriting, an exhilarating sound, like
freshness, coolness, vitality itself made audible. And yet it is
a lulling sound. When we have looked out upon the American
rapids for many days, it is hard to remember contented life amid
motionless surroundings; and so, when we have slept beside them
for many nights, it is hard to think of happy sleep in an empty
silence.
[Illustration: Goat Island Bridge and Rapids.]
A most original and interesting study of the music of the great Falls
was made some years ago in a more or less technical way by Eugene
Thayer.[7] It had been this gentleman's theory that Niagara had never
been heard as it should be heard, and his mission at the cataract was
accomplished when there met his ears, not the "roar," but, rather, a
perfectly constructed musical tone, clear, definite, and unapproachable
in its majestic proportions; in fact Mr. Thayer affirms that the trained
ear at Niagara should hear "a complete series of tones, all uniting in
one grand and noble unison, as in the organ, and all as easily
recognisable as the notes of any great chord in music." He had heard it
rumoured that persons had been known to secure a pitch of the tone of
Niagara; he essayed to secure not only the pitch of the chief or ground
tone, but that of all accessory or upper tones otherwise known as
harmonic or overtones, together with the beat or accent of the Falls and
its rhythmical vibrations.
All the tones above the ground tone have been named overtones or
harmonics; the tones below are called the subharmonics, or
undertones. It will be noticed that they form the complete
natural harmony of the ground tone. What is the real pitch of
this chord? According to our regular musical notation, the
fourth note given represents the normal pitch of diapason; the
reason being that the eight-foot tone is the only one that gives
the notes as written. According to nature, I must claim the
first, or lowest note, as the real or ground tone. In this
latter way I shall represent the true tone or pitch of Niagara.
How should I prove all this? My first step was to visit the
beautiful Iris Island, otherwise known as Goat Island. Donning a
suit of oilcloth and other disagreeable loose stuff, I followed
the guide into the Cave of the Winds. Of course, the sensation
at first was so novel and overpowering that the question of
pitch was lost in one of personal safety. Remaining here a few
minutes, I emerged to collect my dispersed thoughts. After
regaining myself, I returned at once to the point of beginning,
and went slowly in again (alone), testing my first question of
pitch all the way; that is, during the approach, while under the
fall, while emerging, and while standing some distance below the
face of the fall, not only did I ascertain this (I may say in
spite of myself, for I could hear but one pitch), but I heard
and sang clearly the pitch of all the harmonic or accessory
tones, only of course several octaves higher than their actual
pitch. Seven times have I been under these singing waters
(always alone except the first time), and the impression has
invariably been the same, so far as determining the tone and its
components. I may be allowed to withhold the result until I
speak of my experience at the Horseshoe Fall, and the American
Fall proper--it being scarcely necessary to say that the Cave of
the Winds is under the smaller cascade, known as the Central
Fall.
My next step was to stand on Luna Island, above the Central
Fall, and on the west side of the American Fall proper. I went
to the extreme eastern side of the island, in order to lose as
far as possible the sound of the Central Fall, and get the full
force of the larger Fall. Here were the same great ground tone
and the same harmonics, differing only somewhat in pitch.
I then went over to the Horseshoe Fall and sat among the Rapids.
There it was again, only slightly higher in pitch than on the
American side. Not then knowing the fact, I ventured to assert
that the Horseshoe Fall was less in height, by several feet,
than the American Fall; the actual difference is variously given
at from six to twelve feet. Next I went to the Three Sister
Islands, and here was the same old story. The higher harmonics
were mostly inaudible from the noise of the Rapids, but the same
two low notes were ringing out clear and unmistakable. In fact,
wherever I was I could not hear anything else! There was no roar
at all, but the same grand diapason--the noblest and completest
one on earth! I use the word completest advisedly, for nothing
else on earth, not even the ocean, reaches anywhere near the
actual depth of pitch, or makes audible to the human ear such a
complete and perfect harmonic structure.
[Illustration: Horseshoe Falls from Below.]
Remembering always that the actual pitch is four octaves lower, here are
the notes which form this matchless diapason:
[Illustration]
Mrs. Van Rensselaer tells us there is yet another music at Niagara that
must be listened for only on quiet nights. It is like the music of an
orchestra so very far away that its notes are attenuated to an
incredible delicacy and are intermittently perceived, as though wafted
to us on variable zephyrs.
It is the most subtle, the most mysterious music in the world.
What is its origin? Such fairy-like sounds are not to be
explained. Their appeal is to the imagination only. They are so
faint, so far away, that they almost escape the ear, as the
lunar bow and the fluted tints of the American Fall almost
escape the eye. And yet we need not fear to lose them, for they
are as real as the deep bass of the cataracts.
Whether it be the resounding waterfall producing this wondrous harmony
of the floods, or the most charming choral of the Rapids, the music of
Niagara on the mind properly adjusted and attuned must create a most
profound impression of repose. The exception to this rule, most
terrible to contemplate, is certainly to be found in the cases of the
unfortunates whose minds are so distraught or unbalanced that this same
call of the waters acts like poison and lures them to death.
I still think [wrote Mr. Howells in his most delightful sketch,
_Niagara, First and Last_] that, above and below the Falls, the
Rapids are the most striking features of the spectacle. At least
you may say something about them, compare them to something;
when you come to the cataract itself you can say nothing; it is
incomparable. My sense of it first, and my sense of it last, was
not a sense of the stupendous, but a sense of beauty, of
serenity, of repose.
In her beautiful description, given elsewhere in our story, Margaret
Fuller explains the effect of the Rapids by moonlight on the heart of
one who, during the day, had passed through the familiar throb of
disappointment in the great spectacle at Niagara.
Now I take it one must see in Niagara this element of repose or find in
it something less than was hoped for. To one who expects an ocean
pouring from the moon, a rush of wind and foam like that to be met with
only in the Cave of the Winds, there is bound to come that common
feeling that the fact is not equal to the picture imagination had
previously created. Take the Whirlpool; seen from the heights above, it
has that effect of sculpturesque repose [writes Mr. Howells],
which I have always found the finest thing in the Cataract
itself. From the top the circling lines of the Whirlpool seemed
graven in a level of chalcedony. . . . I have no impression to
impart except this sense of its worthy unity with the Cataract
in what I may call its highest æsthetic quality, its repose.[8]
[Illustration: "The Shoreless Sea."
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal.]
All this is most impressively true of the central wonder of the entire
spectacle, the Falls themselves. That mighty flood of water, reborn as
it dies, forms a marvellous spectacle. Writes Mrs. Schuyler Van
Rensselaer:
Very soon we realise that Niagara's true effect is an effect of
permanence. Many as are its variations, it never alters. It
varies because light and atmosphere alter. Tremendous movement
thus pauseless and unmodified gives, of course, a deeper
impression of durability than the most imposing solids. . . . As
soon as this fact is felt, the Falls seem to have been created
as a voucher for the permanence of all the world.[9]
But how conform this repose and spirit of permanency with the echoing
tones of that never-ending, never-satisfied dominant chord? How
reconcile the repose of those dropping billows with the tantalising
unrest of that for ever incomplete, unfinished recessional that has been
playing down this gorge since, perhaps, darkness brooded over the
deep--that seems to await its fulfilment in the thunders of Sinai at
that Last Day?
And what could be more human than this in any river--a seeming calm with
over it all a never-ending cry of unrest, of wonder, of unsatisfied
longing never to find repose until in that far resting-place of which
Augustine thought when he wrote:
Our hearts are restless until they rest in Thee.
Across the American Rapids lies the Goat Island group which divides the
waters into the two falls. Goat Island is about half a mile long and
half as wide at its broadest part, but slopes to a point at its eastern
extremity. Its area is about seventy acres. Besides this there are a
number of smaller islands and rocks varying in diameter from four
hundred feet to ten feet. Of these smaller islands five are connected
with Goat Island by bridges, as are also the Terrapin Rocks.
At the end of the first bridge is situated Green Island, named after the
first president of the Board of Commissioners of the New York
Reservation. The former name was Bath Island because of the "old
swimming hole"--the only place where one could dip in the fierce current
of Niagara without danger. Just a short distance above Green Island are
two small patches of land called Ship Island and Bird Island from
supposed resemblances to these objects in general contour, the tall
leafless trees in winter supposed to be suggestive of masts. These
islands were formerly both connected with Goat Island by bridges; one,
known as "Lover's Bridge," from its romantic name was so greatly
patronised that both bridges were destroyed by the owners on account of
danger.
On Green Island formerly stood the immense Porter paper-mill, which not
only contributed its own ugliness to the beautiful prospect but also ran
out into the current long gathering dams for the purpose of collecting
water. All this was removed when the State of New York assumed control.
Passing from the bridge and ascending the steps which lead to the top of
the bank, the shelter house is reached. All around and, in fact,
covering nearly all the island, is the primeval forest in its ancient
splendour--fit companion of the Falls, which defy the puny power of man.
[Illustration: Rustic Bridge, Willow Island.]
Occasional glimpses of the river may be had through the dense foliage as
one proceeds to Stedman Bluff, where one of the grandest panoramas to
be seen anywhere on earth bursts upon the view. Here one appreciates the
beauty of the American Fall better than at Prospect Point. Turning
towards the American shore stone steps lead down to the water's edge,
and thence a small bridge spans the stream separating Goat Island and
Luna Island, so called from the fact that it has been considered the
best place from which to view the lunar bow. The small stream dividing
these islands in its plunge over the precipice forms the "Cave of the
Winds." Half-way across Luna Island is to be seen a large rock on whose
face have been carved by an unknown hand the following lines:
All is change.
Eternal progress.
No Death!
The author of the sentiment is unknown, but no one has more truly voiced
the spirit of the great cataract. From the edge of the cliff on Luna
Island is to be obtained the finest view down the gorge. Along the front
of the American Fall are to be seen the immense masses of wave-washed
rocks which have fallen from the cliff above. From rock to rock stretch
frail wooden bridges, the more important of which lead to the cave.
Luna Island is the last point which one can reach from Goat Island
toward the American shore. Proceeding toward the Canadian Fall, one
reaches at a short distance the Biddle Stairs. Here a break in the
foliage reveals a grand view down the gorge with the Canadian Fall
directly in front. A stairway leads to a wooden building down which runs
a spiral stairway to the rocks below. This stairway received its name
from Nicholas Biddle, of old National Bank fame, who proposed this
means of reaching the rocks below and offered a contribution for its
construction. The offer was rejected, but his name was given to the
structure. A trip to the rocks below this point is well worth while,
difficult though it be; the descent of the spiral stairway is eighty
feet. Turning to the right one comes out upon a ledge of rock with the
roaring waters below and the line of the cliff above, along the top of
which objects appear at only half their real size. Passing around a
short curve there bursts upon one's view the fall which forms the Cave
of the Winds--a most beautiful sheet of water. The passage of the cave
can hardly be described by the pen. Here one is assailed on all sides by
fierce storms and clouds of angry spray. The cave seems at first dark
and repelling, for in this maddening whirl of wind and water one is at
first almost blinded; but as soon as the eye becomes accustomed to the
darkness, it can follow the graceful curve of the water to where it
leaves the cliff above. The dark, forbidding, terraced rocks are seen
dripping with water. The passage of the cave is too exciting to be
essayed by persons with weak hearts, but the return across the rocks in
front of it on a bright day is genuinely inspiring. Here the symbol of
promise is brought down within one's very reach; above, around, on all
sides are to be seen colours rivalling the conception of any
artist--whole circles of bows, quarter circles, half circles, here
within one's very grasp. The far fabled pot of gold is here a boiling,
seething mass of running, shimmering silver. If possible, more glorious
than all else, up above, along the sky-line, there appears the shining
crest of the American Fall, glimmering in the sunlight like the silvery
range of some snow-covered mountains.
[Illustration: The Cave of the Winds.]
In size the cave is about one hundred feet wide, a hundred feet deep,
and about one hundred and sixty feet high. At one point in the cave, on
a bright day, by standing in the very edge of the spray, one becomes the
centre of a complete circle of rainbows, an experience probably
unequalled elsewhere.
About half-way between the stairway and the cave is the point from
which, in 1829, Sam Patch made his famous leap, elsewhere described.
On the side of the Horseshoe Fall is to be found a fine position from
which to view the mighty force of the greater mass of waters. For some
distance along the front of the fall immense masses of rock have
accumulated. The trip over these rocks is fraught with danger and is
taken by very few. For those who care to take the risk, the sight is
well worth the effort. Just above at the crest are Terrapin Rocks, where
formerly stood Terrapin Tower. Professor Tyndall went far out beyond the
line of Terrapin Rocks to a point which has been reached by very few of
the millions of visitors to this shrine. Passing along the cliff toward
Canada, Porter's Bluff is soon reached, which furnishes one of the
grandest views of the Horseshoe Fall. Fifty years ago, from this point
one could see the whole line of the graceful curve of the Horseshoe;
since that time the rapid erosion in the middle of the river (where the
volume is greatest) has destroyed almost all trace of what the name
suggests. The sides meet now at a very acute angle, the old contour
having been entirely destroyed.
One of the most interesting experiments conducted under these great
masses of falling water was essayed by the well-known English traveller
Captain Basil Hall in 1827. It seems that Babbage and Herschel had said
that there was reason to expect a change of elastic pressure in the air
near a waterfall. Bethinking himself of the opportunity of testing this
theory at Niagara during his American tour, Captain Hall secured a
mountain barometer of most delicate workmanship for this specific
purpose. In a letter to Professor Silliman the experimenter described
his experience as follows, the question being of interest to every one
who has attempted to breathe when passing behind any portion of this
wall of falling water:
I think you told me that you did not enter this singular cave on
your late journey, which I regret very much, because I have no
hope of being able to describe it to you. In the whole course of
my life, I never encountered anything so formidable in
appearance; and yet, I am half ashamed to say so, I saw it
performed by many other people without emotion, and it is daily
accomplished by ladies, who think they have done nothing
remarkable.
You are perhaps aware that it is a standing topic of controversy
every summer by the company at the great hotels near the Falls,
whether the air within the sheet of water is condensed or
rarefied. I have therefore a popular motive as well as a
scientific one, in conducting this investigation, and the
result, I hope, will prove satisfactory to the numerous persons
who annually visit Niagara.
As a first step I placed the barometer at a distance of about
150 feet from the extreme western end of the Falls, on a flat
rock as nearly as possible on a level with the top of the
"talus" or bank of shingle lying at the base of the overhanging
cliff, from which the cataract descends. This station was about
30 perpendicular feet above the pool basin into which the water
falls.
The mercury here stood at 29.68 inches. I then moved the
instrument to another rock within 10 or 12 feet of the edge of
the fall, where it was placed, by means of a levelling
instrument, exactly at the same height as in the first instance.
It still stood at 29.68 and the only difference I could observe
was a slight continuous vibration of about two or three
hundredths of an inch at intervals of a few seconds.
So far, all was plain sailing; for, though I was soundly ducked
by this time, there was no particular difficulty in making these
observations. But within the sheet of water, there is a violent
wind, caused by the air carried down by the falling water, and
this makes the case very different. Every stream of falling
water, as you know, produces more or less a blast of this
nature; but I had no conception that so great an effect could
have been produced by this cause.
I am really at a loss how to measure it, but I have no
hesitation in saying that it exceeds the most furious squall or
gust of wind I have ever met with in any part of the world. The
direction of the blast is generally slanting upwards, from the
surface of the pool, and is chiefly directed against the face of
the cliff, which being of a friable, shaly character, is
gradually eaten away so that the top of the precipice now
overhangs the base 35 or 40 feet and in a short time I should
think the upper strata will prove too weak for the enormous load
of water, which they bear, when the whole cliff will tumble
down.
These vehement blasts are accompanied by floods of water, much
more compact than the heaviest thunder shower, and as the light
is not very great the situation of the experimenter with a
delicate barometer in his hand is one of some difficulty.
By the assistance of the guide, however, who proved a steady and
useful assistant, I managed to set the instrument up within a
couple of feet of the "termination rock" as it is called, which
is at the distance of 153 feet from the side of the waterfall
measured horizontally along the top of the bank of shingle. This
measurement, it is right to mention, was made a few days
afterward by Mr. Edward Deas-Thompson of London, the guide, and
myself with a graduated tape.
While the guide held the instrument firmly down, which required
nearly all his force, I contrived to adjust it, so that the
spirit level on the top indicated that the tube was in the
perpendicular position. It would have been utterly useless to
have attempted any observation without this contrivance. I then
secured all tight, unscrewed the bag, and allowed the mercury to
subside; but it was many minutes before I could obtain even a
tolerable reading, for the water flowed over my brows like a
thick veil, threatening to wash the whole affair, philosophers
and all, into the basin below. I managed, however, after some
minutes' delay to make a shelf or spout with my hand, which
served to carry the water clear of that part of the instrument
which I wished to look at and also to leave my eyes
comparatively free. I now satisfied myself by repeated trials
that the surface of the mercurial column did not rise higher
than 29.72. It was sometimes at 29.70 and may have vibrated two
or three hundredths of an inch. This station was about 10 or 12
feet lower than the external ones and therefore I should have
expected a slight rise in the mercury; but I do not pretend to
have read off the scale to any great nicety, though I feel quite
confident of having succeeded in ascertaining that there was no
sensible difference between the elasticity of the air at the
station on the outside of the Falls and that, 153 feet within
them.
I now put the instrument up and having walked back towards the
mouth of this wonderful cave about 30 feet, tried the experiment
again. The mercury stood now at 29.68, or at 29.70 as near as I
could observe it. On coming again into the open air I took the
barometer to one of the first stations, but was much
disappointed though I cannot say surprised to observe it full of
air and water and consequently for the time quite destroyed.
My only surprise, indeed, was that under such circumstances the
air and water were not sooner forced in. But I have no doubt
that the two experiments on the outside as well as the two
within the sheet of water were made by the instrument when it
was in a correct state: though I do not deny that it would have
been more satisfactory to have verified this by repeating the
observations at the first station.
On mentioning these results to the contending parties in the
controversy, both asked me the same question, "How then do you
account for the difficulty in breathing which all persons
experience who go behind the sheet of water?" To which I
replied: "That if any one were exposed to the spouts of half a
dozen fire engines playing full in his face at the distance of a
few yards, his respiration could not be quite free, and for my
part I conceived that this rough discipline would be equally
comfortable in other respects and not more embarrassing to the
lungs than the action of the blast and falling water behind this
amazing cataract."
[Illustration: The American Fall.
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal.]
It is almost impossible to conceive of the immense mass of water
tumbling over this precipice. It has been estimated in tons, cubic feet,
and horse-power, but the figures are so large as to stagger the human
mind. Out there at the apex of the angle, the water, over twenty feet
deep, is drawn from almost half a continent, forming a picture to make
one's nerves thrill with awe and delight, where the international
boundary line swings back and forth as the apex of the angle formed
sways from side to side.
Just off the shore of the island are seen Terrapin Rocks. Why this name
was applied is uncertain. These rocks are scattered in the flood to the
very brink of the fall and in the titanic struggle with the rush of
waters seem hardly able to maintain their position. Upon these rocks on
the very brink of the Falls in 1833 was erected, by Judge Porter,
Terrapin Tower, for many years one of the centres visited by every
person journeying to the Falls. From its summit could be seen the wild
rapids rushing on toward the precipice; below shimmering green of the
fall. Down, far down, in the depths beneath was the boiling, seething
caldron, from which arose beautiful columns of spray. From this
position, forty-five feet above the surface of the water, probably a
more comprehensive view of the many features of Niagara could be
obtained than from any other point. Forty years later it was blown up,
not because it was unsafe, as alleged, but that it might not prove a
rival attraction to Prospect Point. Recently suggestions have been made
looking toward the restoration of this ancient landmark, but no definite
action has been taken.
Over a half-century ago, almost opposite this tower on the Canadian
side, was to be seen the immense Table Rock hanging far out over the
current below. On the 25th of June, 1850, this large mass of rock fell.
Fortunately the fall occurred at noon with no loss of life; it was one
of the greatest falls of rock known to have taken place at the cataract,
for the dimensions of the rock were two hundred feet long, sixty feet
wide, and a hundred feet deep. Like the roar of muffled thunder the
crash was heard for miles around.
It was from the Terrapin Rocks to the Canadian side that Blondin wished
to stretch his rope, elsewhere described, and it was over the very
centre of Niagara's warring powers he desired to perform his daring
feat, looking down upon that shimmering guarded secret of the "Heart of
Niagara." The Porters, who owned Goat Island, however, refused to become
parties to what they considered an improper exposure of life and Blondin
stretched his cable farther down the river, near the site of the
crescent steel arch bridge.
[Illustration: Remains of Stone Piers of the "First Railway in
America"--the British Tramway up Lewiston Heights, 1763.]
Standing upon these rocks and looking out over that hurrying mass of
waters, it seems almost impossible to imagine any power being able to
stop them; but on the 29th of March, 1848, the impossible happened, the
Niagara ran dry. From the American shore across the rapids to Goat
Island one could walk dry-shod. From Goat Island and the Canadian shore
the waters were contracted to a small stream flowing over the centre of
what was then the Horseshoe; only a few tiny rivulets remained falling
over the precipice at other points. The cause of this unnatural
phenomenon was wind and ice. Lake Erie was full of floating ice. The day
previous the winds had blown this ice out into the lake. In the evening
the wind suddenly changed and blew a sharp gale from exactly the
opposite direction, driving the mass of ice into the river and gorging
it there, thus cutting off almost the whole water supply, and in the
morning people awoke to find that the Niagara had departed. The American
Fall was no more, the Horseshoe was hardly a ghost of its former self.
Gone were the rapids, the fighting, struggling waters. Niagara's
majestic roar was reduced to a moan. All day people walked on the rock
bed of the river, although fearful lest the dam formed at its head
should give way at any moment. By night, the warmth of the sun and the
waters of the lake had begun to make inroads on the barrier and by the
morning of the next day Niagara had returned in all its grandeur.
However cold Niagara's winter may be, the moan of falling water here can
always be heard, though at times the volume is very small. The winter
scenes here often take rank in point of wonder and beauty with the
cataract itself. When the river is frozen over below the Falls the
phenomenon is called an "Ice Bridge," the blowing spray sometimes
building a gigantic sparkling mound of wonderful beauty. The island
trees above the Falls, covered by the same spray, assume curiously
beautiful forms which, as they glitter in the sun, turn an already
wonder-land into a strange fairyland of incomparable whiteness and
glory.
A short distance up the river along the shore a position just opposite
the apex of the Falls is reached. Here, along the shore of the island,
the waters are comparatively shallow, but toward the Canadian shore
races the current which carries fully three fourths of Niagara's volume.
Out in the very midst of the current is a small speck of land, all that
is now left of what was once Gull Island, so named from its having been
a favourite resting place for these birds, which can hardly find a
footing now on its contracted shores. From what can be learned of the
past history of this island, it must have occupied about two acres three
quarters of a century ago. Its gradual disappearance shows to what
degree the mighty forces of Niagara are removing all obstacles placed in
their path. Goat Island is gradually suffering the same fate. At points
the shore line has encroached upon the island to a distance of twenty
feet in a half-century. At this point the carriage road used to run out
beyond the present edge of the bluff.
Passing on along the shore of the island, Niagara's scenery is present
everywhere. At quite a distance up stream the Three Sister Islands are
reached. These islands were named from the three daughters of General P.
Whitney, they being the first women to visit them, probably in winter
when the waters were low.
[Illustration: Amid the Goat island Group.
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal.]
To the first Sister Island leads a massive stone bridge. From this
bridge is to be obtained a fine view of the Hermit's Cascade beneath.
This little fall receives its name from having been the favourite
bathing place of the Hermit of Niagara, a strange half-witted young
Englishman by the name of Francis Abbott who lived in solitude here for
two years preceding his death by drowning in 1831, during his sojourn at
the Falls.
These three islands are replete with small bits of scenery and
overflowing with beauty. In them are to be found the smaller attractions
of Niagara; not so much of the stern majesty and awful grandeur, but
smaller and more comprehensible features come before the view following
each other in rapid succession. On the second Sister Island is one point
which should be visited by every one. Just before reaching the bridge to
third Sister Island, by turning to the right and proceeding along a
somewhat difficult path for a short distance one comes to a point at the
water's edge and finds lying right below him the boiling waters with
their white, feathery spray; here also is the small cataract between the
second and third islands fed by the most rapid although small stream of
Niagara. From this point is to be obtained one of the most varied of
scenic effects of any point at the Falls. The scenery from the third
Sister must be seen to be appreciated. From its upper end one looks
directly at the low cliff which forms the first descent of the Rapids.
Here the waters start from the peaceful stream above on their maddening
race for the Falls. Out along the line of the cliff the waters deepen
and increase in rapidity toward the Canadian shore. Just below this
ledge, probably three hundred feet from the head of the island, the
current is directed against some obstruction which causes it to spout up
into the air, causing what is called the Spouting Rock.
Many have been the changes wrought by the waters themselves since white
men knew the Falls; but a thousand years hence the visitor to Niagara
will behold the main fall not from Terrapin Rocks or Porter's Bluff, but
from this third Sister Island. The Rapids then shall have almost
entirely disappeared, but their beauty will be compensated for by the
additional grandeur of the fall itself. The gorge will have widened and
the fall itself shall have added fifty feet to its height, making it two
hundred feet high. Third Sister Island should be gone over thoroughly,
for it offers some of the finest views, especially of colouring, above
the Falls, and many of them.
Niagara owes its sublime array of colour to the purity of its water.
Nothing finer has been written on this subject than the words of the
artist Mrs. Van Rensselaer, whom we quote:
To this purity Niagara owes its exquisite variety of colour. To
find the blues we must look, of course, above Goat Island, where
the sky is reflected in smooth if quickly flowing currents. But
every other tint and tone that water can take is visible in or
near the Falls themselves. In the quieter parts of the gorge we
find a very dark, strong green, while in its rapids all shades
of green and grey and white are blended. The shallower rapids
above the Falls are less strongly coloured, a beautiful light
green predominating between the pale-grey swirls and the snowy
crests of foam--semi-opaque, like the stone called aquamarine,
because infused with countless air-bubbles, yet deliciously
fresh and bright. The tense, smooth slant of water at the margin
of the American fall is not deep enough to be green. In the
sunshine it is a clear amber, and when shadowed, a brown that is
darker, yet just as pure. But wherever the Canadian fall is
visible its green crest is conspicuous. Far down-stream, nearly
two miles away, where the railroad-bridge crosses the gorge, it
shows like a little emerald strung on a narrow band of pearl.
Its colour is not quite like that of an emerald, although the
term must be used because no other is more accurate. It is a
purer colour, and cooler, with less of yellow in it--more pure,
more cool, and at the same time more brilliant than any colour
that sea-water takes even in a breaking wave, or that man has
produced in any substance whatsoever. At this place, we are
told, the current must be twenty feet deep; and its colour is so
intense and so clear because, while the light is reflected from
its curving surface, it also filters through so great a mass of
absolutely limpid water. It always quivers, this bright-green
stretch, yet somehow it always seems as solid as stone, smoothly
polished for the most part, but, when a low sun strikes across
it, a little roughened, fretted. That this is water and that the
thinnest smoke above it is water also, who can believe? In other
places at Niagara we ask the same question again.
From a distance the American fall looks quite straight. When we
stand beside it we see that its line curves inward and outward,
throwing the falling sheet into bastion-like sweeps. As we gaze
down upon these, every change in the angle of vision and in the
strength and direction of the light gives a new effect. The one
thing that we never seem to see, below the smooth brink, is
water. Very often the whole swift precipice shows as a myriad
million inch-thick cubes of clearest glass or ice or solidified
light, falling in an envelope of starry spangles. Again, it
seems all diamond-like or pearl-like, or like a flood of flaked
silver, shivered crystal, or faceted ingots of palest amber. It
is never to be exhausted in its variations. It is never to be
described. Only, one can always say, it is protean, it is most
lovely, and it is not water.
Then, as we look across the precipice, it may be milky in
places, or transparent, or translucent. But where its mass falls
quickly it is all soft and white--softer then anything else in
the world. It does not resemble a flood of fleece or of down,
although it suggests such a flood. It is more like a crumbling
avalanche, immense and gently blown, of smallest snowflakes;
but, again, it is not quite like this. Now we see that, even
apart from its main curves, no portion of the swiftly moving
wall is flat. It is all delicately fissured and furrowed, by the
broken edges of the rock over which it falls, into the
suggestion of fluted buttresses, half-columns, pilasters. And
the whiteness of these is not quite white. Nor is it
consistently iridescent or opalescent. Very faintly, elusively,
it is tinged with tremulous stripes and strands of pearly grey,
of vaguest straw, shell-pink, lavender, and green--inconceivably
ethereal blues, shy ghosts of earthly colours, abashed and
deflowered, we feel, by definite naming with earthly names. They
seem hardly to tinge the whiteness; rather, to float over it as
a misty bloom. We are loath to turn our eyes from them, fearing
they may never show again. Yet they are as real as the keen
emerald of the Horseshoe.[10]
One should walk through the New York State Reservation, which extends
for some distance above the commencement of the Rapids, to get a more
complete view of the scenery above the Falls, the wooded shores of Goat
Island, the swiftly moving waters, the broad river, the beginning of the
Canadian Rapids, and the Canadian shore in the distance. On up the river
at a distance are to be seen those forest-clad shores of Navy Island and
Grand Island.
On the Canadian side of the river, after crossing the steel arch bridge
just below the Falls, beautiful Victoria Park is first reached. From
this position a new and entirely different view of the American Fall is
obtained from almost directly in front. Turning and going up the river a
fine view of the Horseshoe is obtained from a distance. Just opposite
the American Fall is Inspiration Point, from which the best view of the
Falls is to be obtained. From here one can watch the little _Maid of the
Mist_ as she makes her trips through the boiling waters below.
[Illustration: Horseshoe Falls from the Canadian Shore.
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal.]
On up the river one wanders, past Goat Island, whose cliff is seen from
directly in front. Just before reaching the edge of the Horseshoe the
position of old Table Rock is seen. Little is left of this old and once
famous point for observing Niagara's wonders. Several different falls of
immense masses of rock, one of which has been mentioned, have reduced it
to its present state. Here the Indian worshipped the Great Spirit of the
Falls, gazing across at his supposed home on Goat Island; and here comes
the white man to look upon the wonders of that mighty cataract with a
feeling almost akin to that of his red brother. Here one could stand
with the maddening waters rushing beneath, the Falls near at hand, its
incessant roar assailing the ears while the spray was wafted all round.
Little wonder that the red man worshipped, or that the white man looks
on with feelings of awe, admiration, and wonder.
Passing on up the river and around the pumping station for the
neighbouring village, one reaches the point at the water's edge from
which the "Heart of Niagara" can best be seen, where millions of tons of
water are continually pouring over the cliff and causing some of the
most beautiful effects produced by the spray called the "Darting Lines
of Spray" to be seen anywhere at the Falls. From this point one sees up
the river over a mile of the Rapids with their madly hurrying waters
rushing on as if to engulf everything below.
Along the water's edge, the journey should be pursued. A short distance
farther up stream, a crib work has been built as a protection to the
bank. Here is to be gained one of the finest views of the Canadian
Rapids, one feature of which can not be seen to so great advantage from
any other point. The "Shoreless Sea," as this view has been called, is a
grand and inspiring sight. Gazing up the stream the Rapids are seen
tumbling on toward one, with no land in sight. The clouds form the
sky-line and it is as if the very chambers of heaven had been opened for
a second deluge. It is, indeed, a "Shoreless Sea," tumbling on, a grand
and awful sight.
Pursuing one's way on up the river, Dufferin Islands are reached. These
are formed by a bend in the current. Here is a sylvan retreat, full of
lovers' walks and beauties of nature. Here is the burning
spring--escaping natural gas from a rift in the rock. Not far from this
point, on up the river, was fought the battle of Chippewa. About a mile
above these islands, at the mouth of Chippewa Creek, stood Fort
Chippewa, built by the British in 1790 to protect this, their most
important portage.
[Illustration: Looking up the Lower Niagara from Paradise Grove.
From a photograph by Wm. Quinn, Niagara-on-the-Lake.]
To reach the points of interest, just mentioned, on the Canadian side,
as well as those down the river, it is best to make the trip from one
scenic position to another by electric car. Returning to the Horseshoe
one will doubtless have called to his mind that about a mile back to the
left occurred the famed battle of Lundy's Lane on July 5, 1814. At the
edge of the cliff on the right was the position of the "Old Indian
Ladder," by means of which the Indians used to descend to the lower
level for the purpose of fishing. This ladder was only a long cedar
tree, which had been deprived of its limbs and had been placed almost
perpendicularly against the cliff. On down the way a short distance, the
road which leads down the face of the cliff, to the _Maid of the Mist's_
landing, is reached. Just beyond this point, at the top of the inclined
railway, is to be obtained the best view of the steel arch bridge. Just
below the bridge, opposite, on the American shore, a maddened torrent
comes pouring from the base of the cliff as if anxious to add its fury
to that of the waters round. It is the outlet of the tunnel which
disposes of the tail water from the electric power-house over a mile
above, mentioned in our chapter on power development at Niagara. The
manufacturing plants of the Hydraulic Company, the first to use
Niagara's waters to any great extent for power, are situated just
opposite.
A short distance on down the stream, and after descending a slight
incline, the point where Blondin stretched his rope across the gorge in
1859 is reached.
Next on the journey the cantilever bridge is reached. This bridge was
constructed in 1882. Just below this is the steel arch bridge, both
being railroad bridges. The second one was first constructed as a
suspension bridge by John A. Roebling, being the first railroad bridge
of its kind in the country. It has been several times replaced, the
present structure having been erected in 1897. Just below the railroad
bridges several persons have made the trip across the gorge on ropes.
Soon the Whirlpool is reached, and the madly rushing waters are seen as
at no other place on the surface of the earth. Rounding the rapids, the
car runs over a trestle work in crossing the old pre-glacial channel of
the river referred to in our geologic chapter. Here one can look down on
the waters almost directly beneath him, with the forests covering the
sloping incline of the ancient bed of the river stretching up to the
level above. Just as the car finishes the rounded curve of the
Whirlpool, at the point of the cliff at the outlet, one catches the best
view of both inlet and outlet at the same time, flowing directly at
right angles to each other. The car continues on its course, now near,
now farther back from the edge of the gorge. One catches occasional
glimpses of the bridge far below, over which the electric line passes
back to the American shore. For over three miles the car continues its
course along the cliff before the next point of special interest
presents itself in Brock's monument.
From this monument one of the finest panoramic views of the surrounding
regions can be obtained. The monument stands on Queenston Heights, with
the remains of old Fort Drummond just back of it.
All about is historic ground. On the surrounding plain and slopes was
fought the battle of Queenston Heights. Every inch of ground has some
story to tell of that struggle. The car soon begins to descend the
incline which, ages ago, formed the shores of Lake Ontario. Below, at
the end of the gorge, the river seems to forget its tumultuous rush, and
spreading out pursues a placid and well-behaved course to the lower
lake.
[Illustration: The Mouth of the Gorge.
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal.]
About half-way down the descent, the point where General Brock fell is
reached, which point is marked by a massive stone monument set in place
in 1861 by King Edward VII., then Prince of Wales. Just below to the
right is seen an old, ruined stone house which was General Brock's
shelter after being wounded, and in which was printed, in 1792, the
first newspaper of Upper Canada. The bridge is soon reached, in the
crossing of which, a fine view of the last mad rush of the waters is
gained as they issue from the gorge into the placid stream leading to
the lake below. On they come with the waves piled high in the centre,
tearing along in a mad fury, until they seem to be pacified by a power
stronger even than their own; and they glide smoothly along to the end
of their course in the lower lake.
On the American heights stood old Fort Gray, connected with the history
of the War of 1812. On the American shore was the head of navigation,
and up the cliff all the freight sent over the old portage was hoisted
by hand and later by machinery. High up on the American cliffs, half-way
between the Whirlpool and Lewiston, is the famous "Devil's Hole," an
interesting cave known among the Indians, we are told, as the "Cave of
the Evil Spirit." Here, it has been stated, geologists find some of the
clearest evidences of the former existence of the presence of the Falls
in that far day when the migration had extended thus far up the river
from the escarpment at Lewiston.
Much has been said about the rapids of the river below the Falls--the
lesser Rapids of Niagara. What of this seething, spouting, tumbling mass
that races along below these towering cliffs, maddening, ungovernable,
almost horrifying to gaze upon? It is very singular how little is said
about this torrent. They illustrate very significantly the fact that
mere power has little of charm for the mind of man; it interests, but
often it does not please or delight. In our chapter on the foolhardy
persons to whom these bounding billows have been a challenge, and who
have attempted to navigate or pass through them, are descriptions of
their savage fury and wonderful eccentricities. The most interesting
fact respecting these great rapids is the unbelievable depth of the
channel through which they race, since it sometimes approximates,
according to the best sources of information, the height of the
towering cliffs that compose the canyon. By government survey we know
that the depth of the river between the Falls and the cantilever bridge
is two hundred feet. The Whirlpool is estimated as four hundred feet
deep, and the rapids above the Whirlpool as forty feet deep; the rapids
below the Whirlpool are thought to be about sixty.
The romantic situation of the two ancient towns, Lewiston and Queenston,
at the foot of the two escarpments, on opposite sides of the river, is
only equalled by the absorbing story of their part in history when they
were thriving, bustling frontier outposts. The beauty of the locations
of these interesting towns contains in itself sufficient promise of
growth and prosperity equal to, or exceeding, that of beautiful
Youngstown, near Fort Niagara, or Niagara-on-the-Lake on the Canadian
shore. This lower stretch of river teems with historic interest of the
French era and especially of the days when the second war with Great
Britain was progressing; in our chapters relating to those days will be
found references to these points of present-day interest in their
relation to the great questions that were being settled by sword and
musket, by friend and foe, who met beside the historic river that
empties into Lake Ontario between old Fort George and old Fort Niagara.
[Illustration: The Whirlpool Rapids.]
For ease of access, romantic situation, historic interest, and many of
the advantages usually desired during a hot vacation recess, these towns
along the lower Niagara offer a varied number of important advantages;
if by some magic touch a dam could be raised between Fort Mississauga
and the American shore, rendering that marvellously beautiful stretch
of river--unmatched in some ways by any American stream--slack water,
one of the most lovely boating lakes on the Continent could be created,
whereon international regattas in both winter and summer could be held
of unusual interest. Is it supposable that this could be effected
without great detriment to either the yachting fraternity, whose sails,
from the verandah of the Queen's Royal, are always a delight, or the
steamboat interests, which could land as well at Fort Niagara, perhaps,
as at Lewiston, or at Niagara-on-the-Lake, which could be connected with
the Gorge Route. The river's current is all now that keeps the lower
Niagara from being as popular a resort of its kind as can be suggested.
All the elements of popularity are in fair measure present here, and
immensely enjoyed yearly by increasing multitudes.
A little beyond the mouth of the Niagara, just over those blue waves,
rise the spires of the queen city of Canada, Toronto. To all practical
purposes this beautiful city stands at one end of Niagara River, as
Buffalo stands at the other. Historically and commercially this is
altogether true, and we elsewhere weave its history into our record.
[Footnote 7: _Scribner's Monthly_, vol. xxi., pp. 583-6.]
[Footnote 8: _The Niagara Book_, p. 15.]
[Footnote 9: _The Century Magazine_, vol. xxxvi., p. 197.]
[Footnote 10: _The Century Magazine_, xxxvi., 198-201.]
Chapter III
The Birth of Niagara
Geologic time presents to the scientist one of the most difficult
problems with which he has to deal. When the different divisions into
which he would divide the ages are numbered by thousands and even
millions of years, the human mind is appalled at the prospect; and when
the calculations of different geologists vary by hundreds of thousands
of years, the lay mind can not help growing somewhat credulous, and at
times be tempted to discard the whole mass of scientific data relating
to the subject.
Niagara River forms one of the best, if not the best, means of studying
the lapse of time since the Ice Age. Finding, as students do here, the
best material in existence for this study, leads to exhaustive
scientific analysis of every clue presented by the Cataract and the deep
Gorge it has cut for itself through the solid lime rock and Niagara
shale forming its bed.
We are prone to look upon the great wonders of the world as destined to
last as long as the earth itself. We do not realise that the mountains,
miles in height, are slowly crumbling before our eyes, or realise that
the rivers are carrying them slowly toward the sea, filling the lakes
and lower portions of land along their courses. These slow but ceaseless
forces are continually at work, reducing the surface of the earth to
that of a level plain and at the same time depriving the land of its
lakes by filling their depressions with silt. The winds and the waters,
together with the wearing power effected by frost, are the forces
struggling at this great levelling task. The work is partly done; in
many of the older regions the lakes and elevations have almost entirely
disappeared. Other parts of the land are comparatively new; and it is
here that one sees the rough mountain or the deep canyon of the river;
sufficient time not having elapsed to wear away the elevation in the one
case nor the steep banks in the other.
One needs but to look at a relief map of the Niagara district to note
the Falls and the outline of the Gorge to see at once that this is a
comparatively new region or, at least, that the formative forces which
gave it its present characteristics were at the highest stage of their
career when the lands to the south had almost reached their present
stage. These facts can be observed by any person visiting the Niagara
district; it does not require a geologist to trace roughly their course.
Questions naturally arise in calculating the age of Niagara. If, as all
the facts seem to indicate, this river has had a very recent beginning,
what then did it do before it occupied its present course? What will be
its final destiny? What will happen when it has worn its Gorge back to
Lake Erie? Or will the general level of the land be so changed that the
Falls will never recede to the lake? The last and most important of all
is: How long has it taken the Falls to grind out the Gorge thus far?
This latter question, viewed in its relation to the first one, forms
the basis of the present chapter. The great work of the Cataract is
going on before our very eyes. The history of this great river is
working itself out at the height of its glory, in an age when all can
behold. It is the more interesting since it is the only example of the
kind known. One can easily look back to the time when the water flowed
along the top of the plateau to Lewiston and the Falls were situated at
that point. This date, of course, witnessed the birth of Niagara, for,
wherever the waters flowed before, they could not have taken this course
before the Falls began their work. The day that witnessed the beginning
of the one witnessed also the birth of the other. Likewise one can not
help looking forward to the day when Niagara shall have accomplished its
work, when its waters shall have completely ground the plateau in two,
and so drained Lake Erie to its bottom.
[Illustration: The American Fall, July, 1765.
From an unsigned original drawing in the British Museum.]
What did the waters of the lakes do before the Niagara began its
history? How long has it been at its present work? These are the
questions interesting to every one; and by far more interesting to one
who is making a study of the formative forces now contributing, and
which have contributed to bring about the present characteristics of
surface structure. A few important facts exist, and these now are beyond
doubt, upon which rest the inferences concerning the age of the Falls.
In ancient times the waters of Lake Erie did not find an outlet through
Niagara River, so there was no channel ready made for the river when it
began its present course. Even after the beginning of the river the
upper lakes, Huron, Michigan, and Superior, did not discharge their
waters through Niagara. Until comparatively recent times only the
waters from Lake Erie discharged through this channel and therefore for
many ages only a small fraction of the present volume could possibly
have been at work on the Falls.
The striking features of the Gorge are modern, and have been very little
affected by those agencies which are continually moulding the contours
of land surfaces. The inclination of the river's bed has varied greatly
with the ages, due to gradual uplifting or depressing of the earth's
crust; consequently the current has varied greatly in velocity with
these changes. A calculation of the work done by the river during each
epoch of its history is indeed fraught with many difficulties. Much
investigation, however, has been made along this line and with a rather
satisfactory degree of success.
Niagara appears to have had a life peculiar to itself; but what is
unique in its history, is the presentation of characteristics which in
the case of other rivers have long since passed away. Rivers, and
especially very large ones, appeal to us as "unchangeable as the hills
themselves"; but the truth is, that the very hills and mountains are
changing as a result of the forces exerted by water. Niagara, as viewed
by the geologist, is unique, not on account of its having a different
history than any other river, but for the reason that it had a more
recent beginning. The calculation of the life of such a stream is
interesting in itself, besides the other great questions settled by the
solution of such a problem as the probable number of years that the
river shall exist in its present form, the centuries which have elapsed
since the ice retreated from this region, and the ascertaining of
certain facts concerning the antiquity of man. In order to make a
thorough study of these topics, one must take a view of the relief
features of the Niagara region, and make a careful review of what
conditions existed at the time that this district was covered by the
great ice sheet, together with the changes effected during the retreat
of the Great Glacier to the north.
Niagara River has its origin in the eastern end of Lake Erie, about
three hundred feet higher than the surface of Lake Ontario. Passing from
Erie to the last-mentioned lake the descent is not gradual, but one
finds a gently rolling plain with almost no slope for nineteen miles
until almost at the very shore of Lake Ontario, where almost
unexpectedly one comes upon a high precipice from which a magnificent
view of the lower lake may be gained, only a narrow strip of beach
intervening. This cliff is called by geologists the Niagara escarpment.
When the river leaves Lake Erie its waters are interfered with by a low
ledge of rock running across its channel. After passing this its waters
meet no more troublesome obstructions until coming to the head of Goat
Island. The river can scarcely be said to have a valley. One is reminded
more of an arm of the lake extending out over this region. The country
from Lake Erie to near the head of the Rapids above the Falls rests on a
stratum of soft rock; from the Falls northward the underlying stratum is
formed by a ledge of hard limestone, and beneath this a shale and two
thin strata of sandstone. By the descent of the Rapids and the Falls,
the waters are dropped two hundred feet, and thence through the Gorge
they rush along at an appalling rate over the descent, through the
Whirlpool and on to Queenston for a distance of seven miles. From this
city to the lake there is little fall and so only a moderate current.
The deep, narrow gorge extending from the Falls to Lewiston is the
especial subject of study to the geologist. This canyon is scarcely a
quarter of a mile wide, varying little in the distance from cliff to
cliff throughout most of its course. This chasm opens up before the
student with almost appalling suddenness, while travelling over an
otherwise regular plain. Its walls are so precipitous that few
opportunities are offered for scaling them; and their height from the
bottom of the river varies from two hundred to five hundred feet. An
examination of both sides of the Gorge shows the same order in the
layers of rock and shale on comparatively the same level, with the same
thickness of each corresponding stratum. If a superstitious person had
come unexpectedly upon this gigantic fissure ages ago, he might easily
have imagined it to have been the work of some mighty mythological hero;
but the modern scientist has reached a much better, as well as a much
more satisfactory conclusion, namely, that this immense cleft has been
sawed by the force of the water, from a structure whose features were
continuous, as is manifest by the similarity of the exposed strata on
the two sides of the stream. To be convinced of the fact that the Falls
are gradually receding, it is only necessary to observe them closely for
a few years. The breaking away of an immense mass of rock previously
described is one of the recent events in the history of the river. This
establishes the fact that the Gorge is growing longer from its northern
end through the agency of the waterfall.
These facts show us the river working at a monstrous task. Its work is
only partly done. Two questions come to us almost immediately: When this
work is done what will it do? and, What did it do before its present
work begun? The waters of Lake Erie could never have flowed to Lake
Ontario without wearing away at the Gorge we now see. The birth of the
river and the cutting of the canyon were simultaneous. Of this much we
are assured.
A superficial study of a map of North America will show at once a great
difference in the northern and the southern sections. From the region of
the Great Lakes northward the district is one continuation of lakes,
ponds, swamps, and rivers with many rapids. South of the Ohio there are
few lakes, and the rivers flow on with almost unbroken courses. Here is
a region much older than that to the north; and its waters have had ages
more in which to mould down elevations and fill up depressions. The
cause of this difference in the characteristics of the streams of the
North and those of the South is to be explained by the great Ice Age. As
far as we now know there may have been little difference in relief forms
between the two sections before the encroachment of the ice. During the
glacial epoch the whole northern part of the continent was covered with
a thick ice sheet, which was continually renewed at the north, and as
continually drifted slowly in a general southerly direction. As this
heavy ice cap passed over the surface, it acted somewhat like a river in
its erosive power, only working much greater changes. It not only picked
up loose particles, but also scoured and wore away solid rocks along its
bed. Thus the whole configuration of the country was changed.
At the southern terminal of the glacier, where it ended in the ocean,
the ice broke away in large bergs, as in the northern seas to-day; but
where the advancing ice met the warmer climate on land, it was melted
and thus deposited at its terminal all the material it carried. The
eroding power of this ice sheet, together with the deposit of its
materials on melting, brought about a great change in the configuration
of the country. Many old valleys were obliterated, while a number of new
ones were carved. As the ice retreated northward with the change of
climate, new lakes and rivers were formed. Many times the streams
escaping from the lower level of lakes were forced to find an entirely
new course, and so to carve a new channel of their own. The region of
the Great Lakes and the Niagara River is no exception to this rule; and
it is with the ending of the Ice Age that the history of the river
begins.
A glance at a map shows a low range of hills or rather a gentle swell in
the land surface forming the watershed between the lakes and the streams
flowing to the south. At the time of the farthest southerly extension of
the glacier it reached beyond this elevation; and its waters were
discharged into the rivers flowing to the south. When the southern
terminal had retreated to the north of this divide, but still blocked
all outlet to the north or east, there was doubtless a number of lakes
here discharging their waters across the present low watershed to the
south. Some of these ancient valleys can still be traced for long
distances of their course. These lakes passed through their varying
history as those of to-day, their surface troubled by wind and storm and
their waves leaving indelible carvings upon their shores.
One of these lakes occupied what is now the western end of Lake Erie,
shortly after the ice front had passed to the north of the watershed
mentioned. There are still very definite markings which show that its
waters were discharged across the divide by a channel into the present
Wabash River and thence into the Ohio. This channel can be traced
throughout most of its course very easily. There are at least four
distinct shore lines preserved to us, which show four successive levels
of the lake as it reached lower outlets before the Niagara River was
born. All of these old shore lines can be traced throughout most of
their courses.
As the ice continued to retreat, next we notice the greatest change in
elevation of the surface of the water. The ice front finally passed to
the north of the present Mohawk River, thus allowing the waters to
escape by that outlet, and, as a consequence, lowering the surface of
the lakes by over five hundred feet. This drained a great extent of land
and dropped the surface of Ontario far below the present level of the
Niagara escarpment. Then for the first time the Niagara began to flow,
and its Falls began their work. Immediately upon the formation of this
new, lower lake it began the work of leaving its history carved upon the
rocks, sands, and gravels which formed its shores. Its first ancient
beach is more easily traced for almost its entire course than any of the
other old levels. It does not even take the trained eye of the scientist
to see its unmistakable history written in the sands. The earliest
western travellers describe the Ridge Road running along this old,
deserted beach as showing unmistakable signs of having been an ancient
shore line of the lake.
[Illustration: The Horseshoe Fall, July, 1765.
From an unsigned original drawing in the British Museum.]
In following the course of this old shore line a gradual slope is
noticed, and if this was a shore line, we must account for this
variation in elevation, since the surface of the water is always level.
The explanation is to be found in the fact that portions of the earth's
surface are gradually rising while others are as gradually sinking. On
comparing the old coast line with the level of the present one, we find
that the lake has gradually inclined to the south and the west. This
change in elevation had its share in determining the configuration of
the lake as well as the relief features of the surrounding region. The
point of discharge was at Rome, New York, as long as the barrier blocked
the regions north of the Adirondack Mountains. As soon as the
encroaching warmth of the south had removed this barrier to the level of
the Rome outlet, the water began flowing by the St. Lawrence course.
True the first outlet was not the same as the present one; but it must
have been many times shifted in the course of the retreat of the ice. As
a result of this alternate shifting, together with the changing of the
level of the lake, there are to be found the markings of numerous shore
lines, some of which pass under the present level of the waters.
These different variations must of necessity have had a great effect on
the work of Niagara River. When the Niagara began to flow, instead of
its terminal being nearly seven miles from the escarpment, it was only
between one and two miles away, and the surface of the lake was about
seventy-five feet higher than now. While the outlet remained at Rome,
the eastern end of the lake was continually rising, which caused the
waters at the western end to rise over one hundred feet. This placed
the shore of Ontario almost at the foot of the beautiful cliff at
Queenston and Lewiston. After having occupied this position for a long
period, the surface of the waters again fell over two hundred feet,
carving an old shore line which is now submerged. After this, various
changes of level in the land and shiftings of the ice barrier caused
numerous old shore lines to be faintly carved. These changes continued
until the present outlet was established and the waters began to flow
along the present course of the St. Lawrence.
One might think that with these changes all the variable factors of our
problem have been discussed; but these same factors also had their
effect upon the upper lakes. In a study of the old markings of all the
lakes of this region, it seems that the northern shores were continually
rising; this, of course, points to an occupation of a more northerly
position by the lakes than at present, and also a laying bare of
northern parts, and shifting of waters south, or possibly both of these
changes at once.
In the most ancient system of which we can obtain an approximately
definite knowledge, Lake Huron was not more than half its present size,
while Georgian Bay formed the main body, connecting with Huron by a
narrow strait. Michigan and Superior occupied about their present
limits, but were connected with Huron by rivers rather than short
straits; Erie occupied only a fraction of its present position, having
no connection with Huron. The waters of the upper lakes were doubtless
discharged from the eastern end of Georgian Bay, which then included
Lake Nipissing, by way of the Ottawa River, into the St. Lawrence. Thus
the Niagara was deprived of about seven-eighths of its present drainage
area, and consequently was totally unlike its present self. There is
some indication that there may have been an outlet from Georgian Bay by
a more southerly route, namely, the Trent River. If this were so, the
northern route must have been blocked by the ice, since the Trent Pass
is much higher than the one leading from Lake Nipissing, by way of the
Ottawa. These are some of the possibilities which must be taken into
consideration before any sure calculation can be made as to the age of
the Falls, for there must have been an epoch in the history of the
river, were it short or long, during which it carried only a very small
fraction of the waters which it bears at present.
Let us turn again to the gorge of the river itself. We have noted the
similarity of structure of its two sides. This similarity is continuous
throughout except at about half-way from Queenston to the Falls, where
the river makes a turn in its course of almost ninety degrees. On the
outside of this angle is the only place in the whole course where the
material of the cliff changes. Here there is a break in the solid rock
of the bank, which is filled with loose rock and gravel. This rift, to
whatever it may be due, is of pre-glacial origin, for it is filled with
the same material, the glacial drift, which covers the whole region. The
cliff along Lake Ontario also presents very few breaks; but a few miles
to the west of Queenston at St. Davids a broad gap is found in the
otherwise unbroken wall. This gap is also filled with glacial drift. On
its first discovery it was supposed to be a buried valley, and no
connection with the Whirlpool was attributed to it. Later it was
supposed that the break in the side of the Gorge, and the one at St.
Davids, were parts of one and the same course of some pre-glacial
stream. This supposition has been proven by the course having been
traced through most of its distance by the wells sunk in the region.
Later this interpretation of the facts found was destined to furnish
further explanations. The question at once arose: How far and where did
the upper course of this ancient valley extend? If it had cut across the
course of the modern river, there would have been a break in the
continuity of the cliff somewhere on the opposite side of the Gorge; but
this can nowhere be found to be the case. The upper course of this
ancient channel, therefore, must have coincided with that of the present
channel. When, then, the Falls had receded to the side of the present
Whirlpool, it reached a point where the greater part of its work had
been performed. From here to whatever distance the upper course of the
ancient river extended, the only work to do was to remove the loose
gravel and boulders with which the glacier had filled its channel. This,
of course, was effected much more rapidly than the wearing away of the
hard limestone bed. Just what was the depth, and how far this old
deserted valley extended, it is almost impossible to estimate. These
changes are some of the most potent with which one must reckon in any
calculation of the time since the beginning of Niagara's history.
However, some work has been done in this line; and a broad field is
still open for future investigation.
[Illustration: Ice Mountain on Prospect Point.]
At a very early date (1790), and when it was supposed by many to be
almost sacrilegious to discuss the antiquity of the earth, Andrew
Ellicott made an estimate of the age of the Falls by dividing the
length of the Gorge by the supposed rate of recession. This gave as a
result 55,000 years as the age of Niagara River. The next estimates
which commanded attention were those of Bakewell and Sir Charles Lyell.
Each of these men made separate estimates, but were compelled to take as
the basis of their calculation the recession as given by residents of
the district. Bakewell's calculations preceded Lyell's by several years,
and resulted in ascribing to the Falls an age of 12,000 years. Lyell
found the age to be about 36,000 years. The popularity of the latter
caused his estimate to be accepted for a long period; many persons
undoubtedly placing more faith in his results than he himself did. This
method of dividing the distance by the rate of recession would be
correct if there were no variables entering into the problem, and if the
rate of recession were known; but these first calculations involved
errors in the rate of movement of the Falls besides making no allowance
for the variations which have been mentioned above.
In order to obtain a sure means for measuring the recession of the
Falls, Professor James Hall made a survey of the Horseshoe Falls in
1842, under the authority of the New York Geological Survey. This survey
plotted the position of the crest of the Falls, and established
monuments at the points at which the angles were taken; thus leaving
lasting marks of reference to which any future survey might be referred.
In 1886, Professor Woodward of the United States Geological Survey, by
reference to the markings left by Hall, found the rate of recession for
the period to be about five feet per annum. It would, however, be
necessary to extend these observations over a long period of time,
since certain periods are marked by large falls of rock. Sometimes the
centre of the Falls recedes very rapidly, while at other times the
centre is almost stationary and the sides show the greater action. One
of the most recent calculations of the age of the Falls was made by J.
W. Spencer. Having made a thorough study of the history of the river
revealed in its markings, and also of the Lakes, making allowance for
all the variable factors, he calculated the duration of each epoch
separately; and found the age of the river to be about 32,000 years.
This result is about the same as that obtained from those based upon the
relative elevations of different parts of the old deserted shore lines;
and another based upon the rate of the rising of the land in the Niagara
district.
[Illustration: Cave of the Winds in Winter.]
The many variable factors entering into the calculations so far
discussed, have led to an earnest search for some means of determining
the age of the river, which does not involve so many indeterminate and
unknown quantities. This means of calculation, and one which seems to be
much more free from unknown factors, seems to have been hit upon by
Professor George Frederick Wright, whose calculations are based upon the
rate of enlargement of the mouth of the river at the Niagara escarpment,
where the Falls first began their existence. The cliffs at the mouth of
the Gorge, as is the case with the newer portions of the river and
indeed is characteristic of all canyons when first formed, were
undoubtedly almost perpendicular when they were first cut by the rushing
waters of the Niagara River. The mouth of the Gorge at Lewiston is of
course the oldest part of the river; and if it were possible to measure
the age of this part, this would surely give the date of the birth of
Niagara. Immediately upon the formation of the Falls at Lewiston, the
waters began the cutting of the Gorge; and immediately upon the
formation of a gorge there was set to work upon its walls the
disintegrating agencies of the atmosphere, free from indeterminate
variables, tending to pull down the cliffs upon each side of the stream
which jealously walled it in.
This work has gone on year after year and century after century, without
being affected by either the volume of the river's waters or the
shifting in the elevation of the land. The work of the atmospheric
agencies in enlarging the mouth of the Gorge has had the effect of
changing its shape from that of a rectangle, whose perpendicular sides
were 340 feet, to a figure with a level base formed by the river, whose
sides slope off at the same angle on each side. Now if it were possible
to measure the rate at which this enlargement is taking place, the
problem of determining the age of the river would be a more simple one.
The relative thickness of the different layers of material forming the
walls of the Gorge is not the same throughout; at the escarpment at
Lewiston, the summit is found to consist of a stratum of Niagara
limestone, about twenty-five feet thick. Beneath this layer of lime is
to be found about seventy feet of Niagara shale. The Niagara shale rests
upon a twenty foot layer of hard Clinton limestone, which in turn is
supported by a shale seventy feet thick. Forming the base is twenty feet
of hard Medina sandstone, beneath which is another sandstone which is
much softer and much more susceptible to erosion and the disintegrating
forces of the atmosphere. These thick layers of shale form the part
upon which the atmospheric powers exert their energies, undermining the
strata composed of material which with much more effect resists the
attempt of any agency to break it down. As the shale is removed from
beneath the harder layers immense masses of the latter fall and form a
talus along the lower part of the cliff. This in brief is the manner in
which the mouth of the Gorge is growing wider.
The present width of the mouth of the Gorge at the water's level is 770
feet. It is not likely that the river was ever any wider than now at
this point, since its narrowest portion is over 600 feet, and this where
the hard layer of Niagara limestone is much thicker than at the mouth.
The current here is comparatively weak, so that there has been little
erosion due to it. On the contrary the falling masses of sandstone and
limestone have probably encroached somewhat upon the ancient margin of
the stream, its weak current being unable to sweep out these
obstructions which have formed an effectual protection to the bank.
The observations necessary to Dr. Wright's calculations were taken along
the line of a railroad, which, very opportunely, had been constructed
along the eastern cliff. Here for a distance of about two miles the
course of the road runs diagonally down the face of the cliff,
descending in that distance about two hundred feet, and in its descent
laying bare the layers of shale upon which the observations must be
made. Along the course of the road at this point, watchmen are
continually employed to remove obstructions falling down or to give
warning of danger when any large masses fall. The disintegration goes on
much more rapidly in wet thawing weather than at other times of the
year. Often in the spring the whole force of section hands is required
for several days to dispose of the material of one single fall. At the
rate of one-fourth of an inch a year of waste along this cliff there
ought to fall slightly over six hundred cubic yards annually for each
mile where the wall is 150 feet high. At this rate the enlargement at
the terminal of the Gorge would take place, Dr. Wright estimates, in
somewhat less than ten thousand years. No accounts have been kept by the
railroad of the amount of fallen material, but some estimate can be made
from the cost of removal of the falling stone, together with the
observations of the watchmen, one of whom has been in the employ of the
railroad in this capacity for twelve years, and also by noticing the
distance to which the cliff has receded since the construction of the
road.
Only a superficial observer can see at once that the amount of removal
has been greatly in excess of the rate mentioned above. The watchman, of
whom mention has been made, was in the employ of the company which
constructed the road in 1854, and therefore knows where the original
face of the cliff was located. At one point, where the road descends to
the Clinton limestone, the whole face of the Niagara shale is laid bare.
Here the shale has been removed to a distance of twenty feet from its
original position, and the rocks forming the roof overhang to about that
distance. Now this mass of shale must have been removed since 1854. This
would require a rate of disintegration much in excess of the one
assumed. Necessarily some allowance must be made for the fact that the
atmospheric agencies have here had a fresh section of the shale upon
which to work. Yet making all due allowance for the above condition, the
rate at the mouth of the Gorge could not have been much less than that
assumed above. The actual process of the enlargement has been periodic.
As the falling shale undermines more and more the capping hard layers,
from time to time these latter fall in immense masses. Any calculation
of age based upon a few years of disintegration would be worthless; but
one based upon centuries would come very near a true average. The walls
of the Gorge were at first perpendicular, but as the undermining,
process goes on they become sloped more and more, the falling masses
forming a protection to the lower parts of the softer strata. One fact,
however, to be noticed is that this protecting talus has never as yet
reached so high as to stop the work of the disintegrating agencies. The
horizontal distance from the water's edge back to the face of the
Niagara limestone, which forms the top of the cliff, is 380 feet. On the
above assumption of the rate of recession as one-fourth of an inch
annually, the rate at the top of the cliff must have been about one-half
inch for each year. From the observations made, it is difficult to
believe that the retreat of this upper portion has been at a lower rate
than a half-inch yearly; if this be true, this new line of evidence
places the birth of the Niagara and the beginning of the cutting of the
Gorge at Lewiston at about ten thousand years ago.
[Illustration: "Maid of the Mist" under Steel Arch Bridge.]
The history of the Great Lakes and the birth of Niagara have a different
interest for us, than alone to form the connecting link between the
present and a past age devoid of life. Closely connected with this
geologic history is the history of the human race. Unfortunately for us,
the men inhabiting these parts in prehistoric ages have not left the
traces of their existence upon the rocks and sands as have the waters of
Niagara and the Lakes. Meagre, however, as is our knowledge we are still
confident that man has been a comrade of the river during its entire
history. Much to our disappointment, he was not possessed with the means
of recording his knowledge for the satisfaction of future generations.
Probably no such thought ever entered his brain. All that we know is,
that along the old deserted shores of Lake Ontario in New York, which
now form the Ridge Road, he constructed a rude hearth and built a fire
thereon. The shifting of elevation or the rising of the surface of the
lake buried beneath the waters hearth, ashes, and charred sticks, and
thus by a mere accident do we know that human history extends back at
least as far as the Ice Age.
In these modern days, when we are prone to believe that all forms of
animate existence and inanimate as well have been the result of an
evolution, we cannot think of the man who possessed the art of fire as
the primeval man. Whatever age may be assigned to the Niagara, whatever
may be the antiquity of that great cataract, upon which we are wont to
look as everlasting, the age of the human race must be considered
greater.
Chapter IV
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), débris,
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.]
Chapter V
Harnessing Niagara Falls
Lord Kelvin, when visiting Niagara Falls, was not moved by that which
appeals to the ordinary tourist, the roaring of the cataract, the waters
in their mad rush from the Falls to the whirlpool and thence to Lake
Ontario, nor the mists rising night and day from the waters churned into
foam. For him, Niagara was a monster piece of machinery, accomplishing
nothing but the pounding out of its own life on the rocks which formed
its bed. In his mind's eye there appeared vast factories, deriving their
power from the Falls, furnishing hundreds of men employment and
distributing millions of dollars' worth of products to be placed nearer
the hands of the poorer classes because of having been created by the
cheap power furnished here by nature.
Various estimates have been made regarding the volume of water flowing
over the Falls; but the calculations by United States engineers
extending over a number of years places the amount at about 224,000
gallons a foot per second. These are the figures taken as the basis of
many calculations; upon this basis the Falls would furnish 3,800,000
horse-power exclusive of the rapids. If the fall of about fifty feet
which is produced by the rapids in their descent from the Dufferin
Islands be added to this amount, the sum total of power would be
greatly increased. To make some use of this almost inconceivable amount
of power which has been wasting itself for ages has been the problem
which has caused much investigation and to-day it seems to be nearing a
practical solution.
Niagara Falls were first used as a source of power in 1725, when a
primitive saw-mill was built just opposite Goat Island to saw lumber for
the construction of Fort Niagara. For years men have made many attempts
to use some of the power to be had here for the taking, and in a very
small way have been successful. A number of establishments for several
decades have been making use of power developed by the Falls by means of
the Hydraulic Canal on the American side. This canal was begun in 1853
and passes through the city of Niagara Falls, terminating on the cliff
half a mile below the cataract; here are to be found a number of mills,
which however utilise only a small fraction of the fall available,
probably because at the time of their construction, the high grade
water-wheels of to-day were not in existence. Some of the waste water
from the tail races of these mills is now being collected into large
iron-tubes and is used again by mills situated at the base of the cliff.
[Illustration: Bird's-eye View of the Canadian Rapids and Fall.
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal.]
In 1885, the late Thomas Evershed, of Rochester, New York, devised a
plan for wheel-pits a mile and a half above the Falls. The water was to
be conducted to these pits by lateral canals, from which it was to be
taken to the river below the Falls by means of a tunnel cut through the
solid rock. This plan seemed more practicable than any proposed
heretofore, and commanded the attention of many leading engineers of the
country. The present great developments at the Falls had their
inception in the organisation of the Niagara Falls Power Company. This
company obtained a charter from the State of New York in 1886, giving
them permission to use water sufficient to generate two hundred thousand
horse-power. This company could accomplish very little on account of its
limited capital. In a short time, however, New York capitalists and
bankers, perceiving the practicability of the company's plans, became
interested in the project, and furnished the necessary funds. The first
earth was turned for this great work in October 1890 and the tunnel was
completed in the autumn of 1893. The first main wheel-pit was ready for
its machinery by the following March.
The device for applying Niagara's power to the turbines is on the same
principle of construction, in each of the recently erected plants as in
this first one. In the case of the Niagara Falls Power Company, a broad
deep inlet leads from the river at a point a mile and a half above the
American Falls, two thousand feet back in a north-easterly direction.
The canal is protected by a lining of heavy masonry, which is pierced at
its upper end by a number of gateways; through these water is admitted
by short canals to pits emptying into huge steel pipes or penstocks, as
they are called. These penstocks terminate at the bottom in wheel boxes,
in which are placed the bronze turbine wheels, connected with the
surface by means of steel shafts parallel to the penstocks. From the
turbine wheels the water whirls and rushes on through a subterranean
passage to the main tunnel. Here it starts on its long journey of over a
mile under-ground, beneath the heart of the city, until it emerges again
at an opening in the cliff just below what is known as the new
suspension bridge. A very ingenious plan was adopted for the application
of the power to the turbines. The penstocks are brought down under the
wheels and are made to discharge their waters upward into the boxes.
This contrivance causes the water to bear up the great weight of the
wheels, from the bearings beneath for their support, besides that of the
hundred and forty feet of shafting connected with the turbines for
transmitting power to the surface.
The tunnel which receives these waters after leaving the turbines is no
less than six thousand seven hundred feet long, and discharges below the
Falls just past the suspension bridge. Its cross-section somewhat
resembles a horseshoe in shape, and this sectional area is three hundred
and eighty-six square feet throughout, the average height and width
being twenty-one and sixteen feet respectively. The company owning the
mills connected with this tunnel, together with the Niagara Falls
Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company, of which mention has been
made, are the only ones using water to any great extent on the American
side.
On the Canadian side, three great canals are drawing water from the
river. It is the construction of these mammoth Canadian power plants,
and the devising of means for leading water to the turbines together
with the development of a plan for the disposal of the waste water by
means of some form of tail race, which must necessarily consist of a
monster tunnel broken through the solid rock, which has developed some
of the greatest and most unique engineering problems ever before dreamed
of, and which has presented a work hazardous and spectacular in the
extreme.
To meet the engineering problems concerned in locating the three
Canadian plants along the shore of the river, involving the taking of
water by some form of canal, and the disposal of waste water through
tunnel or by other means to the lower river, each without interfering
with any of the other plants, taxed even Yankee engineering ingenuity.
One company had to unwater a considerable area of Niagara River at
Tempest Point where the waters have a great depth and the current is of
high velocity. From here then a tunnel, the largest in the world, must
be broken through solid rock, under the bed of the river, to a point
directly behind the great sheet of water plunging over the apex of the V
formed by Horseshoe Falls. A second company takes its water through a
short canal to its wheel-pits, which are sunk about half a mile above
Horseshoe Falls in Queen Victoria Park, discharging it through a tunnel
two thousand feet long into the lower river. To find room for the third
of these companies was a puzzling problem for some time. Finally the
difficulty was solved by a departure from the plan of the other
companies, both in the manner of taking water from the river and in the
location of the power-house. Instead of locating the wheel-pits above
the Falls as in the case of the others, this company has it power-house
located in the Gorge below the Falls along the lower level. It takes its
water from farther up the river than any of the companies, thus being
further removed from any difficulties arising from recession of the
Falls besides obtaining the additional power to be given by the descent
of the rapids to the crest of the cliff, which amounts to about fifty
feet. The water is taken from near the Dufferin Islands through the
largest steel conduit in the world, which runs not far from the shore of
the river, skirting the other plants, and terminates at the power-house
situated in the canyon below the Falls.
It is interesting to visit and survey these hydro-electric
power-generating stations, to note the different methods for taking the
water from the river and for carrying it to the lower river after having
passed through turbine wheels. It is well here to take a brief résumé of
the main features connected with the obtaining of this water supply and
its disposal. The first American company, that of the Niagara Falls
Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company, takes its water through a
canal from the upper river. This canal passes through the centre of the
city of Niagara Falls to the cliff just below the first steel cantilever
bridge, the power plant and industries making use of its waters are
located here at the top of the cliff. The other American company known
as the Niagara Falls Power Company takes its water by a short canal,
about a mile above the Falls and discharges the dead water through a
tunnel that runs under the city of Niagara Falls to a point near the
water's edge in the lower river directly below the first steel bridge.
The Canadian Niagara Falls Power Company, allied with the American
company, takes its water from Queen Victoria Park and discharges it
below the Falls through a two thousand foot tunnel. The Toronto and
Niagara Power Company, with its power plant built in the bed of the
river near Tempest Point takes water through massive stone forebays in
the river and sends it to the lower level through a tunnel beneath the
river's bed opening directly behind the V in the Horseshoe Falls. The
Ontario Power Company takes its water into large steel conduits near
Dufferin Islands. These underground pipes conduct the water along the
shore of the river to the power house situated on the lower level. The
waste water is discharged through draft tubes directly into the river.
With this general picture of these great power companies in mind, it is
proper to survey some of the more interesting details of construction
which may appeal to individual taste and curiosity. Space forbids
entering into the minutia either of construction or machinery used. Only
the main principles of interest to the general reader can be touched
upon.
Let us descend first into the tunnel under the bed of the river, which
discharges the tail water from the power-house of the Toronto Company,
hurling it with almost inconceivable fury against the mass of foaming
water plunging over the Horseshoe precipice. Here is a sight to thrill
even the most jaded traveller hunting for new wonders. A trip through
this underground passage which American genius has shot through a mass
of solid shale and limestone, beneath the bed of the river, will in
itself more than compensate for a trip to Niagara Falls. Some idea of
the size of this tunnel is indicated by the fact that two lines of
railways were maintained in it to dispose of the rock and shale
excavated by the workmen. Clad in rubber coat and boots the visitor to
the Falls may wend his way down along the visitors' gallery which is
suspended from the roof of the tunnel, one hundred and fifty-eight feet
below the river bed, to where the outrushing waters join the great
volume of the river in its headlong plunge over Horseshoe Falls. Here
standing behind that mighty veil of rushing water, with the spray swept
into the opening by furious storms of howling winds, one beholds a
spectacle, almost terrifying in its grandeur, the equal of which perhaps
can not be found in any of the numerous attractions of the Falls.
[Illustration: American Falls from Below.]
Before work on the main tunnel was begun, a shaft was sunk on the river
bank just opposite the crest of Horseshoe Falls. From this shaft a
tunnel was dug to the point where the lower end of the main tunnel would
terminate. No difficulties were experienced in the driving of this
opening until near the face of the cliff behind Horseshoe Falls. Here,
with only fifteen feet to go, water began to rush into the cavern
through a fissure in the rocks. The engineers fought against the water
for several days but could not stop its flow. Finally eighteen holes
were drilled into the cliff between the end of the tunnel and where the
final opening was to be made; these holes were loaded with dynamite,
which, together with a large charge placed against the end of the
passage, was exploded, after the tunnel had been flooded. This only
accomplished a part of what was desired. An opening was made in the
cliff but too near the roof of the tunnel to allow of any work. What to
do now was a difficult problem, but American daring accomplished the
work. Volunteers were called for to crawl along the ledge of rock
running along the cliff behind the Falls to where the opening had been
made. Several men offered to make this almost impossible trip. Lashed
together with cords, with the thunder of the Falls in their ears,
blinded by spray which was driven into their faces with cyclonic fury,
the men at last reached the opening and placed a heavy charge of
dynamite against the opposing wall. This was discharged, making a
sufficiently large opening for the water to run out, and the work was
continued.
In the design of the main tunnel, ingenious provision was made for
recession of the Falls. From the opening in the cliff for three hundred
feet the lining will be put in in rings six feet long; this arrangement
will allow a joint to drop out whenever the Falls recede so that it is
exposed, thus leaving a smooth section always at the end of the tunnel.
Through this main tunnel and through the branch races, the water, after
having left the turbines, will whirl along at the rate of twenty-six
feet per second, having generated a total of 125,000 electric
horse-power. In engineering problems connected with the tunnel and the
construction of the plant, the work of this company far surpasses that
of any of the others. In order to secure a place for the wheel-pit and
gathering dam, an area of about twelve acres in the bed of the river was
converted into dry land. To do this a coffer dam was constructed 2153
feet in length and from twenty feet to forty-six feet wide in water
varying in depth from seven feet to twenty-four feet, besides being very
swift in most places. About two thousand feet above the Falls, in the
space thus deprived of its water, an immense wheel-pit was sunk into the
solid rock. On the bottom of this pit, 150 feet below the surface rest
the monster turbines, from which two tail-races conduct the water to the
main tunnel. A large gathering dam sufficient to supply the maximum
capacity of this plant runs obliquely across the river for a distance of
750 feet. The height of this dam varies from ten to twenty-three feet;
it is constructed of concrete, the top being protected by a course of
cut granite. The power plant is located on the original shore line and
parallel to it in Queen Victoria Park. In the power room are to be found
eleven monster generators capable of developing 12,500 horse-power each.
A short distance farther up the river at the Dufferin Islands is the
beginning of the mammoth steel conduits of the Ontario Power Company.
These pass about a hundred yards from the shore and conduct the water to
the power-house situated in the canyon below the Falls. This contrivance
for water transmission consists of three steel pipes, the largest in the
world, eighteen feet in diameter, and a little over six thousand feet
long. This plant has the advantage of the others in several respects.
While it draws its water from farther up the river, it preserves it for
a longer time from the recession of the Falls, besides securing to it
the greater amount of power per volume by obtaining the additional
advantage of the descent of the rapids which amounts to about fifty-five
feet. The power plant located as it is in the Gorge discharges its waste
waters directly into the lower river without the necessity of an
intervening tunnel. Lastly, the plan of applying the power to the
turbines is slightly different in this case from the others, being made
possible by its different plan. Here the turbines are placed vertical
instead of horizontal, and are directly connected with the main
generators, which are the only machines located on the floor of the
station.
A departure from the ordinary construction of the dynamo is noticed in
those for use at Niagara. The ordinary one is built with the
field-magnets so placed that the armature revolves between them, the
field-magnets being stationary. In these monster dynamos, developing
thousands of horse-power, and weighing many tons, the field-magnets
revolve around the armature which remains stationary. With such an
enormous weight of swiftly revolving parts, it became necessary to
lessen the immense centrifugal force tending to tear the machine to
pieces. Engineering skill surmounted this problem as it did all others
in what might be called this mighty scientific drama, and, by reversing
the parts of the dynamo, secured the desired result. The field-magnets,
being placed on the outside and being made the revolving part, by their
mutual attraction for its armature within their ring are pulled, as it
were, toward the centre, thus lessening the great strain produced by the
centrifugal force upon the large steel ring upon whose inner
circumference they are mounted.
The currents furnished by the power-houses at Niagara are all
alternating. This kind of current being decided upon for various
reasons. It can be used for driving dynamos as well as any, and as
nearly all the power developed at the Falls is used in this way no
provision is made for a direct current. Where a direct current is
desired the electricity is made to drive a dynamo of the alternating
type which in turn is made to drive another of the kind of current
desired. Establishments on or near the grounds use the power furnished
them direct from the power-house. When the power must be transmitted to
a distance, it becomes necessary to use a step-up transformer for the
purpose of losing as little power as necessary in the transmission, this
to produce a higher voltage. When the current reaches those places where
it is to be used a low voltage is again obtained by the step-down
transformer.
Almost, if not quite as interesting as the development of all this
power, together with its transmission, are the manufacturing
establishments springing up here to take advantage of the great
opportunities offered by the harnessing of this mighty cataract. Among
those which stretch along the river for several miles are to be found
those interested in the manufacture of carborundum, aluminum, carbide,
graphite, caustic potash, muriatic acid, emery wheels, railway supplies,
hook-and-eye fastenings, and shredded wheat, which are of special
interest to the visitor.
Industrialism has seized upon the immense power of Niagara and is now
shaping it into commodities for the use of man. Now what is the real
menace to the Falls? Many lament the erection of the power plants and
manufacturing establishments in the vicinity; but those, at least
already in existence, have come to stay. So we may turn our attention
from the marring of the surrounding beauty to the Falls themselves.
Geological changes are taking place so slowly that they need not be
reckoned with as a probable destroyer of the Falls for ages yet to come.
Moreover, their effect is treated in another chapter. The history of the
Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company, as a user of
power from the Falls, antedates even its legislative recognition.
Between the years of 1888 and 1894 nine companies were recognised or
chartered in the State of New York. These charters were granted very
freely, no revenue was required for the use of the waters, and in some
cases no limitation was placed upon the amount to be used. Of these
charters, all were granted in good faith; but it is very doubtful if all
were received in that spirit. Some of the companies failed to effect an
organisation, others offered to sell their rights as soon as obtained.
Various limitations were put upon the time in which work must be begun.
At least three of the charters have lapsed by their own time
limitations, one franchise was sold by its original owners; one other
shows at times faint signs of life; another is leading a questionable
existence, while two, the Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company and
the Niagara Falls Power Company, are producing and selling power. To
these two organisations are to be credited the great industrial
development on the American side and they are not yet using the amount
of water allowed them by their charters.
As a result, of course, the flow of water is of smaller volume; but this
cannot be perceived by the casual observer. However, citizens of Niagara
Falls insist that the decreased flow is manifested in other ways; such
as the annual gorging of ice at the head of the American channel almost
laying this channel bare and sending its water to the Canadian side.
This happens very rarely with a normal depth. Besides this it became
necessary not long ago to move the dock at which the _Maid of the Mist_
lands, the water line having retreated as a result of decreased volume.
The two American companies are not expecting to diminish their
consumption of water in any way. The growing demands for power have
caused each continually to enlarge its plants. The Niagara Falls Power
Company, realising the great growing demand for cheap power, has
obtained a large interest in one of the Canadian companies. The amount
of water which may be used by these companies according to charter
limits is as follows:
Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing
Co. 7,700 cu. ft. per sec.
Niagara Falls Power Company 8,600 " " " "
Total 16,300 " " " "
The power produced by these companies at present is no fair estimate of
the amount of water taken from the river. On the American side, below
the steel arch bridge, may be seen what is called the "back yard view of
Niagara." Here a number of small cascades are seen spouting from the
side of the cliff, only a small part of the fall being utilised by the
factories situated there. Some of this water is now being collected into
penstocks, to be utilised again at the base of the cliff.
On turning to the three Canadian companies, those of the American side
pale beside their gigantic proportions. In contrast with the companies
chartered, it may be said that none of these is inactive; on the
contrary they are giving the strongest manifestations of energy.
Following are the limits to which they may make use of Niagara's waters:
Canadian Niagara Power Co. 8,900 cu. ft. per sec.
Ontario Power Co. 12,000 " " " "
Toronto and Niagara Power Co. 11,200 " " " "
Total 32,100
Adding to this total the charter limits of the two American companies
now operating, the grand total is raised to 48,400 cubic feet per
second. This of itself is a dry fact and does not form much of a
percentage of the whole volume going over the Falls. Such a loss would
not mean so much if it would manifest itself the same along the whole
crest of the line of the cliff; but here must be taken into
consideration the configuration of the bed of the river.
The bed of Niagara is composed of rock which dips gradually and
uniformly westward. The ledge is ten feet higher on the American side
than on the Canadian. The water of the American fall is therefore ten
feet shallower. The amount of water going over the Falls has been
variously estimated, engineers differing in their conclusions as much as
sixty thousand cubic feet per second. Averages based upon the estimates
of United States engineers for forty years, of the amount of mean flow
of water passing Buffalo from Lake Erie, shows 222,400 cubic feet per
second. This of course does not make allowance for that taken by the
Welland and the Erie canals. This is probably about equalised by the
amount entering the lake and river between this city and the Falls, so
that the figures forming the basis of most computations are 224,000
cubic feet per second. The amount of power capable of development by the
Falls is about 3,800,000 horse-power, which would be greatly increased
by adding the fall from the beginning of the rapids to the crest of the
cataract. Goat Island, situated just off the American shore, divides the
waters very unevenly, sending more than three-fourths the volume toward
the Canadian shore. Now, as has been seen, less than one-fourth the
whole volume pours down the American channel; and as this is much
shallower than the main body of water, it is here that any diminished
flow will be first felt. At the head of the island the great body of
the current turns toward the west, by far the larger amount converging
into the funnel of the magnificent Horseshoe Falls. The American channel
in contrast contains a very feeble flow, and therefore would be the
first to exhibit any dearth of water.
Calculations based upon the preceding figures, taking into consideration
the length of the Falls, and the difference in elevation of the river's
bed at the crest, show that when the flow has been reduced by 184,000
cubic feet per second, or by 40,000 cubic feet, the water in the
American channel will be brought down to the rock bottom of the shore's
edge. Then, although the Horseshoe Falls will continue to be an object
of admiration to the traveller, and although the current will continue
to sweep through the American channel and over the American Falls, the
beauty and grandeur of the latter will fade away. Let the amount of
water abstracted from the river be doubled, and, though the Canadian
Falls would still continue an object of admiration, the American channel
would be entirely dry.
Returning to the present and immediately contemplated draft upon the
river's waters, we find that the two American and the three Canadian
companies, when using their charter limits, will take 48,000 cubic feet
per second. This will bring the level at the crest of the Falls down to
the bottom of the river at the American shore. This, then, is the
immediate prospect. Many things may intervene before this point is
reached. We are not permitted to stop, however, with the consideration
of these five companies alone. One of the last organisations chartered
by the State of New York to obtain water from Niagara is the Niagara
Lockport and Ontario Power Company. In 1894, this company obtained a
franchise placing no restriction upon the amount of water to be used,
and limited to ten years in which to begin work. In 1904, they came
again to the Legislature, asking for an improved charter in several
respects, especially a lengthening of time in which to begin operations.
This company proposed to take water from near La Salle and not to return
it to the river at all, but to take it overland by canal to Lockport and
then empty it directly into Lake Ontario. The bill providing for this
charter passed both houses, but it was vetoed by Governor Odell. The
veto took place on May 15, 1904. The original charter was granted on May
21, 1894. Six days of grace yet remained of the ten years allowed the
company. There is said to be a slender, shallow ditch south of Lockport,
which represents the work done in the six days left. It has been
rumoured that the most of this company's stock has passed into the hands
of a great corporation. Undoubtedly, under some form of reorganisation,
there will, in the near future, be an attempt on the part of its members
to gain a share of the great free power of Niagara. Under the old
charter, which does not limit the amount of water to be consumed, it
will probably not consume less than the other large companies, say
10,000 cubic feet per second.
But the only danger to the life of the Falls is not to be found alone in
the Niagara power companies. Six hundred miles to the west is the
Chicago Main Drainage Canal, which at first took from the Lakes about
three thousand cubic feet per minute. Many propositions have been made
to enlarge this canal. These are fraught with taxing engineering
problems; but it is difficult to say just what the future has in store
in this line. This, however, is not all; Canada, in the hope of gaining
part of the commerce of the Great Lakes for the St. Lawrence, has
proposed a canal by way of Georgian Bay and the Ottawa River, thus
shortening the lake route by five hundred miles. To these may be added
propositions for a deep-water connection between the Lakes and the
Hudson, between Lake Winnipeg and Lake Superior, between Toronto and
Lake Huron, the demands of Cincinnati and Pittsburg for canals,
Wisconsin's desire for a canal connecting the Lakes through her
territory with the Mississippi, the plan for a canal from Duluth to the
Mississippi; and one may see with what danger this great natural wonder
is threatened. Many of these proposed plans, doubtless, will never be
realised; some on account of engineering difficulties, others on account
of the failure of their projectors to count upon the true relation
between cost of construction and what would likely be the revenue
obtained. All these subjects, however, must be given due consideration
by one who desires to know what is considered to be the immediate danger
to the Falls, or that which may effect them at no very distant future
date.
On January 18, 1907, Secretary of War Taft rendered a decision under the
Burton Act for the preservation of Niagara Falls on the applications of
American companies for the use of water and of Canadian companies
wishing to send electric power into the United States, and at the same
time announced the appointment of a commission to beautify the vicinity
of the Falls. The amount of water allowed to companies in New York is
practically that now used, and substantially as limited by the Act of
Congress as a maximum. The Secretary found no evidence that the flow
over the American Falls has been injuriously affected in recent years.
The claims of the Canadian companies, acting in conjunction with
electric companies on this side of the river, had to be materially cut
down to come within the law limiting the total current to 160,000
horse-power. The allotments in electric horse-power to be transmitted to
the United States are as follows:
The International Railway Company, 1500. (8000 asked).
The Ontario Power Company, 60,000 (90,000 asked).
The Canadian Niagara Falls Power Company, 52,500 (121,500 asked).
The Electrical Development Company, 46,000 (62,000 asked).
All these permits are revocable at pleasure, and, in the absence of
further legislation in Congress, will expire on June 29, 1909.
In the course of his decision, after discussing the intent of the law,
Mr. Taft says:
Acting upon the same evidence which Congress had, and upon the
additional statement made to me at the hearing by Dr. John M.
Clark, state geologist of New York, who seems to have been one
of those engaged from the beginning in the whole movement for
the preservation of Niagara Falls, and who has given close
scientific attention to the matter, I have reached the
conclusion that with the diversion of 15,600 cubic feet on the
American side and the transmission of 160,000 horse-power from
the Canadian side the scenic grandeur of the Falls will not be
affected substantially or perceptibly to the eye.
With respect to the American Falls, this is an increase of only
2500 cubic feet a second over what is now being diverted and has
been diverted for many years, and has not affected the Falls as
a scenic wonder.
With respect to the Canadian side, the water is drawn from the
river in such a way as not to affect the American Falls at all,
because the point from which it is drawn is considerably below
the level of the water at the point where the waters separate
above Goat Island, and the Waterways Commission and Dr. Clark
agree that the taking of 13,000 cubic feet from the Canadian
side will not in any way affect or reduce the water going over
the American Falls. The water going over the Falls on the
Canadian side of Goat Island is about five times the volume of
that which goes over the American Falls, or, counting the total
as 220,000 cubic feet a second, the volume of the Horseshoe
Falls would be about 180,000 cubic feet. If the amount withdrawn
on the Canadian side for Canadian use were 5000 cubic feet a
second, which it is not likely to be during the three years'
life of these permits, the total to be withdrawn would not
exceed ten per cent. of the volume of the stream, and,
considering the immense quantity which goes over the Horseshoe
Falls, the diminution would not be perceptible to the eye.
Taking up first the application for permits for diversion on the
American side, there is not room for discussion or difference.
The Niagara Falls Power Company is now using about 8600 cubic
feet of water a second and producing about 76,630 horse-power.
There is some question as to the necessity of using some water
for sluicing. This must be obtained from the 8600 cubic feet
permitted, and the use of the water for other purposes when
sluicing is being done must be diminished. The Niagara Falls
Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Company is now using 4000
cubic feet a second and has had under construction for a period
long antedating the Burton Act a plant arranged to divert 2500
cubic feet a second and furnish 36,000 horse-power to the
Pittsburg Reduction and Mining Company. A permit will therefore
issue to the Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing
Company for the diversion of 6500 cubic feet a second, and the
same rule must obtain as to sluicing, as already stated.
[Illustration: The Riverside at Willow Island.]
As the object of the act is to preserve the scenic beauty of
Niagara Falls, I conceive it to be within my power to impose
conditions upon the granting of these permits, compliance with
which will remedy the unsightly appearance that is given the
American side of the canyon just below the falls on the American
side, where the tunnel of the Niagara Falls Power Company
discharges and where the works of the hydraulic company are
placed.
The representative of the American Civic Association has
properly described the effect upon the sightseer of the view
toward the side of the canyon to be that of looking into the
back yard of a house negligently kept. For the purpose of aiding
me in determining what ought to be done to remove this eyesore,
including the appearance of the buildings at the top, I shall
appoint a committee consisting of Charles F. McKim, Frank D.
Millet, and F. L. Olmsted to advise me what changes, at an
expense not out of proportion to the extent of the investment,
can be made which will put the side of the canyon at this point
from bottom to top in natural harmony with the Falls and the
other surroundings, and will conceal, as far as possible, the
raw commercial aspect that now offends the eye. This
consideration has been in view in the construction of works on
the Canadian side and in the buildings of the Niagara Falls
Power Company, above the Falls. There is no reason why similar
care should not be enforced here.
Water is being withdrawn from the Erie Canal at the lake level
for water-power purposes, and applications have been made for
permits authorising this. Not more than four hundred cubic feet
are thus used in the original draft of water that is not
returned to the canal in such a way as not to lower the level of
the lake. The water is used over and over again. It seems to me
that the permit might very well be granted to the first user. As
the water is taken from the canal, which is state property, and
the interest and jurisdiction of the federal government grow out
of the direct effect upon the level of the lake, the permit
should recite that this does not confer any right upon a
consumer of the water to take the water from the canal without
authority and subject to the conditions imposed by the canal
authorities, but that it is intended to operate and its
operation is limited to confer, so far as the federal government
is concerned and the Secretary of War is authorised, the right
to take the water and to claim immunity from any prosecution or
legal objection under the fifth section of the Burton Act.
When Sir Hiram S. Maxim, the distinguished inventor and scientist, made
his recent announcement to Peter Cooper Hewitt that the next great
achievement of science would be the harnessing of the whole energy of
Niagara and the sending of a message to Mars, he hit the nail, in the
opinion of Nikola Tesla, squarely on the head.
Mr. Tesla announces that with the co-operation of power-producing
companies at Niagara Falls he is preparing to hail Mars with Niagara's
voice. A way has been found at last for transmitting a wireless message
across the gulf, varying from 40,000,000 to 100,000,000 miles, which
separates this earth from Mars. Once that has been accomplished and
Mars, which is considerably older and supposedly more advanced in
science than we, has acknowledged the receipt of our signal and sent
back flash for flash, it will remain to devise an interplanetary code
through the medium of which the scientists of this world and of Mars
will be able to understand what each is saying to the other.
Mr. Tesla has been quietly working for several years on a wireless power
plant capable of transmitting 10,000 horse-power to any part of the
world, or to any of our neighbouring planets, for that matter. The mere
matter of distance between despatching and receiving points is
absolutely no object whatever. Wireless power, Mr. Tesla says may be
sent one million or more miles just as easily as one mile.
Several of the electric power companies with immense generating plants
at Niagara Falls, it is reported, have agreed to co-operate with Mr.
Tesla in an effort to reach Mars by wireless.
The development of the hydraulic power of Niagara on the Canadian side
is leading to some interesting sequences.
A tribunal called the hydro-electric power commission has been
created [says a writer in a recent issue of _Cassier's
Magazine_], and in the hands of this body has been placed the
entire domestic regulation of the power product of stations
coming within government control.
In addition there has been given to the various municipalities
the right to undertake the distribution of electrical energy
within their respective limits.
In order that the commission may be in a position to dictate
terms to the existing private companies it is important that the
co-operation of the municipalities be obtained, and this appears
to be partially accomplished.
The city of Toronto has already arranged for 15,000 horse-power
of electric energy from Niagara, the price being $14 to $16 per
horse-power for a supply for a 24-hour day, including
transmission to Toronto, the local distribution to be in the
hands of the municipality, and it is believed that a number of
other cities and towns will make similar arrangements.
These arrangements are made with the hydro-electric power
commission, and it in turn must either secure the power supply
from the existing private companies or else proceed to develop
its own stations.
It is hardly probable that the latter alternative will be found
necessary, since the result would be to leave the private
corporations with the greater part of their prospective custom
permanently taken away, so that the real consequence of the
recent legislation is to compel the companies to supply the
municipalities through the commission at prices determined by
the engineers of the new body.
It is possible that such measures will prove advantageous to the
public, but much will depend upon the manner in which the law is
carried out. It has been intimated that this legislation will
render it exceedingly difficult for promoters to induce outside
capital to engage in the development of natural resources in
Canada hereafter.
Chapter VI
A Century of Niagara Cranks
The swirling waters of Niagara have ever been a challenge to a vast army
of adventurers who found in their own daring heedlessness a means here
of gaining money and a mushroom glory. Of all these "Niagara Cranks," as
they are known locally, the tight-rope walkers undoubtedly have the
strongest claim to our admiration for the utter daring of their feats,
however mercenary may have been the motives. "Tut, tut! my friends,"
would reply one of these brave, popular heroes if you had mentioned
fear, "'tis nothing at all"; then, confidentially, he would have
whispered in your ear: "You can't help getting across. You get out to
the middle of the rope, and there you are. If you turn back you lose
your money, and if you go on you get it. That's all."
It was the great Blondin who stands king of the tight-rope walkers of
Niagara, leaving behind him a reputation as the greatest tight-rope
walker of the century.
Charles Emile Gravelet was born at Hesdin, near Calais, on the
twenty-eighth of February, 1824, and died in Ealing, near London,
February 22, 1897. His father, whose nickname, "Blondin," from the
colour of his hair, descended to his son, was a soldier of the First
Empire who had seen service under Napoleon at Austerlitz, Wagram, and
Moscow, but died when his son was in his ninth year. The pluck and
strength that young Blondin had was displayed as early as his fourth
year; when only a few years older he was trained by the principal of
_l'École de Gymnase_ at Lyons in many gymnastic feats, and after six
months there, was brought out as "The Little Wonder." He excelled
especially at tight-rope dancing, jumping, and somersault-throwing. One
of his notable jumps was over a double rank of soldiers with bayonets
fixed. The agent of an American Company--the Ravels--aware of his
success in the French provinces finally gave him a two years' engagement
for the United States, which afterwards was extended to eight years. He
came to America in 1855; and it was not long after, when looking across
the Niagara Falls, that he remarked to Mr. Ravel:
"What a splendid place for a tight-rope performance."
[Illustration: Goat Island Bridge. Showing Niagara's Famous Cataract and
International Hotels.]
The idea was impressive and as a result, after laborious preparations,
Blondin was ready to cross a wire, June 30, 1859. Despite the unanimous
howl of derision at the idea, people could not resist the temptation to
see the rash performer throw his life away; and the crowd that gathered
was the largest ever seen at the Falls. It is interesting, from more
than one standpoint, to quote the New York _Herald_ of July 1, 1859, on
the exploit:
Monsieur Blondin has just successfully accomplished the feat of
walking across the Niagara on a tight-rope, in the presence of a
crowd variously estimated at from five thousand to ten thousand
persons. He first crossed from the American side, stopping
midway to refresh himself with water raised in a bottle with a
rope from the deck of the steamer _Maid of the Mist_. The time
occupied in the first crossing was seventeen minutes and a half.
The return from the British to the American side was
accomplished in twelve minutes.
According to other sources, the crowd was estimated at fifty thousand.
Blondin did considerably more than merely pass over, for he carried a
pole weighing forty pounds, and did some extraordinary feats of
balancing and came ashore amid the huzzas of the crowd, with the whole
country ringing with the news of the daring exploit.
Some little difficulty was always encountered by tight-rope walkers from
proprietors of the river banks where the rope was to be attached on
their theory that nothing could be allowed to occur at Niagara of a
money-making nature unless they were a party to the plunder. One Hamblin
stood surety for the payment for Blondin's rope, which was over fifteen
hundred feet long and cost thirteen hundred dollars.
A few months later Blondin carried his manager, Harry Colcourt or
Colcord, across on his back. It is said (and also has been denied) that
on this occasion Blondin had a quarrel with Colcord. The latter had
previously been trained to balance himself in order that he might be let
down on the rope in the middle of the river, to permit Blondin to take
breath. The wind was strong, and the manager showed visible signs of
nervousness, while the rope swayed in a sickly manner. Then, according
to the story, Blondin threatened to leave his manager on the rope at the
mercy of the waters underneath, unless he kept himself under control.
Needless to say, the threat was successful, and the trip across was
safely made. For this special feat Blondin received a gold medal from
the inhabitants of the village, as a tribute of admiration, with the
following inscription:
Presented to Mons. T. F. Blondin by the citizens of Niagara
Falls in appreciation of a feat never before attempted by man,
but by him successfully performed on the 19th of August, 1859,
that of carrying a man upon his back over the Falls of Niagara
on a tight-rope.
Of the ordinary run of mortals few would care to attempt Blondin's feat,
but it is not impossible that many an actor envied the daring athlete's
position of utter mastery over his manager.
A few days later the fearless Blondin again crossed the river chained
hand and foot. On his return he carried a cooking stove and made an
omelet which he lowered to the passengers on the deck of the _Maid of
the Mist_ below. At another time he crossed with a bushel basket on each
foot, and once carried a woman on his back. On September 8, 1860,
Blondin performed before the Prince of Wales, now Edward VII., the rope
being stretched 230 feet above the rapids, between two of the steepest
cliffs on the river. The cool actor turned somersaults before His Royal
Highness, and successfully managed to cross on a pair of stilts. The
Prince watched every movement through a telescope and was highly
interested, but it is reported that he exclaimed, when Blondin safely
reached the end of the rope, "Thank God, he is over!" and hurried him a
check for the perilous feat.
Apparently Blondin did not know what nervousness meant; his secret has
been described as confidence in himself, obtained by long practice in
rope-walking. There is no doubt some of the victims he has carried
across his rope have suffered; it is said that Blondin would talk to his
companions on the most indifferent subjects; he would urge them to sit
perfectly still, avoid catching him around the neck or looking downward.
What he considered as one of his greatest feats was in walking on a rope
from the mainmast to the mizzen on board the Peninsular and Oriental
steamer _Poonah_, while on her way to Australia, between Aden and Galle,
in 1874. He had to sit down five times while heavy waves were
approaching the ship. Blondin's last performance was in Agricultural
Hall, London, on Christmas, 1894, where he appeared as active and nimble
as ever. The fact is certainly wonderful that for nearly seventy years
he walked the tight-rope without accident.
Mr. W. D. Howells was an eye-witness to three crossings of Blondin's in
1860, which he has graphically described:
The man himself looked cool and fresh enough but I, who was not
used to such violent fatigues as he must have undergone in these
three transits, was bathed in a cold perspiration, and so weak
and worn with making them in sympathy that I could scarcely walk
away.
Long afterwards I was telling about this experience of mine--it
was really more mine than Blondin's--in the neat shop of a
Venetian pharmacist, to a select circle of the physicians who
wait in such places in Venice for the call of their patients.
One of these civilised men, asked: "Where was the government?"
And I answered in my barbarous pride of our individualism: "The
government had nothing to do with it. In America the government
has nothing to do with such things." But now I think that this
Venetian was right, and that such a show as I have tried to
describe ought no more to have been permitted than the fight of
a man with a wild beast. It was an offence to morality, and it
thinned the frail barrier which the aspiration of centuries has
slowly erected between humanity and savagery.
Enough savage criticism met Blondin in England; his rope-walking in
Crystal Palace, Sydenham, upon a rope 240 feet long and at a height of
170 feet, in imitation of the Niagara feat, was considered a sickening
spectacle. Said _Once a Week_:
We wish Mr. Blondin no sort of harm, but if his audiences were
to dwindle down to nothing, so as to cause him to retire upon
his savings, we should congratulate him upon having escaped a
great danger, and the country upon getting rid of a disgrace to
the intelligence of the age.
Blondin ended his career as an English country gentleman at Niagara
House, South Haling. He was wont to display a profusion of diamond rings
and studs, all gifts of admirers, and the cherished gold medal from the
citizens of Niagara Falls; he, too, was the proud possessor of one of
the two gold medals struck in commemoration of the Crystal Palace in
1854, Queen Victoria having the other. He had also the cross from
ex-Queen Isabel of Spain, entitling him to the title of Chevalier. The
athlete's baggage, when on a tour, consisted of a main rope of eight
hundred feet, six and a half inches in circumference, and weighing eight
hundredweight; twenty-eight straining ropes, eighty tying-bars, the
average weight, not including poles, being five and a half tons. The
freight of his outfit, including a huge travelling-tent, which could
encompass fourteen thousand people, amounted to five thousand dollars
between Southampton and Melbourne. About three days were consumed in
making his preparations by the aid of a dozen assistants. The due
adjustment of the rope was his principal care, and he superintended
every detail.
Like many a Frenchman, Blondin never mastered the intricacies of the
English language. In a rather queer and rambling fragment of
autobiography written some years ago, he tells us that the rope he
generally used was formed with a flexible core of steel-wire covered
with the best manila-hemp, about an inch or three quarters in diameter,
several hundred yards in length, and costing about fifteen hundred
dollars. A large windlass at either end of the rope served to make it
taut, while it was supported by two high poles. His balancing poles of
ash wood varied in length and were of three sections, and weighed from
thirty-seven to forty-seven pounds. He was indifferent as to the height
at which he was to perform. Blondin has never confessed to any
nervousness on the rope, and, while walking, he generally looked
eighteen or twenty feet ahead, and whistled or hummed some snatch of a
song. The time kept by a band frequently aided him in preserving his
balance. He was something of both carpenter and blacksmith, and was able
to make his own models and fit up his own apparatus.
While Blondin yet performed at the Falls there appeared Signor Farini in
1860, and stretched a cable across the Gorge near the hydraulic canal
basin. On August 8, 1864, Farini reappeared walking about the Rapids
above the American fall on stilts. He was certainly an expert on the
rope and commanded much attention, but he was not able to snatch the
laurel from the Frenchman's brow--he has been forgotten, while Blondin's
fame has lived. We must, however, chronicle a thrilling incident
attached to his performance in 1864. Between Robinson's Island and the
precipice Farini was suddenly delayed. He claimed his stilts caught in a
crevice. His brother succeeded in reaching a log between the old
paper-mill and Robinson's Island, from which he threw a line, with a
weight attached, to the adventurer, and by this line a pail of
provisions was sent to Farini. A larger line was thrown and both reached
shore by way of Goat Island.
[Illustration: The Path to the Cave of the Winds.
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal.]
There has hardly been a year in which some tight-rope exhibition has not
taken place at Niagara Falls.
Harry Leslie crossed the Gorge on a rope-cable in July and August, 1865.
He achieved the title of "The American Blondin."
In 1873, when Signor Balleni (Ballini?) stretched a cable from a point
opposite the old Clifton House to Prospect Park, he leaped three times
into the river as an extra inducement, aided in his descent by a rubber
cord. In 1886 he reappeared, climbed to the iron railing on the upper
suspension bridge, knocked the ice from under his feet to secure a
footing, and at the signal of a pistol shot jumped into the air. He
struck the water in four seconds, broke a rib, lost his senses, and came
to the surface some sixty feet from where he entered. This was the same
man who jumped from Hungerford Bridge, London, in 1888, and was drowned.
In July, 1876, Signorina Maria Spelterini crossed the Gorge on a
tight-rope with baskets on her feet. The performance brought out a
tremendous crowd, probably because she was the first woman daring to try
conclusions with Blondin and his many imitators. She got across safely
with her baskets and her name. She won great favour and forever
established the fact that a woman is as level-headed as a man. In the
seventies of the last century, a young fellow, Stephen Peere, a painter
by trade, stretched a cable across the Falls. In 1878 he gave variety to
his career by jumping from one of the bridges, and in 1887 he finished
it by jumping to his death. He had previously, on June 22, 1887, walked
across the Gorge on a wire cable six-eighths of an inch in diameter.
This was a wonderful performance, considering the fact that all the
others had used a rope two inches in diameter. Only three days later he
was found dead on a bank beneath his rope, stretched between the old
suspension and the cantilever bridges. It is supposed he attempted to
practise in night time, but as nobody saw him he met his fate; this is
only supposition. A man, "Professor" De Leon, aspiring to become Peere's
successor, started out on August 15, 1887, to cross the latter's cable.
After going a short distance he became frightened, slid down a rope, and
disappeared in the bushes. He was later seen ascending the bank by a
ladder, and thus came back to the bosom of his family. MacDonald made
several very creditable attempts, and proved himself an excellent
walker. He also went across with baskets on his feet, and frightened the
gaping crowd by hanging with his legs from the wire, head downwards.
Another freak, I. F. Jenkins, stretched his cable across the Gorge over
the Rapids. With a keen eye for effect and sensation he selected as one
of his principal feats, crossing by velocipede. The machine, however,
was specially constructed for this purpose; it was a turned-down
contrivance, only resembling a bicycle, and had an ingeniously devised
balancing apparatus in lieu of a pole attached by a metal framework to
the wheels. Thus this _pièce de résistance_ was not so remarkable after
all. Samuel John Dixon, a Toronto photographer, was on his way to a
Photographers' Annual Convention when he observed Peere's cable still
stretched across the Rapids of Niagara. He remarked that he too could
cross on it, but the remark was not taken seriously; to prove that he
was in earnest, Dixon, on his return, actually made the dangerous trip
on the three-quarter inch cable, measuring 923 feet in length. One of
this amateur's crack feats was laying down with his back on the wire. He
has made several other passages since,--the first occurring on September
6, 1890--always with great _éclat_. Dixon has always been vigorously
applauded. James E. Hardy has also successful crossings at the Gorge to
his credit. He also holds the "record" of being the youngest man that
ever performed the feat. Another Toronto man, Clifford M. Calverley, has
been styled "The World's Champion," and "The American Blondin," but
although very clever, many of his feats are just those which made the
Frenchman famous over forty years ago. His wheelbarrow feat is certainly
middle-aged although it still remains as difficult to perform as it was
in Blondin's days. People never tire of it and Calverley was, indeed, a
remarkable gymnast. He erected a wire cable at about the same point
between the bridges at which Peere and Dixon had crossed, and gave
public exhibitions on October 12, 1892, and July 1, 1893. He performed
numerous stunning feats as high-kicking, walking with baskets on his
feet, cooking meals on the rope, and chair-balancing; he also gave night
exhibitions, which was original.
One man at least took the tight-rope route across Niagara who had not
practised the feat. This was a criminal who escaped his captors near
this locality in 1883; the sheriff was behind him, the river in front,
and only the wires of the old bridge at Lewiston to help him across.
Hand over hand he began the passage. His hands quickly blistered, and
then they bled. Again and again he rested his arms by hanging by his
legs, and at last reached the opposite bank where he lay panting fully
an hour before he continued his flight.
We have seen that all the tight-rope walkers at Niagara met with
extraordinary luck while crossing the Gorge; in fact, we have no record
that anybody ever lost his life while performing on the wire. Peere met
with an accident, and was killed in night-time; it is said he was
intoxicated and tried to cross with his boots on. Ballini met his death
in the Thames River. Many lives, however, have been lost in attempting
to brave the waters of the canyon at Niagara.
Attracted by the sensational setting adrift of the condemned brig
_Michigan_ over the Falls in 1829, Sam Patch, a man who had won fame at
Pawtucket Falls and other Eastern points as a high-jumper, erected a
ladder on the foot-path under Goat Island, and announced to the world
that he would jump into Niagara River. The hotel keepers patted him on
the back, and left no stone unturned to enable him to draw the biggest
crowd of the season. Patch rested the bottom of his ladder on the edge,
just north of the Biddle Stairs, with the top inclining over the river,
staying it with ropes to the trees on the bank. At the top was a small
platform, and from this Patch dived ninety-seven feet; he jumped a
second time to prove that the first feat was not a fluke. Shortly
afterwards he leaped to his death from the Genesee Fall in Rochester, N.
Y.
Captain Matthew Webb, of Niagara fame, was born in Shropshire, England,
in 1840. He went to sea at an early age and became captain of a
merchantman, and first attracted notice by jumping from a Cunard steamer
to save a man who had fallen overboard, for which he was awarded a gold
medal by the Royal Humane Society. In 1875 he accomplished the feat of
swimming the English Channel from Dover to Calais, a distance of
twenty-five miles.
The disastrous attempt to swim the rapids at Niagara took place on July
2, 1883. Webb wore no life preserver and scorned a barrel, depending
solely on his own strength to put him through. Leaving his hotel, the
old Clifton House, since destroyed by fire, at 4 P.M., before an immense
crowd on the cliffs and bridges (for the event had been well heralded),
he entered a small boat with Jack McCloy at the oars, and was carried to
a point on the lower river several hundred feet above the lower bridges.
It was 4.25 when, clad in a pair of red trunks, he leaped from the boat
into the water, and boldly swam towards the Rapids. It was 4.32 when he
passed under the bridges. He then stroked out gracefully and
beautifully. In three minutes more he had reached the fiercest part of
the Rapids when a great wave struck him--and he disappeared from the
sight of the thousands of eyes that watched the boiling waters, praying
that his life might be spared. He came once again into view but then
disappeared forever in the raging waters.
The _Saturday Review_ of July 28, 1883,[15] voiced the British feeling
when it said:
It was unquestionably very appropriate that Mr. Webb should have
met his death in America, and in sight of the United States.
That country has a passion for big shows, and has now been
indulged in the biggest thing of its kind which has been seen in
this generation. Nothing was to be gained by success--if success
had been possible--beyond a temporary notoriety and the applause
of a mob. . . .
As long as there is a popular demand for these essentially
barbarous amusements, men and women will be found who are
desperate, or greedy, or vain enough to risk their lives and
ruin their health for money or applause. . . . The death of Mr.
Webb is shocking in the last degree; but it will not be wholly
useless if it at least awakens the sight-seeing world to some
sense of what it is they have been encouraging.
It is interesting to compare this just criticism with that passed on
Blondin's exhibition at Crystal Palace previously quoted.
When Webb swam across the channel, the feat was a remarkable instance of
strength and endurance. It showed that a powerful man who was a good
swimmer could continue to make progress through the water on a very fine
day for over twenty hours. Indeed, shipwrecked sailors have done nearly
as much under far less favorable circumstances; but as far as it went,
Webb's was a very creditable performance. But in the Channel many
vessels were following him and would have picked him up the moment he
became exhausted. Yet it was nowise to his credit to throw his life away
at Niagara, and render his children orphans, for the ignoble object of
pleasing a mob.
It was not long before another swimmer appeared who wore a harness over
his shoulders to which was attached a wire running loosely over a
cylinder on the bridge, which kept his feet straight towards Davy
Jones's locker; he survived the leap to his considerable personal
profit. From bridge to water he went in four seconds--the only time on
record. Another foolhardy feat was performed by some of the reckless men
who decorate almost inaccessible landscapes with possibly truthful but
most annoying, puffs of ague-pills, liver-pads, tooth-powder, and such.
A log once lodged forty rods above Goat Island, where for four years it
lay seemingly beyond human reach. It touched the pride of certain
shameless and professional advertisers, who were famous for their
ingenious vandalism, that such a chance should be wasted. So, when the
Rapids were thinly frozen over, they made their cautious way to the log,
and soon there was a gorgeous sign fixed, twelve feet by four, on the
very fore-front of one of the world's grandest spots, to-wit:
Go East via Lake Winipiseogee R. R.
[Illustration: American Falls from Goat Island.]
Nothing daunted by the sad fate of Captain Webb, a burly Boston
policeman, W. I. Kendall, went through the Rapids on August 22, 1886,
protected by only a cork life-preserver. All previous trips had been
publicly announced, but Kendall slipped through with only a few
spectators, accidentally on the cliffs or bridges, to bear witness. For
this reason some have felt that the trip was never made, but men of
integrity are known who witnessed the performance. On Sunday, August 14,
1887, "Professor" Alphonse King crossed the river below the Falls and
bridge on a water bicycle. The wheel with paddles was erected between
two water-tight cylinders, eight inches in diameter and ten feet long.
"Steve" Brodie, who had achieved great notoriety by jumping from
Brooklyn Bridge, created a greater sensation by going over the Falls.
This occurred on September 7, 1889. Brodie wore an india-rubber suit,
surrounded by thick steel bands. The suit was very thickly padded, yet
Brodie was brought ashore bruised and insensible. His victories won, he
became the proprietor of a Bowery bar-room, and the pride of the
neighbourhood.
The cranks that were trying to get through the Whirlpool did not arrive
at Niagara until about 1886, but from that on we find an _embarras de
richesse_ of them for a decade or so until the peculiar mania for
notoriety died out.
The fate that befell Webb could not discourage others to venture the
perilous trip, and, probably, the pioneer of them was C. D. Graham, an
English cooper of Philadelphia, who conceived the idea that, though no
regular boat could live in the rush of the waters below the Falls of
Niagara, it would perhaps be possible for a novel kind of boat, a cask
shaped like a buoy, with a man in it, to get down to Lewiston in safety.
He therefore made a series of such casks at an expenditure of a great
deal of time and labour; and, at last finding a shape to his mind,
filled two or three in succession with bags of sand equal to his own
weight, and set them afloat at Niagara. They arrived safely in smooth
water, threading the Rapids and the Whirlpool after a journey of some
five miles; the inventor thereupon resolved to keep one side uppermost,
in which was left an air-hole, and fastened in the cask a long canvas
bag, made like a suit of clothes, and waterproof. Getting into this bag
on July 11, 1886, he grasped two iron handles fixed to the staves on the
inner side of the cask; a movable cover being fastened on, the odd craft
was shoved into the rushing waters. The cask, of course, turned over and
over; and though water got into the air-hole, it did not get into the
canvas bag; the surging waters handled the cask so roughly that Graham
straightway fell sick, but clung to his iron staples, and in a space of
time exceeding thirty minutes--accounts differ here--reached smooth
water at Lewiston, five miles away, and was safely taken out, able to
boast that he had performed a feat hitherto deemed impossible.
His record trip in a cask was made on August 19, 1886. On this occasion
he announced that he would make the trip with his head protruding from
the top of the barrel. This was actually done; he went as far as the
Whirlpool, but it left him very little hearing, for a big wave gave him
a furious slap on the side of the head. Graham made other trips in 1887
and 1889, and his last, probably, in 1901. This nearly ended his life,
as he was caught in an eddy where he was held for over twenty minutes;
when he finally reached the Whirlpool and was taken out he was nearly
suffocated.
Graham's performances, possibly, were also of some practical value. It
was proven to the observant that a particular shape of cask might, under
certain conditions, be used to draw feeble or sickly passengers from a
wrecked ship in bad weather, for a woman or a child could have lived in
Graham's machine as well as the cooper himself; however, the
circumstances are few under which it would be useful, and Graham, by
his own account, had no idea of applying his contrivance in any such
way.
It is a question whether the barrel-cranks made any money by their
foolhardy feats. That nothing interests callous men like the risk of a
human life is undoubtedly true and has been proved by the whole history
of amusement. The interest must depend on sight. Nobody would pay merely
to know that at a specified hour Blondin was risking his life a hundred
miles off. The man in the cask would not be seen, and to see a closed
cask go bobbing about down five miles of rapids would not be an exciting
amusement, more especially as, after two or three successful trials, the
notion of any imminency or inevitableness of actual danger would
disappear from the spectator's mind. Captain Webb, of course, expected
his speculation to pay him; but then, it was in a somewhat different
way. He did not expect any money from those who gazed from the shore,
but believed,--as did also the speculators who paid him--that if he swam
Niagara, he would revive the waning interest in his really splendid
feats of customary swimming.
Copying somewhat the idea that Graham had developed so successfully,
George Hazlett and William Potts, also coopers of Buffalo, made a trip
through the Rapids in a barrel of their own construction on August 8,
1886. The barrel they used more closely resembled the familiar type of
barrel, having no unusual features of form. In this same barrel used by
the two coopers, Miss Sadie Allen and George Hazlett made a trip through
the Niagara Gorge on November 28, 1886. There was then, I believe, a
cessation of the barrel-fiends, who, nevertheless, re-appeared in the
twentieth century.
At the end of the summer of 1901, Martha E. Wagenfuhrer, the wife of a
professional wrestler, announced that she would go through the river in
a barrel, the date of September 6th being selected, possibly because the
woman believed that she might have a President of the United States in
her audience, for on that day President McKinley visited Niagara. Quite
a crowd collected, for she was the first woman to try the feat alone.
She was rescued after being in the water over an hour.
It was nearly six o'clock in the afternoon [to quote the New
York _Times_ of September 7, 1901,] when the barrel containing
Martha E. Wagenfuhrer was set adrift on the lower Niagara River,
to be carried by the currents into the rapids and vortex of the
Whirlpool. The trip through the rapids was quickly made, but the
rescue from the Whirlpool was delayed. Night fell before the
barrel was recovered, and the woman's friends had availed
themselves of the help of a powerful searchlight to illuminate
the rushing tossing waters of the pool. She started at 5.56
o'clock, and it was 7 o'clock when the barrel was landed. The
head of the cask had to be broken in in order to get the woman
out. She was in a semi-conscious condition. Before entering the
barrel she had indulged freely in liquor, but when she got out
her first call was for water.
Female barrel-fiends now followed in rapid succession. Maud Willard of
Canton, Ohio, lost her life on the 7th of September, 1901, in navigating
the Whirlpool Rapids in Graham's barrel. Graham, as we have seen, had
made five successful trips, and Miss Willard desired to attain fame by
doing the same. She and Graham were good friends, and to please her he
was to swim from the Whirlpool to Lewiston following her trip through
the Rapids. The barrel was taken to the river in the morning. It was an
enormous affair, made of oak, and at 4 o'clock Miss Willard got into it,
accompanied by her pet dog. The cover was put over the manhole, and she
was taken out into the stream in tow of a small boat, and left to the
mercy of the currents.
Miss Willard passed safely through the Rapids, but the mighty maelstrom
then held her far out from shore, where her friends and would-be
rescuers could not reach her. From 4.40 o'clock until after 10 o'clock
at night she was whirled about in the peculiar formation of the Niagara
here. Messengers were sent to Niagara Falls to have the searchlight car
of the electric line sent down the Gorge; huge bonfires were built to
warm the spectators, and likewise to illuminate the river. Soon a beam
of white light shot across the waters from the American to the Canadian
side; now and then the tossing barrel could be seen tumbling and
bobbing, and rolling in the currents. The latter were then suddenly
changing--first a piece of wood came in drifting toward shore--within a
short time the barrel hove in sight within the light of the beacons, and
men swam out to catch it.
When the manhole cover was removed, Miss Willard was limp and lifeless.
Death probably came gradually, and possibly without much suffering. The
little dog came out alive, and none the worse for the perilous trip.
While she was tossing in the Whirlpool, Graham made his trip to
Lewiston, the only person who ever swam from the pool to Lewiston. When
he returned up the Gorge he found the barrel and Miss Willard still in
the terrible pool.
A widow, Mrs. Anna Edson Taylor, safely passed over Niagara Falls in a
barrel on Friday, October 24, 1901, the trip from end to end being
witnessed by several thousand people. The fact that Mrs. Taylor failed
to appear, as advertised, on the Sunday before, and again on Wednesday,
did not lessen the confidence of the public. It was beyond belief that
she would live to tell the story, but she came out alive and well so
soon as she recovered from the shock.
This initial voyage over Niagara's cataract began at Port Day, nearly a
mile from the brink of the Falls. At this point the daring woman and her
barrel were taken out to Grass Island, where she entered; at 3.50 she
was in tow of a boat speeding well out into the Canadian current. Soon
after the barrel was cast adrift on the current that never before was
known to spare a human life once fallen in its grasp. From the spot
where the rowboat left the barrel the current runs frightfully swift,
soon boiling on the teeth of the upper rifts; the barrel was weighted
with a two hundred pound anvil, and it floated nicely in the water, Mrs.
Taylor apparently retaining an upright position for the greater part of
the trip down the river and through the rapids. Fortunately the cask
kept well within the deep water, and except for passing out of sight
several times, in the white-crested waves, it was in view for the
greater part of a mile. In passing over the Horseshoe Fall the barrel
kept toward the Canadian side at a point three hundred feet from the
centre.
[Illustration: Horseshoe Falls from Goat Island.]
It dropped over the Fall at 4.23 o'clock, the bottom well down. In less
than a minute it appeared at the base of the Fall, and was swept down
stream. The current cast it aside in an eddy, and, floating back
up-stream, it was held between two eddies until captured at 4.40
o'clock. As it was grounded on a rock, out in the river, it was
difficult to handle, but several men soon had the hatch off. Mrs. Taylor
was alive and conscious but before she could be taken out of the barrel
it was necessary to saw a portion of the top away. Her condition was a
surprise to all. She walked along the shore to a boat, and was taken
down the river to the _Maid of the Mist_ dock, where she entered a
carriage and was brought to Niagara Falls. The woman was suffering
greatly from the shock, and had a three-inch cut in her scalp, back of
the right ear, but how or when she got it she did not know. She
complained of pains between the shoulders, but it is thought that this
was due to the fact that her shoulders were thrown back during the
plunge, as she had her arms in straps, and these undoubtedly saved her
neck from breaking.
She admitted having lost consciousness in passing over the Falls. While
thanking God for sparing her life, she warned every one not to repeat
her foolhardy trip. So severe was the shock that she wandered in her
talk, with three doctors attending her; she, however, soon recovered.
Mrs. Taylor was forty-three years old when she made this marvellous
trip. She was born in Auburn, N. Y., and was a school teacher in Bay
City, Mich., before she came East. She had crossed the American
continent from ocean to ocean eight times, and during her stay East
impressed everybody with her wonderful nerve.
The barrel in which Mrs. Taylor made the journey was four and one-half
feet high, and about three feet in diameter. A leather harness and
cushions inside protected her body. Air was secured through a rubber
tube connecting with a small opening near the top of the barrel. Her
warning evidently has been heeded. To our knowledge no barrel-fiend has
reappeared at the shores of Niagara within the last five years.
In the year 1846, a small steamer was built in the eddy just above the
suspension bridge to run up to the Falls, and very appropriately named
the _Maid of the Mist_. Her engine was rather weak, but she safely
accomplished the trip. Since she took passengers aboard only from the
Canada side, however, she did little more than pay expenses, and in
1854, a larger, better boat, with a more powerful engine, a new _Maid of
the Mist_, was put on the route and many persons since have made this
most exciting and impressive voyage along the foot of the Falls.
Owing to some change in the appointments of the _Maid of the
Mist_ which confined her landings to the Canadian shore she too
became unprofitable and her owner having decided to leave the
place wished to sell her as she lay on her dock. This he could
not do, but having received an offer of more than half of her
cost, if he would deliver her at Niagara-on-the-Lake, he
determined a consultation with Joel Robinson, who had acted as
her captain and pilot on her trips under the Falls to make the
attempt to take her down the river. Mr. Robinson agreed to act
as pilot on the fearful voyage; the engineer, Mr. Jones,
consented to go with him and a courageous machinist by the name
of McIntyre volunteered to share the risk with them. The boat
was in complete trim, removing from deck and hold all
superfluous articles and as notice was given of the time of
starting, a large number of people assembled to watch the
spectacular plunge, few expecting to see either boat or crew
again. About three o'clock in the afternoon of June 15, 1861,
the engineer took his place in the hold, and, knowing that their
drifting would be short at the longest, and might be only the
preface to a swift destruction, set his steam valve at the
proper gauge and awaited--not without anxiety--the tinkling
signal that should start them on their flying voyage. McIntyre
joined Robinson at the wheel on the upper deck. Self-possessed,
and with the calmness which results from undoubted courage and
confidence, yet with the humility which recognises all
possibilities, Robinson took his place at the wheel and pulled
the starting bell. With a shriek from her whistle and a white
puff from the escape-pipe to take leave, as it were, of the
multitude gathered at the shores, she soon swung around to the
right, cleared the smooth water and shot like an arrow into the
rapid under the bridge. She took the outside course of the rapid
and when a third of the way down it, a jet of water struck
against her rudder, a column dashed up under her starboard side,
hurled her over, carried away her smoke-stack, threw Robinson
flat on his back, and thrust McIntyre against her starboard
wheel-house with such a force as to break it through. The little
boat emerged from the fearful baptism, shook her wounded sides,
and slid into the Whirlpool riding for the moment again on an
even keel. Robinson rose at once, seized the helm, set her to
the right of the large pot in the pool, then turned her directly
through the neck of it. Thence, after receiving another
drenching from its combing waves, the craft dashed on without
further accident to the quiet of the river at Lewiston.
Thus was accomplished one of the most remarkable and perilous voyages
ever made by man; the boat was seventy-two feet long with seventeen feet
breadth of beam and eight feet depth of hold, and carried an engine of
one hundred horse-power.
Robinson stated after the voyage that the greater part of it was like
what he had always imagined must be the swift sailing of a large bird in
a downward flight; that when the accident occurred the boat seemed to be
struck from all directions at once, that she trembled like a
fiddlestring and felt as if she would crumble away and drop into atoms;
that both he and McIntyre were holding to the wheel with all their
strength, but this produced no more effect than if they had been two
flies; that he had no fear of striking the rocks, for he knew that the
strongest suction must be in the deepest channels, and that the boat
must remain in that. Finding that McIntyre was somewhat bruised and
bewildered by excitement on account of his fall, and did not rise,
Robinson quickly put his foot on him to keep him from rolling round the
deck, and thus finished the voyage.
The effect of this trip upon Robinson was decidedly marked. To
it, as he lived but few years afterward, his death was commonly
attributed. "He was," said Mrs. Robinson in an interview,
"twenty years older when he came home that day, than when he
went out. He sank into his chair like a person overcome with
weariness. He decided to abandon the water, and advised his sons
to venture no more about the Rapids. Both his manner and
appearance were changed." Calm and deliberate before, he became
thoughtful and serious afterwards. He had been borne, as it
were, in the arms of a power so mighty, that its impress was
stamped on his features and on his mind. Through a slightly
opened door he had seen a vision which awed and subdued him. He
became reverent in a moment. He grew venerable in an hour.
As an illustration of the lengths unscrupulous sensationalists will go
at Niagara to satisfy the curious throngs, in September, 1883, several
enterprising citizens of Niagara Falls purchased a small boat which they
fitted up to represent the _Maid of the Mist_, and sent it through the
Rapids. Men were stationed about the boat in effigy, but no human beings
were allowed on board, although, indeed there were many applications for
passage. The boat passed through the Gorge in good shape.
On August 28, 1887, Charles Alexander Percy, a waggon-maker of
Suspension Bridge, went over the Rapids to win fame. He had conceived
the idea of constructing a boat, and, having been previously a sailor he
knew how to build a staunch craft. The vessel was of hickory, seventeen
feet long and four feet ten and one-quarter inches wide. It had
sixty-four oak ribs, and an iron plate weighing three hundred pounds was
fastened to the bottom. The boat as completed weighed nine hundred
pounds, and was covered with white canvas. At 3.30 o'clock in the
afternoon on the day mentioned, Percy, having with great difficulty
transported his craft to the old _Maid of the Mist_ landing above the
cantilever bridge, took off his coat and waistcoat, put them in a valise
and stowed it away in one of the compartments. Then he sat in the middle
part of the boat, which had no deck, rowed out into the Niagara, just
above the cantilever, unshipped his oars and fastened them to the boat
and then crawled into one of his air-tight compartments. Many people
watched his white craft from the bridges and banks, but the excursion
had not been advertised and many visitors to the Falls knew nothing of
it. The boat shot down toward the Whirlpool. On the theory that there
was an undercurrent which ran stronger than the surface current, Percy
had attached a thirty-pound weight to a ten-foot line, which he threw
overboard to act as a drag; this had no apparent effect; the two-mile
trip to the Whirlpool occupied less than five minutes, and while the
boat was submerged repeatedly, it did not turn over. When near the
Whirlpool it drifted close to the American shore, Percy, thinking he was
in the quiet water on the further side of the Whirlpool, stuck out his
head, but closed the aperture just in time to escape a tremendous wave.
The boat passed straight across the Whirlpool, and on the other side
Percyl crawled out of the compartment, took his oars, and rowed
leisurely around to the foot of the inclined railway on the Canadian
side, where he landed, his voyage having lasted twenty-five minutes. He
gave much the same account of the adventure as was given by Graham of
barrel fame, and Kendall, the Boston policeman, who swam into the
Whirlpool in 1886. He thought he struck rocks in the passage down, but
the boat showed no marks.
[Illustration: Ice Bridge and American Falls.]
Percy and a friend, William Dittrick, repeated the trip on September 25,
1887, through the lower half of the Gorge from the Whirlpool to
Lewiston, having a thrilling experience. Dittrick occupied one of the
air compartments, while Percy sat in the cockpit.
Finally, on September 16, 1888, Percy again risked his life in making a
voyage through the waters of the Gorge near Lewiston. In this trip he
narrowly escaped death and the boat was lost.
Elated by his success, Percy now made a wager with Robert William Flack
of Syracuse, "for a race through the Whirlpools in life-boats for five
hundred dollars a side." The race was set for August 1, 1888, but on
July 4th, Flack was first to show that his craft was seaworthy. The boat
was of the clinker pattern, had no air-cushions, and was partly
constructed of cork. In the presence of an immense concourse of
spectators it went first along gaily, but in three minutes the boat was
upset and carried into the Whirlpool bottom upwards. It was a frightful
spectacle, witnessed by thousands of people. The boat capsized three
times; the last time it tossed high in the air. It stood on end for an
instant and then it toppled over on poor Flack, who was strapped to the
boat helpless and floated about the pool upside down for about an hour,
until captured on the Canadian side. Flack's body was only a mass of
bruised flesh. Percy meantime, having witnessed the tragedy from the
American side, jumped into a trap, and drove to the Whirlpool on the
Canadian side where, throwing off his clothes, he leaped into the river
and swam for the boat which was now approaching the shore. But he was
too late. His courageous feat could not help Flack, who was found dead,
hanging on the straps he had placed there to aid him to save his life.
In 1889 Walter G. Campbell tried to make the perilous trip in an open,
flat-bottomed boat, which he launched above the Rapids. His only
companion was a black dog. Campbell, with a life-preserver about his
body, stood up, using his oar as a paddle, and boldly drifted with
increasing speed toward the seething pool. The trip took about twenty
minutes, but, fortunately, the boat capsized before the worst water was
reached, and Campbell just managed to struggle to the shore. The poor
black dog paid the penalty of his master's folly.
Peter Nissen, of Chicago, made a successful trip through the Whirlpool
Rapids of Niagara on July 9, 1900, being the first man to go through in
an open boat and come out unharmed. He entered the Rapids at 5 P.M., the
boat gliding down easily bow first, entering the first wave end on, and
going partly over and partly under the water, drenched its occupant
completely. The second wave struck him with terrific force almost
broadside, the boat being partly turned by the first wave, smashing
Nissen against the cockpit, knocking off his hat and nearly smothering
him. A moment later he entered the frightful mass of warring waters
opposite the Whirlpool Rapids station, and for a few moments it looked
as though his end had come, the boat being tossed with terrific force
out of the water, broadside up, the iron keel, weighing 1250 pounds,
being plainly seen. Boat and occupant then disappeared altogether, not
being again seen for several seconds until the worst was feared.
Suddenly both man and boat reappeared farther down the stream, and the
hundreds of onlookers gave vent to their feelings in cheers. The hardy
navigator now went under the waters again receiving a crushing blow as
he entered every succeeding wave when the staunch craft and its master
raced into the Whirlpool. But Nissen was not yet safe. Having no means
of guiding or propelling the boat, Nissen was compelled to sit in the
water in the cockpit for fifty minutes, being carried around the
Whirlpool four times. Once the boat approached the vortex and was sucked
down about half its length, the other half standing out of the water in
an almost vertical position. It was immediately thrown out, however, and
resumed its course around the pool. When at the farther end, where the
current has the least strength the boat then being about fifty feet from
shore, three young men swam out with a rope and fastened it to the boat,
which was then drawn in by very willing hands. Nissen, when questioned,
said he was not injured in the least, only feeling cold and weak. He was
stripped and given dry clothing, and he then declared he felt all right.
In making the trip he wore his usual clothing, pulling on an ordinary
life-preserver to aid him if he should be thrown out. He did not intend
to fasten himself in the boat, but at the last moment passed a rope over
his shoulder, which probably saved his life.
The boat, which he had named the _Fool-Killer_, was twenty feet long,
four feet wide, and four feet deep. The deck was slightly raised in the
centre, gently sloping to the gunwales. In the centre of the deck a
cockpit four feet long and twenty inches wide extended down to the keel,
a distance of four feet. The side-planking of the cockpit was carried
above the deck, forming a combing six inches in height; six water-tight
compartments were built in the boat, two at each end and one on each
side of the cockpit; three hundred pounds of cork were also used, so
that the boat was unsinkable. The main feature of the boat was the keel.
This was a shaft of round iron, four inches in diameter and twenty feet
long, hanging two feet below the bottom of the boat, and held in
position by five one-inch iron bars.
Our record of sensationalism at Niagara would be lacking in fulness, at
least, if mention were not made of the many gruesome suicides that have
occurred here, but we forbear. A story of what a dog endured, however,
is quite in place:
A large dog lately survived the passage over Niagara Falls and
through the rapids to the whirlpool. He was first noticed while
he was within the influence of the upper rapids. As he was
whirled rapidly down over the Falls, every one imagined that
that was the last of him. Shortly afterwards, however, he was
discovered in the gorge below the Falls vainly endeavouring to
clamber up upon some of the debris from the remains of the great
ice bridge which recently covered the water at this point, but
which had nearly all gone down the river. The news spread
rapidly through the village, and a large crowd gathered at the
shore. Strenuous efforts were made to get the struggling animal
on shore, for an animal which had gone safely over the Falls
would be a prize worth having, but without success. Finally the
dog succeeded in getting upon a large cake of ice, and floated
off upon it down towards Suspension Bridge and the terrible
Whirlpool Rapids. Information of the dog's coming was telephoned
to Suspension Bridge village, and a large crowd collected on the
bridge to watch for the coming wonder. In due time the poor
fellow appeared upon his ice-cake, howling dismally the while,
as if he appreciated the terrors of his situation. An
express-train crossing the bridge at the time stopped in order
to let the passengers witness the unusual spectacle. Round and
round whirled the cake, in a dizzy way, and louder and more
prolonged grew the howls of the poor dog. As the influence of
the Whirlpool Rapids began to be felt, the cake increased in
speed, whirled suddenly into the air, broke in two, and the dog
disappeared from view. No one thought that he could possibly
survive the wild rush through the rapids. When, therefore, word
was received that the dog was in the whirlpool, still living,
and once more struggling vainly to swim to land, it was received
with marked incredulity. This story was substantiated by several
trustworthy witnesses. It seems incredible that an animal could
go through the upper rapids, over the Falls, through the Gorge,
through the Whirlpool Rapids, and into the whirlpool itself, a
distance of several miles, and still be alive. The poor animal
perished in the whirlpool.
In various instances dogs have been sent over the Falls and survived the
plunge.
As early as November, 1836, a troublesome female bull-terrier was put in
a coffee sack by a couple of men who had determined to get rid of her,
and thrown off from the middle of Goat Island Bridge. In the following
spring she was found alive and well about sixty rods below the Ferry,
having lived through the winter on a deceased cow that was thrown over
the bank the previous fall. In 1858, another dog, a male of the same
breed, was thrown into the Rapids, also near the middle of the bridge.
In less than an hour he came up the Ferry stairs, very wet and not at
all gay. He was ever after a sadder, if not a better dog.
[Footnote 15: Vol. lvi., p. 106, seq.]
Chapter VII
The Old Niagara Frontier
What has been loosely called the "Niagara Frontier" embraces all the
beautiful stretch of territory south of Lakes Ontario and Erie,
extending westward quite to Cleveland, the Forest City on the latter
lake. It would be difficult to point to a tract of country in all
America the history of which is of more inherent interest than this
far-flung old-time frontier of which the Niagara River was the strategic
key. The beautiful cities now standing here, Buffalo, Cleveland, and
Toronto, as well as the ancient Falls, forever new and wonderful, bring
to this fair country, in large volume, the modern note that would drown
the memory of the long ago; but here, as elsewhere, and particularly
here, the Indian left his names upon the rivers and the shores of the
lakes, beautiful names that will neither die nor permit the days of
Iroquois, Eries, and Hurons to pass forgotten.
Historically, the Niagara frontier is memorable, firstly, because it
embraced in part the homes and hunting-grounds of the Six Nations, the
pre-eminent Indian confederacy of the continent. The French name for the
confederacy was Iroquois; their own, "Ho-de-no-sote," or the "Long
House," which extended from the Hudson to Lake Erie and from the St.
Lawrence to the valleys of the Delaware, Susquehanna, and Allegheny.
This domain was divided between the several nations by well-defined
boundary lines, called "lines of property." The famous Senecas were on
the Niagara frontier.
[Illustration: Colonel Römer's Map of the Country of the Iroquois,
1700.]
In this pleasant land the Iroquois dwelt in palisaded villages upon the
fertile banks of the lakes and streams which watered their country.
Their houses were built within a protecting circle of palisades, and,
like all the tribes of the Iroquois family, were long and narrow, not
more than twelve or fifteen feet in width, but often exceeding one
hundred and fifty in length. They were made of two parallel rows of
poles stuck upright in the ground, of sufficient widths at the bottom to
form the floor, and bent together at the top to form the roof; the whole
was entirely covered with strips of peeled bark. At each end of the long
house was a strip of bark or a bear skin hung loosely for a door.
Within, they built their fires at intervals along the centre of the
floor, the smoke rising through the opening in the top, which served, as
well, to let in light. In every house were fires and many families, and
every family having its own fire within the space allotted to it.
Among all the Indians of the New World, there were none so politic and
intelligent, none so fierce and brave, none with so many heroic virtues
mingled with savagery, as the people of the Long House. They were a
terror to all the surrounding tribes, whether of their own or of
Algonquin speech. In 1650 they overran the country of the Huron; in 1651
they destroyed the neutral nation along the Niagara; in 1652 they
exterminated the Eries. They knew every war-path and "their war-cry was
heard westward to the Mississippi and southward to the great gulf."
They were, in fact, the conquerors of the New World, perhaps not
unjustly styled the "Romans of the West." Wrote the Jesuit Father
Ragueneau, in 1650, "My pen has no ink black enough to describe the fury
of the Iroquois." In 1715, the Tuscaroras, a branch of the Iroquois
family, in the Carolinas, united with the Five Nations, after which the
confederacy was known as the Six Nations, of which the other five tribes
were named in order of their rank, Mohawks, Onondagas, Senecas, Oneidas,
and Cayugas.
Iroquois government was vested in a general council composed of fifty
hereditary sachems, but the order of succession was always in the female
and never in the male line. Each nation was divided into eight clans or
tribes. The spirit of the animal or bird after which the clan was named,
called its "To-tem," was the guardian spirit of the clan, and every
member used its figure in his signature as his device. It was the rule
that men and women of the same tribe could intermarry. In this manner
relationships were interlocked forever by the closest of ties. The name
of each sachemship was permanent. When a sachem died the people of the
league selected the most competent from among those of his family, who
by right inherited the title, and the one so chosen was raised in solemn
council to the high honour, and dropping his own received the name of
the sachemship. Two sachemships, however, after the death of the
original sachems ever remained vacant, those of the Onondagas and
"Ha-yo-went-ha" (Hi-a-wat-ha) immortalised by Longfellow, of the
Mohawks. Daganoweda was the founder of the league, whose head was
represented as covered with tangled serpents; Hi-a-wat-ha (meaning "he
who combs") put the head in order and this aided the formation of the
league. In honour of these great services this sachemship was afterward
held vacant.
The entire body of sachems formed the council league; their authority
was civil, confined to affairs of peace, and was advisory rather than
otherwise. Every member of the confederacy followed, to a great extent,
the dictates of his own will, controlled very much by the customs of his
people and "a sentiment that ran through their whole system of affairs
which was as inflexible as iron."
The character of the Iroquois confederacy has a bearing on the history
of the Niagara country of prime importance; while their immediate seats
were somewhat south of Niagara River itself, they were the red masters
of the eastern Great Lake region when white men came to know it,
conquering, as we have noted, the earlier red races, the Eries and
Neutrals, who lived beside Lake Erie and the Niagara River. Of these
very little is known; placed between the Iroquois on the South and the
Hurons on the North both are accounted to have been fierce and brave
peoples, for a long time able to withstand the savage inroads of the
people of the Long House. The Eries occupied the territory just south of
Lake Erie, while the Neuter or Neutral towns lay on the north side of
the lake--stretching up perhaps near to Niagara Falls. They claimed the
territory lying west of the Genesee River, and extending northward to
the Huron land about Georgian Bay as their hunting-ground, and could, it
was affirmed by Jesuits, number twelve thousand souls or four thousand
fighting men in 1641, only a decade before annihilation by the southern
foe.
Although the French applied to them the name of "neuter" [writes
Marshall, the historian of the Niagara frontier], it was always
an allusion to their neutrality between the Hurons and the
Iroquois. These contending nations traversed the territories of
the Neutral Nation in their wars against each other, and if, by
chance, they met in the wigwams or villages of this people, they
were forced to restrain their animosity and to separate in
peace.
Notwithstanding this neutrality, they waged cruel wars with other
nations, toward whom they exercised cruelties even more inhuman than
those charged upon their savage neighbours. The early missionaries
describe their customs as similar to those of the Hurons, their land as
producing Indian corn, beans, and squashes in abundance, their rivers as
abounding in fish of endless variety, and their forests as filled with
animals yielding the richest furs.
They exceeded the Hurons in stature, strength, and symmetry of form, and
wore their dress with a superior grace, and regarded their dead with
peculiar affection; hence arose a custom which is worthy of notice, and
explains the origin of the numerous burial mounds which are scattered
over this vicinity. Instead of burying the bodies of their deceased
friends, they deposited them in houses or on scaffolds erected for the
purpose. They collected the skeletons from time to time and arranged
them in their dwellings, in anticipation of the feast of the dead, which
occurred once in ten or twelve years. On this occasion the whole nation
repaired to an appointed place, each family, with the greatest apparent
affection, bringing the bones of their deceased relatives enveloped in
the choicest furs.
The final disruption between Neuters and Senecas came, it would seem,
in 1648, in the shape of a challenge sent by the latter and accepted;
the war raged until 1651, when two whole villages of Neuters were
destroyed, the largest containing more than sixteen hundred men. Father
Fremin in 1669 found Neuters still living in captivity in Gannogarae, a
Seneca town east of the Genesee. Some two years later, seemingly by
accident, a rupture between Senecas and Eries, farther to the westward,
took place, resulting in a similar Seneca victory; thus the Iroquois
came to be the masters of the Niagara country.
What this meant becomes very evident with the advance of France to this
old-time key of the continent; here lay the strongest, most civilised
Indian nations, conquerors of half a continent; what the friendship of
the Iroquois meant to these would-be white conquerors of the self-same
empire no words could express; as we have noted, the Niagara River was
the direct passageway to the Mississippi basin. It is one of the most
interesting caprices of Fate that France should have been given the
great waterway--key of the continent; now, with a friendly alliance with
the Six Nations the progress of French arms could hardly be challenged.
But France, in the early hours of her progress, and by the hand of her
best friend and wisest champion, Champlain, incurred the inveterate
hatred of these powerful New York confederates. This he did in 1609 by
joining a war-party of Algonquins of the lower St. Lawrence region on
one of their memorable raids into the Iroquois country by way of the
Richelieu River and Lake Champlain. Dr. Bourinot,[16] perhaps most
clearly of all, has explained Champlain's own comprehension of the
matter by saying that the dominating purpose of his life in New France
was the exploration of the vast region from which came the sweeping
tides of the St. Lawrence; supposing, naturally, that the Canadian red
men were to be eventually the victors in the ancient war, especially if
aided by the government of New France, it was politic for Champlain to
espouse their cause since no general scheme of exploration "could have
been attempted had he by any cold or unsympathetic conduct alienated the
Indians who guarded the waterways over which he had to pass before he
could unveil the mysteries of the Western wilderness."
In June this eventful invasion of the Iroquois country was undertaken,
and on the last day of July but one, near what was to become the
historic site of Fort Ticonderoga, a pitched battle was fought.
Champlain's own account of this the first decisive battle of America
cannot be excelled in its quaint and picturesque simplicity:
At night [he wrote] we embarked in our canoes, and, as we were
advancing noiselessly onward, we encountered a party of Iroquois
at the point of a cape which juts into the lake on the west
side. It was on the twenty-ninth of the month and about ten
o'clock at night. They, as well as we, began to shout, seizing
our arms. We withdrew to the water, and the Iroquois paddled to
the shore, arranged their canoes, and began to hew down trees
with villainous-looking axes and fortified themselves very
securely. Our party kept their canoes alongside of the other,
tied to poles, so as not to run adrift, in order to fight all
together if need be. When everything was arranged they sent two
canoes to know if their enemies wished to fight. They answered
that they desired nothing else but that there was not then light
enough to distinguish each other and that they would fight at
sunrise. This was agreed to. On both sides the night was spent
in dancing, singing, mingled with insults and taunts. Thus they
sang, danced, and insulted each other until daybreak. My
companions and I were concealed in separate canoes belonging to
the savage Montagnoes. After being equipped with light armour,
each of us took an arquebus and went ashore. I saw the enemy
leaving their barricade. They were about two hundred men, strong
and robust, who were coming toward us with a gravity and
assurance that greatly pleased me, led on by three chiefs. Ours
were marching in similar order, and told me that those who bore
the three lofty plumes were chiefs and that I must do all I
could. The moment we landed they began to run toward the enemy,
who stood firm and had not yet perceived my companions who went
into the bush with some savages. Ours commenced calling me with
a loud voice, opening the way for me and placing me at their
head, about twenty paces in advance, until I was about thirty
paces from the enemy. The moment they saw me they halted, gazing
at me and I at them. When I saw them preparing to shoot at us, I
raised my arquebus, and aiming directly at one of the chiefs,
two of them fell to the ground by this shot, and one of their
companions received a wound of which he died afterwards. I had
put four balls into my arquebus. Ours, on witnessing a shot so
favourable to them, set up such tremendous shouts that thunder
could not have been heard, and yet there was no lack of arrows
on the one side or the other. The Iroquois were greatly
astonished at seeing two men killed so instantaneously,
notwithstanding that they were provided with arrow-proof armour
woven of cotton thread and wood. This frightened them very much.
Whilst I was unloading, one of my companions fired a shot which
so astonished them anew, seeing their chiefs slain, that they
lost courage, took to flight, and abandoned the field and their
fort, hiding in the depths of the forest, whither pursuing them
I killed some others. Our savages also killed several of them
and took ten or twelve of them prisoners. The rest carried off
the wounded. These were promptly treated.
After having gained this victory, our party amused themselves
plundering Indian corn and meal from the enemy, and also their
arms which they had thrown away the better to run. And having
feasted, danced, and sung, we returned three hours afterwards
with the prisoners.[17]
[Illustration: Champlain.]
No victory could have been so costly as this; indeed, one is led to
wonder whether any battle in America ever cost more lives than this; for
one hundred and fifty years and forty-five days, or until the fall of
Quebec and New France, this strongest of Indian nations remembered
Champlain, and was the implacable enemy of the French; and, what was of
singular ill-fortune, these very Iroquois, in addition to holding the
key of the West in their grasp, lay exactly between the French and their
English rivals at the point of nearest and most vital contact. After the
Ticonderoga victory an Iroquois prisoner, previous to being burned at
the stake, chanted a song; wrote the humane Champlain, "the song was sad
to hear." For a century and a half sad songs were sung by descendants of
those Algonquin and French victors who listened in the wavering light of
that cruel fire to the song of the captive from the land of Long Houses
below the Lakes! True, the Iroquois and the French were not continually
at war through this long series of years; and French blandishments had
their effect, sometimes, even on their immemorial foe, especially at the
Seneca end of the Long House, nearest Niagara.
Six years later, in 1615, Champlain set out on his most important tour
of western discovery, largely for the purpose of fulfilling a promise
made to one of his lieutenants on the upper Ottawa to assist him in the
continual quarrel between the Hurons to the northward and the Iroquois.
Here again is forced upon our attention one of the most important
sequences of the battle of Lake Champlain. The two routes to the Great
Lakes of Montreal were by the St. Lawrence River and by the Ottawa
River. Either route the voyage was long and difficult, but by the Ottawa
the voyageur came into the "back door" of the Lakes, Georgian Bay, by a
taxing portage route; while, once stemming the St. Lawrence, Lake
Ontario was gained and, with the Niagara portage accomplished the
traveller was afloat on Lake Erie beyond which the waterway lay fair and
clear to the remotest corner of Superior. But the St. Lawrence led into
the Iroquois frontier, and the Ottawa to the country of the French
allies, the Hurons. The result was that, to a great extent, French
movement followed the northerly course; no one could bring this out more
clearly than Hinsdale and those whom he quotes:
[The Iroquois] turned the Frenchmen aside from the St. Lawrence
and the Lower Lakes to the Ottawa and Nipissing; they ruined the
fur trade "which was the life-blood of New France"; they "made
all her early years a misery and a terror"; they retarded the
growth of Absolutism until Liberty was equal to the final
struggle; and they influence our national history to this day,
since "populations formed in the ideas and habits of a feudal
monarchy, and controlled by a hierarchy profoundly hostile to
freedom of thought, would have remained a hindrance and a
stumbling-block in the way of that majestic experiment of which
America is the field."[18]
Two insignificant historical facts illustrate this power exerted on
westward movement from Canada: Lake Erie was not discovered until half a
century after Lake Superior, in fact was practically unknown even for
fifty years after Detroit was founded in 1701.
From the rendezvous in the Huron country this second army of invasion,
at the head of which rode Champlain, set out for the Iroquois land, to
carry fire and sword to the homes of the enemy and forge so much the
more firmly the chains of prejudice and hatred. Crossing Lake Ontario at
its western extremity the march was taken up from a point near Sacketts
Harbour for the Onondaga fort, which was located, probably, a few miles
south of Lake Oneida.
The importance of the campaign on the Niagara frontier history is
sufficient for us to include again Champlain's account of it:
We made about fourteen leagues in crossing to the other side of
the Lake, in a southerly direction, towards the territories of
the enemy. The Indians concealed all their canoes in the woods
near the shore. We made by land about four leagues over a sandy
beach, where I noticed a very agreeable and beautiful country,
traversed by many small streams, and two small rivers which
empty into the said Lake. Also many ponds and meadows, abounding
in an infinite variety of game, numerous vines, and fine woods,
a great number of chestnut trees, the fruit of which was yet in
its covering. Although very small, it was of good flavour. All
the canoes being thus concealed, we left the shore of the Lake,
which is about eighty leagues long and twenty-five wide, the
greater part of it being inhabited by Indians along its banks,
and continued our way by land about twenty-five or thirty
leagues. During four days we crossed numerous streams and a
river issuing from a lake which empties into that of the
_Entouhonorons_. This Lake, which is about twenty-five or thirty
leagues in circumference, contains several beautiful islands,
and is the place where our Iroquois enemies catch their fish,
which are there in great abundance. On the 9th of October, our
people being on a scout, encountered eleven Indians whom they
took prisoners, namely, four women, three boys, a girl, and
three men, who were going to the fishery, distant four leagues
from the enemies' fort. . . . The next day, about three o'clock
in the afternoon, we arrived before the fort. . . . Their
village was enclosed with four strong rows of interlaced
palisades, composed of large pieces of wood, thirty feet high,
not more than half a foot apart and near an unfailing body of
water. . . . We were encamped until the 16th of the month. . . .
As the five hundred men did not arrive, the Indians decided to
leave by an immediate retreat and began to make baskets in which
to carry the wounded, who were placed in them doubled in a heap,
and so bent and tied as to render it impossible for them to
stir, any more than an infant in its swaddling clothes, and not
without great suffering, as I can testify, having been carried
several days on the back of one of our Indians, thus tied and
imprisoned, which made me lose all patience. As soon as I had
strength to sustain myself I escaped from this prison, or to
speak plainly, from this hell.
The enemy pursued us about half a league, in order to capture
some of our rear guard, but their efforts were useless and they
withdrew. . . . The retreat was very tedious, being from
twenty-five to thirty leagues, and greatly fatigued the wounded,
and those who carried them, though they relieved each other from
time to time. On the 18th considerable snow fell which lasted
but a short time. It was accompanied with a violent wind, which
greatly incommoded us. Nevertheless we made such progress, that
we reached the banks of the lake of the _Entouhonorons_, at the
place where we had concealed our canoes, and which were found
all whole. We were apprehensive that the enemy had broken them
up.
[Illustration: Map of French Forts in America, 1750-60.]
As the roar of Niagara greets from afar the listening ears of the
innumerable host of pilgrims who come to it to-day, so the fame of the
cataract reached the first explorers of the continent long before they
came to it, indeed almost as soon as their feet touched the shore of the
New World. Four centuries ago Niagara was the wonder of the world as it
must be four centuries hence and four times four.
In May, 1535, Jacques Cartier left France on his second voyage to
America in three ships; reaching the St. Lawrence, which he so named
from the Saint, he asked concerning its sources and
was told that, after ascending many leagues among rapids and
waterfalls, he would reach a lake 140 or 150 leagues broad, at
the western extremity of which the waters were wholesome and the
winters mild; that a river emptied into it from the south, which
had its source in the country of the Iroquois; that beyond the
lake he would find a cataract and portage, then another lake
about equal to the former, which they had never explored.
This is the first known mention of Niagara Falls. Champlain mapped the
Niagara frontier, and his map of 1613 shows the position of the great
Falls; he refers to it only as a "waterfall," which was "so very high
that many kinds of fish are stunned in its descent." He probably never
saw Niagara but wrote his description from hearsay. During the half
century between Champlain's Lake Ontario tour and the coming of La Salle
and Hennepin the Niagara must have been often visited by the Catholic
missionaries, but few of them left mention of it.
In 1615, Champlain's interpreter, Etienne Brule, was sent southward to
seek aid from the Andastes and is lost to sight in the western forests
for three years; it is possible that Brule even reached the copper
region of Lake Superior at this time, and it is fairly probable that
this intrepid wanderer, first of all Frenchmen, followed the Niagara
River and gazed upon its mighty cataract. The first knowledge we have,
however, of a Frenchman's presence on Niagara River is of Father Joseph
de la Roche Dallion, who crossed it near Lewiston eleven years later,
1626. Nicolet was in the Straits of Mackinac and at Sault Ste. Marie in
1634, at the time that Champlain (now in the last year of his eventful
life) founded Three Rivers on the St. Lawrence above Quebec for the
defence of this endangered capital!
Father L'Allemant, in his _Relation_ of 1640-41, refers to the Niagara
River as the _Onaguiaahra_, and calls it the "celebrated" river of the
Neutral Nation.
Montreal was founded in 1642, simultaneously with the memorable capture
of Father Jogues, who now, first of Europeans, passed through Lake
George en route to the homes of the merciless Iroquois. In fact it was
Father Jogues who first named this beautiful sheet of water, when he
entered it on the eve of Corpus Christi, "Lake Saint Sacrament"; Sir
William Johnson, at a later date rechristened it Lake George. Jogues may
have heard the Niagara cataract.
Ragueneau, writing to France in 1648, affirmed that "North of the Eries
is a great lake, about two hundred leagues in circumference, called
Erie, formed by the discharge of the _mer-douce_, or Lake Huron, and
which falls into a third lake called Ontario, over a cataract of
frightful height." The description by La Salle's Sulpician companion,
Galinee, in 1669, is the most accurate of all early accounts. After La
Salle's visit to the Senecas the party struck westward toward Niagara.
[Illustration: Niagara Falls by Father Hennepin.
The first known picture of Niagara, dated 1697.]
We found [wrote Galinee] a river, one-eighth of a league broad
and extremely rapid, forming the outlet of communication from
Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. The depth of the river (for it is
properly the St. Lawrence), is, at this place extraordinary,
for, on sounding close by the shore, we found 15 or 16 fathoms
of water. The outlet is 40 leagues long, and has, from 10 to 12
leagues above its embouchure into Lake Ontario, one of the
finest cataracts, or falls of water, in the world, for all the
Indians of whom I have enquired about it, say, that the river
falls at that place from a rock higher than the tallest pines,
that is about 200 feet. In fact we heard it from the place where
we were, although from 10 to 12 leagues distant, but the fall
gives such a momentum to the water, that its velocity prevented
our ascending the current by rowing, except with great
difficulty. At a quarter of a league from the outlet where we
were, it grows narrower, and its channel is confined between two
very high, steep, rocky banks, inducing the belief that the
navigation would be very difficult quite up to the cataract. As
to the river above the falls, the current very often sucks into
this gulf, from a great distance, deer and stags, elk and
roebucks, that suffer themselves to be drawn from such a point
in crossing the river, that they are compelled to descend the
falls, and to be overwhelmed in its frightful abyss.
Our desire to reach the little village called Ganastogue
Sonono-toua O-tin-a-oua prevented our going to view the wonder,
which I consider as so much the greater in proportion as the
river St. Lawrence is one of the largest in the world. I will
leave you to judge if that is not a fine cataract in which all
the water of that large river, having its mouth three leagues
broad, falls from a height of 200 feet, with a noise that is
heard not only at the place where we were, 10 or 12 leagues
distant, but also from the other side of Lake Ontario, opposite
its mouth, where M. Trouve told me he had heard it.
We passed the river, and finally, at the end of five days'
travel arrived at the extremity of Lake Ontario, where there is
a fine large sandy bay, at the end of which is an outlet of
another small lake which is there discharged. Into this our
guide conducted us about half a league, to a point nearest the
village, but distant from it some 5 or 6 leagues, and where we
unloaded our canoes.
The first eye-witness to describe Niagara Falls was Father Hennepin who
visited them in the winter of 1678-79, and made the first pictorial
representation of them.
Betwixt the Lake _Ontario_ and _Erie_, there is a vast and
prodigious Cadence of Water which falls down after a surprizing
and astonishing manner, insomuch that the Universe does not
afford its Parallel. 'T is true, _Italy_ and _Suedeland_ boast
of some such Things; but we may well say they are but sorry
Patterns, when compared to this of which we now speak. At the
foot of this horrible Precipice we meet with the River
_Niagara_, which is not above half a quarter of a League broad,
but is wonderfully deep in some places. It is so rapid above
this Descent, that it violently hurries down the Wild Beasts
while endeavouring to pass it, to feed on the other side; they
not being able to withstand the force of its Current, which
inevitably casts them down head-long above Six hundred foot.[19]
This wonderful Downfall is compounded of two great Cross-streams
of Water, and two Falls, with an Isle slopeing along the middle
of it. The Waters which fall from this vast height do foam and
boil after the most hideous manner imaginable, making an
outrageous Noise, more terrible than that of Thunder; for when
the Wind blows from off the South, their dismal roaring may be
heard above fifteen Leagues off.
The River _Niagara_ having thrown itself down this incredible
Precipice continues its impetuous course for two Leagues
together, to the great Rock above-mentioned, with an
inexpressible Rapidity: But having pass'd that, its Impetuosity
relents, gliding along more gently for two Leagues, till it
arrives at the Lake _Ontario_ or _Frontenac_.
Any Barque or greater Vessel may pass from the Fort to the foot
of this huge Rock above-mention'd. This Rock lies to the
Westward, and is cut off from the Land by the River _Niagara_,
about two Leagues farther down than the great Fall; for which
two Leagues the People are oblig'd to carry their Goods
overland; but the way is very good, and the Trees are but few,
and they chiefly Firrs and Oaks.
From the great Fall unto this Rock, which is to the West of the
River, the two Brinks of it are so prodigious high, that it
would make one tremble to look steadily upon the Water, rolling
along with a Rapidity not to be imagin'd. Were it not for this
vast Cataract, which interrupts Navigation, they might sail with
barques or greater Vessels, above four hundred and fifty Leagues
further, cross the Lake of _Hurons_, and up to the farther end
of the Lake _Illinois_; which two Lakes, we may well say, are
little Seas of fresh Water.
In 1646 Father Jogues was killed in the Long House, and though in 1647
eighteen priests were at work in the eleven missions in the West (most
of them in the Huron country), the Iroquois carried the war to their
very altars, the mission of St. Joseph being destroyed and the Hurons,
blasted as a nation, scattered to the four winds of heaven. In 1656
Mohawks even descended upon fugitive Hurons hovering about Quebec under
the very guns of Fort St. Louis; it is interesting to compare these
far-eastwardly onslaughts with the simultaneous far-eastern progress of
the French explorers, for, as the Mohawks were falling upon Quebec those
adventurous pioneers, Radisson and Grossilliers, were (it is now
believed) on the point of discovering the Mississippi River, which they
probably did in 1659.
The plan of a grand Iroquois campaign against Canada in 1660 probably
had its part in the awakening of the monarchy at home to the real state
of affairs in America; if New France was to be more than a myth
something must now be done or the entire European population of the St.
Lawrence--not yet numbering more than two thousand souls--might be swept
away as were the Hurons. The energy of Louis's famous minister,
Colbert, is now in evidence as Marquis de Tracy, special envoy, appeared
on the scene, as the population of Canada doubled in a score of months,
the Richilieu was manned with forts and an army of thirteen hundred men
invaded the Iroquois country and secured a comparatively lasting peace.
A new era dawned, renewed spirit enthused the explorer, missionary,
_coureur-de-bois_, and soldier. In 1669 the boldest man after Champlain,
as Frontenac was the most chivalrous, La Salle, crossed Lake Ontario and
in the two following years probably discovered and followed the Ohio, if
not the Mississippi itself. In 1671 the noblest soldier of the cross in
early American annals, Marquette, founded St. Ignace, and, two years
later, in company with Joliet, found and descended the "Missipi."
Simultaneously, as if to end once for all fear of Iroquois opposition,
Frontenac erected the fort named for himself near the present site of
Kingston, Canada. But French activity proved a little too successful,
for it not only awed the Iroquois but alarmed the English, who had taken
New York from the Dutch nine years before.
La Salle was in France during 1677, where he received letters-patent
concerning forts to be built south and west, in which direction "it
would seem a passage to Mexico can be discovered," while Father
Hennepin, soon to be the great discoverer's companion and mouthpiece,
was among the Senecas near the Niagara frontier gaining a useful fund of
information for the grand campaign of empire founding that La Salle had
planned with Fort Frontenac as his base of supplies.
[Footnote 16: _Canada_, p. 72, Story of the Nations Series.]
[Footnote 17: A very excellent account of the battle of Lake Champlain
is found in _The St. Lawrence River_, Ch. vi., by George Waldo Browne.]
[Footnote 18: _The Old Northwest_, p. 25. A novel, _The Road to
Frontenac_, presents a clear picture of French-Iroquois hostility on the
St. Lawrence.]
[Footnote 19: Hennepin's exaggerations add a spice to his marvellous
stories as is true of Arabella B. Buckley's _The Fairyland of
Science_ (p. 122) wherein we read: "The river Niagara first wanders
through a flat country and then reaches the Great Lake Erie in a
hollow plain. After that it flows gently down for about fifteen
miles and then the slope becomes greater and it rushes on to the
Falls of Niagara." Every age has its Hennepins!]
Chapter VIII
From La Salle to De Nonville
Receiving authority to explore the Mississippi to its mouth, as well as
a grant made in 1675 of Fort Frontenac and surrounding lands as a
seigniory, La Salle returned from France in 1678, and began the
wonderful career that will hand his name down through countless years as
the greatest explorer in the annals of America. He allied with him Tonty
and Father Hennepin, the latter already known, as we have seen, along
the Niagara frontier.
La Salle at once advanced to Fort Frontenac, which was to be his point
of rendezvous and eastern base of supplies. His first act was to fortify
this point strongly as though already foreseeing the recall of the
sturdy Frontenac and the consequential uprising of the slumbering
Iroquois.
The plan of Fort Frontenac published by Faillon shows that Frontenac's
hasty palisades were replaced by La Salle with hewed stone on at least
two landward sides, and within were to be found a barrack, bakery, and
mill; by 1780 fourteen families replaced the four lone _habitans_ left
at the fort in 1677; his improvements had cost La Salle thirty-five
thousand francs. In Parkman's graphic words we see La Salle reigning
the autocrat of his lonely little empire, as feudal lord of the
forests around him, commander of a garrison raised and paid by
himself, founder of the mission, patron of the church. But he
had no thought of resting here. He had gained what he sought, a
fulcrum for bolder and broader action. His plans were ripened
and his time was come. He was no longer a needy adventurer,
disinherited of all but his fertile brain and his intrepid
heart. He had won place, influence, credit, and potent friends.
Now, at length, he might hope to find the long-sought path to
China and Japan, and secure for France those boundless regions
of the west.[20]
La Salle now pushed his impetuous campaign, showing as much foresight as
daring in this conception. To hold the golden West in fee three
important projects at once demanded attention: fitting out two ships,
one for Lake Ontario and one for the upper Niagara River and the lakes
from which its waters came, and the acquiring at some proper rendezvous
of the first invoice of furs. A brigantine of ten tons was building
simultaneously with Fort Frontenac, and in the fall of the year (1678)
was ready for its cargo of material for a sister-ship to be built above
the great falls. A party in canoes, carrying some six thousand francs'
worth of goods, had gone forward to the further lakes to engage and
secure from the Indian tribes provisions for the expedition and a
consignment of furs for the homeward voyage.
[Illustration: R. Réné Cavelier, Sieur De La Salle.]
On November 18th, the brigantine with its singular freight weighed
anchor and sped from sight of La Salle and the watchers at Fort
Frontenac; the party was under the temporal command of Sieur la Motte de
Lussière and the spiritual guidance of the famous historian Father
Hennepin, "who belonged," writes one scholar, "to that class of writers
who speak the truth by accident"; of him La Salle generously said that
he wrote more in conformity to his wishes than his knowledge. After a
rough voyage this unknown craft entered "the beautiful river Niagara,"
as Hennepin truthfully stated, on St. Nicholas's Day, December 6th and
the _Te Deum Laudamus_ was sung feelingly by the crew, which had barely
escaped shipwreck near the mouth of Humber River.
Here, near the mouth of the Niagara River, La Salle had planned to build
a fort to bear the name Fort Conti in honour of his chief patron, the
Prince of Conti; Lake Erie he had already named Lac de Conti. "It is
situated," he wrote Conti, before it was built, "near that great
cataract, more than a hundred and twenty toises [780 feet] in height, by
which the lakes of higher elevation precipitate themselves into Lake
Frontenac." A party of Senecas welcomed the little party, listening
wonderingly to their anthem, supplying them with no end of white fish
which they had come to catch here, living the while in a sort of a
village near by, comprising probably a few huts erected for temporary
purposes. It is possible these dwellings were of a more permanent
character; at any rate Seneca sovereignty was assured, as the Frenchmen
discovered just as soon as post-holes for Fort Conti were being dug.
Concerning this, as well as the other features of this early Niagara
River history, the record of Father Hennepin is about our only source of
information; let us, therefore, quote from his _A New Discovery_
concerning Frontenac and Niagara days:
That very same Year, on the Eighteenth of November, I took leave
of our Monks at Fort Frontenac, and after mutual Embraces and
Expressions of Brotherly and Christian Charity, I embark'd in a
Brigantine of about ten Tuns. The Winds and the Cold of the
Autumn were then very violent, insomuch that our Crew was afraid
to go into so little a Vessel. This oblig'd us and the Sieur de
la Motte our Commander, to keep our course on the North-side of
the Lake, to shelter ourselves under the Coast, against the
North-west Wind, which otherwise would have forced us upon the
Southern Coast of the Lake. This Voyage prov'd very difficult
and dangerous, because of the unseasonable time of the Year,
Winter being near at hand.
On the 26th, we were in great danger about Two large Leagues off
the Land, where we were oblig'd to lie at an Anchor all that
Night at sixty Fathom Water and above; but at length the Wind
coming to the North-East, we sail'd on, and arriv'd safely at
the further end of the Lake Ontario, call'd by the Iroquese,
Skannadario. We came pretty near to one of their Villages call'd
Tajajagon, lying about Seventy Leagues from Fort Frontenac, or
Catarakouy.
We barter'd some Indian Corn with the Iroquese, who could not
sufficiently admire us, and came frequently to see us on board
our Brigantine, which for our greater security, we had brought
to an Anchor into a River, though before we could get in, we run
aground three times, which oblig'd us to put Fourteen Men into
Canou's, and cast the Balast of our Ship overboard to get her
off again. That River falls into the Lake; but for fear of being
frozen up therein, we were forced to cut the Ice with Axes and
other Instruments.
The Wind turning then contrary, we were oblig'd to tarry there
till the 15th of December, 1678, when we sailed from the
Northern Coast to the Southern, where the River Niagara runs
into the Lake; but could not reach it that Day, though it is but
Fifteen or Sixteen Leagues distant, and therefore cast Anchor
within Five Leagues of the Shore, where we had very bad Weather
all the Night long.
On the 6th, being St. Nicholas's Day, we got into the fine River
Niagara, into which never any such Ship as ours entred before.
We sung there Te Deum, and other Prayers, to return our Thanks
to God Almighty for our prosperous Voyage. The Iroquese
Tsonnontouans inhabiting the little Village, situated at the
Mouth of the River, took above Three Hundred Whitings which are
bigger than Carps, and the best relish'd, as well as the
wholsomest Fish in the World; which they presented all to us,
imputing their good luck to our Arrival. They were much
surprized at our Ship, which they call'd the Great Woodden
Canou.
On the 7th, we went in a Canou two Leagues up the River to look
for a convenient Place for Building; but not being able to get
the Canou farther up, because the Current was too rapid for us
to master, we went over land about three Leagues higher, though
we found no Land fit for culture. We lay that Night near a
River, which runs from the Westward, within a League above the
great Fall of Niagara, which, as we have already said, is the
greatest in the World. The Snow was then a Foot deep, and we
were oblig'd to dig it up to make room for our Fire.
The next day we return'd the same way we went, and saw great
Numbers of Wild Goats, and Wild Turkey-Cocks, and on the 11th we
said the first Mass that ever was said in that Country. The
Carpenters and the rest of the Crew were set to work; but
Monsieur de la Motte, who had the Direction of them, being not
able to endure the Fatigues of so laborious a Life, gave over
his Design, and return'd to Canada, having about two hundred
Leagues to Travel.
The 12th, 13th, and 14th, the Wind was not favourable enough to
sail up the River as far as the rapid Current above mention'd
where we had resolv'd to build some Houses.
Whosoever considers our Map, will easily see, that this New
Enterprise of building a Fort and some Houses on the River
Niagara, besides the Fort of Frontenac, was like to give
Jealousie to the Iroquese, and even to the English, who live in
this Neighbourhood, and have a great Commerce with them.
Therefore to prevent the ill Consequences of it, it was thought
fit to send an Embassie to the Iroquese, as it will be mention'd
in the next Chapter.
The 15th I was desired to sit at the Helm of our Brigantine
while three of our Men hall'd the same from the Shore with a
Rope; and at last we brought her up, and moor'd her to the Shore
with a Halser, near a Rock of a prodigious heighth lying upon
the rapid Currents we have already mentioned. The 17th, 18th,
and 19th, we were busie in making a Cabin with Pallisado's, to
serve for a Magazine; but the Ground was so frozen, that we were
forc'd to throw several times boiling Water upon it to
facilitate the beating in and driving down the Stakes. The 20th,
21st, 22d, and 23d, our Ship was in great danger to be dash'd in
pieces, by the vast pieces of Ice that were hurl'd down the
River; to prevent which, our Carpenters made a Capstone to haul
her ashore; but our great Cable broke in three pieces; whereupon
one of our Carpenters surrounded the Vessel with a Cable, and
ty'd it to several Ropes, whereby we got her ashore, tho' with
much difficulty, and sav'd her from the danger of being broke to
pieces, or carryed away by the Ice, which came down with an
extream violence from the great Fall of Niagara.
Returning to Niagara with little or no promise of success, yet La
Salle's _avant-couriers_ were in no way dissuaded from their purposes of
fortifying the important Niagara portage and building a vessel for the
upper lakes in which to carry the produce of those regions to Niagara
and from thence to Canada. Reaching the Niagara January 14th, the French
party was joined six days later by the indomitable La Salle who, he
reported, had paused on his way thither from Fort Frontenac and visited
the unmoved Iroquois and secured their consent to the plan of
fortification. Yet even La Salle was too optimistic as to his success,
for certain Persons [wrote Hennepin], who made it their Business
to Cross our Design, inspired the _Iroquese_ with many
suspicions, about the fort we were building at _Niagara_, which
was in great forwardness; and their Suspicions grew so high,
that we were obliged to give over our Building for some time,
contenting ourselves with an Habitation encompass'd with
Pallisado's.
The embassy to the Iroquois mentioned by Hennepin was duly organised and
sent forward through the winter snows to seek the good-will of the
famous owners of the soil in a fort-building project; in order to allay
the suspicions of the Senecas in what Hennepin calls "the little village
of Niagara," they were told that their purpose was, not to build a fort,
but "a Hangar, or Store-house, to keep the Commodities we had brought to
supply their Occasions." Nevertheless it was necessary to supply gifts
and make assurances that an embassy would forthwith depart for the
Iroquois council house. Anything less than Hennepin's own account would
not fairly describe this interesting mission:
We travelled with Shoes made after the Indian way, of a single
Skin, but without Soles, because the Earth was still cover'd
with Snow, and past through Forests for thirty two Leagues
together carrying upon our Backs our Coverings and other
Baggage, lying often in open Field, and having with us no other
Food but some roasted Indian Corn: 'T is true, we met upon our
Road some Iroquese a hunting, who gave us some wild Goats, and
Fifteen or Sixteen black Squirrels, which are excellent Meat.
However, after five Days' Journey, we came to Tagarondies, a
great Village of the Iroquese Tsonnontouans, and were
immediately carry'd to the Cabin of their Principal Chief, where
Women and Children flock'd to see us, our Men being very well
drest and arm'd. An old Man having according to Custom made
publick Cries, to give Notice of our arrival to their Village;
the younger Savages wash'd our Feet, which afterwards they
rubb'd over with the Grease of Deers, wild Goats, and other
Beasts, and the Oil of Bears.
The next Day was the First of the Year 1679. After the ordinary
Service I preach'd in a little Chapel made of Barks of Trees, in
presence of two Jesuites, viz. Father Garnier and Rafeix; and
afterwards we had a Conference with 42 old Men, who make up
their Council. These Savages are for the most part tall, and
very well shap'd, cover'd with a sort of Robe made of Beavers
and Wolves-Skins, or of black Squirrels, holding a Pipe or
Calumet in their Hands. The Senators of Venice do not appear
with a graver Countenance, and perhaps don't speak with more
Majesty and Solidity, than those Ancient Iroquese.
This Nation is the most cruel and barbarous of all America,
especially to their Slaves, whom they take above two or three
hundred Leagues from their Country, . . . however, I must do
them the Justice to observe, that they have many good qualities;
and that they love the Europeans, to whom they sell their
Commodities at very reasonable Rates. They have a mortal Hatred
for those, who being too self-interested and covetous, are
always endeavouring to enrich themselves to the Prejudice of
others. Their chief Commodities are Beavers-Skins, which they
bring from above a hundred and fifty Leagues off their
Habitations, to exchange them with the English and Dutch, whom
they affect more than the inhabitants of Canada, because they
are more affable, and sell them their Commodities cheaper.
[Illustration: Frontenac, from Hébert's Statue at Quebec.]
One of our own Men nam'd Anthony Brossard, who understood very
well the Language of the Iroquese, and therefore was Interpreter
to M. de la Motte; told their Assembly:
First, That we were come to pay them a Visit, and smoak with
them in their Pipes, a Ceremony which I shall describe anon: And
then we deliver'd our Presents, consisting of Axes, Knives, a
great Collar of white and blue Porcelain, with some Gowns. We
made Presents upon every Point we propos'd to them, of the same
nature as the former.
Secondly, We desir'd them, in the next place to give notice to
the five Cantons of their Nation, that we were about to build a
Ship, or great woodden Canou above the great Fall of the River
Niagara, to go and fetch European Commodities by a more
convenient passage than the ordinary one, by the River St.
Laurence, whose rapid Currents make it dangerous and long; and
that by these means we should afford them our Commodities
cheaper than the English and Dutch of Boston and New-York. This
Pretence was specious enough, and very well contriv'd to engage
the barbarous Nation to extirpate the English and Dutch out of
America: For they suffer the Europeans among them only for the
Fear they have of them, or else for the Profit they make in
Bartering their Commodities with them.
Thirdly, We told them farther, that we should provide them at
the River Niagara with a Black-smith and a Gun-smith, to mend
their Guns, Axes, &c. having no body among them that understood
that Trade, and that for the conveniency of their whole Nation,
we would settle those Workmen on the Lake of Ontario, at the
Mouth of the River Niagara. We threw again among them seven or
eight Gowns, and some Pieces of fine Cloth, which they cover
themselves with from the Wast to the Knees. This was in order to
engage them on our side, and prevent their giving ear to any who
might suggest ill things of us, entreating them first to
acquaint us with the Reports that should be made unto them to
our Prejudice, before they yielded their Belief to the same.
We added many other Reasons which we thought proper to persuade
them to favour our Design. The Presents we made unto them,
either in Cloth or Iron, were worth above 400 Livres besides
some other European Commodities, very scarce in that Country:
For the best Reasons in the World are not listened to among
them, unless they are enforc'd with Presents.
The next Day the Iroquese answered our Discourse and Presents
Article by Article, having laid upon the Ground several little
pieces of Wood, to put them in mind of what had been said the
Day before in the Council; their Speaker, or President held in
his Hand one of these Pieces of Wood, and when he had answer'd
one Article of our Proposal, he laid it down, with some Presents
of black and white Porcelain, which they use to string upon the
smallest Sinews of Beasts; and then took up another Piece of
Wood; and so of all the rest, till he had fully answer'd our
Speech, of which those Pieces of Wood, and our Presents put them
in mind. When this Discourse was ended, the oldest Man of their
Assembly cry'd aloud three times, Niaoua; that is to say, It is
well, I thank thee, which was repeated with a full Voice; and in
a tuneful manner by all the other Senators.
'T is to be observ'd here, that the Savages, though some are
more cunning than others, are generally all addicted to their
own Interests; and therefore tho' the Iroquese seem'd to be
pleas'd with our Proposals, they were not really so; for the
English and Dutch affording them the European Commodities at
cheaper Rates than the French of Canada, they had a greater
Inclination for them than for us. That People, tho' so barbarous
and rude in their Manners, have however a Piece of Civility
peculiar to themselves; for a Man would be counted very
impertinent if he contradicted anything that is said in their
Council, and if he does not approve even the greatest
Absurdities therein propos'd; and therefore they always answer
Niaoua; that is to say Thou art in the right Brother; that is
well.
Notwithstanding that seeming Approbation, they believe what they
please and no more; and therefore 't is impossible to know when
they are really persuaded of those things you have mention'd
unto them, which I take to be one of the greatest Obstructions
to their Conversion: For their Civility hindering them from
making any Objection, or contradicting what is said unto them,
they seem to approve of it, though perhaps they laugh at it in
private, or else never bestow a moment to reflect upon it, such
being their indifference for a future Life. From these
Observations, I conclude that the Conversion of these People is
to be despair'd of, 'till they are subdu'd by the Europeans, and
that their Children have another sort of Education, unless God
be pleas'd to work a Miracle in their Favour.
On the 22nd of the month the party struck out for the upper Niagara for
the purpose of carrying out the original design of building a ship for
the upper lake trade. Hennepin gives the site of this interesting
adventure as "two leagues above the great Fall--this was the most
convenient place we could pitch upon, being upon a River which falls
into the Streight [Niagara River] between the Lake _Erie_, and the great
Fall of Niagara." Even had the common portage around the Falls and
Rapids been on the American side Hennepin's account makes it fairly
clear that the boat building took place on Cayuga Creek; the only other
"river" above the Falls falling into the Niagara is the Chippewa, and
Hennepin clearly notes this stream in his first tour of exploration
above the Falls as "within a league above the great Fall"; it is clear
that the Cayuga, therefore, is the probable site of this first boat
building along the Niagara frontier.[21] The little village at this
point has been appropriately named La Salle from the famous adventurer
who here dreamed that emparadising dream of discovery and
empire-founding. Hennepin's account, quaintly worded, again becomes of
more interest than any record of those days to be made from it:
The 26th, the Keel of the Ship and some other Pieces being
ready, M. de la Salle sent the Master-Carpenter, to desire me to
drive in the first Pin; but my Profession obliging me to decline
that Honour, he did it himself, and promis'd Ten Louis d'Or's,
to encourage the Carpenter, and further the Work. The Winter
being not half so hard in that Country as in Canada, we employ'd
one of the two Savages of the Nation call'd the Wolf, whom we
kept for Hunting, in building some Cabins made of Rinds of
Trees; and I had one made on purpose to perform Divine Service
therein on Sundays, and other occasions.
M. de la Salle having some urgent Business of his own, return'd
to Fort Frontenac, leaving for our Commander one Tonti, an
Italian by Birth, who had been forc'd to retire into France
after the Revolution of Naples, in which his Father was
concern'd. I conducted M. de la Salle as far as the Lake Ontario
at the Mouth of the River Niagara, where we order'd a House to
be built for the Smith he had promis'd to the Iroquese; but this
was only to amuze them, and therefore I cannot but own that the
Savages are not to be blam'd for having not believ'd every thing
they were told by M. la Motte in his Embassie already related.
He undertook his Journey a-foot over the Snow, having no other
Provisions, but a little Sack of Indian Corn roasted, which
fail'd him two Days before he came to the Fort, which is above
fourscore Leagues distant from the Place where he left us.
However he got home safely with two Men, and a Dog, who dragg'd
his Baggage over the Ice or frozen Snow.
When I return'd to our Dock, I understood that most of the
Iroquese were gone to wage War with a Nation on the other side
of the Lake Erie. In the mean time, our Men continu'd with great
Application to build our Ship; for the Iroquese who were left
behind, being but a small number, were not so insolent as
before, though they come now and then to our Dock, and express'd
some Discontent at what we were doing. One of them in
particular, feigning himself drunk, attempted to kill our Smith,
but was vigorously repuls'd by him with a red-hot Iron-barr,
which, together with the Reprimand he receiv'd from me, oblig'd
him to be gone. Some few Days after, a Savage Woman gave us
notice, that the Tsonnontouans had resolv'd to burn our Ship in
the Dock, and had certainly done it, had we not been always upon
our Guard.
These frequent Alarms from the Natives, together with the Fears
we were in of wanting Provisions, having lost the great Barque
from Fort Frontenac, which should have reliev'd us, and the
Tsonnontouans at the same time refusing to give us of their Corn
for Money, were a great discouragement to our Carpenters, whom
on the other hand, a Villain amongst us endeavour'd to reduce:
That pitiful Fellow had several times attempted to run away from
us into New-York, and would have been likely to pervert our
Carpenters, had I not confirm'd them in their good Resolution,
by the Exhortations I us'd to make every Holy-day after Divine
Service; in which I represented to them, that the Glory of God
was concern'd in our Undertaking, besides the Good and Advantage
of our Christian Colonies; and therefore exhorted them to
redouble their Diligence, in order to free our selves from all
those Inconveniences and Apprehensions we then lay under.
The two Savages we had taken into our Service, went all this
while a Hunting, and supply'd us with Wild-Goats, and other
Beasts for our Subsistence; which encouraged our Workmen to go
on with their Work more briskly than before, insomuch that in a
short time our Ship was in a readiness to be launched; which we
did, after having bless'd the same according to the use of the
Romish Church. We made all the haste we could to get it afloat,
though not altogether finish'd, to prevent the Designs of the
Natives, who had resolv'd to burn it.
The Ship was call'd the Griffon, alluding to the Arms of Count
Frontenac, which have two Griffons for Supporters; and besides,
M. la Salle us'd to say of the Ship, while yet upon the Stocks,
that he would make the Griffon fly above the Ravens. We fir'd
three Guns, and sung Te Deum, which was attended with loud
Acclamations of Joy; of which those of the Iroquese, who were
accidentally present at this Ceremony, were also Partakers; for
we gave them some Brandy to drink, as well as our Men, who
immediately quitted their Cabins of Rinds of Trees, and hang'd
their Hammocks under the Deck of the Ship, there to lie with
more security than ashore. We did the like, insomuch that the
very same Day we were all on Board, and thereby out of the reach
of the Insults of the Savages.
The Iroquese being returned from hunting Beavers, were mightily
surprised to see our Ship a-float, and call'd us Otkon, which is
in their Language, Most penetrating Wits: For they could not
apprehend how in so short a time we had been able to build so
great a Ship, though it was but 60 Tuns. It might have been
indeed call'd a moving Fortress; for all the Savages inhabiting
the Banks of those Lakes and Rivers I have mentioned, for five
hundred Leagues together, were filled with fear as well as
Admiration when they saw it. . . .
Being thus prepar'd against all Discouragements, I went up in a
Canou with one of our Savages to the Mouth of the Lake Erie,
notwithstanding the strong Current which I master'd with great
difficulty. I sounded the Mouth of the Lake and found, contrary
to the Relation that had been made unto me, that a Ship with a
brisk Gale might sail up to the Lake, and surmounted the
Rapidity of the Current; and that therefore with a strong North,
North-East Wind, we might bring our Ship into the Lake Erie. I
took also a view of the Banks of the Streight, and found that in
case of Need, we might put some of our Men a-shore to hall the
Ship, if the Wind was not strong enough.
The _Griffon_ being more or less completed Father Hennepin followed La
Salle in returning to Fort Frontenac to secure necessaries for the tour
of the upper lakes. Returning, La Salle and Hennepin did not reach
Niagara again until the 30th of July, but found the _Griffon_ riding
safely at anchor within a league of Lake Erie.
We were very kindly receiv'd [writes the Father], and likewise
very glad to find our Ship well rigg'd, and ready fitted out
with all the Necessaries for sailing. She carry'd five small
Guns, two whereof were Brass, and three Harquebuze a-crock. The
Beak-head was adorn'd with a flying Griffon, and an Eagle above
it; and the rest of the Ship had the same Ornaments as Men of
War use to have.
The Iroquese were then returning from a Warlike Expedition with
several Slaves, and were much surpriz'd to see so big a Ship,
which they compar'd to a Fort, beyond their Limits. Several came
on board, and seem'd to admire above all things the bigness of
our Anchors; for they could not apprehend how we had been able
to bring them through the rapid Currents of the River St.
Laurence. This oblig'd them to use often the Word Gannorom,
which in their Language signifies, That is wonderful. They
wonder'd also to find there a Ship, having seen none when they
went; and did not know from whence it came, it being about 250
Leagues from Canada.
[Illustration: Luna Island Bridge.]
Having forbid the Pilot to attempt to sail up the Currents of
the Streight till farther order, we return'd the 16th and 17th
to the Lake Ontario, and brought up our Bark to the great Rock
of Niagara, and anchor'd at the foot of the three Mountains
Lewiston, where we were oblig'd to make our Portage; that is, to
carry over-land our Canou's and Provisions, and other Things,
above the great Fall of the River, which interrupts the
Navigation: and because most of the Rivers of that Country are
interrupted with great Rocks, and that therefore those who sail
upon the same, are oblig'd to go overland above those Falls, and
carry upon their Backs their Canou's and other Things. They
express it with this Word, To make our Portage; of which the
Reader is desir'd to take notice, for otherwise the following
Account, as well as the Map, would be unintelligible to many.
Father Gabriel, though of Sixty five Years of Age, bore with
great Vigour the Fatigue of that Voyage, and went thrice up and
down those three Mountains, which are pretty high and steep. Our
Men had a great deal of trouble; for they were oblig'd to make
several Turns to carry the Provisions and Ammunition, and the
Portage was two Leagues long. Our Anchors were so big that four
Men had much ado to carry one; but the Brandy we gave them was
such an Encouragement, that they surmounted cheerfully all the
Difficulties of that Journey; and so we got on board our Ship
all our Provisions, Ammunitions, and Commodities. . . .
We endeavour'd several times to sail up that Lake; but the Wind
being not strong enough, we were forc'd to wait for it. In the
mean time, M. la Salle caus'd our Men to grub up some Land, and
sow several sorts of Pot-Herbs and Pulse, for the conveniency of
those who should settle themselves there, to maintain our
Correspondence with Fort Frontenac. We found there a great
quantity of wild Cherries and Rocambol, a sort of Garlick, which
grow naturally in that Ground. We left Father Melithon, with
some Work-men, at our Habitation above the Fall of Niagara; and
most of our Men went a-shore to lighten our Ships, the better to
sail up the Lake.
The Wind veering to the North-East, and the Ship being well
provided, we made all the Sail we could, and with the help of
Twelve Men who hall'd from the Shoar, overcame the Rapidity of
the Current, and got into the Lake. The Stream is so violent,
that our Pilot himself despair'd of Success. When it was done,
we sung Te Deum, and discharg'd our Cannon and other Fire-Arms,
in presence of a great many Iroquese, who came from a Warlike
Expedition against the Savages of Tintonha; that is to say, the
Nation of the Meadows, who live above four hundred Leagues from
that Place. The Iroquese and their Prisoners were much surpriz'd
to see us in the Lake and did not think before that, we should
be able to overcome the Rapidity of the Current: They cry'd
several times Gannorom, to shew their Admiration. Some of the
Iroquese had taken the measure of our Ship, and immediately went
for New-York to give notice to the English and Dutch of our
Sailing into the Lake: For those Nations affording their
Commodities Cheaper than the French, are also more belov'd by
the Natives. On the 7th of August, 1679, we went on board being
in all four and thirty men, including two Recollets who came to
us, and sail'd from the Mouth of the Lake Erie.
The loss of the _Griffon_ by shipwreck on its initial voyage and the
subsequent misfortunes that seemed to follow the brave La Salle up to
the very day that witnessed his brutal murder in a far Texan prairie in
1687, are, in a measure only a part of the story of Niagara. Had that
great man lived to realise any fair fraction of his emparadising dream
of empire the effect on the history of the Niagara frontier would have
been momentous; a mere comparison of what now did transpire at the mouth
of the Niagara, in the very year of La Salle's death, illustrates
perfectly the lack of enterprise that seems suddenly to have faded from
the situation. With La Salle gone, the whole attitude of the regime in
power at Quebec seems to change; whereas La Salle was on the very point
of establishing at Niagara an important station on the communication to
Louisiana. What actually did happen here is pitiful by comparison.
The new Governor, De Nonville, in order to bring the Iroquois into a
proper state of submission and compell them to desist from annoying
travellers on the St. Lawrence, determined to repeat Champlain's feat
of invading their homeland. The record of this expedition from the mouth
of its commanding officer, the Governor himself, is a very interesting
document, especially to those interested in the study of that famous
Long House that lay south of Lake Ontario.[22] Embarking at Fort
Frontenac July 4, 1687, the expedition landed at Irondequoit Bay six
days later, where De Nonville was reinforced by a party of French which
had rendezvoused at Niagara from the West. Of this party little is
known; possibly some of La Salle's crew were here, coming from their
cabins at either end of the Niagara portage path, or possibly from the
ship yard at the present La Salle. "It clearly appears," writes
Marshall, "from De Nonville's narrative, that the party which he met at
the mouth of the bay, was composed of French and Indians from the far
west, who sailed from . . . Niagara, to join the expedition pursuant to
his orders." These Indians, Mr. Browne affirms, were from
Michilimackinac. Marching inland to the region Mr. Marshall believed, in
the neighbourhood of the village of Victor, ten miles north-west of
Canandaigua, a party of Senecas was put to flight and the entire region
devastated until the 23rd; it was estimated that in the four Seneca
villages the soldiers had destroyed about 1,200,000 bushels of
corn--350,000 minots, of which all but 50,000 were green. On the 24th
the lake was again reached.
The situation on the Niagara frontier at this moment could not better be
described than it has been by Mr. Browne in his _The St. Lawrence
River_, as follows:
De Nonville had now a clear way to build his fort at Niagara,
which he proceeded to do, and then armed it with one hundred
men. If triumphant in his bold plans, he had to learn that the
viper crushed might rise to sting. The Senecas had their
avengers. Maddened by the cowardly onset of De Nonville and his
followers, the Iroquois to a man rose against the French. This
was not done by any organised raid, but, shod with silence,
small, eager war-parties haunted the forests of the St.
Lawrence, striking where they were the least expected, and never
failing to leave behind them the smoke of burning dwellings and
the horrors of desolated lives. From Fort Frontenac to Tadousac
there was not a home exempt from this deadly scourge; not a life
that was not threatened. Unable to cope with so artful a foe,
De Nonville was in despair. He sued for peace, but to obtain this
he had to betray his allies, the Indians of the Upper Lakes, who
had entered his service under the conditions that the war should
continue until the Iroquois were exterminated. The latter sent
delegates to confer with the French commander at Montreal.
While this conference was under way, a Huron chief showed that
he was the equal of even De Nonville in the strategies of war
where the code of honour was a dead letter. Anticipating the
fate in store for his race did the French carry out their scheme
of self-defence, this chief, whose name was Kandironk, "the
Rat," lay in ambush for the envoys on their way home from their
conference with De Nonville, when the latter had made so many
fair promises. These Kandironk captured, claiming he did it
under orders from De Nonville, bore them to Michilimackinac, and
tortured them as spies. This done, he sent an Iroquois captive
to tell his people how fickle the French could be. Scarcely was
this accomplished when he gave to the French his exultant
declaration, "I have killed the peace!" The words were
prophetic. Nothing that De Nonville could say or do cleared him
of connection with the affair. His previous conduct was enough
to condemn him. To avenge this act of deceit, as the Iroquois
considered it, they rallied in great numbers, and on the night
of August 4, 1689, dealt the most cruel and deadly blow given
during all the years of warfare in the St. Lawrence valley.
Fifteen hundred strong, under cover of the darkness, they stole
down upon the settlement of La Chine situated at the upper end
of the island of Montreal, and surprised the inhabitants while
they slept in fancied security. More than two hundred men,
women, and children were slain in cold blood, or borne away to
fates a hundred times more terrible to meet than swift death.
The day already breaking upon the terror-stricken colonists was
the darkest Canada ever knew.
The result of the expedition, so far as result appears, was effected
when the ships bearing his men turned toward the Niagara River and were
anchored off the point of land where now stands historic Fort Niagara.
Here a fort was to be built forthwith, as much to secure the fur trade
and to overawe the Indians as to keep the English from making any
advance toward the territory of the Lakes. On the very day of his
arrival De Nonville set his men to work. The fortification was
constructed partly of earth surmounted by palisades. The building of the
structure was no easy matter. There were no trees in the immediate
vicinity, so the soldiers had to obtain their timber to the east along
the lake or across the river. After the timber had been obtained from
these forests, it was a very difficult matter to drag it up the high
bank. However, De Nonville was so energetic and his men worked so
faithfully that in three days a fort was built with four bastions, where
were mounted two large guns. Several cabins were also built. As the work
progressed, many of those who had come with De Nonville, both French and
Indians, began to leave. Du Luth, Durantaye, and Tonty, together with
the Illinois Indians who had allied themselves with the French against
the Iroquois, departed for the trading-posts of Detroit and
Michilimackinac. Soon after De Nonville himself left for Montreal, taking
with him all but a hundred men. Those whom he left behind were placed
under the command of De Troyes, with promises to send provisions as soon
as possible, and fresh troops in the spring.[23]
The men left behind were truly in a surly mood. In spite of De Nonville's
assurance of provisions, and his assertion that the Senecas had been
subdued, these men knew only too well not to depend too much on the
first, and as to the second, that the Indians had only been enraged,
rather than vanquished.
For a time there was enough work to keep all hands busy. M. de Brissay
left on the 3d of August, commanding M. de Vaudreuil to help in the
constructing of the cabins and the completion of the fort. There was an
immense amount of work to be accomplished in the cutting, dragging,
hewing, and sawing of the timbers; but, despite the hot weather, there
was soon completed a house with a chimney of sticks and clay for the
commandant. Three other cabins were afterward built in the square and in
the midst of these a well was dug; but its waters were always roiled
from improper curbing.
[Illustration: "Carte du Lac Ontario." A Specimen French Map of the
Niagara Frontier.
Dated October 4, 1757.
From the original in the British Museum.]
Vaudreuil left toward the latter part of August after having seen the
company well roofed. Many of the number, who were at first fired by the
spirit of adventure and a desire to remain at Niagara, now, foreseeing
the suffering to be undergone, desired to return with Vaudreuil; but
nearly all were compelled to remain at the fort.
Although the expedition when it set out against the Senecas was
tolerably well supplied with necessaries for an Indian campaign, those
who were left at the fort were left in a bad condition indeed. About
three thousand bushels of corn had been destroyed which belonged to the
Senecas; but scarcely a week's rations had been brought along to their
destination. Very few had brought any seeds, and not much gardening
could have been done anyway, on account of the lateness of the season.
The few attempts that were made brought no returns on account of a
drought. No hunting could be undertaken except in large parties so as to
be secure from the savages. Almost the only food supply was the fish
caught in the lake.
There was unbounded joy at the fort when the sail of the ship with
supplies, which had been promised by De Nonville, was seen on the
horizon. But even then the unlading was delayed two days by calms which
prevented the vessel from coming nearer than several miles from the
shore. Finally a landing was effected; and the cargo was quickly stowed
in the fort. The ship immediately returned to Canada.
From the very first the provisions proved to be bad. Still with these,
together with the few herbs of the forest, a small amount of game and
fish, the men managed to eke out an existence. There was no labour to
perform--nothing to do but complain of the food and hard life which they
were compelled to live.
Toward the latter part of September, the Indians made their first
appearance. A hunting party in the vicinity of the Falls lost two men.
Another party was cut off from the fort. Their dead bodies were found
scalped and mutilated by the savages. The commander, De Troyes, soon
fell ill, as did also Jean de Lamberville, the only priest in the
colony. Thus at almost the same time was the company deprived of
leadership and religious consolation. Christmas season drew on; but it
was a sorry time for those at the fort. The weather had become severe,
and fierce snow-storms were frequent. No one ventured beyond the
palisades except in quest of firewood; and it was almost impossible at
times to obtain this. Many were nearly frozen in their cabins. One day
the wood-choppers were overwhelmed in the snow in sight of the fort. No
one dared to go to their succour for fear of suffering the same fate.
Two days after, those within the stockade saw their dead comrades
devoured by wolves. Not a charge of powder was left. The food was almost
unbearable. The biscuits were full of weevil from the first, and the
meat was in such a putrefied condition that no one could eat it. Scurvy
broke out. De Troyes could not leave his cabin and was compelled to
trust everything to his men.
From a band of gallant soldiers, they had been reduced to a mere handful
of disease-infected skeletons. In six weeks there were sixty deaths; and
this was only the middle of February. Only a few of the stronger were
left able to do the work which was absolutely necessary, such as
supplying firewood and burying the dead, and these duties were performed
with infinite toil and danger. More than twenty died in the month of
March; in this number was the brave commander De Troyes. With their
leader seemed to perish all the little spirit left in his followers.
Almost no hope was left for the suffering inmates of the fort. It was
still many weeks until the promised succour could possibly come from
Montreal. The Western savages had promised an alliance and aid to the
French against the Iroquois, but little confidence was to be placed in
their promises.
Just as the men left in the fort were reduced to the very last
extremity, and were wishing for death to relieve them of their miseries,
a war-party from the Miamis on an expedition against the Senecas reached
the fort and gave that relief so long vainly looked for by the inmates.
Several of these who first regained their strength set out for Montreal
to carry the news of their sore straits to the government; and on one
pleasant, beautiful day in April the long expected sail was seen on the
horizon bringing relief to the remnant of those who had been left in the
fort the preceding summer.
In command of the expedition was D'esbergeres, and with him Father
Milet, besides a large company of companions. As soon as they landed,
Father Milet conducted mass and then put all the men who were able to
work constructing a large cross. While they were at the work, Father
Milet traced upon its arms: "Regnat, Vincit, Imperat Christus."
On Good Friday, the priest again held mass, and erected the cross in the
centre of the square of the fort, thus symbolising a victory wrung from
the clutches of defeat itself.
With spring, the new companions, and a goodly supply of provisions, was
born new hope in the fort. The little company were very busy during the
summer, despite the fact that the Iroquois, stirred on by the English,
gave them continual trouble. In September Mahent came with the vessel
_La Général_, with orders to D'esbergeres to abandon the fort. This was
quite a blow to the commander, as having held the post all summer he
hoped to continue to do so. The outer barracks were all destroyed, which
was not so difficult a task, as the severe storms of the previous winter
had done much of this work; but the cabins were all left standing. On
the morning of the 15th of September, 1688, the garrison sailed away,
once more leaving the shores of the great Niagara untroubled by the
contentions of white men, and open to the nation who should seize it or
conciliate the savages who held the surrounding regions.
Yet De Nonville had done something for which to be remembered beyond
raiding the Long House and fortifying the river of the Neuters; he had
left it a name that should live as he had, first of white men, so far as
we know, written it. The orthography of the name Niagara seems to have
now been established--1687. Champlain did not use any name in 1613,
though on his map we find the following words attached to the stream
connecting Lakes Erie and Ontario, _chute d'eau_, giving us our first
genuine record of Niagara Falls.
We have seen that L'Allemant spelled the name _Onguiaahra_ in 1640. In
1657 it appears on Sanson's map as _Ongiara_, and is applied to the
Falls; in 1660 Ducreux's map shows us "_Ongiara_ Cataractes." In 1687
De Nonville gives us our present Niagara. Of the name Mr. Marshall has
left this authoritative opinion:
Onguiaahra and Ongiara are evidently identical, and present the
same elements as Niagara. They are undoubtedly compounds of
words expressive of some meaning, as is usual with aboriginal
terms, but which meaning is now lost. The "o" which occurs in
both the French and English orthography is probably a neuter
prefix, similar to what is used by the Senecas and Mohawks. One
writer contends that Niagara is derived from Nyah´-gaah´, or as
he writes it, "Ne-ah´-gah," said to be the name of a Seneca
village which formerly existed on the Niagara River below
Lewiston, and now applied by the Senecas to Lake Ontario. This
derivation, however, cannot be correct, for Onguiaahra, and its
counterpart Ongiara, were in use as names of the river and falls
long before the Seneca village in question was in existence. The
Neutral Nation, from whose language the words were taken, lived
on _both_ borders of the Niagara until they were exterminated by
the Senecas in 1643. It is far more probable the Nyah´-gaah´ is
a reappearance of Ongiara in the Seneca dialect, and this view
is strengthened by the fact that the former, unlike most
Iroquois names, is without meaning, and as the aborigines do not
confer arbitrary names, it is an evidence that it has been
borrowed or derived from a foreign language. The conclusion then
is, that the French derived Niagara from Ongiara, and the
Senecas, when they took possession of the territories of the
Neutral Nation, adopted the name Ongiara, as near as the idiom
of their language would allow, and hence their name Nyah´-gaah´.
[Footnote 20: _Discovery of the West_, pp. 115-16.]
[Footnote 21: The exact spot of building is the subject of a monograph
_The Shipyard of the Griffon_ by Cyrus Kingsbury Remington (Buffalo, N.
Y. 1891), in which the author, while advocating his own theory, presents
liberally views held by those in disagreement with himself. We find O.
H. Marshall in accord with Mr Remington that what is known as the "Old
Ship Yard" or Angevine place, at La Salle, was the site of the building
of the _Griffon_.]
[Footnote 22: The Narrative is given in full with careful introduction
and explanations in Marshall's _Writings_, pp. 123-186.]
[Footnote 23: A most thrilling account of this fort-building effort at
the mouth of the Niagara is to be found in Severance, _Old Trails of the
Niagara Frontier_, on which the present writer has based his description
here given.]
Chapter IX
Niagara under Three Flags
The abdication of De Nonville at Niagara marks, as nothing else perhaps
can, the rise of English influence along the Lakes and among the crafty
Iroquois. Slowly but surely this influence made itself felt among the
Six Nations in the attempt to swing the entire current of the fur trade
from the north-west through the Long House to New York.
With the destruction of the little fort built by De Nonville, however,
it becomes clear that when on the same basis the English were no match
for the French, so far as winning the redskins to their interests was
concerned; it may be that with the withdrawal of the French there
followed a natural diminution of English anxiety and activity in the
matter: whether this was true or not there immediately ensued a notable
increase of French attention to the Six Nations who, after all,
controlled the destinies of this key of the continent. As days of war
and days of peace came and went the governors both of New York and
Quebec sought permission to fortify the Niagara River, but the
eighteenth century dawned with no step taken by either side, though each
had most jealously been watching the other.
It was characteristic of Frenchmen, however, to meet and mingle with
the Indians as the English seldom did; it was not wholly out of the
common, indeed, for them to adopt Indian dress and customs and be, in
turn, adopted into some Indian tribe. Through the fortunate influence
exerted by one of these adopted sons of the wilderness was New France
now able to refortify the strategic Niagara region, temporarily besting
England in the contest for the supremacy here. Chabert Joncaire, taken
prisoner by the Senecas and adopted into their tribe, married an Indian
woman and became an important factor among the warriors and war councils
of the western end of the Long House. In the year 1700 Joncaire became a
missionary for the French political cause, and he seems to have managed
affairs so diplomatically that he in no wise lost caste among the
Iroquois, for six years later they suggested to him "to establish
himself among them, granting him liberty to select on their territory
the place most acceptable to himself for the purpose of living and in
peace, even to remove their villages to the neighbourhood of his
residence in order to protect him."[24]
In the next decade France made considerable headway in undoing the
miserable work of De Nonville by disarming the hostility of the Iroquois,
especially with the Senecas who held the Niagara frontier, through
Joncaire, who in 1719 was sent to "try the minds of the Seneca nation
and ascertain if it would permit the building of a French house in
their country." As a result, in 1720, Joncaire built a bark cabin at
Lewiston which he called "Magazine Royal." In November of that year,
according to English report, which was undoubtedly exaggerated through
prejudice, the "cabin" is described as a blockhouse forty feet in length
and thirty in width, enclosed with palisades, musket-proof and provided
with port-holes. The location of this post signifies of itself alone the
larger strategic nature of Niagara geographically, for it was not at the
mouth of the river but at the beginning of the portage around the Rapids
and Falls, at Lewiston, just where La Salle's storehouse, built in 1679,
had stood. It is believed that the former building had disappeared by
this time. Charlevoix, who came here the next year, 1721, confounds the
sites of De Nonville's fort and the "Magazine Royal." Mr. Porter brings
out well the office of Joncaire's cabin, in which, by the way, a few
soldiers were maintained as "traders" by saying:
. . . The trade in furs was brisk, the Indians from the north,
west, and south coming there to barter. The chain of friendship
with the Senecas was kept bright by friendly intercourse with
their warriors, who constantly came there; French trading
vessels came often to its rude wharf bringing merchandise to
Frontenac and returning laden with furs. Thus the English for
the first time failed to overcome the French, while the English
in New York did not delay their expostulations regarding what
they called French incroachment at Niagara; but so far were they
from being successful that the French were able within four
years to begin a more important fortification on the site of the
"Magazine Royal."
[Illustration: Stones on the Site of Joncaire's Cabin under Lewiston
Heights, where the Magazine Royal was Erected in 1719.]
American history furnishes many illustrations of the genius of the
French _coureurs-de-bois_ for winning to themselves the friendship of
the Indians, but perhaps there is no specific illustration of this more
clear than this reabsorption of the Niagara region after having once
abandoned it. Said Sir Guy Carleton:
France did not depend upon the number of her troops, but upon
the discretion of her officers who, learned the language of her
natives, distributed the king's presents, excited no jealousy,
entirely gained the affections of an ignorant, credulous, but
brave people, whose ruling passions are independence, gratitude,
and revenge.
Governor Duquesne once said to a deputation of Indians:
Are you ignorant of the defence between the king of France and
the English? Look at the forts which the king has built; you
will find that under their very walls the beasts of the forests
are hunted and slain; that they are, in fact, fixed in places
most frequented by you merely to gratify more conveniently your
necessities.
M. Garneau, the historian, frankly acknowledges that the Marquis
accurately stated the route of Indian admiration for the Frenchmen they
saw; but it should not be overlooked that the French also were "the most
romantic and poetic characters ever known in American frontier life.
Their every moment attracts the rosiest colour of imagination"; all this
helps to fascinate the savage.
In 1725, the Marquis De Vaudreuil proposed the erection of a storehouse
at Niagara, and soon the agent met the council of the Five Nations and
got their permission to build what was really a fort at Niagara, which
was to cost $5592; one hundred men were instantly sent to begin the
work.[25] Thus the historic pile known as the "Mess House" or "Castle"
was begun in 1725 and completed in 1726; at a council fire at Niagara
the Senecas gave their final ratification to this project, July 14,
1726.
Joncaire's "Magazine Royal" was permitted to fall into decay, being
abandoned in 1728 despite the fact that Louis XV. gave his approval to a
plan for spending twenty thousand livres for its repair although
approving strongly the erection of the castle, as it would prevent the
English from trading on the north shore of Lake Ontario as well as
getting a foothold on the Niagara River. Mr. Porter brings out well the
service of Joncaire's "Magazine Royal" by saying:
That building had done good service; it had given the French the
desired foothold on the Niagara River; it had held and fostered
the trade in furs; it had established French supremacy in this
region, and furnished them with the key to the possession of the
Upper Lakes and the Ohio Valley; and last, and most important of
all, it had been the means of France obtaining a real fortress
at the point where her diplomats and armies had been waiting to
erect one; for over half a century it had served its purposes; a
fort had been built at the mouth of the river, its usefulness
was ended, and it was abandoned forever.
The story that the foundations of the castle were laid within a gigantic
wigwam at a time when the French had induced the Indians to go on a
hunting expedition is probably no less true than most legends of the
kind with which our history is filled; and if it is not literally true,
the spirit of it undoubtedly is, for there must have been a fine story
of stratagem and diplomacy in the conception and the erection of this
massive old building upon which the tourist looks to-day with much
interest. It is also a legend that the stone for the fort was brought
from Fort Frontenac; this in a way threatens the authenticity of the
former legend of the magical erection of the building. De Witt Clinton
writing in 1810 explains that as the stones about the windows are
different and more handsome than those in the rest of the building it is
possible that they were brought from Kingston; he gave the measurements
of the building as 105 by 47 feet.
It is interesting and informing to observe from whence the fort here at
the mouth of the Niagara received, first and last, its armament; it
appears that upon the capture of Oswego twenty-four guns "of the largest
calibre" were sent to Fort Niagara, and we know that during the final
siege in 1759 some of the guns trained upon Johnson's army were lost by
Braddock away down in the forests beside the Monongahela River. The
position held by Fort Niagara in the French scheme of western occupation
is clearly suggested by these facts.
The modern tourist looking upon the massive, picturesque "Mess House"
must not forget that "Fort Niagara" was a thing of slow growth. The
first work here was undoubtedly the foundation and first story of the
Mess House, surrounded by the common picket wall always found around the
frontier fort. The first picket wall was falling down by 1739, when it
was repaired. At this time Niagara was fast losing its hold on western
trade because of the enforcing of the policy of not selling the Indians
liquor; however, in 1741, the Governor of New York affirmed that he held
the Six Nations only by presents and that Fort Niagara must be captured.
In 1745, when the French policy regarding the Indians was changed, Fort
Niagara contained only a hundred men and four guns. It is said that the
fort had been used to some extent as a State prison; surely few French
prisons, at home or abroad, had a more gloomy dungeon than that in Fort
Niagara which is shown visitors to-day; the apartment measures six by
eighteen feet and ten feet in height, of solid stone with no opening for
light or air. The well of the castle was located here, and many a weird
story attaches, especially of the headless trunk of the French general
that haunted the curbstone moaning over his sorry lot. This dungeon is
one of the places named as the scene of imprisonment of the anti-Masonic
agitator William Morgan in later days.
As the middle of the eighteenth century drew on France and England
turned from the European battlefields to America to settle their
immemorial quarrel for the possession of the continent. It is
interesting to note that the opening of the struggle occurred not in the
North or East, as would naturally be expected, but in the West to which
Niagara offered "the communication."
In 1747 the Ohio Company was formed in Virginia and received its grant
of land beyond the Alleghanies from the British King. With the exception
of Lederer, whose explorations did not reach westward of Harper's Ferry,
and Batts, who had visited the Falls of the Great Kanawha, the English
colonies knew little or nothing of the West, save only the fables
brought back by Spottswood's _Knights of the Golden Horseshoe_. But the
doughty Irish and Scotch-Irish traders had pierced the mountains and
made bold to challenge the trade of the French with the western
nations. Immediately Celoron was sent from Montreal on the long voyage
by way of Niagara to bury his leaden plates on the Ohio to re-establish
the brave claim incised on La Salle's plate buried at the mouth of the
Mississippi in 1682, which vaunted French possession of all lands
drained by waters entering the Gulf of Mexico through the mouth of the
Mississippi.
Celoron's expedition is interesting because this was the first open
advance upon the Ohio Valley by France, leading to the building of a
chain of forts westward from the key position, Fort Niagara. Celoron's
Journal reads:
I arrived at Niagara on the 6th of July, where I found him [Mr.
Labrevois]; we conferred together, and I wrote to the Chevalier
de Longnaiul that which I had learned from Mr. de la Nardiere,
and desired him, that if these nations of Detroit were in the
design to come and join me, and not delay his departure, I would
give the rendezvous at Strotves[26] on the 9th or 10th of
August; that if they had changed their mind I would be obliged
to him to send me couriers to inform me of their intentions, so
that I may know what will happen to me. On the 7th of July, I
sent M. de Contrecoeur, captain and second in command of the
detachment, with the subaltern officers and all my canoes to
make the portage. I remained at the fort, to wait for my savages
who had taken on Lake Ontario another route than I had; having
rejoined me I went to the portage which M. de Contrecoeur had
made, on the 14th of the same month we entered Lake Erie; a high
wind from the sea made me camp some distance from the little
rapid; there I formed three companies to mount guard, which were
of forty men commanded by an officer.
Returning from the Ohio trip Celoron reached Niagara again the 19th of
February, 1750, and Montreal the 10th of March. At last reaching Quebec
the frank leader of this spectacular expedition rendered his report
concerning French possession of the West. "All that I can say is, that
the [Indian] nations of these places are very ill-disposed against the
French," were his words, "and entirely devoted to the English. I do not
know by what means they can be reclaimed." Then followed one of the
earliest suggestions of the use of French arms to retain possession of
the great interior. "If violence is employed they [Indians] would be
warned and take to flight . . . if we send to trade with them, our
traders can never give our merchandize at the price the English do . . .
people our old posts and perpetuate the nations on the Belle Riviere and
who are within the reach of the English Government."
[Illustration: Specimen Manuscript Map of Niagara Frontier of Eighteenth
Century.
From the original in the British Museum.]
The plates of lead along the Ohio had very little effect in retarding
the Ohio Company of Virginians, and Celoron had hardly left the Ohio
Valley when Christopher Gist entered it to pick out and mark the
boundaries of the Ohio Company's grant of land. This was in 1750. The
Quebec Government, too, acted. If leaden plates would not hold the Ohio,
then forts well guarded and manned would accomplish the end sought; and
English spies on watch at Fort Oswego now saw a strange flotilla
crossing Lake Ontario and knew something extraordinary was in the air.
It was Marin's party on its way to fortify Celoron's route by building a
chain of posts from Fort Niagara to the present site of Pittsburg at the
junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela rivers. After a rest at
Niagara the fort-building party proceeded along Lake Erie to Presqu'
Isle, now Erie, Pennsylvania. There they built Fort Presqu' Isle; at
Watertown Fort La Boeuf was erected and Fort Machault at Franklin on the
Allegheny, and Fort Duquesne at the junction of the Allegheny and
Monongahela. All this between 1752 and 1754, despite the message sent by
Governor Dinwiddie of Virginia by the hand of Major Washington
requesting that the French withdraw from the Ohio Valley. In the latter
year Washington marched westward to support the party of Virginian
fort-builders who had been sent to fortify the strategic position on the
Ohio, but was forced to capitulate by the French army, which drove back
the English and on their beginnings erected Fort Duquesne.
The line of forts from Quebec to Fort Duquesne was now complete, and of
them Fort Niagara was the key. To wrest from the French this western
empire it was necessary to strike Fort Niagara, but, with the rare lack
of foresight characteristic of the government headed by the impossible
Newcastle, the great campaign of 1755 was as poorly conceived as it was
executed. It was composed of three spectacular advances on this curling
line of French forts that hemmed in the colonies; one army, under Sir
William Johnson, should attack the forts on Lakes George and Champlain;
Governor Shirley of Massachusetts should leap at Fort Niagara, and
General Braddock, formerly commander of Gibraltar, should lead an army
from Virginia across the mountains upon Fort Duquesne, after capturing
which he should then join forces with Shirley for the conquest of
Niagara if that post had not been previously reduced.
From almost any view-point the scheme of conquest seems a glaring
inconsistency, but from what is this so conspicuous as by looking upon
this French line of fortresses as a serpent whose head was Quebec,
whose heart was Fort Niagara, and whose tail rattled luringly on the
Ohio at Fort Duquesne? The chief expedition, on which the eyes of the
ministry were centred, was the one which launched at this serpent's
tail. Moreover, in addition to being wrongly directed it was improperly
routed, since there were both waggons and wheat in Pennsylvania but
comparatively none in Virginia, and the ill-fated commander of the
expedition, General Edward Braddock, was the victim of the lethargy and
indifference of the colonies.
It is pitifully interesting to observe in the letter of instruction
issued by Cumberland to Braddock that the latter seemed to have held the
view that his most proper course was to strike at Niagara at the outset,
undoubtedly appreciating the significant fact that to capture that key
position of communication was to doom the Allegheny line of forts to
starvation itself. "As to your design," read those instructions, "of
making yourself master of Niagara, which is of the greatest consequence,
his Royal Highness recommends you to leave nothing to chance in the
prosecution of that enterprise." In all that was planned for this grand
campaign those words give us the only hint of Braddock's own notion.[27]
Those instructions also advise that if the Ohio campaign should progress
slowly Braddock was to consider whether he should not give over the
command of that campaign to another officer and proceed to Niagara.
Nothing could illustrate more clearly than this the importance of the
position of Niagara in the old French War. But as Braddock did not deem
it wise to give over the command of the Ohio campaign, Governor Shirley
was left in charge of it.
The Northern campaigns, however, were of little more success than that
of the ill-fated Braddock. True, Johnson won his knighthood beside the
lake to which he gave his master's name, but the victory was as much of
an accident as was Braddock's defeat, and was not followed up with the
capture of the forts on Lake Champlain which was the object of the
campaign. Shirley, on the other hand, made an utter failure of his
_coup_, after reaching Oswego with incredible hardship; the news of
Braddock's defeat demoralised whatever spirit was left in his sickly
army; and Fort Niagara was not even threatened. We note here again the
interdependence of the Braddock and Shirley campaigns, and the pity that
the two armies could not have been combined for a strong movement
against Fort Niagara. The Ohio fortress could not have existed with the
line of communication once cut, and Braddock's as well as Forbes's
campaigns, costing such tremendous sums, would have been unnecessary--or
Prideaux's in '59 either, for that matter.
And yet the English campaigns of this year played their part in
awakening the French to the situation; and Niagara was taken in hand at
once, as though the presentiment was plain that the flag of the Georges
would wave over the Niagara some day. Writes Mr. Porter:
The contemplated attack on Fort Niagara, in 1755, under Shirley,
had told the French that that fort must be further strengthened,
and Pouchot, a captain in the regiment of Bearn, and a competent
engineer, was sent to reconstruct it. He reached the fort with a
regiment in October, 1755. Houses for these troops were at once
constructed in the Canadian manner. These houses consisted of
round logs of oak, notched into each other at the corners, and
were quickly built. Each had a chimney in the middle, some
windows, and a plank roof. The chimneys were made by four poles,
placed in the form of a truncated pyramid, open from the bottom
to a height of three feet on all sides, above which was a kind
of basket work, plastered with mud; rushes, marsh grass or straw
rolled in diluted clay were driven in between the logs, and the
whole plastered. The work of strengthening the fort was pushed
on all winter, 300 men being in the garrison, and in March,
1756, the artillery taken from Braddock arrived. By July, 1756,
the defences proposed were nearly completed, and Pouchot left
the fort. Vaudreuil stated that he [Pouchot] "had almost
entirely superintended the fortifications to their completion,
and the fort, which was abandoned and beyond making the smallest
resistance, is now a place of considerable importance in
consequence of the regularity, solidity, and utility of its
works." Pouchot was sent back to Niagara, as commandant, with
his own regiment, in October, 1756, and remained there for a
year. He still further strengthened the fort during this period,
and when he left he reported that "Fort Niagara and its
buildings were completed and its covered ways stockaded." On
April 30, 1759, he again arrived at Niagara to assume command
and "began to work on repairing the fort, to which nothing had
been done since he left it. He found the ramparts giving way,
the turfing all crumbled off, and the escarpment and counter
escarpment of the fosses much filled up. He mounted two pieces
to keep up appearances in case of a siege." From the general
laudatory tone of his own work we are led to feel that Pouchot
overpraised his own work of fortifying Niagara in 1756 and 1757,
when no immediate attack was looked for, otherwise it could
hardly have been in so poor a condition eighteen months
afterwards (1759, as just quoted), unless, as is very likely, he
foresaw defeat when attacked, as he was advised it would be, and
wanted to gain special credit for a grand defence under very
disadvantageous conditions. By July Pouchot had finished
repairing the ramparts. He gives this description of the
defence: "The batteries of the bastions which were in barbette
had not yet been finished. They were built of casks and filled
with earth. He had since his arrival constructed some pieces of
blindage of oak, fourteen inches square and fifteen feet long,
which extended behind the great house on the lake shore, the
place most sheltered for a hospital. Along the faces of the
powder magazine, to cover the wall and serve as casemates, he
had built a large storehouse with the pieces secured at the top
by a ridge. Here the guns and gunsmiths were placed. We may
remark that this kind of work is excellent for field-forts in
wooded countries, and they serve very well for barracks and
magazines; a bullet could only fall upon an oblique surface and
could do little harm, because this structure is very solid."
Pouchot says that the garrison of the fort at this time
consisted of 149 regulars, 183 men of colonial companies, 133
militia and 21 cannoniers. A total of 486 soldiers and 39
employees, of whom 5 were women or children. These served in the
infirmary, as did also two ladies, and sewed cartridge bags and
made bags for earth. There were also some Indians in the fort,
and the officers may not have been included in this number. The
fort was capable of accommodating 1000 men.
[Illustration: A Drawing of Fort Niagara and Environs Showing Plan of
English Attack under Johnson.]
The great campaigns of 1759 were planned by the new commander-in-chief,
Sir Jeffrey Amherst. The Niagara attack was placed in the hands of
General John Prideaux, who was ready to sail from Oswego to his death at
Fort Niagara on the 1st of July, 1759, with twenty-two hundred regulars
and provincials and seven hundred of the Six Nations, brought very
quickly to their senses after the successes of British arms in the year
previous when Fort Duquesne was captured, under Sir William Johnson. On
the 6th of July a hunter brought word to Pouchot that the English were
at the doors of Niagara, the army having landed down the shore of the
lake at a distance of four miles. The commander, realising that the
crucial moment had come, sent a messenger post-haste to Little Fort
Niagara, at the upper end of the portage, and on to the forts in the
West for aid; Niagara had assisted Fort Duquesne and the Allegheny forts
in their days of trial and it was now turn for them to help her. Little
Fort Niagara, or, more properly, Fort du Portage, previously mentioned,
was erected probably about ten years before this to defend the portage
landing. It was now commanded by the Joncaire--son of the famous French
emissary among the Senecas who had given New France a foothold at
Niagara--who had proved such a diplomatic guide to Celoron in his
western trip; Pouchot ordered him to move the supplies at Fort du
Portage across to the mouth of the Chippewa Creek and hasten to Fort
Niagara. It is worth while to pause a moment to observe that we have
here one of the first references to that shadowy western shore of the
Niagara, where Forts Erie, George, and Mississauga were soon to appear;
though the town of Newark, or Niagara-on-the-Lake, as it is known
to-day, was the first settlement on this side of the river, it is clear
that there was at least a storehouse at Chippewa Creek in 1759;
unquestionably the portage path on the western shore of the river was a
well-worn highway long before even Fort Niagara itself was proposed, for
we know that it was the northern shore of Lake Erie that was the common
route of the French rather than the southern from the record left by the
Celoron expedition and Bonnecamp's map.
[Illustration: A Sketch of Fort Niagara and Environs; by the French
Commander Pouchot, Showing Improvements of 1756-1758.]
Prideaux forced the siege by digging a series of trenches toward the
fort, each one in advance of the last. Finally, just before merited
success was achieved, a bursting cohorn killed Prideaux and thrust the
command upon that deserving but lucky son of fortune, Sir William
Johnson. The siege was pressed most diligently--as though Johnson was
fearful that the honour thrust upon him would escape him through the
arrival of General Gage, who was on his way to assume command. The fort
was completely hemmed in, and its surrender was peremptorily demanded.
Johnson was more than a match for the intriguing French Indians who
attempted to alienate his Iroquois. He likewise played the clever
soldier in handling the relieving army that was already on its Way from
the West. Three of the four messages sent by Pouchot had been
intercepted by the English commander's scouts. The one that went through
successfully accomplished its purpose and twelve hundred recruits were
en route for the besieged fortress. The scouts told of their progress,
to which captured letters from the commanding officers, D'Aubrey and De
Lignery, to General Pouchot, gave added information. Descending the
Niagara from its head to Navy Island, the reinforcements awaited the
commands of their general. The order was to hasten on. Johnson
redistributed his force to meet the crisis, at once detailing a
sufficient part to cope with the relieving party and retaining a
sufficient quota to prevent a sortie from the rapidly crumbling fort,
which at best could not hold out longer unless succoured. At an eighth
of a mile from the fort, in olden times called _La Belle Famille_, now
within the limits of the beautiful village of Youngstown, the clash
occurred that settled the fate of the brave Pouchot. With the Iroquois
posted in hiding on either flank and the regulars waiting behind slight
breastworks, the French force rushed headlong to the attack within the
carefully laid ambuscade. After the opening fire of the Indians, the
English troop made a savage charge--and the affair was over; the
retreating French were followed and nearly a hundred and fifty were
captured, including the officers.
Sir William Johnson used his leverage thus gained upon the commander of
the doomed fortress with alacrity and success, sending with the officer
who went to demand its surrender some of the prisoners captured at the
scrimmage up the river, who told the story of their defeat and rout. Had
they known it, they might have added that the terror-stricken fugitives
from that field of strife hastened to the fleet of boats (in which they
had descended the Niagara) and, steering them all into what is called
even to this day Burnt Ship Bay, on the shore of Grand Island, set fire
to the entire flotilla, lest the English secure an added advantage; and
from this fact may we not draw the conclusion that these French hoped to
hold the remainder of the great western waterway even if Fort Niagara
fell? They could not use those boats very well on the lower Niagara,
though with them once in hand they could easily strike at Presqu' Isle
and Detroit.
[Illustration: Canadian Trapper, from La Potherie.]
Poor Pouchot demanded the best terms that he dared; it was agreed that
the garrison should retain arms and baggage and one cannon as they
marched out of the battered shell of a fort they had endeavoured to
hold, and, upon laying down their arms, should be transported, in
vessels furnished by the English, to New York; it was also demanded that
they should be protected from the insults of the redskin allies of the
English. That the latter stipulation was agreed to and honestly enforced
illustrates the genuine hold Johnson had upon his brown brethren of the
Long House. The articles were signed on the night of July 24th and on
the 25th the flag of England rose to the breeze that fanned the lake and
the wide-sweeping Niagara frontier--the second flag that had dominated
that strategic spot in the century. The garrison numbered over six
hundred men and eleven officers; the French total loss was about two
hundred including the action at Youngstown; the English loss was sixty
killed and 180 wounded. Forty-three iron cannon were found within the
fort, fifteen hundred round shot, forty thousand pounds of musket-balls,
five hundred hand grenades, and many tools, etc. The important result,
however, was the removal of French domination over the warlike Seneca
nation in this region and the natural inheritance that came with
Niagara, the trade of which it was the centre. Near the site of the
destroyed Fort du Portage, at the upper end of the portage, Captain
Schlosser erected Fort Schlosser. Fort Niagara itself was improved; the
present "bakehouse" was built in 1762. The Niagara of this time has been
well described by Mr. Porter:
It was the head centre of the military life of the entire
region, the guardian of the great highway and portage to and
from the West; and hereabouts, as the forerunners of a coming
civilisation and frontier settlement, the traders were securing
for themselves the greatest advantages. To the rude transient
population--red hunters, trappers, Indianised
bush-rangers--starting out from this centre, or returning from
their journeys of perhaps hundreds of miles, trooping down the
portage to the fort, bearing their loads of peltries, and
assisted by Indians who here made a business of carrying packs
for hire, Fort Niagara was a business headquarters. There the
traders brought their guns and ammunition, their blankets, and
cheap jewelry, to be traded for furs; there the Indians
purchased, at fabulous prices, the white man's "fire water," and
many, yes, numberless were the broils and conflicts in and
around the fort, when the soldiers under orders tried to calm or
eject the savage element which so predominated in the life of
the Garrison.
[Illustration: Youngstown, N. Y., from Paradise Grove.]
Pontiac's rebellion came fast on the heels of the old French War, so
fast indeed that we cannot really distinguish the line of division
except for the fact of English occupation of Fort Niagara; with
astonishing alacrity the incorrigible Senecas took up Pontiac's bloody
belt, especially disgruntled with English rule in the Niagara country
because the carrying business at the Niagara portage had been taken away
from them upon the introduction of clumsy carts which carried to Fort
Schlosser what had before been transported on the backs of Seneca
braves. The retaliation for this serious loss of business was the
terrible Devil's Hole Massacre of September 14, 1763, which occurred on
the new portage road between Fort Schlosser and Lewiston at the head of
what is known as Bloody Brook, in the ravine of which at the Gorge lies
the Devil's Hole. Here a party of five hundred Senecas from Chenussio,
seventy miles to the eastward of Niagara, waylaid a train of twenty-five
waggons and a hundred horses and oxen, guarded, probably indifferently,
by a detachment of troops variously estimated from twenty-five to three
hundred in number, on its way from Lewiston to the upper fort. But three
seem to have escaped that deadly ambuscade, and a relieving party,
coming hurriedly at the instance of one of the survivors, ran into a
second ambush, in which all but eight out of two companies of men
escaped. On the third attempt the commander of the fort hastened to the
bloody scene with all of the troops at his command except what were
needed to defend the fort. But the redskins had gone, leaving eighty
scalped corpses on the ground. The first convoy probably numbered about
twenty-five and the relieving party probably twice that number. The
Indians had thrown or driven every team and all the whites surviving the
fire of their thirsty muskets over the brink of the great ravine in
which lies the Devil's Hole, fitly named.
At the great treaty that Sir William Johnson now held at Niagara with
all the western Indians--one of the most remarkable convocations ever
convened on this continent--the Senecas were compelled to surrender to
the English Government all right to a tract four miles wide on each side
of the Niagara River from Fort Niagara to Fort Schlosser. When it came
time to sign the articles agreeing to this grant, Johnson, at the
suggestion of General Bradstreet, who had in mind a fortification of the
present site of Fort Erie, asked to extend the grant to include all land
bordering the entire river from mouth to source and for four miles back.
To this the Senecas agreed, but signed the treaty, as it were, with
their left hands, never intending to keep it. However, it is to this
date that we trace first actual white man's ownership of the first foot
of land on the Niagara frontier, save perhaps the enclosure at Fort
Niagara. Until this agreement was reached Sir William refused to deal
with the gathered host of Indians from the West; thus was the Devil's
Hole Massacre avenged.
Over two thousand Indians had met to treat with the now famous Indian
Commissioner for the Crown, coming from Nova Scotia in the East and the
head streams of the Mississippi River in the West; that Niagara should
have been the chosen meeting-place illustrates again its geographical
position on the continent. Shrewd at this form of procrastinating
business, Sir William laid down the policy of treaty with each tribe
separately and not with the nations as such, and this, added to the
formality observed, tended to make the procedure of almost endless
duration. But Johnson knew his host and it is said on good authority
that the vast sum now invested by the Crown paid good interest; the
congress cost about ten thousand dollars in New York currency, and about
two hundred thousand was distributed in presents to the vast assemblage.
"Though this assemblage consisted of peace-desiring savages, their
friendly disposition was not certain. Several straggling soldiers were
shot at, and great precautions were taken by the English garrison to
avert a rupture." Writes the graphic Parkman: "The troops were always on
their guard, while the black muzzles of the cannons, thrust from the
bastions of the fort, struck a wholesome awe into the savage throng
below."
[Illustration: The Stone Redoubt at Fort Niagara, Built in 1770.
From the original in the British Museum.]
The Fort Niagara of that day little resembled the sight that greets the
tourist's eye at that point to-day. When the French built the "Mess
House" or "Castle" they built one story only, but afterward added a
second, the walls of which probably extended above the roof to serve as
a breastwork for gunners. The present roof is an English addition,
comparatively modern. The French built also the two famous block-houses,
the walls of which also protruded from the ancient roof for the same
purpose as on the "Mess House," and these were used as late as the War
of 1812. The old Magazine was built by the French, but its present-day
roof is, of course, of modern construction, being in reality nothing but
a covering over the stone arch which was the ancient roof. So far as
appearance goes the waters of the hungry lake have probably done more
altering of the natural aspect than has the hand of man. The fantastic
"castle" now stands close to the water's edge, whereas, in the olden
time there were upwards of thirty rods of ground between the "Mess
House" and the lake, supporting an orchard. The present stone wall was
erected in 1839, and the brick walls constructed outside the old line of
breastworks in 1861; four years later the lighthouse was established in
the upper story of the "Castle"; in 1873 the present lighthouse was
erected.
No serious conflict now marked England's rule in her new territory, and
the people of Canada, and especially of the Niagara region, had now
comparatively a few years' repose, but then came one of the most
important periods in its history. Their country was invaded, and for a
time seemed on the point of passing under the control of the Congress of
the old Thirteen Colonies, now in rebellion against England. Only the
genius of an able governor-general saved the valley of the St. Lawrence
to the British Crown.
In the year 1774, Parliament intervened for the first time in Canadian
affairs, and passed what was known as the "Quebec Act," which greatly
extended the boundaries of the province of Quebec, as defined by the
Proclamation of 1763. On one side the province now extended to the
frontiers of New England, Pennsylvania, New York Province, the Ohio, and
the left bank of the Mississippi; on the other to the Hudson's Bay
Territory; Labrador, Anticosti, and the Magdalen Islands, annexed to
Newfoundland by the Proclamation of 1763, were made part of the province
of Quebec. The "Quebec Act" created much debate in the House of Commons.
The Earl of Chatham, in the House of Lords, described it as a "most
cruel and odious measure." The opposition in the province was among the
British inhabitants, who sent over a petition for its repeal or
amendment, their principal grievance being that it substituted the laws
and usages of Canada for English law. The "Act of 1774" was exceedingly
unpopular in the English-speaking colonies, then at the commencement of
the Revolution, on account of the extension of the limits of the
province so as to include the country long known as the "Old North-west"
in American history, and the consequent confinement of the Thirteen
Colonies between the Atlantic coast and the Alleghany Mountains, beyond
which the hardy and bold frontiersmen of Virginia and Pennsylvania were
already passing into the great valley of the Ohio. Parliament, however,
appears to have been influenced by a desire to adjust the government of
the province so as to conciliate the majority of the Canadian people at
the critical time.
The advice of Sir Guy Carleton, afterwards Lord Dorchester, who
succeeded General Murray as Governor-General, had much to do with the
liberality of the "Quebec Act" towards the French Canadians. He crossed
the Atlantic in 1769 and remained absent from Canada for four years. He
returned to carry out the "Quebec Act," which was the foundation of the
large political and religious liberties which French Canada has ever
since enjoyed. The "Act" aroused the indignation of the older American
colonies, and had considerable influence in directing the early course
of the Revolution which ended in the establishment of a federal
republic. To it the Declaration of Independence refers as follows:
"Abolishing the free system of English laws in a neighbouring province,
establishing therein an arbitrary government, and enlarging its
boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for
introducing the same absolute rule in other colonies." During the
Revolution the Continental Congress attempted to secure the active
alliance of Canada, and to that end sent a commission made up of
Franklin, Chase, Charles Carroll, and John Carroll to Quebec; but the
province remained loyal throughout. It will be noticed in another
chapter that General Brock, in answering the "Proclamation" issued by
Hull in 1812, voiced the belief that Canada was the price the American
Colonies had promised to pay France in return for her valuable aid in
the Revolution!
[Illustration: Pfister's Sketch of Fort Niagara and the "Communication,"
Two Years before the Outbreak of the Revolutionary War.]
It is not necessary to dwell here on the events of a war the history of
which is so familiar to every one.[28] When the first Continental
Congress met at Philadelphia on September 5, 1774, the colonies were on
the eve of independence as a result of the coercive measures forced on
Parliament by the King's pliable ministers led by Lord North. The
"Declaration," however, was not finally proclaimed until nearly two
years later, on July 4, 1776, when the Thirteen Colonies declared
themselves "free and independent States," absolved of their allegiance
to the British Crown. But many months before this great epoch-making
event, war had actually commenced on Lake Champlain. On an April day, in
the now memorable year 1775, the "embattled farmers" had fired at
Concord and Lexington, the shots "heard round the world," and a few
weeks later the forts at Crown Point and Ticonderoga, then defended by
very feeble garrisons, were in the possession of colonial troops, led by
Ethan Allen and Seth Warner, the two "Green Mountain Boys" who organised
this expedition. Canada was at this time in a very defenceless
condition. Burgoyne was defeated at Saratoga, and his army, from which
so much was expected, made prisoners of war. This great misfortune of
the British cause was followed by the alliance of France with the
States. French money, men, and ships eventually assured the independence
of the Republic, whose fortunes were very low at times despite the
victory at Saratoga. England was not well served in this American war;
she had no Washington to direct her campaign, and Gage, Burgoyne, and
Cornwallis were not equal to the responsibilities thrown upon them.
Cornwallis's defeat at Yorktown, October 19, 1781, was the death blow to
the hopes of England in North America.
Had General Sullivan's campaign of 1779, as planned, been successful, he
would have attacked Fort Niagara, but disaster overtook him, though he
led an expedition against the Iroquois, routed a force of Indians and
Tories at Newtown, near the present Elmira, and wrought wide devastation
in the country of the Cayugas and Senecas.
Yorktown led to the Treaty of Versailles and independence, but oddly
enough it was almost a generation before a third flag arose above the
historic "Castle" at the mouth of the Niagara. In 1784 the United States
came into the control of the territory extending from Nova Scotia (which
then included New Brunswick) to the head of the Lake of the Woods and to
the Mississippi River in the West, and in the North from Canada to the
Floridas in the South, the latter having again become Spanish
possessions. The boundary between Nova Scotia and the Republic was so
ill defined that it took over fifty years to fix the St. Croix and the
Highlands which were, by the treaty, to divide the two countries. In
the Far West the line of division was to be drawn through the Lake of
the Woods "to the most north-western point thereof, and from thence on a
due west course to the River Mississippi"--a physical impossibility,
since the head of the Mississippi, as was afterwards found, was a
hundred miles or so to the south! In later times this geographical error
was corrected, and the curious distortion of the boundary line that now
appears on the maps was necessary at the Lake of the Woods in order to
strike the forty-ninth parallel of north latitude, which was
subsequently arranged as the boundary line as far as the Rocky
Mountains.
A strip of land one mile wide along the American shore from Lake Ontario
to Lake Erie had been exempted when New York ceded the ownership of what
is now the western part of this State to Massachusetts, which ownership
New York subsequently reacquired. Finally the Indians, who, in spite of
their former cessions to England, still claimed an ownership, ceded to
New York, for one thousand dollars and an annuity of one thousand five
hundred dollars, their title to all the islands in the Niagara River.
The State of New York patented the mile-strip to individuals, commencing
in the first decade of the nineteenth century.
In spite of the Treaty of Versailles in 1783, as noted, neither Niagara
nor Detroit was surrendered by the British until 1796. Both forts were
held as English outposts and strengthened. We have shown that the
boundary-line between Canada and the United States was improperly
conceived; but it is a fact that during the Revolutionary War the people
of the North-west had been warned from Niagara and Detroit to take up
arms in behalf of the Americans. Nothing aggressive, however, had been
accomplished. The wilderness of three hundred miles between Detroit and
the Eastern States made an attack upon the posts by the Americans
impracticable; moreover, most of the fighting in this region was done by
the British and the Indians and the people of Pennsylvania and Ohio.
It is due to the statesmanship of John Jay that the posts still
garrisoned by British troops in the United States, contrary to the
stipulations of the Treaty of Paris, were finally evacuated in 1796. Jay
had been sent by President Washington to go to Great Britain in 1794 as
special envoy to settle differences growing out of the failure of that
country to keep the obligations of the Treaty of 1784, differences which
had aroused a strong war-spirit all over the States. It was easy to
foresee, as Jay recognised, that the outcome of the situation would in
all probability be unpopular with the people, but he did not hesitate to
meet the responsibility that Washington believed he could meet better
than any other man, partially because of the reputation he had
established in England while negotiating the Treaty of 1784. Jay set
sail on May 12, 1794 in the ship _Ohio_, with his son Peter Augustus,
and with John Trumbull as secretary. On June 8th he landed at Falmouth
and at once entered into relation with Lord Grenville, the Secretary of
Foreign Affairs, who was commissioned by the King to treat with Mr. Jay.
The sincerity and candour of the two negotiators soon led to a degree of
mutual confidence that both facilitated and lightened their labours. A
treaty resulted known on this side of the ocean as "Jay's Treaty,"
which settled the eastern boundary of Maine, recovered for illegal
captures by British cruisers $10,000,000, secured the surrender of the
western forts still garrisoned by the British, and contained an article
about the West India trade. With the exception of the latter article,
the treaty was approved by the President and ratified by the Senate. But
many were not satisfied, and denounced Jay with tongue and pen, and even
burned him in effigy in Boston, Philadelphia, and at his own home in New
York. How different was the homecoming from that after the negotiation
of the other treaty, when the freedom of the city was presented to him
in a golden box, and each one seemed to vie with every other in
extending a welcome! In a letter to a friend, Jay said at that time,
"Calumny is seldom durable, it will in time yield to truth," and he bore
himself at that time as one having full confidence that he had acted
both wisely and skilfully, and expected the people to realise it in
time. The British, however, would not evacuate Niagara and the other
forts without a semblance of fighting on paper. They held, amongst other
reasons, that they were yet justified in maintaining a garrison on
American soil because "it was _alleged_ by divers merchants and others,
His Majesty's subjects," that they had sustained various losses by the
legal impediments they had experienced in collecting debts in America
due to them before the war. Mr. Jay, however, with great diplomacy,
removed this obstacle by the appointment of Commissioners of Award, and
as the British finally were deprived of all pretence for maintaining the
posts, it was agreed that they should be surrendered on or before the
first of June, 1796. This was finally done and the third and last flag
floated lazily in the Lake Ontario breezes over the historic point. The
settlers and traders within the jurisdiction of the posts were permitted
to remain and to enjoy their property without becoming citizens of the
United States unless they should think proper to do so.
[Illustration: Fort Erie and the Mouth of the Niagara, by Pfister, in
1764.
From the original in the British Museum.]
Anthony Wayne's army now took full possession of the Niagara region.
With the exception of a small strip of land on the river and lake, all
the present State of Michigan was occupied by Indians--Pottawattomies,
Miamis, Wyandots, Chippewas, Winnebagoes, and Ottawas. The first
American commander of the post was Colonel John Francis Hamtramck, who
died in 1803. At that period Detroit was headquarters of the Western
Army, but the whole garrison only consisted of three hundred men.
Niagara-on-the-Lake may be called the Plymouth Rock of upper Canada. It
was once its proud capital. Variously known in the past as Loyal
Village, Butlersbury, Nassau, and Newark, it had a daily paper as early
as 1792, and was a military post of distinction at the same period, its
real beginnings, however, being contemporaneous with the War of
Independence. Here, within two short hours' ride of the most populous
and busy city of western New York, typical of the material forces that
have moulded the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, we come upon a spot
of intensest quiet, in the shadow of whose ivy-mantled church tower
sleep trusted servants of the Georges, Loyalists and their Indian
allies.
The place has been overtaken by none of that unpicturesque commercial
prosperity which further up the frontier threatens to destroy all the
natural beauties of the river-banks.
The Welland Canal and the Grand Trunk and Great Western Railway systems
diverted the great part of the carrying trade, and with it that growth
and activity which have signalised the neighbouring cities of Canada.
"Refuse the Welland Canal entrance to your town," said the
Commissioners, "and the grass will grow in your streets." Here General
Simcoe opened the first Upper Canadian Legislature; and later, from here
the noble Brock planned the defence of Upper Canada. While the cities of
western New York, which have now far eclipsed it, were rude log
settlements, at "Newark" some little attempt was made at decorum and
society.
Here landed in 1783-'84 ten thousand United Empire Loyalists, who, to
keep inviolate their oaths of allegiance to the King, quitted their
freeholds and positions of trust and honour in the States to begin life
anew in the unbroken wilds of Upper Canada. History has made us somewhat
familiar with the settlement of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick by the
expatriated Loyalists. Little has been written of the sufferings and
privations endured by the "makers" of Upper Canada. Students and
specialists who have investigated the story of a flight equalled only by
that of the Huguenots after the revocation of the Edict of Nantes have
been led to admire the spirit of unselfish patriotism which led these
one hundred thousand fugitives to self-exile. While the Pilgrims came to
America leisurely, bringing their household goods and their charters
with them, the United Empire Loyalists, it has well been said, "bleeding
with the wounds of seven years of war, left ungathered the crops of
their rich farms on the Mohawk and in New Jersey, and, stripped of
every earthly possession, braved the terrors of the unbroken wilderness
from the Mohawk to Lake Ontario." Inhabited to-day by the descendants of
these pioneers, the old-fashioned loyalty and conservatism of the
Niagara district is the more conspicuous by contrasting it with
neighbouring republicanism over the river.
Here, over a century ago, near Fort George, stood the first Parliament
House of Upper Canada. Here, seventy years before President Lincoln's
Emancipation Proclamation, the first United Empire Loyalist Parliament,
like the embattled farmers at Concord, "fired a shot heard round the
world." For one of the first measures of the exiled patricians was to
pass an act forbidding slavery. Few readers know that at Newark, now
Niagara, was enacted that law by which Canada became not only the first
country in the world to abolish slavery, but, as such, a safe refuge for
the fugitive slaves from the Southern States.
General Simcoe, the first governor, was born in 1752 and died in 1806. A
landed gentleman of England and likewise a member of the British House
of Commons he voluntarily relinquished all the luxuries of his beautiful
English home and estates to bury himself in the wilderness of Canada and
the Niagara region. As governor-general he exemplified the extremest
simplicity. His guard consisted of four soldiers who came from Fort
George, close by, to Newark, every morning and returned thither in the
evening. Mrs. Simcoe not only performed the duties of wife and mother,
but also acted as her husband's secretary. The name of Simcoe is
indelibly entered in the history of the development of the Niagara, and
it is doubly appropriate that her interesting drawings should illustrate
a volume dealing with this region she loved.
Here Cooper is said to have written his admirable novels of border and
Indian life, novels which have been devoured by me and millions of
readers; it is fair to predict that the stories will be read for another
century to come.[29] Many other interesting characters have at different
periods made Fort George their abode. In 1780, a handsome house within
its enclosure was occupied by General Guy Johnson.
[Footnote 24: _Colonial Documents of New York_, vol. ix., p. 773; in the
history of the French régime at Niagara special acknowledgment must be
made to Porter's _Brief History of Old Fort Niagara_ (Niagara Falls,
1896), which is particularly rich in references to the important sources
of information concerning the French along and at the mouth of the
Niagara River.]
[Footnote 25: _Colonial Documents of New York_, vol. ix., pp. 952, 958.]
[Footnote 26: Logstown?]
[Footnote 27: In the author's _Historic Highways of America_, vol. iv.,
chap. 2, this whole problem is discussed and Cumberland's instructions
quoted.]
[Footnote 28: The record of these bloody years is hinted in the
number of prisoners brought to Niagara. On this topic Frank H.
Severance writes [In _Old Trails on the Niagara Frontier_, pp. 89-91.
Mr. Severance, Secretary of the Buffalo Historical Society, has
ably taken the place of the eminent scholar of the Niagara country
O. H. Marshall. In his volume above quoted Mr. Severance provides a
most interesting, scholarly series of papers which no one who loves
New York's old frontier should miss. Our story of the famine at De
Nonville's fort was written with Mr. Severance's book open before us.]:
"Just how many American prisoners were brought into Fort Niagara
during this period I am unable to say, though it is possible
that from the official correspondence of the time figures could
be had on which a very close estimate could be based. My
examination of the subject warrants the assertion that several
hundred were brought in by the war-parties under Indian,
British, and Tory leaders. In this correspondence, very little
of which has ever been published, one may find such entries as
the following:
"Guy Johnson wrote from Fort Niagara, June 30, 1781:
"'In my last letter of the 24th inst. I had just time to enclose
a copy of Lieut. Nelles's letter with an account of his success,
since which he arrived at this place with more particular
information by which I find that he killed thirteen and took
seven (the Indians not having reckoned two of the persons whom
they left unscalped). . . .'
"Again:
"'I have the honour to transmit to Your Excellency a general
letter containing the state of the garrison and of my Department
to the 1st inst., and a return, at the foot, of the war parties
that have been on service this year, . . . by which it will
appear that they have killed and taken during the season already
150 persons, including those last brought in. . . .'
"Again he reports, August 30, 1781:
"'The party with Capt. Caldwell and some of the Indians with
Capt. Lottridge are returning, having destroyed several
settlements in Ulster County, and about 100 of the Indians are
gone against other parts of the frontiers, and I have some large
parties under good leaders still on service as well as scouts
towards Fort Pitt. . . .'
"Not only are there many returns of this sort, but also
tabulated statements, giving the number of prisoners sent down
from Fort Niagara to Montreal on given dates, with their names,
ages, names of their captors, and the places where they were
taken. There were many shipments during the summer of '83, and
the latest return of this sort which I have found in the
archives is dated August 1st of that year, when eleven prisoners
were sent from the fort to Montreal. It was probably not far
from this time that the last American prisoner of the Revolution
was released from Fort Niagara. But let the reader beware of
forming hasty conclusions as to the cruelty or brutality of the
British at Fort Niagara. In the first place, remember that
harshness or kindness in the treatment of the helpless depends
in good degree--and always has depended--upon the temperament
and mood of the individual custodian. There were those in
command at Fort Niagara who appear to have been capable of
almost any iniquity. Others gave frequent and conspicuous proofs
of their humanity. Remember, secondly, that the prisoners
primarily belonged to the Indians who captured them. The Indian
custom of adoption--the taking into the family circle of a
prisoner in place of a son or husband who had been killed by the
enemy--was an Iroquois custom, dating back much further than
their acquaintance with the English. Many of the Americans who
were detained in this fashion by their Indian captors, probably
never were given over to the British. Some, as we know, like
Mary Jemison, the White Woman of the Genesee, adopted the Indian
mode of life and refused to leave it. Others died in captivity,
some escaped. Horatio Jones and Jasper Parrish were first
prisoners, then utilised as interpreters, but remained among the
Indians. And in many cases, especially of women and children, we
know that they were got away from the Indians by the British
officers at Fort Niagara, only after considerable trouble and
expense. In these cases the British were the real benefactors of
the Americans, and the kindness in the act cannot always be put
aside on the mere ground of military exchange, prisoner for
prisoner. Gen. Haldimand is quoted to the effect that he 'does
not intend to enter into an exchange of prisoners, but he will
not add to the distresses attending the present war, by
detaining helpless women and children from their families.'"
In justice to Col. Guy Johnson's administration at Fort Niagara,
as well as to give one of the clearest (if biased) views of the
trials and perplexities of those hard days, we reproduce a
"Review of Col. Johnson's Transactions"; as Mr. Severance notes,
this review shows "the real state of affairs at Fort Niagara
towards the close of the Revolutionary war" better than does
almost any other document [I quote Mr. Severance's copy from
_Canadian Archives_, Series B, vol. 106, p. 122, _et seq._]:
"Montreal, 24th March, 1782.
"Before Colonel Johnson arrived at Niagara in 1779 the Six
Nations lived in their original possessions the nearest of which
was about 100 and the farthest about 300 miles from that post.
Their warriors were called upon as the service required parties,
which in 1776 amounted to about 70 men, and the expenses
attending them, and a few occasional meetings ought to have been
and he presumes were a mere Trifle when compared with what must
attend their situation when all [were] driven to Niagara,
exposed to every want, to every temptation, and with every claim
which their distinguished sacrifices and the tenor of Soloman
[solemn] Treaties had entitled them to from Government. The
years 1777 & 1778 exhibited only a larger number occasionally
employed and for their fidelity and attachment to Government
they were invaded in 1779 by a rebel army reported to be from 5
to 600 men with a train of Artillery who forced them to retire
to Niagara leaving behind them very fine plantations of corn and
vegetables, with their cloathing, arms, silver works, Wampum
Kettles and Implements of Husbandry, the collection of ages of
which were destroyed in a deliberate manner and march of the
rebels. Two villages only escaped that were out of their route.
"The Indians having always apprehended that their distinguished
loyalty might draw some such calamity towards them had
stipulated that under such circumstances they effected
[expected] to have their losses made up as well as a liberal
continuation of favours and to be supported at the expence of
Government till they could be reinstated in their former
possessions. They were accordingly advised to form camps around
Niagara which they were beginning to do at the time of Colonel
Johnson's arrival who found them much chagrined and prepared to
reconcile them to their disaster which he foresaw would be a
work of time requiring great judgment and address in effecting
which he was afterwards successful beyond his most sanguine
expectations, and this was the state of the Indians at Colonel
Johnson's arrival. As to the state and regulation of Colonel
Johnson's officers and department at that period he found the
duties performed by 2 or three persons the rest little
acquainted with them and considered as less capable of learning
them, and the whole number inadequate to that of the Indians,
and the then requisite calls of the service, and that it was
necessary after refusing the present wants of the Indians to
keep their minds occupied by constant military employment, all
which he laid before the Commander in Chief who frequently
honoured his conduct with particular approbation."]
[Footnote 29: Here, the story runs, the brother of Sir Walter Scott
concocted the plots and outlines of Sir Walter's famous novels and sent
them on to England to be polished up for publication--a story worthy of
a Hennepin.]
Chapter X
The Hero of Upper Canada
General Isaac Brock, the Hero of Upper Canada, was the kind of man men
delight to honour--honest, capable, ambitious, faithful, kind. Nothing
less than a tremendous gorge, such as separates Queenston from Lewiston
Heights, could keep the people of one nation from knowing and loving
this hero of another; since Brock's day this gorge has been spanned by
beautiful bridges, and it is full time now, as the centennial of the
second war with England approaches, that the appreciation of the
characters of the worthy, patriotic heroes of that olden day o'erleap
the chasm of bitter rivalry and hostility and become common and genuine
to the northward and the southward of the Niagara.
Isaac Brock was the eighth son of John Brock, Esq., born on the sixth
day of October, 1769, in the parish of St. Peter-Port, Guernsey--the
famous birth-year of Wellington and Napoleon. Tall, robust, and mentally
conspicuous as a lad, Isaac followed his elder brother into the British
Army, purchasing the ensigncy in the 8th, or King's Regiment, in 1785.
His promotion was the result of merit in addition to possessing the
means to purchase higher office; in 1790 we find him a lieutenant in the
49th Regiment, advancing to his majority in 1795 and two years later
becoming senior lieutenant-colonel. Supplanting now an officer accused
of peculation who had brought the whole regiment into public notice,
Brock exerted an influence that seemed to transform the regiment, making
it "from one of the worst," said the Duke of York himself, "one of the
best regiments in the service."
[Illustration: Major-General Brock.]
The opportunity of active service soon came, as the 49th was thrown into
Holland, Brock being wounded at Egmont-op-Zee, or Bergen. His simple
statement concerning being struck in the breast by a spent bullet is
interesting: "I got knocked down soon after the enemy began to retreat,"
he remarks, "but never quitted the field, and returned to my duty in
less than half an hour."[30] Here Brock fought under Sir John Moore and
Sir Ralph Abercrombie; in 1801 he was second in command of the land
forces at Copenhagen and saw Lord Nelson on the _Elephant_ write his
famous letter to the Crown Prince of Denmark. During the next year the
49th was sent to Canada and was quartered at Fort George near Newark,
the present Niagara-on-the-Lake. The character of Brock's management of
the troops under him is well illustrated in the case of a strange mutiny
that came near to breaking out at this time at Fort George due to the
useless annoyance, or alleged actual severity, which so exasperated the
men that an almost inconceivable plot to kill the officers was
discovered. After the crime the soldiers were to cross the river into
the United States and escape. One of the confederates was sent by the
commanding officer to Brock at York with a letter describing the
horrifying discovery. The incensed commander compelled the soldier at
the point of a musket to disclose the chief conspirators. Hastening to
Fort George the ringleaders were apprehended at the dinner table and
hurried off to Quebec, where they were summarily shot. As a result Brock
himself was ordered to make Fort George his headquarters, whereupon all
trouble seems to have ceased.
In 1805 Brock received his colonelcy and with it leave of absence. While
at home he made a report to the commander-in-chief which throws an
interesting light on affairs at that period, favouring the formation of
a veteran battalion for service in Upper Canada. He wrote:
The artifices employed to wean the soldier from his duty,
conspire to render almost ineffectual every effort of the
officers to maintain the usual degree of order and discipline.
The lures to desertion continually thrown out by the Americans,
and the facility with which it can be accomplished, exacting a
more than ordinary precaution on the part of the officers,
insensibly produces mistrust between them and the men, highly
prejudicial to the service.
Experience has taught me that no regular regiment, however high
its claim to discipline, can occupy the frontier posts of Lower
and Upper Canada without suffering materially in its numbers. It
might have been otherwise some years ago; but now that the
country, particularly the opposite shore, is chiefly inhabited
by the vilest characters, who have an interest in debauching the
soldier from his duty; since roads are opened into the interior
of the States, which facilitate desertion, it is impossible to
avoid the contagion. A total change must be effected in the
minds and views of those who may hereafter be sent on this duty,
before the evil can be surmounted.[31]
Such was the warlike tenor of despatches now at hand from Canada that
Brock, eager to be at the post of duty at a critical time, hastened from
London in June, 1806, cutting short his leave of absence. Throughout
that year and its successor he was actively engaged in studying his
province with regard to military demands that might suddenly be made
upon it; it is noteworthy that the commander feared that in case of an
outbreak between England and America a considerable part of the
inhabitants of Upper Canada (Loyalists) would prove friendly to the
young Republic. Discussing a new militia law he wrote as follows to the
Council:
In thus complying with the dictates of his duty, Colonel Brock
was not prepared to hear that the population of the province,
instead of affording him ready and effectual support, might
probably add to the number of his enemies; and he feels much
disappointment in being informed by the first authority, that
the only law in any degree calculated to answer the end proposed
was likely, if attempted to be enforced, to meet with such
general opposition as to require the aid of the military to give
it even a momentary impulse.
If such were the apprehensions of the commanding officer in Canada
little wonder General Hull, in later days, counted on the co-operation
of many of the inhabitants of the trans-Niagara country. In September,
1807, Brock, who was acting-governor in Canada pending the arrival of
Sir James Craig, was fortifying Quebec in anticipation of an immediate
outbreak of the impending war. In this connection a little incident
displays his character. He had caused to be erected at Quebec a very
powerful battery, and of it he wrote his brothers:
I erected . . . a famous battery, which the public voice named
after me; but Sir James, thinking very properly that anything so
very pre-eminent should be distinguished by the most exalted
appellation, has called it the King's Battery, the greatest
compliment, I conceive, that he could pay to my judgment.
The true modesty of the really great man shines out in these charming
words.
As the war cloud seemed to dissipate toward the close of 1808, General
Brock seems to have set his eyes toward Europe in the hope of
opportunity of active service; on November 19th he writes quite
despondently:
My object is to get home as soon as I can obtain permission; but
unless our affairs with America be amicably adjusted, of which I
see no probability, I scarcely can expect to be permitted to
move. I rejoice Savery [Brock] has begun to exert himself to get
me appointed to a more active situation. I must see service, or
I may as well, and indeed much better, quit the army at once,
for no one advantage can I reasonably look to hereafter if I
remain buried in this inactive, remote corner, without the least
mention being made of me.
It is exceedingly noticeable that Brock now seems to pin all his hope to
being recalled in order that he might win his laurels in the
tremendously spectacular campaigns against Napoleon in Spain. From his
letters we learn that the French-Canadians looked for the Corsican's
ultimate triumph and his final possession of Canada itself, and adds
that under like circumstances Englishmen would be even more restless
under French rule than the French-Canadians were under English; "Every
victory which Napoleon has gained," he observes, "for the last nine
years has made the disposition here to resist more manifest."
In the middle of July Brock writes his sister-in-law, Mrs. William
Brock, that the die is cast and that he is ordered to Upper Canada. If
it is character, rather than mere performance that, in the last
analysis, gives every man his historic position in the annals of the
world, the truth is nowhere better shown than here in the case of this
splendid Canadian hero. Could his Governor have spared him Brock would
have, ere this, been at home or en route to Spain and fame; but the
conditions demanded a strong, diplomatic officer at Fort George, and
there was nothing for it but that Brock must go; and there followed
war--and bloody Queenston Heights. "Since I cannot get to Europe," are
his gloomy words, "I care little where I am placed."
By September 13th he is writing his brothers from Fort George, but still
hinting of his hopes to get leave to return to England eventually. What
an out-of-the-way place for fame to seek and find a man--a man repining
that he cannot go in search of her! Yet he writes: "I should stand
evidently in my own light if I did not court fortune elsewhere." The
attitude of Sir James Craig in the matter of his transfer to the
European service was candidly stated by a letter from Colonel Baynes as
follows:
In reply to an observation of mine, that you regretted the
inactive prospect before you, and looked with envy on those
employed in Spain and Portugal, he said: "I make no doubt of it,
but I can in no shape aid his plans in that respect; I would
not, however, be the means of preventing them, and although from
his local knowledge I should regret losing him in this country,
yet I would not oppose it if he could obtain an appointment to
the staff on service; but in that case I would ask for another
general officer being sent in his place immediately to Upper
Canada." I tell you this, my dear general, without reserve, and
give you, as far as I can recollect, Sir James's words. If he
liked you less, he might, perhaps, be more readily induced to
let you go; as matters stand, I do not think he will, although I
am convinced that he will feel very sincere regret in refusing
you on a subject upon which you appear to be so anxious.
In his correspondence we now and then get a glimpse of the General's
tastes and inclinations; that he was not a frugal entertainer we have
considerable proof,[32] likewise evidence of his temperate tastes. In
his lonely life by the Niagara he had recourse to such books as were to
be found.
But books are scarce [he writes], and I hate borrowing. I like
to read a book quickly, and afterwards revert to such passages
as have made the deepest impression, and which appear to me most
important to remember--a practice I cannot conveniently pursue
unless the book be mine. Should you find that I am likely to
remain here, I wish you to send me some choice authors in
history, particularly ancient, with maps, and the best
translations of ancient works. I read in my youth Pope's
Translation of Homer, but till lately never discovered its
exquisite beauties. As I grow old, I acquire a taste for study.
I firmly believe that the same propensity was always inherent in
me, but, strange to tell, although many were paid extravagantly,
I never had the advantage of a master to guide and encourage me.
But it is now too late to repine. I rejoice that my nephews are
more fortunate.
Colonel Vesey, writing to Brock, states that he regrets not having a
daughter of marriageable age. "You should be married," runs the letter,
"particularly as fate seems to detain you so long in Canada--but pray do
not marry there." In another letter, dated Portsmouth, June 10, 1811,
the same correspondent refers to Brock's appointment as Major-General.
Oddly enough General Vesey says, referring to his friend's probable
future: "It may perhaps be your fate to go to the Mediterranean, but the
Peninsula is the most direct road to the honour of the Bath, and as you
are an ambitious man, that is the station you should prefer. . . ." Only
sixteen months from the day this letter was written Brock was gazetted
Knight of the Bath--the lonely, patient, splendid man winning the great
honour in the very land he was longing so sincerely to leave. On October
17th a communication from Lieutenant-Colonel Torrens gives General Brock
permission to return to England, but it was too late; both honour and
necessity demanded his presence in Canada as the exciting days of 1812
drew on apace.
[Illustration: A Plan of Fort Niagara after English Occupation, by
Montresor.]
At the outbreak of hostilities in this year the United States embraced
an immense territory, extending from the St. Lawrence to Mexico,
excepting Florida--which remained in the possession of Spain until
1819--and from the Atlantic indefinitely westward to the Spanish
possessions on the Pacific coast, afterwards acquired by the United
States. The total population of the United States was upwards of eight
million souls, of whom a million and a half were negro slaves in the
South. Large wastes of wild land lay between the Canadian settlements
and the thickly populated sections of New England, New York, and Ohio.
It was only with great difficulty and expense that men, munitions of
war, and provisions could be brought to the frontier during the contest.
The principal causes of the war are quite intelligible to the historical
student. Great Britain was engaged in a great conflict at the beginning
of the nineteenth century, not only for her own national security but
also for the integrity of Europe, then threatened by the insatiable
ambition of Bonaparte. It was on the sea that her strength mainly lay.
To ensure her maritime supremacy England reserved the right of searching
neutral, especially American, vessels. This so-called right meant that
wherever an English warship met American merchantmen or war-vessels, the
latter were required to stop, order their men on deck, and permit as
many sailors to be seized and forced into the English service as were
unable to prove their nationality. It was maintained that only deserters
from the English navy were wanted; but in the period from 1796 to 1802,
nearly two thousand American seamen were pressed into the English naval
service on the plea that they were deserters. Likewise England became
jealous of American trade. French, Spanish, and even English traders
raised the American flag in order to get the advantages of neutrals.
Thus it appeared that English commerce would fall into the hands of her
rivals. It cannot be denied that illicit trade and outrages were really
committed and brought back to American doors. The Lion roared. English
vessels were stationed just outside the ports of more or less importance
to the United States. British cruisers virtually blocked the Atlantic
coast from Maine to Georgia. Then happened the _Chesapeake_ affair. On
June 27, 1803, the British war-vessel _Leopard_ signalled the
_Chesapeake_ to stop as she was leaving Norfolk Harbour. An officer was
sent on board, but Commodore Barron refused to muster his men. The
_Leopard_ thereupon opened fire, took the _Chesapeake_ by surprise,
three men being killed and eighteen wounded. One Englishman was found
when the search was completed; nevertheless, three American sailors (one
being a negro) were taken away. This affair excited the American people
almost beyond precedent. Indignation meetings were held all over. War
soon became the cry. President Jefferson sent an agent to England to
demand reparation for the attack on the _Chesapeake_, but England paid
no attention to the President's representations.
The Embargo Act of President Jefferson and similar measures solved none
of the difficulties they were intended to solve. The South suffered much
hardship, tobacco and wheat shrinking to one-half their former value.
Then came the _Little Belt_ affair, when, in May, 1811, the United
States frigate _President_ encountered the British sloop _Little Belt_,
and, after a hot chase of several hours practically annihilated her.
Never was news more welcome to American ears, and the _Chesapeake_
affair had been revenged. But the incident did not help to improve the
situation. Lastly it was generally believed that England instigated the
Indian attacks which led to the battle of Tippecanoe, where the
Americans, under General William Henry Harrison, gained a complete
victory, to which our readers' attention will be directed later.
All these causes would, perhaps, have been ineffective but for the
revolution in the following year which took place in the American
Republican party--the controlling party since 1801. Henry Clay of
Kentucky, and John S. Calhoun of South Carolina, advocated war; others
followed and President Madison joined them. They hoped to compel Europe
to respect the American flag; they had confidence in the young Republic;
they dreamed, perhaps, of an alliance with France, of an annexation of
Canada. After long and stormy debates war was declared June 18th, the
invasion of Canada had already begun!
The War of 1812 officially commenced on June 18th. Great Britain,
indeed, had extended a reconciliatory hand but it was too late. The army
of the United States numbered at that time 6744 regulars. Congress had
authorised its increase to 25,000, and provided, at least by law, for a
second volunteer army of 50,000 men. The militia of several States was
likewise called on to co-operate with the regulars and the volunteers.
But the result was very unsatisfactory. The regular army during the war
never reached 10,000; the volunteers appeared only in small numbers, and
the militia offered to serve only for short terms and preferably in
their own States. The Treasury, with its "sinews of war" was in a
precarious condition. The Union had to resort to loans to which the
capitalists did not respond with alacrity. On the other hand the British
troops in Canada numbered barely seven thousand men; their line of
defence was one thousand miles long. England was contending in Europe
with her great enemy, Napoleon. The English Navy was, however, the
undisputed mistress of all the seas; the British North Atlantic Squadron
counted three battleships, twenty cruisers, and fifty smaller ships.
The mind of the man who had been unwittingly awaiting the impossible in
the Upper Province for so many gloomy months is well displayed now in a
letter written to headquarters at the first intimation of the
declaration of war which reached him through round-about sources:
Fort George, July 3, 1812.
I have been anxiously expecting for some days to receive the
honour of your excellency's commands in regard to the measures
the most proper to be pursued on the present emergency.
The accounts received, first through a mercantile channel, and
soon after repeated from various quarters, of war having been
declared by the United States against Great Britain, would have
justified, in my opinion, offensive operations. But the
reflection that at Detroit and Michilimakinack the weak state of
the garrisons would prevent the commanders from accomplishing
any essential service, connected in any degree with their future
security, and that my means of annoyance on this communication
were limited to the reduction of Fort Niagara, which could
easily be battered at any future period, I relinquished my
original intention, and attended only to defensive measures. My
first object has been the calling out of the flank companies of
militia, which has produced a force on this line of about eight
hundred men. They turned out very cheerfully, but already show a
spirit of impatience. The king's stores are now at so low an
ebb, that they scarcely furnish any article of use or comfort.
Blankets, hammocks, and kettles, are all to be purchased; and
the troops, when watching the banks of the river, stand in the
utmost need of tents. Mr. Couche has adopted the most
efficacious means to pay the militia in paper currency. I cannot
positively state the number of militia that will be embodied,
but they cannot exceed throughout the province four thousand
men.
The Americans are very active on the opposite side, in the
erection of redoubts; we are not idle on our part, but
unfortunately having supplied Amherstburg with the guns which
that post required from Fort George, depending upon getting
others from Kingston to supply their place, we find ourselves at
this moment rather short of that essential arm. I have, however,
every reason to think that they are embarked on board the _Earl
Moira_, which vessel, according to Major M'Pherson's report, was
to have sailed on the 28th ultimo. The Americans have, I
believe, about 1200 regulars and militia between Fort Niagara
and Black Rock, and I consider myself at this moment perfectly
safe against any attempt they can make. About one hundred
Indians from the Grand River have attended to my summons; the
remainder promise to come also, but I have too much reason to
conclude that the Americans have been too successful in their
endeavours to sow dissension and disaffection among them. It is
a great object to get this fickle race interspersed among the
troops. I should be unwilling, in the event of a retreat, to
have three or four hundred of them hanging on my flank. I shall
probably have to sacrifice some money to gain them over, and the
appointment of a few officers with salaries will be absolutely
necessary.
The Americans make a daily parade of their force, and easily
impose on the people on this side in regard to their numbers. I
do not think they exceed 1200, but they are represented as
infinitely more numerous.
For the last fortnight every precaution has been taken to guard
against the least communication, and to this day we are ignorant
whether the President has sanctioned the war resolutions of the
two houses of Congress; that is, whether war be actually
declared.
I have not been honoured with a line from Mr. Foster,[33] nor
with all my endeavours have I been able to retain information of
any consequence. The _Prince Regent_ made her first voyage this
morning, and I purpose sending her to Kingston this evening, to
bring such articles as are absolutely necessary, which we know
have arrived from Quebec. I trust she will out-sail the _Oneida_
brig.
The arrival of General Hull at Detroit and his "invasion" of Canada
followed hard on the declaration of war; as a preliminary step previous
to invasion he issued the Proclamation for which he was afterward so
roundly scored. The proclamation was really an invitation to all
disaffected persons in the Upper Provinces to join Hull's army. That it
had no more success than it did, was due, it may be believed, to the
personal magnetism of the able man in control of affairs--to the trust
that the people had as a whole in General Brock. To counteract Hull's
proclamation Brock replied in one of his own, and it contains several
statements of interest as displaying the character of its author:
The unprovoked declaration of war by the United States of
America against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland,
and its dependencies, has been followed by the actual invasion
of this province, in a remote frontier of the western district,
by a detachment of the armed force of the United States.
The officer commanding that detachment has thought proper to
invite his majesty's subjects, not merely to a quiet and
unresisting submission, but insults them with a call to seek
voluntarily the protection of his government.
Without condescending to repeat the illiberal epithets bestowed
in this appeal of the American commander to the people of Upper
Canada, on the administration of his majesty, every inhabitant
of the province is desired to seek the confutation of such
indecent slander in the review of his own particular
circumstances. Where is the Canadian subject who can truly
affirm to himself that he has been injured by the government, in
his person, his property, or his liberty? Where is to be found,
in any part of the world, a growth so rapid in prosperity and
wealth, as this colony exhibits? Settled not thirty years, by a
band of veterans, exiled from their former possessions on
account of their loyalty, not a descendant of these brave people
is to be found, who, under the fostering liberality of their
sovereign, has not acquired a property and means of enjoyment
superior to what were possessed by their ancestors.
[Illustration: "Navy Hall Opposite Niagara."
A drawing on bark by Mrs. Simcoe.]
The unequalled prosperity would not have been attained by the
utmost liberality of the government, or the persevering industry
of the people, had not the maritime power of the mother-country
secured to its colonists a safe access to every market, where
the produce of their labour was in request.
The unavoidable and immediate consequences of a separation from
Great Britain must be the loss of this inestimable advantage;
and what is offered you in exchange? To become a territory of
the United States, and share with them that exclusion from the
ocean which the policy of their government enforces; you are not
even flattered with a participation of their boasted
independence; and it is but too obvious that, once estranged
from the powerful protection of the United Kingdom, you must be
re-annexed to the dominion of France, from which the provinces
of Canada were wrested by the arms of Great Britain, at a vast
expense of blood and treasure, from no other motive than to
relieve her ungrateful children from the oppression of a cruel
neighbour. This restitution of Canada to the empire of France,
was the stipulated reward for the aid afforded to the revolted
colonies, now the United States; the debt is still due, and
there can be no doubt but the pledge has been renewed as a
consideration for commercial advantages, or rather for an
expected relaxation in the tyranny of France over the commercial
world. Are you prepared, inhabitants of Canada, to become
willing subjects, or rather slaves, to the despot who rules the
nations of continental Europe with a rod of iron? If not, arise
in a body, exert your energies, co-operate cordially with the
King's regular forces to repel the invader, and do not give
cause to your children, when groaning under the oppression of a
foreign master, to reproach you with having so easily parted
with the richest inheritance of this earth--a participation in
the name, character, and freedom of Britons!
The same spirit of justice, which will make every reasonable
allowance for the unsuccessful efforts of zeal and loyalty, will
not fail to punish the defalcation of principle. Every Canadian
freeholder is, by deliberate choice, bound by the most solemn
oaths to defend the monarchy, as well as his own property; to
shrink from that engagement is a treason not to be forgiven. Let
no man suppose that if, in this unexpected struggle, his
majesty's arms should be compelled to yield to an overwhelming
force, the province will be eventually abandoned; the endeared
relations of its first settlers, the intrinsic value of its
commerce, and the pretensions of its powerful rival to possess
the Canadas, are pledges that no peace will be established
between the United States and Great Britain and Ireland, of
which the restoration of these provinces does not make the most
prominent condition.
Be not dismayed at the unjustifiable threat of the commander of
the enemy's forces to refuse quarter, should an Indian appear in
the ranks. The brave bands of aborigines which inhabit this
colony were, like his Majesty's other subjects, punished for
their zeal and fidelity, by the loss of their possessions in the
late colonies, and requited by his Majesty with lands of
superior value in this province. The faith of the British
government has never yet been violated--the Indians feel that
the soil they inherit is to them and their posterity protected
from the base arts so frequently devised to over-reach their
simplicity. By what new principle are they to be prohibited from
defending their property? If their warfare, from being different
to that of the white people, be more terrific to the enemy, let
him retrace his steps--they seek him not--and cannot expect to
find women and children in an invading army. But they are men,
and have equal rights with all other men to defend themselves
and their property when invaded, more especially when they find
in the enemy's camp a ferocious and mortal foe; using the same
warfare which the American commander affects to reprobate.
This inconsistent and unjustifiable threat of refusing quarter,
for such a cause as being found in arms with a brother sufferer,
in defence of invaded rights, must be exercised with the certain
assurance of retaliation, not only in the limited operations of
war in this part of the King's dominions, but in every quarter
of the globe; for the national character of Britain is not less
distinguished for humanity than strict retributive justice,
which will consider the execution of this inhuman threat as
deliberate murder, for which every subject of the offending
power must make expiation.
Few men ever had the task that General Brock now essayed thrown upon
their shoulders. With some fifteen hundred men he had to occupy the
forts St. Joseph, Amherstburg (Malden), Chippewa, Erie, and George,
together with York (Toronto) and Kingston; maintain British supremacy,
if possible, on three great lakes; preserve the long communication and
defend a frontier eight hundred and more miles in length. And it is to
be remembered that even in time of peace there had been no little
trouble in keeping the British regulars from deserting to the American
side of the Niagara--probably to take advantage of the splendid
agricultural and commercial opportunities in the West just then being
thrown open to the pioneer hosts and to which Easterners were flocking
"in shoals," as one observer put it. His position was the more peculiar
because of the nature of the larger portion of the inhabitants of the
upper province, the loyalists. Having fled from the United States in the
hours of the Revolution, fancy now the thoughts of these honest people
as they faced the prospect of their land of refuge being invaded by an
army from the land below the lakes! Seldom did a people have more cause
for apprehension; seldom did the inhabitants of an invaded land look
less for commiseration on the part of the invaders. The result was that
a very few fled back again to the land of their birth; but the vast
majority resolved to trust the issue to Providence--and these looked to
General Brock to preserve the land.
The situation was unique and gave the man at the helm a singular
opportunity to prove himself and win the deathless devotion of a whole
people. Little wonder that the man who proved himself equal to this
critical hour will forever be known as "The Hero of Upper Canada."
Brigadier-General Hull had advanced into Upper Canada from Detroit
early in July, but it was not until the capture of Hull's despatches by
Colonel Proctor in the affair near Brownsville when Van Horne's party
was ambushed that Brock planned to execute the daring advance which
ended in the astonishing capture of Detroit and Hull's entire army. On
the 6th of August Brock departed from York, with five hundred additional
volunteers, largely sons of loyalists, who were very true to their
adopted country in this crisis--or, perhaps we should say, loyal to this
brave leader in whom were suddenly found the qualities required by the
extraordinary occasion. Being compelled to leave a part of the little
force he was leading westward along the Niagara River, General Brock
reached Amherstburg (Malden) in five days and nights with some three
hundred followers. It is plain on this showing that whatever the result
of the bold enterprise there was now no hesitation in carrying it out.
Tecumseh's salute in his honour was suppressed as quickly as possible,
such was the scarcity of powder! There is something pathetically
interesting in two despatches issued by Brock on two successive
days,--August 14th and 15th. One was an appeal to his troops to prevent
desertion among the country folk who felt it imperative to get in their
crops; the other was an ultimatum to Hull summoning him to surrender.
The incongruity of the two epistles is almost amusing, especially when
it is remembered that the British had very little powder and a force
smaller than that opposed to it beyond the Detroit River. And yet the
bombastic order reads:
The force at my disposal authorises me to require of you the
immediate surrender of Fort Detroit. It is far from my
inclination to join in a war of extermination; but you must be
aware that the numerous body of Indians who have attached
themselves to my troops will be beyond my control the moment the
contest commences. You will find me disposed to enter into such
conditions as will satisfy the most scrupulous sense of honour.
Lieut.-Colonel M'Donell and Major Glegg are fully authorised to
conclude any arrangement that may lead to prevent the
unnecessary effusion of blood.
An answer of bold and frank tenor from Hull was received by the
desperate Brock, who immediately chose his course; there was nothing for
it but to retreat or attack the enemies' position; he could not sit
still; he was in George Rogers Clark's shoes at Kaskaskia a generation
before when Hamilton had captured Vincennes--he must capture Hull or be
captured by Hull. It was true to the kind of man he was that Brock
should spurn the advice of his officers to retreat and should determine,
despite their objections, to put his threat into execution. On Sunday,
the 16th of August, Brock's determined men were crossing the Strait. His
force included less than four hundred regulars and about that many
militia supported by some six hundred Indians. The American troops
numbered upwards of two thousand. As is well known Brock received
notification as his force was moving upon the fort that General Hull was
ready to treat with him. The resolute deportment of the desperate Brock
had won for him and his King a bloodless conquest that will go down in
history as one of the most heroic on the part of one commander and most
despicable on the part of the other to be found in the annals of
warfare. Congressmen who had been boasting in debate that it was
unnecessary to even send troops into the Canadas since officers alone,
by appearing there, could rally armies of disaffected persons about
them, now read that one determined man, acting against the advice of his
officers had appeared at the gates of Detroit with half an army and
taken its keys as readily as though they were voted to him by the city
fathers and brought to him on a silver salver. "We have the Canadas,"
rang the silvery voice of Henry Clay in Congress, "as much under our
command as Great Britain has the ocean; and the way to conquer her on
the ocean is to drive her from the land." No one could have more
completely misjudged an enemy or his own country as did the great
Kentuckian in this instance.
It is interesting in the extreme to survey the man who had won a signal
triumph as he now marches back to York and Fort George where he had
spent so many useless, fruitless years, as it seemed to him--yearning in
season and out of season for the opportunity to get away to the
Peninsula, or somewhere where fame might be achieved. Brock's success is
a great lesson to all ambitious men. Doing the humble drudgery of the
duty that lay next his hand, despite the regret and even pain occasioned
by lack of opportunity, this man suddenly came into a fame world-wide
and the honour of the Bath that he thought could come to him only in
sunny Spain. On the 10th of the following October General Brock's
brother William was asked by his wife why the park and tower guns were
saluting. "For Isaac, of course," he answered, playfully; "don't you
know that this is Isaac's birthday?" A little later he learned that the
news of the surrender of Detroit had just been received, and that his
playful answer was very near the truth after all!
[Illustration: Queenston and Brock's Monument.
From a photograph by Wm. Quinn, Niagara-on-the-Lake.]
It is fruitless to imagine what might have been the trend of events in
Canada but for the daring decision made by Brock to move upon Detroit;
his courage in running in the teeth of the wind and trusting to
Providence to fetch the quay by hook or crook, is the very quality of
the human heart that mankind most delights to honour; it is remarkable
that the imbecility of Hull could have so completely blinded our
American eyes to this display of splendid daring of Brock's, which ranks
with Clark's bold march through the drowned lands of the Wabash, or
Wayne's attack on Stony Point. The capture of Hull and Detroit
unquestionably saved Upper Canada to England; for though American arms
were successful to some degree beyond the line, as we shall see, the
successes did not count toward conquest and annexation as would have
been the case, perhaps, had they come at the outbreak of the war. All
Canada felt the heartening effect of Brock's inexplicable victory;
thousands who had feared instant and ruthless invasion now felt strong
to repel any and all invaders; and the effect extended to the Indian
allies and across the ocean to the home-country, as well. Had Clay's
theory been true and the war had to be settled by land battles, Detroit
would have delayed the end for many years; but America was soon to show
a power on the sea as surprising as the stupidity of some of her
commanders on shore and play England at her own sea-dog game with her
own weapons and gain the victory.
The General's letter to his brothers is interesting as exhibiting the
man's private views on his great success:
I have received [he writes] so many letters from people whose
opinion I value, expressive of their admiration of the exploit,
that I begin to attach to it more importance than I was at first
inclined. Should the affair be viewed in England in the light it
is here, I cannot fail of meeting reward, and escaping the
horror of being placed high on a shelf, never to be taken down.
Some say that nothing could be more desperate than the measure;
but I answer, that the state of the province admitted of nothing
but desperate remedies. I got possession of the letters my
antagonist addressed to the secretary of war, and also of the
sentiments which hundreds of his army uttered to their friends.
Confidence in the General was gone, and evident despondency
prevailed throughout. I have succeeded beyond expectation. I
crossed the river, contrary to the opinion of Colonel Proctor,
. . . etc.[34]; it is, therefore, no wonder that envy should
attribute to good fortune what, in justice to my own
discernment, I must say, proceeded from a cool calculation of
the _pours_ and _contres_.
General Brock, along with most other British leaders who operated along
the American frontier, has been accused of using the savages to fight in
savage ways the battles of white men against fellow whites. Rossiter
Johnson, in his _War of 1812_, to cite one of the careful students who
has thus referred to Brock, in speaking of the minute-guns fired on the
American shore during Brock's funeral, says:
There was perhaps no harm in this little bit of sentiment,
though if the Americans remembered that two months before, in
demanding the surrender of Detroit, General Brock had threatened
to let loose a horde of savages upon the garrison and town, if
he were compelled to capture it by force, they must have seen
that their minute-guns were supremely illogical, not to say
silly.[35]
One who has any reason to know how much basis Washington had for his
sweeping remark that most of the trouble the United States had with the
western Indians was due to the demeanour of British officers to them,
could only with difficulty become prejudiced in favour of any British
officers who had actual dealings with the Canadian Indians and actually
led them in person to battle. And yet the present writer has found
sufficient ground in Brock's correspondence for holding that Brock was
above reproach personally on this score--that he was a gentleman here as
elsewhere, a true nobleman. We cannot here enter into a lengthy
discussion of such a difficult problem. A letter extant, written by
Brock to General Prevost, shows his attitude in this delicate matter
during those desperate days when Harrison was fighting the wily
Tecumseh:
My first care, on my arrival in this province, was to direct the
officers of the Indian department at Amherstburg to exert their
whole influence with the Indians to prevent the attack which I
understood a few tribes meditated against the American frontier.
But their efforts proved fruitless, as such was the infatuation
of the Indians, that they refused to listen to advice.
It will always be an open question how much control the responsible men,
either American or British, had over their red-skinned "brothers"
compared with their half-renegade, forest-running underlings who
dispensed the powder, blankets, and fire-water and directed affairs much
as they pleased.
Before the outbreak of the war Brock wrote to his superiors concerning
his province as follows:
The first point to which I am anxious to call your excellency's
attention is the district of Amherstburg. I consider it the most
important, and, if supplied with the means of commencing active
operations, must deter any offensive attempt on this province,
from Niagara westward. The American government will be compelled
to secure their western frontier from the inroads of the
Indians, and this cannot be effected without a very considerable
force. But before we can expect an active co-operation on the
part of the Indians, the reduction of Detroit and
Michilimakinack must convince that people, who conceive
themselves to have been sacrificed, in 1794, to our policy,[36]
that we are earnestly engaged in the war. The Indians, I am made
to understand, are eager for an opportunity to avenge the
numerous injuries of which they complain. A few tribes, at the
instigation of a Shawnese, of no particular note, have already,
although explicitly told not to look for assistance from us,
commenced the contest. The stand which they continue to make
upon the Wabash, against about two thousand Americans, including
militia and regulars, is a strong proof of the large force which
a general combination of the Indians will render necessary to
protect so widely extended a frontier.
Again, Brock was in a very different position from the British
commanders during the Revolution; his province was being invaded and the
Indians who had settled under the auspices of the British Government in
that province were threatened with destruction as seriously as the
loyalists or the native Englishmen transplanted from the mother-country.
Surely, no one would expect Indians whose homes lay in the upper
province to remain neutral when that province was invaded. Indeed, in
February, 1812, we find Brock complaining to his superior of the lax
attention that was paid by the Government to the Indians settled in the
province he had been sent to govern.
Divisions are thus uninterruptedly sowed among our Indian
friends [he wrote, meaning, of course, sowed by Americans], and
the minds of many altogether estranged from our interests. Such
must inevitably be the consequence of our present inert and
neutral proceedings in regard to them. It ill becomes me to
determine how long true policy requires that the restrictions
imposed upon the Indian department ought to continue; but this I
will venture to assert, that each day the officers are
restrained from interfering in the concerns of the Indians, each
time they advise peace and withhold the accustomed supply of
ammunition, their influence will diminish, till at length they
lose it altogether.
Nothing shows better the activity of the American officers in seeking to
line the Indians up on the side of the fighting Republic than Brock's
letters to his superiors. We have already seen that Brock had, as late
as July 3d, little hope of keeping the Indians of the Grand River true
to him because of the American influence exerted over them by active
agents. And we have seen, in his counter-proclamation answering that
issued by General Hull, that Brock places the employment of the Indians
on the ground of territorial rights: "By what new principle," he asks,
"are they to be prohibited from defending their property?"
The ominous words used by General Brock in his summons to Hull to
surrender have, it must be admitted, all the ring of a threat; but, for
one, I do not take them to be that primarily, but rather the honest,
frank words of a gentleman. In case of the sacking of Detroit Brock
could not have controlled those redskins of his, and he knew it. In like
circumstances what general had been able to control the Indians attached
to him? In the single instance of Sir William Johnson at the fall of
Fort Niagara, we find an illustration of approximate control, yet
nothing in the world but the power of that great man would have answered
under the circumstances. I would believe that Brock knew he could not
control his Iroquois allies,[37] whether in victory or in defeat, and
made a plain statement to Hull to that effect. That he told the truth I
think no one can doubt after examining the situation; whether he would
have told the truth if the truth had not carried a threat may be
questioned. The truth usually answers a gentleman's purposes, and Brock
was that to the marrow of his bones.
Brock had not overestimated the effect and influence of his bloodless
victory upon the English, but, by strange caprice of Fate, was not
permitted to live to receive the high honours bestowed upon him. On the
thirteenth of the following October, in the battle of Queenston Heights,
elsewhere described, while reforming the broken British ranks for a
second time, a bullet in the breast cut short a life that promised very
high attainment. As was his custom the General had arisen before
daybreak on this fatal day and had left Fort George at the first sound
of the battle on the heights. His conspicuous presence, bright uniform,
and animated deportment in attempting to reform the broken lines, made
him a plain target for Wool's heroic men, who had climbed up a pathway
steeper than any Wolfe's troops ever saw at Quebec. "Push on the York
volunteers," were the words of the brave man's last order; but as he lay
in the arms of his aides he begged that his injury might not be noticed
by the troops or disconcert their advance; and with one half-understood
wish concerning a token of love to be given to his sister, Isaac Brock
fell dead.
It is not given to many notable men to fall in the very midst of
spectacular success; it can easily be believed that General Brock, being
the man we know him to have been, would have made the best use of his
triumph, and that it would have been but a stepping-stone to enlarged
opportunities where each duty in its turn would have received the same
decent, earnest attention that the man gave to his work throughout those
half-unhappy days when he felt marooned in the wilds of a dreary ocean,
where no one could prove his merit, calibre, or knowledge. And so, after
all is said for this fine man, I, for one, like best to go back to those
days of impatient longing for opportunity amid the dull grind of routine
at Fort George, and see the real spirit of Brock who, in all truth,
deserves the honourable title of "Hero of Upper Canada"; and when you
have caught the spirit displayed by him in those dispiriting days,
realise his careful faithfulness in the humdrum life he was asked to
live, while his schoolmates of war were winning great glory on the
epoch-making European battlefields, join to it that sudden burst of
splendid grit and heroism that provoked the Detroit attack despite the
advice of the staff officers, and you have a combination that thrills
the heart of friend and enemy--of all who love patient doing of duty and
real displays of undiluted heroism.
Some of the best tributes to Brock, were, as should have been the case,
those paid by persons who knew of his place in the hearts of the people
of his adopted land of service:
The news of the death of this excellent officer [observed the
Quebec _Gazette_] has been received here as a public calamity.
The attendant circumstances of victory scarcely checked the
painful sensation. His long residence in this province, and
particularly in this place, had made him in habits and good
offices almost a citizen; and his frankness, conciliatory
disposition, and elevated demeanour, an estimable one. The
expressions of regret as general as he was known, and not
uttered by friends and acquaintances only, but by every
gradation of class, not only by grown persons, but young
children, are the test of his worth. Such, too, is the only
eulogium worthy of the good and brave, and the citizens of
Quebec have, with solemn emotions, pronounced it on his memory.
But at this anxious moment other feelings are excited by his
loss. General Brock had acquired the confidence of the
inhabitants within his government. He had secured their
attachment permanently by his own merits. They were one people
animated by one disposition, and this he had gradually wound up
to the crisis in which they were placed. Strange as it may seem,
it is to be feared that he had become too important to them. The
heroic militia of Upper Canada, more particularly, had knit
themselves to his person; and it is yet to be ascertained
whether the desire to avenge his death can compensate the many
embarrassments it will occasion. It is indeed true that the
spirit, and even the abilities, of a distinguished man often
carry their influence beyond the grave; and the present event
furnishes its own example, for it is certain notwithstanding
General Brock was cut off early in the action, that he had
already given an impulse to his little army, which contributed
to accomplish the victory when he was no more. Let us trust that
the recollection of him will become a new bond of union, and
that, as he sacrificed himself for a community of patriots, they
will find a new motive to exertion in the obligation to secure
his ashes from the pestilential dominion of the enemy.
A Montreal newspaper of the day also contained the following
observations:
The private letters from Upper Canada, in giving the account of
the late victory at Queenstown, are partly taken up with
lamentations upon the never-to-be-forgotten General Brock, which
do honour to the character and talents of the man they deplore.
The enemy have nothing to hope from the loss they have
inflicted; they have created a hatred which panteth for revenge.
Although General Brock may be said to have fallen in the midst
of his career, yet his previous services in Upper Canada will be
lasting and highly beneficial. When he assumed the government of
the province, he found a divided, disaffected, and, of course, a
weak people. He has left them united and strong, and the
universal sorrow of the province attends his fall. The father,
to his children, will make known the mournful story. The
veteran, who fought by his side in the heat and burthen of the
day of our deliverance, will venerate his name.
And the sentiments of the British Government, on the melancholy
occasion, were thus expressed in a despatch from Earl Bathurst, the
secretary of state for the colonies, to Sir George Prevost, dated
December 8, 1812:
His Royal Highness the Prince Regent is fully aware of the
severe loss which his Majesty's service has experienced in the
death of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock. This would have been
sufficient to have clouded a victory of much greater importance.
His Majesty has lost in him not only an able and meritorious
officer, but one who, in the exercise of his functions of
provisional lieutenant-governor of the province, displayed
qualities admirably adapted to awe the disloyal, to reconcile
the wavering, and to animate the great mass of the inhabitants
against successive attempts of the enemy to invade the province,
in the last of which he unhappily fell, too prodigal of that
life of which his eminent services had taught us to understand
the value.
The body of the fallen hero lay in state at the government house until
the 16th of October, when, with that of Colonel McDonell, it was buried
with due honours in a cavalier bastion of Fort George, at the spot now
marked by the tablet indicating the first burial-place. On the 13th of
October, 1824, the remains were moved to the summit of the heights,
whereon a beautiful monument had been erected by the Provincial
Legislature, 135 feet in height, bearing this "splendid tribute to the
unfading remembrance of a grateful people":
UPPER CANADA
HAS DEDICATED THIS MONUMENT
TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE
MAJOR-GENERAL SIR ISAAC BROCK, K.B.
PROVISIONAL LIEUT.-GOVERNOR AND COMMANDER OF THE FORCES
IN THIS PROVINCE
WHOSE REMAINS ARE DEPOSITED IN THE VAULT BENEATH
OPPOSING THE INVADING ENEMY
HE FELL IN ACTION NEAR THESE HEIGHTS
ON THE 13TH OCTOBER, 1812
IN THE 43D YEAR OF HIS AGE
REVERED AND LAMENTED
BY THE PEOPLE WHOM HE GOVERNED
AND DEPLORED BY THE SOVEREIGN
TO WHOSE SERVICE HIS LIFE HAD BEEN DEVOTED.
[Illustration: Brock's Monument.]
The following description of this interesting pageant portrays the
genuine feeling of devotion felt for the "Hero of Upper Canada" that
filled the hearts of his countrymen:
There is something so grand and imposing in the spectacle of a
nation's homage to departed worth, which calls for the exercise
of so many interesting feelings, and which awakens so many
sublime contemplations, that we naturally seek to perpetuate the
memory of an event so pregnant with instruction, and so
honourable to our species. It is a subject that in other and in
older countries has frequently exercised the pens, and has
called forth all the descriptive powers of the ablest writers.
But here it is new; and for the first time, since we became a
separate province, have we seen a great public funeral
procession of all ranks of people, to the amount of several
thousands, bearing the remains of two lamented heroes to their
last dwelling on earth, in the vaults of a grand national
monument, overtopping the loftiest heights of the most
magnificent section of one of the most magnificent countries in
the world.
The 13th of October, being the anniversary of the battle of
Queenstown, and of the death of Brock, was judiciously chosen as
the most proper day for the removal of the remains of the
general, together with those of his gallant aide-de-camp,
Lieutenant-Colonel M'Donell, to the vaults prepared for their
reception on Queenstown Heights.
The weather was remarkably fine, and before ten o'clock a very
large concourse of people, from all parts of the country, had
assembled on the plains of Niagara, in front of Fort George, in
a bastion of which the bodies had been deposited for twelve
years.
One hearse covered with black cloth, and drawn by four black
horses, each with a leader, contained both the bodies. Soon
after ten, a lane was formed by the 1st and 4th regiments of
Lincoln militia, with their right on the gate of Fort George,
and their left extending along the road towards Queenstown, the
ranks being about forty paces distant from each other; within
this line was formed a guard of honour of the 76th Regiment, in
parade order, having its left on the fort. As the hearse moved
slowly from the fort, to the sound of solemn music, a detachment
of royal artillery began to fire the salute of nineteen guns,
and the guard of honour presented arms.
On moving forwards in ordinary time, the guard of honour broke
into a column of eight divisions, with the right in front, and
the procession took the following order:
A Staff Officer.
Subdivision of Grenadiers.
Band of Music.
Right Wing of 76th Regiment.
THE BODY.
Aide-de-Camp to the late Major-General Sir Isaac Brock.
Chief Mourners.
Commissioners for the Monument.
Heads of Public Departments of the Civil Government.
Judges.
Members of the Executive Council.
His Excellency and Suite.
Left Wing of the 76th Regiment.
Indian Chiefs of the Five Nations.
Officers of Militia not on duty--Junior Ranks--First Forward.
Four deep.
Magistrates and Civilians.
With a long Cavalcade of Horsemen, and Carriages of every description.
On the 17th of April, 1840, a miscreant by the name of Lett laid a train
to a quantity of gunpowder secreted beneath the monument to General
Brock and fired it, partially wrecking both the base and the pillar. The
criminal had been compelled to flee the country during the rebellion
then just over, and, returning, took this outrageous method of
gratifying his malice. As we look upon the beautiful monument that
stands above Brock's remains to-day it is with a feeling almost of
pleasure that such a wretched deed was necessary to result in the fine
pillar that is one of the scenic beauties of the Niagara country to-day.
This fine shaft bears the following inscription:
The Legislature of Upper Canada has dedicated this Monument to
the very distinguished, eminent, civil, and military services of
the late Sir Isaac Brock, Knight of the Most Hon. Order of the
Bath, Provisional Lieutenant-Governor, and Major-General
commanding the Forces in this Province, whose remains are
deposited in the vault beneath. Having expelled the Northwestern
Army of the United States, achieved its capture, received the
surrender of Fort Detroit, and the territory of Michigan, under
circumstances which have rendered his name illustrious he
returned to the protection of this frontier; and advancing with
his small force to repel a second invasion of the enemy, then in
possession of these heights, he fell in action, on the 13th of
October, 1812, in the forty-third year of his age, honoured and
beloved by the people whom he governed and deplored by his
Sovereign, to whose service his life had been devoted.
[Footnote 30: _The Life and Correspondence of Major-General Sir Isaac
Brock, K.B._, by Ferdinand Brock Tupper, p. 16. This most interesting
volume has furnished very much of the material for this chapter. D. B.
Read's _Life and Times of General Brock_ is an excellent book for
popular use and will be found quoted herein.]
[Footnote 31: One cause of desertion seems to have been the ubiquitous
American girl. In a later letter Brock wrote:
"Not a desertion has been attempted by any of the 49th for the
last ten months, with the exception, indeed, of Hogan. He served
Glegg, who took him with him to the Falls of Niagara, where a
fair damsel persuaded him to this act of madness, for the fellow
cannot possibly gain his bread by labour, as he has half killed
himself with excessive drinking; and we know he cannot live upon
love alone."]
[Footnote 32: A letter from Colonel Kempt runs: "I have just received a
long letter . . . giving me an account of a splendid ball given by you
to the _beau monde_ of Niagara and its vicinity, and the manner in which
she speaks of your liberality and hospitality reminds me of the many
pleasant hours I have passed under your roof. We _have no such parties
now_, and the indisposition of Sir James having prevented the usual
public days at the castle, nothing more stupid than Quebec now is can be
imagined."]
[Footnote 33: British Ambassador to the United States.]
[Footnote 34: In the face of the fact here divulged concerning Proctor's
attitude toward Brock's determination to move upon Detroit it is
interesting to remember Brock's very high praise of Proctor in his
report of the capture. His words, so characteristic of the gentleman,
were: "I have been admirably supported by Colonel Proctor. . . ."]
[Footnote 35: P. 60.]
[Footnote 36: The reference here is to the failure of the British to
assist the Indian confederacy withstand General Wayne's invasion of the
Maumee Valley which ended in the victory of Fallen Timber.]
[Footnote 37: That Brock feared the Indians when acting in unison, that
is, when not "interspersed" among the troops, is perfectly plain from
his letter to General Prevost of July 3d.]
Chapter XI
The Second War with England
We have explained the influence of the life and death of General Brock
in the upper province sufficiently for the reader to conceive, perhaps,
an unusual interest in the course of the war that soon was raging, in
reality or in burlesque, as it sometimes appeared, along the northern
border; no one can take any interest in Brock's career without wondering
whether his province was invaded or conquered despite the sacrifices of
this undefeated but dead hero.
Upon Brock's return from Detroit he found General Stephen Van Rensselaer
commanding the American shore of the river, preparing, according to
report, to begin the conquest of the upper province. There was much
cause for delay, which in turn provoked criticism and unrest, but as
October of 1812 drew near it was considered necessary and possible to
execute the advance upon Brock's positions along the river and on
Queenston Heights and Fort George. The first attempt to advance on the
night of the 10th proved abortive through the treachery of an
irresponsible lieutenant. Instead of quieting the ardour of the army
this disgusting mishap made the troops the more eager for the conflict,
and a new plan was very secretly arranged, with such success that it is
pretty sure that General Brock was in doubt up to the last moment where
the attack was to be made. A strong force had been kept at Fort Niagara,
and this, with the stationing of Colonel Chrystie's troops at Four Mile
Creek, caused Brock to believe that the attack was to be made on Fort
George.
The night of the twelfth was set as the time for the second attempt to
cross the Niagara. Soon after dark, Chrystie with his three hundred men
marched from Fort Niagara by interior routes to Lewiston, reaching his
destination before midnight. Re-enforcements had also come from the
Falls, as well as Colonel Scott who had just arrived at Schlosser,
aroused by the information that a battle was soon to be fought and glory
to be won. Scott presented himself to the General asking permission to
take part in the engagement, and though Van Rensselaer could not change
his plans he offered to let Scott take position on Lewiston Heights and
co-operate with the rest of the army as he saw fit.
Solomon Van Rensselaer was again placed in command but Colonel Chrystie
was allowed to lead an equal force, thus recognising his rank. Three
o'clock in the morning, October 13th, was the time set for crossing the
river. The night was very dark. The plan was for Chrystie and Van
Rensselaer to cross and storm the heights, when the rest of the army
should follow on the second trip and attack Queenston. The boats,
however, would not carry more than half the desired number; these with
their leaders landed on the Canadian shore not more than ten minutes
after leaving Lewiston landing, at the very spot aimed at, at the foot
of the cliff under Lewiston suspension bridge. The British were found
very much on the alert and opened fire from the heights the moment the
boats touched land. Lovett's battery on Lewiston Heights immediately
opened fire in answer, and this, with a charge by the regulars of the
Thirteenth under Wool, soon drove the enemy backward toward Queenston.
Wool took position just above Queenston when orders were given him to
storm the heights. Eager and anxious for the struggle, his troops were
immediately put in motion, but he soon received orders countermanding
the first just as he was moving rapidly toward the heights. No sooner
had his men taken position in accord with it than the right flank was
fiercely attacked by Dennis's full force. At the same moment the British
opened fire upon the little body from the heights. Wool immediately,
without tarrying for orders, faced about and poured such a fierce fire
into Dennis's command that it was compelled to fall back. In the
meantime Van Rensselaer had come up with his command and taken position
on Wool's left. In this short engagement, the Americans suffered most
severely. Van Rensselaer was so severely wounded that he was forced to
relinquish the command, and Wool had been wounded though refusing to
leave the field.
The British on the heights kept up a continual fire on the Americans,
which from their position could not be returned with effect, and the
little invading army fell back to the shore below the hill where they
occupied a more sheltered position.
Daybreak had now come, and a storm which had raged all morning had
ceased with the retreat of the Americans; but the storm of lead was soon
to break more furiously than before, although the little army was in a
sorry plight. Wool was only twenty-three years old. The commanding
officer, Solomon Van Rensselaer, was forced to retire. What was to be
done? Wool had asked for orders. The heights must be taken or the
enterprise abandoned; Wool was ordered to storm the heights and Lush
commanded to follow and shoot the first man that wavered--for signs of
disaffection were already showing themselves. No sooner did Wool receive
his orders than, fired by the frenzy of the battle, forgetting wounds
and all else, he sprang forward to its execution. Up the ascent the men
rushed, protected from fire to a degree by bushes and rocks. Many parts
of the hill were so steep that there was nothing for it but to pull
themselves along by the roots and shrubs. General Brock, in the
meantime, hardly knew what to expect. He was at Fort George and seems to
have had a determined suspicion that the main attack would be made upon
Fort George from Fort Niagara. He heard the early cannonading but
supposed that it was only a feint to conceal the point of real movement.
However, the true soldier mounted his horse and raced away immediately
to the scene of action and death. On arriving and taking a view of the
field Brock considered affairs favourable to the British; however, he
had hardly dismounted at the redan battery than Wool's men scrambled
upon the heights and opened up a galling fire. So hot was the attack
that the Canadians were immediately forced from their stronghold; a few
moments later the flag of the Union waved there.
[Illustration: "Queenston or Landing near Niagara."
A drawing on bark by Mrs. Simcoe.]
Brock immediately sent to Fort George for re-enforcements, rallied the
disorganised force, and with Williams's and Dennis's commands attempted
to turn the American right flank; Wool perceived the move and tried to
anticipate it by sending fifty men to its protection. These were forced
back by superior numbers, and the whole command was compelled to give
ground until the edge of the precipice was reached with the rushing
river flood two hundred feet below. It seemed that they must either
surrender or perish; one captain attempted to raise a white flag but was
stopped by Wool, who, having addressed a few hurried words to his men,
led them to the charge with such fierce zeal that the British in turn
gave back. The brave Brock saw this movement in dismay; with a stinging
rebuke, which called every man back to a realisation of his duty, the
General placed himself at the head of the column to lead it back to
victory. His tall form, towering above that of the soldiers around him,
made a conspicuous mark for the American sharpshooter, and he was soon
struck in the wrist but bravely pressed on; shortly after a ball entered
his breast and passed out of his side, inflicting a death wound. He
scarcely had time to make a few last requests when he died. As soon as
the soldiers knew of their commander's death, they became infuriated.
The column charged up the hill toward the Americans. Wool's little
command, doubtful of victory, spiked the cannon in the redan. The
struggle was fierce for a few moments; but the British were again made
to retire, leaving Wool master of Queenston Heights.
Re-enforcements were slowly crossing the river. Colonel Scott had
arrived early in the morning and had placed his cannon to protect the
crossing as far as possible. Later he received permission to cross over
as a volunteer. Having met with Wadsworth of the New York militia, that
officer unselfishly waived his rank on account of Scott's superior
military experience, and allowed him to take command of regulars and
militia, amounting in all to some six hundred. While Scott was
superintending the unspiking of the cannon in the redan his command on
the heights was assailed by a band of Indians under John Brant, son of
the famous Mohawk chieftain. So furious and unexpected was their attack
that the pickets were driven in immediately and the main body began to
draw back. This was shortly after one o'clock in the afternoon. The
militia, unused to being under fire, were beginning to break away when
Scott appeared and by his commanding presence and steady nerve led the
men back to order. A charge was immediately ordered, which was executed
so fiercely that the Indians retired; however, they kept up a fire on
the Americans from sheltered positions until Scott ordered a general
assault and drove them from the heights. Lieutenant-Colonel Chrystie
then appeared on the field for the first time and ordered Wool to the
American shore to have his wounds dressed.
General Sheaffe now arrived from Fort George with re-enforcements and
took command of the British forces; these now numbered about thirteen
hundred while the Americans could not count over six hundred. Sheaffe
marched to the east to St. Davids and by brilliantly counter-marching
gained the rear of the American army. Van Rensselaer was on the heights
at this time; seeing these movements he returned to send over
re-enforcements. But to his surprise, and their own eternal disgrace,
the American militia, which had been crying out so long for action,
refused to budge. He, as well as others, threatened, entreated, and
implored; all in vain. The men who but a few hours before had demanded
to be led to the war, now, at sight of blood and the smell of
gun-powder, refused to help their comrades threatened with destruction
on the heights across the river. Van Rensselaer transmitted this
information to Wadsworth and promised boats if he wished to retreat, but
he could not even make this promise good, as the frightened boatmen
refused to raise an oar. Nothing was left for the little band on the
heights but surrender or death! It has been offered in extenuation of
the action of the militia that there had been gross mismanagement of the
boats, only one or two being at hand, necessitating their being sent
across the river in dangerously small parties. Wherever the blame should
be placed, there was enough of it to go around and to make any patriot
blush. The militia were within their legal rights in refusing to pass
beyond the boundaries of their State, and may have been entirely right
in refusing to attempt the crossing if it could not be made in force.
The final engagement of the battle of Queenston Heights was inaugurated
about four o'clock in the afternoon by General Sheaffe directing a large
body of Indians and regulars against the American right. The superior
numbers, together with the impetuous advance, threw the Americans into
confusion. Sheaffe ordered an advance along the whole line and the
American ranks were soon broken, most of those fleeing toward the city
being cut off by the Indians; some few escaped by letting themselves
down the steep hill by roots and bushes. Several attempts were made to
surrender, but it is said that even those bearing the flag were shot
down by the Indians. Colonel Scott was attacked by two savages while on
this mission, but was valiantly rescued by a British officer. On
reaching headquarters terms were soon agreed upon by which all the
Americans on the Canada side became prisoners of war.
Thus ended this, the spectacular battle of Queenston Heights. In many
ways it was typical of so many battles in American military annals; the
eagerness of hot-headed militia to hear the guns popping, the daring
attack, the heroism of cool, undaunted officers, the loss of enthusiasm
as the struggle wore on, the final conflict of regular and militia, the
seemingly inexcusable lack of interest on the part of the
non-combatants, the flight and surrender--all are typical.
The death of the noble Brock has thrown a halo over the Niagara frontier
for Briton and American alike. As you wander to-day across the pleasant
commons at Niagara-on-the-Lake to the site of old Fort George, or
scramble up the steep sides of beautiful Queenston Heights, you will
find yourself thinking of the heroic leaders at the battle of
Queenston--Brock, Wool, Chrystie, and the impetuous Scott; to one
rambler, at least, amid these striking scenes, the battle, as such,
quite faded out of the perspective, leaving the fine military figure of
the British commander looming up alone beside that of the
twenty-three-year-old boy Wool, who had jumped from his law books down
in New York to come here as captain of militia and give the world
another clear picture of absolute daring not surpassed in any point by
Wolfe's at Quebec; the young Scott appears too, so willing to be in the
fracas across the river that he crosses as a private soldier. Had the
faltering militia caught his spirit there would have been, perhaps,
another story to tell of the outcome of the battle! It is to be hoped
that the year 1912 will not pass without seeing raised on Lewiston
Heights a monument to these noble men equal in point of beauty to the
splendid shaft raised across the river to the memory of Brock.
On the 17th of November, a bombardment was opened on Black Rock from
batteries which had been constructed across the river. The firing was
kept up all day; but little damage was done to the Americans, and almost
none to the British, as few cannon were mounted against them. On the
21st of November a fierce cannonade was opened from a number of
batteries which had been erected opposite Fort Niagara. At the same time
the guns of Fort George, and all those of the vicinity which could be
brought to bear, directed their fire against Fort Niagara, and kept up
all day. The fort was fired several times by red-hot shot as were also
the works of the enemy. Two Americans were killed and two by the
bursting of a cannon, while four were wounded; night ended the fight and
it was not renewed.
General Smyth had succeeded in the command of the American forces in Van
Rensselaer's place after the engagement at Queenston. He had given it as
his opinion that the invasion should have taken place at some point
between Black Rock and Chippewa Creek and was now in position to carry
out his own plans. After a number of boastful proclamations, orders were
given the army on the 25th to be ready to march at a moment's notice.
The line of advance was planned and the whole campaign marked out. Boats
sufficient for men and artillery were provided, and Lieutenant-Colonel
Boerstler was to cross in the darkness and destroy a bridge about five
miles below Fort Erie, capture all men and supplies possible, and
return to the American shore. Captain King was to cross higher up the
river and storm the batteries. But the enemy was not to be caught
napping; Smyth's idle boasts and proclamations, together with his
statements as to the proper place for crossing, had put the British on
their guard with the result that the whole upper river was well guarded.
The advance parties embarked at three o'clock on the morning of the
29th. Of King's ten boats only four were able to effect a landing. His
small command jumped ashore into the very thickest of the fire and
almost immediately captured two batteries. Angus and his seamen who had
accompanied King rushed upon the Red House, captured the field-pieces
stationed there, spiked them, and threw them and the caissons into the
river. Angus returned to the river, and, not knowing that the other six
boats had been unable to land, supposed King had either returned or been
taken prisoner. It being too dark to reconnoitre, he struck away to the
American shore in the four boats, leaving King and his handful of men
helpless in Canada. King, on the other hand, not receiving
re-enforcements, returned to the landing and found all the boats gone,
and passing down the river about two miles he discovered two boats in
which he placed his prisoners and half his command, and started them for
the American shore. Only a few moments later he and all with him were
taken prisoners.
[Illustration: Lieutenant Pierie's Sketch of Niagara, 1768.
From an old print.]
The firing had roused the British all along the line. A number of
Boerstler's boats were not able to find the point designated as their
landing-place, and of those that did all were driven off but Boerstler's
own. In the face of a hot fire, he landed, forced back the enemy to the
bridge, but when he attempted to destroy that structure he found that in
the excitement the axes, militia-like, had been left behind, so that his
work was only partly accomplished. While thus engaged he received the
interesting intelligence that the whole force at Fort Erie were only
five minutes distant. In the darkness the enemy could not be seen; but
their advancing tramp could be easily heard. Boerstler, addressing his
subordinates as field officers, succeeded in deceiving the British as to
the size of his command. The Americans fired one volley and then charged
with such spirit that the British fell back, and the little command
recrossed the river without being further molested.
It was late in the afternoon before all was in readiness for a general
advance and the enemy were on the alert ready to give a warm reception.
Smyth had not been seen all day. When finally all was prepared orders
came to disembark and dine and, as nothing could be done, the soldiers
retired to their quarters.
A council was called, but no agreement could be reached. Smyth ordered
another advance on the 30th which never took place. Disagreements
between officers and insubordination among the soldiers soon led to the
abandonment of the plan entirely. General Porter openly attributed the
failure to Smyth, which shortly led to a duel in which neither was
injured and each one's honour was vindicated.
While these absurd pantomime war measures were transpiring on land the
little American navy covered itself with glory. By hard work Lieutenant
Oliver H. Perry had gotten ready nine vessels and fifty-five guns at
Erie, Pennsylvania, to oppose six vessels and sixty-three guns under the
English commander Barclay. After a careful cruise of the Lake, Perry met
the enemy in ill condition for a battle near Put-in-Bay on the 10th of
September, 1813. The completeness of his victory was described in his
famous despatch to Harrison: "We have met the enemy and they are ours;
two ships, two brigs, one schooner, and one sloop."
Shortly before the victory on Lake Erie, Gen. W. H. Harrison, who now
commanded the North-western army, accompanied by Johnson and his
Kentucky rifles, crossed into Canada and during the last week of August
and the first week of September was kept busy by the enemy. Proctor did
not, however, seem anxious to fight but kept falling back before the
Americans, much to the disgust of the famous Shawanese chieftain
Tecumseh, who was anxious for a battle. The army at last took position
on the Thames River on the 5th of August. Here they were attacked by
Harrison's forces, Johnson's Kentuckians leading the successful charge.
In a few minutes the British army with its Indian allies was routed and
Tecumseh killed. The North-west was relieved of further danger; and much
that was lost by Hull was regained with something in addition.
The Army of the North under General Dearborn, during the year of 1813
was to co-operate in the invasion of Canada, and on the 27th of April,
1813, the American army crossed Lake Ontario to York, now Toronto, and
were entirely successful in capturing that point, as more fully noted in
our chapter on that city.
It was part of Dearborn's plan on capturing York to press on over the
thirty miles to the River Niagara and take Fort George. On account of
unfavourable weather the army did not leave York until the 8th of May,
the fleet being under command of Chauncey and being joined in the
evening of the 25th by Perry, who had come hastily from Erie. The attack
was to be made on the morning of the 27th. Dearborn was himself sick,
being confined to his bed most of the time, but his orders were
faithfully carried out by his under officers. An attempt to launch
several boats on the evening of the 26th brought on a cannonade from the
batteries along both shores as well as from Fort George and Fort
Niagara. Darkness, however, came on and the preparations were made by
the Americans under its cover without further molestation. The morning
was somewhat foggy but a light breeze soon dissipated this and revealed
a fine sight for friend and foe alike. The waters of the lake were
covered with boats large and small, crowded with guns and soldiers, all
advancing bravely on the British position.
As soon as the fog lifted the batteries of both sides began a brisk
fire. Colonel Scott was in command of the landing party, assisted by
Chauncey with four hundred seamen to be used if necessary. Lieutenant
Brown directed such a hot fire against the battery at the landing that
it was finally silenced and Perry then, being in command of the boats,
rushed in despite a somewhat rough sea, to effect a landing, many of the
troops in their eagerness leaping into the water before the boats
touched land. The landing party was assailed by a heavy, well-directed
musketry fire from a neighbouring ravine, which caused them to scurry
for shelter under the bank. Perry seemed everywhere present, urging the
gunners on the boats to greater efforts and cheering on the landing
parties with words of confidence. In attempting to scale the bank, the
Americans were several times hurled back to the beach, but Scott was
finally successful in gaining a sheltered position in a neighbouring
ravine where a sharp conflict ensued for several minutes, but between
the execution of the American rifles and a well-directed cannonade from
one of the vessels the doughty British were compelled to retreat.
General Vincent, being persuaded that Fort George could not be saved,
ordered its destruction, which information reached Scott by two escaped
prisoners. He immediately attempted to save it if possible, but a short
distance from its walls one magazine blew up, though he reached his
destination in time to extinguish two other fuses and save the remainder
of the fort. He then continued his pursuit but was ordered to return and
had to give up what he thought half the glory of the contest.
Hearing that Colonel Proctor was coming from the West to help regain the
Niagara region, General Winder was sent in pursuit of Vincent. On the
5th he was joined by Chandler with five hundred men, who took the chief
command. At Forty-mile Creek they encountered a body of the enemy and
drove them off; twice now they drove the pickets in on the main body of
the army, causing no little alarm, but finally on account of treacherous
negligence in the American camp the British effected a night attack so
well planned and brilliantly executed that the force was in the heart of
the American camp while the soldiers were still sleeping. In the
confusion that followed, the Americans several times attacked their own
men. The British loss was the heavier, and they were compelled to
retire, but the victory was felt to be a decided one from the fact that
they captured two American generals.
The Americans, fearing a renewal of the attack, began to retreat. Near
Forty-mile Creek they were joined by Colonel Miller with reinforcements,
and retreat was continued with a fleet watching them from the lake and a
small army of regulars and a body of savages following in the rear. The
army finally reached Fort George after having lost several prisoners who
had been picked up in the rear. For several days the vessels were a
continual menace to the passage of American supplies, but on the 20th
the squadron sailed for Oswego. Not daring to make an attack here, they
again turned westward and took position off Niagara River.
While the operations were going on against the Niagara frontier, a
British squadron appeared against Sacketts Harbour. On the morning of
May 29th the attack was made, but so vigilant a defence was made by
General Brown with his raw militia that the enemy were forced to
withdraw.
General Dearborn, now at Fort George, sent a force to attack the enemy
at Beaver Dam and Ten-mile Creek, by way of St. Davids, on June 23d. It
was annoyed for a greater part of the way by Indians, and when near the
enemy's camp, having been deceived as to the opposing force, the whole
command was surrendered. The British, emboldened by this success,
suddenly retook Queenston and shortly after invaded Fort George, General
Dearborn being relieved of command by the still more incompetent General
Wilkinson.
The British, encouraged by their success, now began to make raids into
the American territory. One of these expeditions was directed against
Black Rock on July 11th. The expedition put to flight the American
guards with almost no fighting, took the city and supplies, and obtained
a large amount of booty. General Porter, however, rallied a small body
of the retreating militia and with these and reinforcements which had
arrived from Buffalo and about fifty citizens he fell with such force
upon the invaders that they retreated precipitately to their boats.
During the remainder of the summer little fighting was done in the
vicinity of Fort George except by foraging parties.
Most of the troops had been withdrawn from the fort in the early winter,
leaving only about sixty men within its walls; news was being
continually received of forces marching to the Niagara region and,
fearful of losing the fort, McClure, its commander, determined to
destroy it and retreat to Fort Niagara. The fort was partially
demolished, December 10th, but Newark was wantonly fired, leaving
hundreds of people homeless in the severest weather and rousing the
British to a revenge which they now visited on the Americans.
[Illustration: Old View of Fort Mississauga.]
On the 12th, Fort Niagara was invested. So negligent were the officers
that on the morning of the 13th one of the gates was found open, and the
enemy entered without opposition to a victory which might have been
almost bloodless had not the attacking force, incensed by the burning of
Newark, been led to revenge; a number of the garrison were bayoneted;
Lewiston was sacked, plundered, and almost entirely destroyed. A body of
soldiers pressed on to the town of Niagara Falls. They were met on the
heights by a small force which was not able to check them and the whole
Niagara region was laid waste. The Indians were turned loose and many
innocent persons perished at their hands. The advance on Buffalo and
Black Rock was only temporarily checked and on the 30th these cities
were captured and plundered as elsewhere described. Only four houses
were left in Buffalo and one in Black Rock. Such was the revenge of the
burning of Newark. These were dark days along the Niagara, when hatred
never bred in honest warfare flamed up in the hearts of men, and the
beginning of the story goes back to the inhuman destruction of old
Newark.
Toward the latter part of March the campaign of 1814 was opened by
General Wilkinson in the north, but little being accomplished he was
soon superseded by General Brown. By the end of June the Northern army
was gathered under Brown, once more prepared to carry the war into
Canada, Buffalo being the headquarters. On the morning of the 3d of
July, before daylight, General Scott crossed the river from Black Rock
to invest Fort Erie. General Ripley was to have followed immediately,
but he was delayed so long that it was broad day before he reached the
Canadian shore. Scott pushed forward and drove the enemy's pickets into
the fort. Brown, not waiting for Ripley, pushed into the forest in the
rear of the fort, extending his lines so as to enclose the post. Ripley
then appeared and took position in connection with Scott's command. The
fort was then summoned to surrender, which summons, on account of its
weak condition, was soon complied with just as reinforcements were on
their way to give aid.
To stop the advance of these troops, Scott was sent with his command
down the river. His march of about sixteen miles was a continual
skirmish with the British, and finding the enemy in force across the
Chippewa Creek he encamped for the night. Before morning of the fifth he
was joined by the main body of Brown's army. On the east was the river,
on the west a heavy wood, and between the armies the Chippewa and
Street's creeks. The British had also received reinforcements during the
night, and the battle of Chippewa was opened by each army attempting to
test the other's strength.
The American pickets on Scott's left were in trouble by four o'clock and
Porter was sent to relieve them; he drove back the British and Indians,
but in following up his success found himself suddenly confronted by
almost the whole of the enemy's army which attacked immediately. Porter
maintained his ground at first but was finally compelled to give the
order to retreat and this soon became a panic. General Brown noticed
this and correctly supposed that the whole force of the enemy was
advancing. Ripley and Scott were immediately rushed to the rescue,
Ripley to fall on the rear of the British right by stealing through the
wood, Scott to make a frontal attack.
The latter advanced across Street's Creek and the engagement became
general along the whole line of both armies. Time and again the British
line was broken but it sternly closed and continued the contest. Scott
finally decided to take advantage of what he considered the unskilful
manoeuvres of his foe; advancing, he ordered his forces to charge
through an opening in the lines. Almost at the same instant Leavenworth
executed a like movement, while Towson's battery poured canister into
the British ranks. They were completely demoralised and gave back.
Jesup on the American left had suffered greatly during the battle;
forced to fall back, he finally found a better position, and now poured
such a well-directed fire that the troops before him also retired. The
British retreat did not stop until the troops were behind their
entrenchments below Chippewa and the bridge across its waters destroyed.
This stronghold could not be taken by the Americans; the command was
given to retreat, and the same relative positions were occupied by the
armies the night after the battle as the night before.
On the eighth the whole American force again moved forward. The British
broke camp and retreated down the river closely pursued by Brown, who
took possession of Queenston on the 10th. The enemy occupied Fort George
and Fort Mississauga. Here Brown decided to await reinforcements from
Chauncey and his fleet. News, however, soon came of the commander's
illness and his blockade in Sacketts Harbour, whereupon Brown on the 23d
fell back to the Chippewa. In case Riall did not follow, he expected to
unlimber and fight wherever the enemy might be found; the night of the
24th, the army encamped on the battle-ground of the 5th, unconscious of
the laurels to be won in a few short hours at far-famed Lundy's Lane.
The morning of the 25th dawned clear and beautiful. Unconscious of the
proximity of the enemy, the Americans were enjoying a much-needed rest
behind the village of Chippewa, when about noon news came that the
British were in force at Queenston and on the heights, and that Yea's
fleet had appeared in the river. Next came information that the British
were landing at Lewiston and were threatening the supplies at Fort
Schlosser. These reports were partly true. Pearson had advanced, unknown
to the Americans, and taken position at Lundy's Lane a short distance
from the Falls. Brown seemed impressed with the idea that the British
were after the supplies at Schlosser and he was ignorant of the size of
the force opposed to him. He at once determined that the best way to
recall the British was to threaten the forts at the mouth of the river
and Scott was detailed to accomplish this task. Eager for the conflict
his whole command was in motion twenty minutes after having received the
order. Between four and five o'clock the march of twelve hundred men
began toward the forts.
Near Table Rock, Scott was informed that General Riall and his staff had
just departed. In fact the Americans saw the troops move off from the
house as they were advancing toward it, and the informant also stated
that the enemy were in force behind a small strip of woods in front; but
so convinced was the American leader that Fort Schlosser was the
objective point of the British movement that he would not credit the
story. Believing that but a small force was in front, he dashed into the
woods to dispel them. Imagine his surprise when he found himself faced
at Lundy's Lane by Riall's whole force! Scott's position was indeed
perilous. To advance seemed destruction, to stand still would be equally
fatal, while to retreat would probably throw the whole army into
confusion. With that resource which always distinguished him, he quickly
decided to engage the enemy, and if possible deceive them into believing
that the whole American army was present while he sent back for
reinforcements.
General Brown had been misinformed as to the enemy's movements. No
soldiers had crossed to Lewiston, but the whole force was with Riall
preparing for the present move. Scott found himself opposed to fully
eighteen hundred men. The English lines extended over the hill in a
crescent form with the horns extending forward. In its centre and on the
brow of the hill, the strongest point of the position, was placed a
battery of seven guns. Into the very centre of this crescent he had
unconsciously led his army.
Scott immediately perceived on the enemy's left flank an unprotected
space of brushwood along the river and instantly he ordered Major Jesup
to seize this and turn the flank if possible. While this move was being
accomplished Scott's troops engaged the enemy in front, only hoping to
hold the army in check until the reserves arrived.
Jesup was more than successful. He turned the left flank of the enemy,
gained his rear, and kept the reinforcements sent to Riall's aid from
joining the body of the army. Besides this he had captured Riall himself
with a number of his staff. By nine o'clock at night Jesup had
accomplished this and in the meantime Scott had beaten back a fierce
charge made by the British right; only the centre stood firm now.
Informed of the true state of affairs, and leaving orders for Ripley to
make all haste possible with the whole reserve force, Brown mounted his
horse and rode to the field, arriving just at this critical juncture. He
immediately saw that the hill crowned with cannon was the key to the
enemy's position; Ripley was advancing along the Queenston road; Scott's
worn men had been recalled. The commander turned to Colonel Miller,
saying, "Colonel, take your regiment, storm that work, and take it."
"I'll try, Sir," said Miller, and at once moved forward. At this moment
the regiment under Lieutenant-Colonel Nicholas, which was to draw the
enemy's fire from Miller, gave way. Nothing daunted, the young
commander, with three hundred followers, crept up the hill in the shadow
of an old rail fence thickly grown over with shrubbery. In this way they
reached unobserved a point only several rods distant from the enemy,
whom they saw around the guns waiting the order to fire. Resting their
pieces across the old fence the little command took deliberate aim, the
order was given by Miller in a whisper, a sheet of flame broke from the
shrubbery, and not a man was left to apply a match to the British
artillery. The men then broke from cover with a shout and rushed
forward, and all seven of the cannon were captured. A fierce
hand-to-hand contest was waged for a short time with the body of
infantry stationed behind the guns, but they were finally forced from
the hill. Four different attempts were made to recapture the position
but all were unsuccessful.
While these events were taking place Scott was maintaining his position
with great difficulty. His regiments were being literally cut to pieces
and, finally, he gathered the remnants into one mass, formed in line for
storming, and had given the order to move forward when the battery was
taken by Miller. Scott countermanded his order and returned to his
position at the base of the hill.
[Illustration: Monument at Lundy's Lane.]
Brown and Scott were both severely wounded and the command devolved now
on Ripley. When the battle was finally won Brown ordered Ripley to fall
back to the Chippewa to give the soldiers a much-needed rest during the
night, but to be back at Lundy's Lane by daybreak the next morning to
obtain the fruits of the victory. Day came and Ripley had not moved from
his quarters, but the British had returned and the two armies occupied
almost the same ground as before the battle. Ripley advanced but the
enemy's position was too strong to attack, so he discreetly returned to
camp. Brown was so disgusted that he sent to Sacketts Harbour for
General Gaines to come and assume command.
Generals Brown and Scott's troops were moved from the field supposing
that Ripley would at least hold his position. Hardly had they gotten out
of sight when Ripley ordered a retreat to Black Rock. Here he was
forbidden by Brown to cross the river, so he took up a position above
Fort Erie; at the same time the fortifications were strengthened in
order to repel the expected siege.
The work on Fort Erie went forward unmolested until the 3d of August.
Drummond then appeared before the fort with his army, which had been
resting at Lundy's Lane since the battle of the 20th of July.
Lieutenant-Colonel Tucker was sent across the river with a body of
troops to capture Black Rock and Buffalo. These were met so gallantly by
Morgan and his riflemen that they were compelled to return. Drummond at
the same time opened fire on the fort; this was discontinued until the
seventh, the respite being spent by both parties in preparing for the
siege. Gaines arrived on the 5th and assumed command while Ripley
returned to the head of his own brigade. On the 6th Morgan and his
riflemen attempted to draw the enemy from his trenches but were
unsuccessful; the cannonade was opened on the fort on the morning of
the 7th and was continued until the 13th. On the next day all the guns
possible were brought to bear on the fort, causing its commander to
believe that an assault was planned and arrangements were made to
receive the enemy. The guns were heavily shotted, vigilance of the
guards doubled, and things made ready for the warm reception of the
enemy. At midnight of the 14th, all was still quiet; a body of a hundred
men under Belknap had been thrown out toward the British army to do
picket duty as the night was so dark that the movements of the enemy
could not be seen. Their stealthy advance, though cautious, was detected
by the sharp ears of the waiting men; an alarm gun was fired and the
advance party fell back toward the fort. Fifteen hundred men came
charging against Towson's battery on the left, expecting to find the
soldiers asleep, but a broad sheet of flame burst from the long
twenty-four pounders here which made the line waver in its advance. At
the same moment the line of the 21st shone forth in its own light, then
all was darkness except as the guns were loaded and fired. Five times
the attack was renewed by the two columns; each time they were beaten
back.
Almost simultaneous with the attack on the left, another was made on the
American right, against the old fort; this was repelled, but Drummond,
valiant man, could not be held in check, and under cover of a heavy
cloud of smoke, followed by a hundred of the Royal Artillery, he crept
silently around the fort and by means of scaling ladders gained the
parapet almost unobserved. All attempts to dislodge the enemy failed.
Time and again they were charged, but each time they beat back their
assailants. Lieutenant-Colonel Drummond commanded his men to give no
quarter, and in a short time he fell, pierced through the heart by a man
to whom he refused mercy. Daylight dawned with the enemy repulsed on the
left. Reinforcements were brought to the right but there was no room to
use them. The Americans were finally gathered for a furious charge, when
that part of the fort which the British had seized was blown suddenly a
hundred feet into the air and fell in ruins. At the same instant a
galling fire was opened from the batteries and the enemy was compelled
to retire.
Both armies now received reinforcements and kept preparing for a second
engagement. A continual cannonade was kept up, when on the 28th of
August General Gaines was so injured by a shell that he had to retire
from action. General Brown, though shattered in health then resumed
command. The British were continually strengthening their works and he
saw that his only hopes lay in a sortie. The weather had been rainy
which inconvenienced the enemy as their works were located on the low
ground. Their numbers had also been greatly reduced by fever. These
facts were learned from prisoners which had been captured. The sortie
was planned for the 17th of September, all the officers acquiescing
except General Ripley. The plan was laid with great secrecy and was
favoured by heavy fog on the morning of the proposed action. The
Americans were entirely successful, the enemy being driven from their
works and almost all their supplies captured. This victory was hailed
with delight by the whole country. This, with the brilliant achievement
at Plattsburg, and the repulse of the British from Baltimore caused
rejoicing all over the nation, and restored the people from that gloom
into which they had been cast by the fall of the national capital.
On the 5th day of October General Izard arrived with reinforcements and
took command. With almost eight thousand troops he now prepared to
attack Drummond, but all attempts to draw him out of his trenches
failed.
Learning that there was a large store of grain at the mill on Lyons
Creek, Bissell was sent to destroy it. On the night of the 18th, he was
attacked but was successful in driving off the enemy and accomplishing
his task. Drummond, now perceiving that he could not hope to cope
successfully with the superior forces brought against him, fell back to
Fort George and Burlington Heights. General Izard soon removed his whole
force from Canada. On the 5th of November Fort Erie was blown up, to
keep it from falling again into the hands of the British.
On September 11th, the brilliant victory, mentioned before, was gained
by the Americans at Plattsburg and with the opening of winter, the
militia was disbanded and the war closed on the Canadian frontier.
In 1837 the Niagara was again the scene of military operations on a
slight scale when the Patriot War broke out, an uprising of
revolutionists who planned the overturning of the Canadian Government.
Navy Island was for a time the headquarters of the ferment, and from
here, under the date of December 17th, the leader, William Lyon
Mackenzie, issued a proclamation to the citizens of Canada. This strong,
misguided man is most perfectly described in Bourinot's _The Story of
Canada_:
He had a deep sense of public wrongs, and placed himself
immediately in the front rank of those who were fighting for a
redress of undoubted grievances. He was thoroughly imbued with
the ideas of English radicalism, and had an intense hatred of
Toryism in every form. He possessed little of that strong
common-sense and power of acquisitiveness which make his
countrymen, as a rule, so successful in every walk of life. When
he felt he was being crushed by the intriguing and corrupting
influences of the governing class, aided by the
lieutenant-governor, he forgot all the dictates of reason and
prudence, and was carried away by a current of passion which
ended in rebellion. His journal, _The Colonial Advocate_, showed
in its articles and its very make-up the erratic character of
the man. He was a pungent writer, who attacked adversaries with
great recklessness of epithet and accusation. So obnoxious did
he become to the governing class that a number of young men,
connected with the best families, wrecked his office, but the
damages he recovered in a court of law enabled him to give it a
new lease of existence. When the "family compact" had a majority
in the assembly, elected in 1830, he was expelled five times for
libellous reflections on the government and house, but he was
re-elected by the people, who resented the wrongs to which he
was subject, and became the first mayor of Toronto, as York was
now called. He carried his grievances to England, where he
received much sympathy, even in conservative circles. In a new
legislature, where the "compact" were in a minority, he obtained
a committee to consider the condition of provincial affairs. The
result was a famous report on grievances which set forth in a
conclusive and able manner the constitutional difficulties under
which the country laboured, and laid down clearly the necessity
for responsible government. It would have been fortunate both
for Upper Canada and Mackenzie himself at this juncture, had he
and his followers confined themselves to a constitutional
agitation on the lines set forth in this report. By this time
Robert Baldwin and Egerton Ryerson, discreet and prominent
reformers, had much influence, and were quite unwilling to
follow Mackenzie in the extreme course on which he had clearly
entered. He lost ground rapidly from the time of his indiscreet
publication of a letter from Joseph Hume, the English radical,
who had expressed the opinion that the improper proceedings of
the legislature, especially in expelling Mackenzie, "must hasten
the crisis that was fast approaching in the affairs of Canada,
and which would terminate in independence and freedom from the
baneful domination of the mother-country." Probably even
Mackenzie and his friends might have been conciliated and
satisfied at the last moment had the imperial government been
served by an able and discreet lieutenant-governor. But never
did the imperial authorities make a greater mistake than when
they sent out Sir Francis Bond Head, who had no political
experience whatever.
From the beginning to the end of his administration he did
nothing but blunder. He alienated even the confidence of the
moderate element of the Reformers, and literally threw himself
into the arms of the "family compact," and assisted them at the
elections of the spring of 1836, which rejected all the leading
men of the extreme wing of the Reform party. Mackenzie was
deeply mortified at the result, and determined from that moment
to rebel against the government, which, in his opinion, had no
intention of remedying public grievances. At the same time
Papineau, with whom he was in communication, had made up his
mind to establish a republic, _une nation Canadienne_, on the
banks of the St. Lawrence.
The disloyal intentions of Papineau and his followers were made
very clear by the various meetings which were held in the
Montreal and Richelieu districts, by the riots which followed
public assemblages in the city of Montreal, by the names of
"Sons of Liberty" and "Patriots" they adopted in all their
proceedings, by the planting of "trees" and raising of "caps" of
liberty. Happily for the best interests of Canada the number of
French Canadians ready to revolt were relatively insignificant,
and the British population were almost exclusively on the side
of the government. Bishop Lartigue and the clergy of the Roman
Catholic Church now asserted themselves very determinedly
against the dangerous and seditious utterances of the leaders of
the "Patriots." Fortunately a resolute, able soldier, Sir John
Colborne, was called from Upper Canada to command the troops in
the critical situation of affairs, and crushed the rebellion in
its very inception. A body of insurgents, led by Dr. Wolfred
Nelson, showed some courage at St. Denis, but Papineau took the
earliest opportunity to find refuge across the frontier. Thomas
Storrow Brown, an American by birth, also made a stand at St.
Charles, but both he and Nelson were easily beaten by the
regulars. A most unfortunate episode was the murder of
Lieutenant Wier, who had been captured by Nelson while carrying
despatches from General Colborne, and was butchered by some
insurgent _habitants_, in whose custody he had been placed. At
St. Eustache the rebels were severely punished by Colborne
himself, and a number burned to death in the steeple of a church
where they had made a stand. Many prisoners were taken in the
course of the rebellious outbreak. The village of St. Benoit and
isolated houses elsewhere were destroyed by the angry loyalists,
and much misery inflicted on all actual or supposed sympathisers
with Papineau and Nelson. Lord Gosford now left the country, and
Colborne was appointed administrator. Although the insurrection
practically ended at St. Denis and St. Charles, bodies of rebels
and American marauders harassed the frontier settlements for
some time, until at last the authorities of the United States
arrested some of the leaders and forced them to surrender their
arms and munitions of war.
The _Caroline_ incident most closely connects the immediate Niagara
region with the Patriot rebellion. This small steamer was chartered by
Buffalo parties to run between that city, Navy Island, and Schlosser,
the American landing above the Falls. The Canadian authorities very
properly looked upon this as a bold attempt to provide the freebooters
on Navy Island with the sinews of rebellion. Colonel Allan McNab was
sent to seize the vessel, and the fact that it was found moored at the
American shore in no way troubled the determined loyalists. It was about
midnight December 29th when the attacking party found the ship. In the
melée one man was killed; the boat was fired and set adrift in the
river, passing over the Horseshoe Fall while still partly afire.
Chapter XII
Toronto
It is believed that the word Toronto is of Huron origin, and that it
signified "Place of Meeting." This has been contested; in any case it
should be spelled _To-ron-tah_. The word is also interpreted as "Oak
Trees beside the Lake," a derivation rather divergent from the above
version and we must leave this to the learned etymologists.
Glancing over maps of the middle of the eighteenth century designed
after the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle (1748), we see the names of many
forts and posts intended to keep up "the communications" between Canada
and Louisiana, and overawe the English colonies then confined to their
narrow strip of territory on the Atlantic coast. Conscious of the
mistake that they had made in giving up Acadia, the French at this
moment claimed that its "ancient limits" did not extend beyond the
isthmus of Chignecto--in other words, included Nova Scotia. Accordingly
they proceeded to construct the forts of Gaspereau and Beauséjour on
that neck of land, and also one on the St. John River, so that they
might control the land and sea approaches to Cape Breton from the St.
Lawrence, where Quebec, enthroned on her picturesque heights, and
Montreal at the confluence of the Ottawa and the St. Lawrence, held the
keys to Canada. The approaches from New England by the way of Lake
Champlain and the Richelieu were defended by the fort of St. John, near
the northern extremity of the lake, and by the more formidable works
known as Fort Frederick or Crown Point--to give the better known English
name--on a peninsula at the narrows towards the South. The latter was
the most advanced post of the French until they built Fort Ticonderoga
or Carillon on a high, rocky promontory at the head of Lake St.
Sacrament. At the foot of this lake, associated with so many memorable
episodes in American history, Sir William Johnson erected Fort William
Henry, about fourteen miles from Fort Edward or Layman, at the great
carrying place on the upper waters of the Hudson. Returning to the St.
Lawrence and the Lakes, we find Fort Frontenac at the eastern end of
Lake Ontario, where the old city of Kingston now stands.
Within the limits of the present city of Toronto, La Gallissonière then
built Fort Rouille[38] as an attempt to control the trade of the Indians
of the North, who were finding their way to the English fort of Oswego
which had been commenced with the consent of the Iroquois by Governor
Burnet of New York, and was now a menace to the French dominion of Lake
Ontario. At the other extremity lay Fort Niagara. When the French were
establishing this chain of forts or posts through the West and down the
Mississippi valley Fort Rouille was founded on a site even then
commonly called "Fort Toronto." It does not seem ever to have been a
dominant strategic point; the probabilities are there was no force
stationed here worth mentioning and, possibly, it was a mere dependency
of Fort Niagara. It was destroyed in 1756 to prevent its fall into the
hands of the English.
Little is known about the region of Toronto prior to Revolutionary times
save the above records. It was untrodden wilderness. But when the fort
was erected here the district in a general sense appears to have been
known as "Toronto." Under French dominion it was a royal trading post
and in the course of time the name attached itself to the fort and
village at the neighbouring bay, which have grown to be the beautiful
Capital City of Ontario. But the Toronto of the river Don and the great
bay is strictly of English origin, and had for its Romulus
Lieutenant-General Simcoe (1752-1806), first governor of Upper Canada.
[Illustration: Lieutenant-General Simcoe.]
When John Graves Simcoe arrived in Canada in 1792, the site of the
present city of Toronto was covered by the primeval forest, its only
human tenants being two or three families of wandering savages who had
happened to select the spot for the erection of their temporary wigwams.
One hundred years later we find at that very spot a magnificent city
having a population of 250,000 people, a prosperous and enterprising
community, possessed of all the comforts and appliances of modern
civilisation and refinement,--and, instead of the sombre, impenetrable
wilderness, the most wealthy and populous city of Upper Canada, with
streets and private dwellings, and public edifices that will compare
favourably with those of many other cities which have had centuries for
their development. For its rapid rise to its present eminence Toronto
is almost exclusively indebted to its admirable commercial position, its
advantages in that respect having been appreciated by the far-seeing
sagacity of Governor Simcoe, when selecting the site for a capital.
In 1791, when the former province of Quebec was divided into the
provinces of Upper and Lower Canada, Upper Canada contained about ten
thousand inhabitants, chiefly Loyalists, who, as noted elsewhere, when
the United States threw off allegiance to Great Britain, sought new hope
in the wilds of Canada; where, though deprived of many comforts, they
had the satisfaction of feeling that they kept inviolate their loyalty
to their sovereign and preserved their connection with the beloved
mother country.
In 1792 General Simcoe was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Upper
Canada; and in the summer of that year arrived in the colony. In the
first instance the Government was established at Niagara, and there the
first Legislature of Upper Canada was convened on the 17th of September,
1792. It was seen, however, that from its position on the frontier,
Niagara was not well adapted for being the seat of government, and one
of the first subjects which occupied the attention of Governor Simcoe
was the selection of another site for a capital. On this point he very
soon came into collision with the views of the Governor-General, Lord
Dorchester, who was in favour of making Kingston the capital on account
of its proximity to Lower Canada which he regarded as a matter of the
first importance from a standpoint of trade, and also because of its
possibility of defence, as, in the event of an invasion, troops from
Lower Canada could be more easily forwarded to Kingston than to a more
westerly point. Governor Simcoe, however, had visited Toronto Harbour,
and had traversed the route thence to Penetanguishene on the Georgian
Bay. He perceived that that was the most advantageous route for the then
existing North-west trade,--the vast development of which since his time
he may have dimly foreseen--and that so soon as a road was opened up to
Lake Simcoe (then _Lacaux Claics_) merchandise from New York for the
North-west, would be sent by Oswego to Toronto, and then _via_ Lake
Simcoe to Lake Huron, avoiding the circuitous passage of Lake Erie.
Finally the Lieutenant-Governor's views prevailed, and the site of a
town having been surveyed on the margin of Toronto Bay, his first step
thereafter was to commence the construction of a road (Yonge Street) to
Lake Simcoe. In recent years the idea which thus originated with the
first governor has been completely carried out until to-day Toronto is,
with Montreal, the chief railway centre and the second city of the
Dominion. How long ere it will outrank its rival?
[Illustration: "York Harbor."
A drawing on bark by Mrs. Simcoe.]
The very next year after his assumption of the government of Upper
Canada General Simcoe ordered the survey of Toronto Harbour, and
entrusted the task to Colonel Bouchette, the Surveyor-General of Lower
Canada, who gives us our first historical glimpse of Toronto a hundred
years ago, or so, in the following passage:
It fell to my lot to make the first survey of York Harbour in
1793. Lieutenant-Governor, the late General Simcoe, who then
resided at Navy Hall, Niagara, having formed extensive plans for
the improvement of the colony, had resolved upon laying the
foundation of a Provincial capital. I was at that period in the
naval service of the lakes, and the survey of Toronto (York
Harbour), was entrusted by His Excellency to my performance. I
still distinctly recollect the untamed aspect which the country
exhibited when first I entered the beautiful basin which thus
became the scene of my early hydrographical operations. Dense
and trackless forests lined the margin of the lake, and
reflected their inverted images in its glassy surface. The
wandering savage had constructed his ephemeral habitation
beneath their luxuriant foliage--the group then consisting of
two families of Missassagas--and the Bay and neighbouring
marshes were the hitherto uninvaded haunts of the wild fowl;
indeed they were so abundant as in some measure to annoy us
during the night. In the spring following, the
Lieutenant-Governor removed to the site of the new capital,
attended by the regiment of Queen's Rangers and commenced at
once the realisation of his favourite project. His Excellency
inhabited, during the summer and through the winter, a canvas
house which he imported expressly for the occasion, but, frail
as was its substance, it was rendered exceedingly comfortable,
and soon became as distinguished for the social and urbane
hospitality of its venerated and gracious host, as for the
peculiarity of its structure.
Governor Simcoe gave the name of York to the capital he had selected,
and the rivers on either side received the names of the Don and Humber.
His own residence he built at the brow of the hill overlooking the
valley of the Don, at the junction of what was a few generations later
Saint James Cemetery with the property of F. Cayley, Esq., calling it
"Castle Frank," the name which the property still retains.
While the gubernatorial residence was being erected Governor Simcoe
returned to Niagara, where he opened the third session of the Upper
Canada Parliament on June 20, 1794. In the fall of that year, orders
were given for the construction of Parliament buildings at York on a
site at the foot of what in 1857 was Parliament Street, adjoining the
place where the "gaol stands." In 1795 the Duc de Rochefoucauld was in
Upper Canada, and in his published _Travels_ alludes to a visit paid to
York by some of his companions:
During our stay at Navy Hall, Messrs. Du Petit Thouars and
Guillemard, took the opportunity of the return of a gun-boat, to
pay a visit to York. Indolence, courtesy towards the Governor
(with whom the author was then residing at Navy Hall), and the
conviction that I would meet with few objects of interest in
that place, combined to dissuade me from this journey. My
friends informed me on their return, that this town, which the
Governor had fixed upon as the Capital of Upper Canada, has a
fine, extensive bay, detached from the lake by a tongue of land
of unequal breadth, being in some places a mile, in others only
six score yards broad; that the entrance of this bay, about a
mile in width, is obstructed in the middle by a shoal or
sand-bank, the narrow passages on each side of which may be
easily defended by works erected on the two points of land at
the entrance, on which two block-houses have already been
constructed; that this bay is two miles and a half long, and a
mile wide, and that the elevation of its banks greatly increases
its capability of defence by fortifications thrown up at
convenient points. There have not been more than a dozen houses
built hitherto in York, and these are situated in the inner
extremity of the bay, near the river Don. The inhabitants, it is
said, do not possess the fairest character. One of them is the
noted Batzy, the leader of the German families, whom Captain
Williamson accuses the English of decoying away from him, in
order to injure and obstruct the prosperity of his settlement.
The barracks which are occupied by the Governor's Regiment,
stand on the bay near the lake, about two miles from the town.
The Indians are for one hundred and fifty miles round the sole
neighbours of York.
Nothing shows better than this that we must remember that Old World
measurements of growth and cultural life cannot be applied to the
condition of a new continent where every foot of land had to be taken
from the aborigines, a continent in its agricultural infancy,
devastated by wars, changing ownership thrice within one hundred years.
The Indians in the district one hundred and fifty miles around Toronto
have been replaced to-day by a million of people as enterprising as they
can be found on the surface of the globe. In lieu of the dozen huts
described by our noble writer in 1795, you will find to-day a city of a
quarter million inhabitants, steamships, railroads, telegraph, electric
light--the "City of Churches."
Toronto, as noted, owes the progress it has made almost entirely to its
advantageous commercial position, which was the chief circumstance that
originally weighed with General Simcoe in selecting this as a site for
the capital of Upper Canada. The city is built on a slope, rising with a
very slight inclination from the bay, sufficient to secure its
salubrity, and to admit of a complete system of sewerage; but not enough
to give its architectural beauties the advantage they deserve to gratify
the æsthetic taste which would be disposed to seek on the shores of Lake
Ontario for a parallel to the grand old cities of Europe.
Governor Simcoe's amenities and hospitalities, his simplicity, his cares
and troubles are all parts of the early history of the province; his
administration in Canada has been generally commended, despite the
displays of prejudice against the United States. His schemes for
improving the province were "extremely wise and well arranged." But his
stay was abruptly cut short. It seems to-day that England was fearful he
might involve the mother-country in a new war with the young Republic
and he was rather hastily recalled to England in 1796, although at the
same time promoted a full lieutenant-general in the army.
In 1804 a census of the inhabitants of Toronto was taken, and it was
found that they numbered 456. At that time the town was bounded by
Berkeley Street on the east, Lot, now Queen Street on the north, and
New, now Nelson Street on the west. In 1806, Toronto or York was visited
by George Heriot, Esq., Deputy Postmaster-General of British North
America, and from the terms in which he speaks of it in his _Travels
through the Canadas_, it appears that it had then made considerable
progress. He says:
Many houses display a considerable progress. The advancement of
this place to its present condition has been effected within the
lapse of six or seven years, and persons who have formerly
travelled in this part of the country, are impressed with
sentiments of wonder, on beholding a town which may be termed
handsome, reared as if by enchantment in the midst of a
wilderness.
The Parliament buildings, when Heriot visited Toronto, were two
buildings of brick, at the eastern extremity of the town, which had been
designed as wings to a centre, and which were occupied as chambers for
the Upper and Lower House of Assembly.
In 1807 the inhabitants numbered 1058, and continued slowly to rise till
1813, when the American War brought calamities on to Toronto, from the
disastrous effects of which it took more than a decade to recover.
In 1813 the campaigns of the war centred, as we have seen, around Lake
Erie. The Navy had lately restored American confidence, and a second
invasion of Canada was a principal feature in the programme. At the
middle of April Dearborn and Chauncey matured a plan of operations. A
joint land and naval expedition was proposed, to first capture York, and
then to cross Lake Ontario and reduce Fort George. At the same time
troops were to cross the Niagara, from Buffalo and Black Rock, capture
Fort Erie and Chippewa, join the fleet and army at Fort George, and all
proceed to attack Kingston. Everything being arranged, Dearborn embarked
about 1700 men on Chauncey's fleet, at Sacketts Harbour on the 22d of
April, and on the 25th the fleet, crowded with soldiers, sailed for
York. After a boisterous voyage it appeared before the little town early
in the morning of the 27th, when General Dearborn, suffering from ill
health, placed the land forces under charge of General Pike, and
resolved to remain on board the Commodore's flagship during the attack.
The little village of York, numbering somewhat more than one thousand
inhabitants at the time, was then chiefly at the bottom of the bay near
a marshy flat, through which the Don, coming down from the beautiful
fertile valleys, flowed sluggishly into Lake Ontario, and, because of
the softness of the earth there, it was often called "Muddy Little
York." It gradually grew to the westward, and, while deserting the Don,
it wooed the Humber, once a famous salmon stream, that flows into a
broad bay two or three miles west of Toronto. In that direction stood
the remains of old Fort Toronto, erected by the French. On the shore
eastward of it, between the present new barracks and the city, were two
batteries, the most easterly one being in the form of a crescent. A
little farther east, on the borders of a deep ravine and small stream,
was a picketed block-house, some intrenchments with cannon, and a
garrison of about eight hundred men under Major-General Sheaffe. On
"Gibraltar Point," the extreme western arm of the peninsula, that
embraced the harbour with its protecting arm, was a small blockhouse;
another stood on the high east bank of the Don, just beyond a bridge at
the eastern termination of King and Queen streets. These defences had
been strangely neglected. Some of the cannon were without trunnions,
others, destined for the war-vessel then on the stocks, were in frozen
mud and half covered with snow. Fortunately for the garrison, the _Duke
of Gloucester_ was then in port, undergoing some repairs, and her guns
furnished some armament for the batteries. These, however, only amounted
to a few six-pounders. The whole country around, excepting a few spots
on the lake shore, was covered with a dense forest.
On the day when the expedition sailed from Sacketts Harbour General Pike
issued minute instructions concerning the manner of landing and attack.
It is expected [he said] that every corps will be mindful of the
honour of the American, and the disgraces which have recently
tarnished our arms, and endeavour, by a cool and determined
discharge of their duty, to support the one and wipe off the
other. [He continued:] The unoffending citizens of Canada are
many of them our own countrymen, and the poor Canadians have
been forced into the war. Their property, therefore, must be
held sacred; and any soldier who shall so far neglect the honour
of his profession as to be guilty of plundering the inhabitants,
shall, if convicted, be punished with death. But the commanding
general assures the troops that, should they capture a large
quantity of public stores, he will use his best endeavours to
procure them a reward from his government.
[Illustration: "The Garrison at York."
A drawing on bark by Mrs. Simcoe.]
It was intended to land at a clearing near old Fort Toronto. An easterly
wind, blowing with violence, drove the small boats in which the troops
left the fleet full half a mile farther westward, and beyond an
effectual covering by the guns of the navy. Major Forsyth and his
riflemen, in two bateaux led the van, and when within rifle shot of the
shore they were assailed by a deadly volley of bullets by a company of
Glengary Fencibles and a party of Indians under Major Givens, who were
concealed in the woods that fringe the shore. "Rest on your oars!
Prime!" said Forsyth in a low tone. Pike, standing on the deck of the
_Madison_, saw this halting, and impatiently exclaimed, with an
expletive: "I cannot stay here any longer! Come," he said, addressing
his staff, "jump into the boat." He was instantly obeyed, and very soon
they and their gallant commander were in the midst of a fight, for
Forsyth's men had opened fire, and the enemy at the shore were returning
it briskly. The vanguard soon landed, and were immediately followed, in
support, by Major King and a battalion of infantry. Pike and the main
body soon followed, and the whole column, consisting of the Sixth,
Fifteenth, Sixteenth, and Twenty-First Regiments of Infantry, and
detachments of light and heavy artillery, with Major Forsyth's riflemen
and Lieutenant McClure's volunteers as flankers, pressed forward into
the woods.
The British skirmishes meanwhile had been re-enforced by two companies
of the Eighth or King's Regiment of Regulars, two hundred strong, a
company of the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, a large body of militia, and
some Indians. They took position in the woods, and were soon encountered
by the advancing Americans, whose artillery it was difficult to move.
Perceiving this, the British, led by General Sheaffe in person, attacked
the American flank with a six-pounder and howitzer. A very sharp
conflict ensued, and both parties suffered much. Captain McNeil, of the
King's Regiment, was killed. The British were overpowered, and fell
back, when General Pike, at the head of the American column, ordered his
bugler to sound, and at the same time dashed gallantly forward. That
bugle blast thrilled like electric fire along the nerves of the Indians.
They gave one horrid yell, then fled like frightened deer to cover, deep
into the forest. That bugle blast was heard in the fleet, in the face of
the wind and high above the voices of the gale, and evoked long and loud
responsive cheers. At the same time Chauncey was sending to the shore,
under the direction of Commander Elliott, something more effective than
huzzas for he was hurling deadly grape-shot upon the foe, which added to
the consternation of the savages, and gave fleetness to their feet. They
also hastened the retreat of Sheaffe's white troops to their defences in
the direction of the village, while the drum and fife of the pursuers
were briskly playing _Yankee Doodle_.
The Americans now pressed forward rapidly along the lake shore in
platoons by sections. They were not allowed to load their muskets, and
were compelled to rely upon the bayonet. Because of many ravines and
little streams the artillery was moved with difficulty, for the enemy
had destroyed the bridges. By great exertions a field-piece and a
howitzer, under Lieutenant Fanning, of the Third Artillery, was moved
steadily with the column. As that column emerged from thick woods,
flanked by McClure's volunteers, divided equally as light troops under
Colonel Ripley, it was confronted by twenty-four pounders on the Western
Battery. Upon this battery the guns of some of Chauncey's vessels which
had beat up against the wind in range of the enemy's works were pouring
heavy shot. Captain Walworth was ordered to storm it with his
grenadiers, of the Sixteenth. They immediately trailed their arms,
quickened their pace, and were about to charge, when the wooden magazine
of the battery, that had been carelessly left open, blew up, killing
some of the men, and seriously damaging the defences. The dismayed enemy
spiked their cannon, and fled to the next, or Half-Moon, Battery.
Walworth pressed forward; when that, too, was abandoned and he found
nothing within but spiked cannon. Sheaffe and his little army, deserted
by the Indians, fled to the garrison near the Governor's house, and
there opened a fire of round and grape-shot upon the Americans. Pike
ordered his troops to halt, and lie flat upon the grass, while Major
Eustis, with his artillery-battery moved to the front, and soon silenced
the great guns of the enemy.
The firing from the garrison ceased, and the Americans expected
every moment to see a white flag displayed from the block-house
in token of surrender. Lieutenant Riddle, whose corps had
brought up the prisoners taken in the woods, was sent forward
with a small party to reconnoitre. General Pike, who had just
assisted with his own hands in removing a wounded soldier to a
comfortable place, was sitting upon a stump conversing with a
huge British sergeant who had been taken prisoner, his staff
standing around him. At that moment was felt a sudden tremor of
the ground, followed by a tremendous explosion near the British
garrison. The enemy, despairing of holding the place, had blown
up their powder magazine, situated upon the edge of the water at
the mouth of a ravine, near where the buildings of the Great
Western Railway now stand. The effect was terrible. Fragments of
timber and huge stone of which the magazine walls were built
were scattered in every direction over a space of several
hundred yards. When the smoke floated away the scene was
appalling. Fifty-two Americans lay dead, and one hundred and
eighty others were wounded. So badly had the affair been managed
that forty of the British also lost their lives by the
explosion. General Pike, two of his aids, and the British
sergeant were mortally hurt, while Riddle and his party were
unhurt, the missiles passing entirely over them. The terrified
Americans scattered in dismay, but they were soon rallied by
Brigade-Major Hunt and Lieutenant-Colonel Mitchell. The column
was re-formed and the general command was assumed by the gallant
Pennsylvanian colonel, Cromwell Pearce, of the Sixteenth, the
senior officer. After giving three cheers, the troops pressed
forward toward the village, and were met by the civil
authorities and militia officers with propositions of a
capitulation in response to a peremptory demand for surrender
made by Colonel Pearce. An arrangement was concluded for an
absolute surrender, when, taking advantage of the confusion that
succeeded the explosion, and the time intentionally consumed in
the capitulation, General Sheaffe and a large portion of his
regulars, after destroying the vessels on the stocks, and some
storehouses and their contents, stole across the Don, and fled
along Dundas Street toward Kingston. When several miles from
York they met a portion of the King's Regiment on their way to
Fort George. These turned back, covered Sheaffe's retreat, and
all reached Kingston in safety. Sheaffe (who was the military
successor of Brock) was severely censured for the loss of York.
He was soon afterward superseded in command in Upper Canada by
Major-General De Rottenburg and retired to Montreal to take
command of the troops there.
On hearing of the death of General Pike, General Dearborn went on shore,
and assumed command after the capitulation. At sunset the work was
finished; both Chauncey and Dearborn wrote brief despatches to the
government at Washington; the former saying: "We are in full possession
of the place," and the latter: "I have the satisfaction to inform you
that the American flag is flying upon the fort at York." The post, with
about two hundred and ninety prisoners besides the militia, the war
vessel _Duke of Gloucester_, and a large quantity of naval and military
stores, passed into the possession of the Americans. Such of the latter
as could not be carried away by the squadron were destroyed. Before the
victors left, the public buildings were fired by some unknown hand, and
consumed.
Four days after the capitulation, the troops were re-embarked,
preparatory to a descent upon Fort George. The post and village of York,
possessing little value to the Americans, were abandoned. The British
repossessed themselves of the spot, built another block-house, and on
the site of the garrison constructed a regular fortification.
The loss of the Americans in the capture of York was sixty-six killed
and two hundred and three wounded on land, and seventeen killed and
wounded on the vessels. The British lost, besides the prisoners, sixty
killed and eighty-nine wounded. General Pike was crushed beneath a heavy
mass of stones that struck him in the back. He was carried immediately
after discovery to the water's edge, placed in a boat, and conveyed
first on board the _Pert_, and then to the Commodore's flagship. Just as
the surgeons and attendants, with the wounded general, reached the
little boat, the huzzas of the troops fell upon his benumbed ears. "What
does it mean?" he feebly asked. "Victory," said a sergeant in
attendance. "The British union-jack is coming down from the blockhouse,
and the Stars and Stripes are going up." The dying hero's face was
illuminated by a smile of great joy. His spirit lingered several hours,
and then departed. Just before his breath ceased the captured British
flag was brought to him. He made a sign for them to place it under his
head, and thus he expired. His body was taken to Sacketts Harbour, and
with that of his pupil and aid, Captain Nicholson, was buried with
military honours within Fort Tompkins there.
[Illustration: Captain Sowers's drawings of Fort Niagara, 1769.
From the original in the British Museum.]
It was not till 1821 that the town recovered from these disasters, and
then the population only amounted to 1559. In 1830 it was 2860; but in
1834, a strong tide of emigration into Canada having set in, the
population increased to 9254. In that year the town was incorporated as
a city, and Mr. William Lyon Mackenzie was elected the first mayor of
Toronto, April 3, 1834. In 1838 the inhabitants numbered 12,571; in
1848, 15,336; in 1861, they had increased to 44,821; in 1871, to 56,039;
in 1881, 86,415; in 1891, 181,220; and finally, in 1903, to 266,989.
In 1821, E. A. Talbot, the author of some works of travel[39] visited
the town. He states that the public edifices at that time were a
Protestant Episcopal Church ("a wooden building with a wooden belfry"),
a Roman Catholic Chapel (a brick building "not then completed, but
intended to be very magnificent"--the present St. Paul's Church in Power
Street), a Presbyterian Meeting House (a brick building, occupying the
site of what is now Knox's Church), a Methodist Meeting House, situated
in a field, nearly on the present site of the _Globe_ office, the
Hospital (the brick building on King Street now known as the Old
Hospital, and occupied as Government offices), which Talbot describes as
the most important building of the province, "bearing a very fine
exterior," the Parliament House (a brick building erected in 1820 on the
former site, and destroyed by fire in 1824), and the residence of the
Lieutenant-Governor, a wooden building, "inferior to several private
houses of the town, particularly that of Rev. Dr. Strachan," says
Talbot. The streets, he adds, are regularly laid out, but "only one of
them is in a finished state, and in wet weather those of them which are
unfinished, are if possible more muddy than the streets of Kingston."
How different to-day, when Toronto has been called the "City of
Churches," because of the large number of fine churches that have been
erected in it! The distinctive feature of church architecture in Toronto
consists in the fact that all denominations have built a considerable
number of fine churches instead of concentrating their efforts on the
erection of a few of greater magnificence. The large churches are not
confined to the central portion but are found widely distributed
throughout. Toronto to-day is the see of both Anglican and Roman
Catholic archbishops. The city has suffered from destructive
conflagrations, notably in 1890, and in April, 1904, when more than one
hundred buildings in the wholesale business section were burned down,
some five thousand persons were thrown out of work, and about eleven
millions' worth of property was destroyed.
The year 1866 is a memorable one in the history of Toronto as well as
all Canada as the year of the Fenian raids. The Toronto regiments of
volunteers were promptly sent to drive the Fenians out of the Niagara
peninsula. The "Queen's Own" met the enemy at Ridgeway, and sustained a
loss of seven killed and twenty-three wounded. The beautiful monument
erected to the memory of those who fell at Ridgeway is decorated each
year on June 2d by their comrades and by the school children of the
city. Another monument in Queen's Park commemorates the loyalty and
bravery of Toronto volunteers. It records the gallantry of those who
were killed during the North-west rebellion of 1885.
Toronto is a notable educational centre. The university is one of the
best equipped in America. The first step towards its establishment was
taken as early as 1797, but the university was not founded until 1827,
chartered and endowed somewhat later, and opened for students in 1843.
Until then it had rather a sectarian character, but nowadays it
embraces, besides the four principal faculties, the following
institutions: Ontario Agricultural College, Royal College of Dental
Surgeons, the College of Pharmacy, the Toronto College of Music, the
School of Practical Science, and the Ontario Veterinary College. The
students in 1905-06 numbered 2547. The University buildings, it is said,
are the best specimen of Norman architecture in America. The most
beautiful other public buildings of Toronto are: the new Parliament
buildings, the new City Hall, Osgood Hall, the Seat of the Provincial
Courts and Law School, Trinity University, McMaster University, the
Normal School, Upper Canada College, and the Provincial Asylum.
Toronto is pre-eminently a city of homes. It claims to have a larger
proportion of good homes and a much smaller proportion of saloons than
any city of its size in America. One of the gratifying features of
Toronto that distinguishes it from most large cities is the fact that
there is no part of the city that can be fairly regarded as a "slum"
district.
The city covers a very large area so that there is no overcrowding.
Working men have no difficulty in obtaining homes with separate gardens,
and it is a common practice to use these gardens in growing both flowers
and vegetables.
The Park System is extensive and beautiful, possessing about 1350 acres,
the chief being Queen's Park, adjoining the university, and the
extensive High Park on the west of the city. But the most popular is
probably Island Park, on Hiawatha Island, which lies immediately in
front of the city in the form of a crescent about three miles in length.
The following great Canadians were born in Toronto: Professor Egerton
Ryerson; Sir John MacDonald; Sir Daniel Wilson; Reverend Wm. Morley
Puncheon; Hon. George Brown; Sir Oliver Mowat; but the most widely known
Toronto citizen is probably Goldwin Smith, the great historian and
economist. Toronto has ever shown itself fervently British in sentiment.
Its later history has been purely civic without other interest than that
attaching to prosperous growth. A pleasant society and an attractive
situation make it a favourite place of residence.
In the first quarter of the nineteenth century, there was a certain Mr.
Hetherington in Toronto, one of the clerks of St. James. Now the music
of those primitive times seems to have been managed altogether after the
old country village choirs. Mr. Hetherington was wont, after giving out
the Psalm, to play the air on a bassoon; and then to accompany with
fantasias on the same instrument, when any vocalist could be found to
take the singing in hand. By-and-by the first symptoms of progress are
apparent in the addition of a bass-viol and clarinet to help Mr.
Hetherington's bassoon--"the harbinger and foreshadow," as Dr. Scadding
says, "of the magnificent organ presented in after-times to the
congregation of the 'Second Temple of St. James' by Mr. Dunn, but
destroyed by fire, together with the whole church, in 1839, after only
two years of existence."
Incidents of a different character no less strongly mark the changes
which a period of only ninety years has witnessed. In 1811, namely, we
find William Jarvis, Esq., His Excellency's Secretary, lodging a
complaint in open court against a negro boy and girl, his slaves. The
Parliament at Newark had, indeed, enacted in 1793--in those patriarchal
days already described, when they could settle the affairs of the young
province under the shade of an umbrageous tree--that no more slaves
should be introduced into Upper Canada, and that all slave children born
after the 9th of July of that year should be free on attaining the age
of twenty-five.
But even by this creditable enactment slavery had a lease of life of
fully a quarter of a century longer, and the _Gazette Public
Advertiser_, and other journals, continue for years thereafter to
exhibit such announcements as this of the Hon. Peter Russell, President
of the Legislative Council, of date, February 19, 1806: "To be sold: a
black woman, named Peggy, aged forty years, and a black boy, her son,
named Jupiter, aged about fifteen years." The advertisement goes on to
describe the virtues of Peggy and Jupiter. Peggy is a tolerable cook and
washerwoman, perfectly understands making soap and candles, and may be
had for one hundred and fifty dollars, payable in three years, with
interest, from the day of sale. Jupiter, having various acquirements
besides his specialty as a good house servant, is offered for two
hundred dollars, but a fourth less will be taken for ready money. So
recently as 1871, John Baker, who had been brought to Canada as the
slave of Solicitor-General Gray, died at Cornwall, Ontario, in extreme
old age. But before that the very memory of slavery had died out in
Canada; and it long formed the refuge which the fugitive slave made for,
with no other guide than the pole-star of our northern sky.
The history of Toronto, as already noted, is necessarily to a great
extent that of the province, and of the whole region of Canada.
Upper Canada [says Dr. Scadding], in miniature, and in the space
of a century, curiously passed through conditions and processes,
physical and social, which old countries on a large scale, and
in the course of long ages passed through. Upper Canada had its
primeval and barbaric, but heroic age, its mediæval and high
prerogative era; and then, after a revolutionary period of a few
weeks, its modern, defeudalised, democratic era.
[Footnote 38: Named in honour of a French Minister of Colonies. The
_Rouillés_ are a celebrated family, later on styled Rouille-de-Marboeuf.
The above-named Rouille is highly praised by St. Simon as a statesman of
ability and integrity.]
[Footnote 39: _Five Years' Residence in the Canadas._]
Index
A
Abbott, Francis, the "Hermit of Niagara," 40
Abercrombie, Sir Ralph, Brock under, 232
Allen, Ethan, mentioned, 222
Allen, Sadie, shoots the Rapids, 139
"American Blondin," the, see Calverly
_American Canals, Great_, see Hulbert
American Civic Association mentioned, 119
Amherst, Sir Jeffrey, campaign of 1759, 209
Anderson, M. B., on first Niagara Commission, 80
"Angevine place," building-site of _Griffon_, 181
B
Bakewell's estimate of Niagara's age, 65
Balleni, tight-rope artist, 130
Barton, J. L., reminiscences of early Buffalo, 7
Bath Island, 76
Biddle Stairs, 32
Bird Island, 30, 76
Black Rock, origin of name, 8
Blondin, career of, 123-129;
W. D. Howells's description of, 127-128
Blossom, I. A., agent of Holland Land Co., 7
Bourinot, Dr., quoted, 159-160, 288-291
Braddock, plans to capture Ft. Niagara, 206-207
Brock, Gen. Isaac, sketch of life, 231-238;
replies to Hull's Proclamation, 244-246;
captures Hull, 246-253;
relations with the Indians, 252-253;
death, 256;
eulogies, 257-262;
monuments to, 48, 259-262
Brodie, "Steve," goes over the Falls, 137
Browne, G. W., on St. Lawrence, 4, 161;
on De Nonville at Niagara, 187-189
Brulé on Niagara frontier, 165
Buckley, A. B., _Fairyland of Science_, cited, 168
Buffalo, N. Y., growth of, 4-8
Buffalo Historical Society mentioned, 6
Burnt Ship Bay, 10, 212
Burton Act for preservation of Niagara, 116-120
C
Calverly, C. M., the "American Blondin," 132
Campbell, W. G., Niagara crank, 149
_Canada_ (_Story of the Nations_), see Bourinot
Canadian Niagara Falls Power Co., 104, 112, 117
_Canals, Great American_, see Hulbert
Cantilever bridge, 46
_Caroline_, the, incident, 291
_Cassier's Magazine_ quoted, 121
Cataract House, the, 75
"Cave of the Winds," the, 28, 31-33
Cayuga Creek mentioned, 10
Céloron at Niagara, 203
_Century Magazine_ quoted, 29, 42-44
Champlain on Niagara frontier, 158-163
Chippewa Creek, 46; battle of, 279 _seq._
Chrystie, Col., in War of 1812, 264
Church's "Niagara" mentioned, 14
Clark, George Rogers, compared with Brock, 249
Clark, Dr. John M., on "destruction of Niagara," 117
Colcourt, Henry, Blondin's assistant, 125
Colour of Niagara water explained by Mrs. Van Rensselaer, 42-44
Commissioners of N. Y. State Reservation, first report of, 82 _seq._
Crystal Palace, Blondin at, 128
Cutter, O. W., Niagara committeeman, 89
D
Dallion, Father, at Niagara, 166
"Darting Lines of Spray" explained, 45
Day, D. A., report, 17
Dearborn, Gen., in War of 1812, 274 _seq._
De Leon, "Prof.," Niagara crank, 131
De Nonville, Gov., on Niagara frontier, 186-194
"Destruction of Niagara" discussed, 110-120
De Troyes at Fort Niagara, 190-194
"Devil's Hole," 49;
massacre, 214-215
Dittrick, W., Niagara crank, 148
Dixon, S. J., tight-rope artist, 132
Dogs go over Falls, 151-152
Dorsheimer, William, on first Niagara Commission, 80;
presents the park to New York State, 92
Dufferin Islands, 46
E
Electrical Development Co., 117
Ellicott, Andrew, estimates Niagara's age, 63
Erie Canal, importance to Niagara frontier, 6
Evershed, Thomas, devises wheel-pits, 101
F
Farini, Signor, tight-rope artist, 129
Flack, R. W., killed in race in Niagara River, 148
_Fool-Killer_, see Nissen
Forts: Chippewa, 46;
Drummond, 48;
du Portage, 15;
Erie, 8;
battle of, 285 _seq._;
Frontenac, 17, 170;
George, 50, 274-276;
Niagara, the first, 189-194;
building, 197-202;
during French War and Revolution, 204-229;
Sir William Johnson captures, 278;
Rouille, 293;
Schlosser, 15
Fuller, Margaret, describes Niagara by night, 12;
on Goat Island flora, 18;
quoted, 28
G
Galinee on Niagara frontier, 166
Geology of Niagara, 52 _seq._
Goat Island, 16-19, 25, 29, 40, 74
_Golden Book of Niagara_, names in the, 79
Gorge of Niagara, its history, 63 _seq._
Graham, C. D., performs at Niagara, 137
Gravelet, see Blondin
Gray, Dr. Asa, on Goat Island flora, 16
Great Lakes, drainage, 3
Green, A. H., on first Niagara Commission, 80
Green Island, 30
_Griffon_, the, built at La Salle, N. Y., 180-186. See Remington
Gull Island, 40
H
Hall, Capt. Basil, experiment at Niagara, 34
Hall, Prof. James, survey of Falls, 65
Hardy, J. E., tight-rope artist, 132
Hazlett, George, Niagara crank, 139
"Heart of Niagara," 38, 45
Hennepin, Father, Narrative, quoted, 168, 173-184
Hennepin's View, 21
Heriot, George, quoted, 300
"Hermit of Niagara," see Abbott
"Hermit's Cascade," 40
Hill, Gov. D. B., signs Niagara Reservation Bill, 81
_Historic Highways of America_, cited, 206
_Historic Towns of the Middle West_, quoted, 5
Holland Land Co., mentioned, 7
Hooker, Sir J., on Goat Island, 16
Houghton, George, "The Upper Rapids," quoted, 13
_How Niagara was Made Free_, see Welch
Howells, W. D., quoted, 28, 29, 72-73, 74, 127-128
Hulbert, A. B., _The Ohio River_, cited, 3, 4;
_Great American Canals_, cited, 6;
_Historic Highways_, cited, 206
Hull, General, surrenders to Brock, 243, 277-279
Hunt, William M., painting of Niagara, 14
Hunter, Colin, view of Niagara rapids, 11
I
Ice Age, Niagara in the, 58-59
Ice Bridge, 39
Inspiration Point, 44
International Railway Co., 117
Iris Island, see Goat Island
Iroquois, dominate Niagara frontier, 153 _seq._;
Hennepin's embassy to, 177-180
J
Jay's treaty, 225-226
Jenkins, I. J., tight-rope artist, 131
Johnson, Sir William, captures Fort Niagara, 211-213;
treaty at Fort Niagara, 215-216
Joncaire, Chabert, erects "Magazine Royale," 197-200
K
Kendall, W. I., swims Niagara rapids, 136
King, Alphonse, performs at Niagara, 136-7
L
_La Belle Famille_, see Youngstown, N. Y.
La Salle, on Niagara frontier, 170-186
La Salle N. Y., the _Griffon_ built at, 183
Lewiston Heights, 50, 264-265
_Life and Correspondence of Major-General Sir Isaac Brock, K. B._, see
Tupper
_Life and Times of General Brock_, see Read
Luna Island, 31
Lundy's Lane, 46;
battle of, 282
Lyell, Sir Charles, estimates Niagara's age, 65
M
Mackenzie, William Lyon, Bourinot describes, 288
"Magazine Royale," Joncaire builds, 197-200
Mahany, R. B., in _Historic Towns of the Middle States_, 5
_Maid of the Mist_, 44;
voyage through lower rapids, 144-146
Manchester, see Niagara Falls, N. Y.
Mars, Tesla's project to signal, 120
Marshall, O. H., mentioned, 157, 187, 194-195, 219
Matheson, James, advocates reclamation of Niagara, 77
_Michigan_, brig, sent over the Falls, 133
Milet, Father, at Fort Niagara, 193
Mohawk River in the Ice Age, 60
Montresor, Capt., blockhouse, 15
Morgan, William, mentioned, 202
N
_Nation, The_, on the "desecration of Niagara," 78
Neuter Nation first inhabit Niagara frontier, 156 _seq._
Newark, see Niagara-on-the-Lake
"New Jerusalem," Major Noah's, 9
New York State Reservation, history of, 77-96
_New York Times_, on opening of New York Reservation, 94-95
_Niagara Book, The_, cited, 28
Niagara Falls, N. Y., described, 96-98
Niagara Falls Hydraulic Power and Manufacturing Co., 102, 104, 110,
111-112, 118-119
Niagara Falls Power Co., 101, 104, 111-112, 118-119
Niagara, Lockport, and Ontario Power Co., 114-115
Niagara-on-the-Lake, 50, 227-230
Niagara Reservation Act, 79-82, 84
Niagara River, historic importance, 2;
drainage area, 2-4;
description of the upper, 8-22;
upper rapids of, 10-15;
islands of, 12-22;
historic sites of upper, 14-16;
Falls of, 20 _seq._;
bridges over, 21 _seq._;
music of, 24-27;
Howells on repose of, 28;
air pressure at Falls of, 34-37;
when dry, 38;
in winter, 39;
changes in, 41-42;
Mrs. Van Rensselaer on colour of, 42-44;
view of, from Queen Victoria Park, 44;
a tour around, 20-51;
the lower, described, 46-51;
the geology of, 52-71;
recession of Falls of, 63-71;
George Frederick Wright on age of, 66-70;
during era of private ownership, 72-77;
struggle for passage of "Reservation Act," 77-82;
_Golden Book of_, names in, 79;
as producer of power, 99-122;
volume of, 99;
tunnel beneath, 106;
manufacturing companies, use of, 111-113, 117;
use of water of, discussed, 111-122;
Burton Act concerning, Taft on, 117-120;
Blondin, career on, 123-129;
performances of cranks on, 129-152 (see Farini, Dixon, Webb, Graham,
etc.),
_Maid of the Mist_ sails lower, 144-146;
controlled by Iroquois, 153-156;
Neuter Nation inhabit banks of, 156-157;
French occupation of, 158-213;
Cartier hears of, 165;
described by Galinee, 166-167;
Hennepin describes, 167 _seq._;
reached by La Salle, 173-186;
the _Griffon_ built on, 181 _seq._;
first fort built on, 189;
sufferings of first French troops on, 191-194;
name of, discussed by Marshall, 194-195;
Joncaire on, 197-198;
in Old French War, 200 _seq._;
French lose, 209-212;
in Revolutionary War, 217-226;
fixed as international boundary line, 223-226;
Loyalists settle upon, 227 _seq._;
in the War of 1812, 263 _seq._
Nissen, Peter, exploits at Niagara, 149-151
Noah, Maj. N. N., "New Jerusalem," 9
O
Official opening of New York Reservation, 85-95
_Ohio River, The_, see Hulbert
"Old Indian Ladder," 46
Old Stone Chimney mentioned, 15
Olmsted, F. A., on Goat Island flora, 16-18;
mentioned, 77-78, 119
Ontario Power Co., 104, 108, 112, 117
Ottawa River, in Ice Age, 63
P
Papineau in Patriot War, 290
Parkman's works quoted, 171, _seq._
Patch, Sam, jumps at Niagara, 133
Patriot War, Bourinot on the, 288-291
Peere, Stephen, tight-rope artist, 131
Percy, C. A., goes through rapids, 146-149
Perry, Lieut. O. H., captures Fort George, 274-276
Pike at the capture of York, 302 _seq._
Pittsburg Reduction and Mining Co., 118
Platt, John J., mentioned, 80
Portage, old Niagara, 15, 18
Porter's Bluff, 33
Porter, Judge, 37, 38, 96
Porter, Hon. Peter A., _Guide Book_, 11;
_Old Fort Niagara_, 11, 197, 200, 207-209, 213;
_Goat Island_, 11, 19;
on proposed attack on Fort Niagara in 1755, 207-209;
on commercial importance of Fort Niagara, 213-214
Potts, William, Niagara crank, 139
Pouchot, Gen., surrenders Fort Niagara, 209-213
_Poughkeepsie Eagle_ quoted, 80
Power development at Niagara, 99-122
Prideaux, Gen. John, captures Fort Niagara, 209 _seq._
Prospect Point, 20, 21
Q
"Quebec Act," effect of, 217-218
Queen Victoria Park, 44, 108
Queen's Royal Hotel, 51
Queenston, 50
Queenston Heights, 48;
battle on, 263 _seq._
R
Rapids of Niagara, 11-15, 22, 45, 46, 49-50;
Hunter's painting of, 11, 14
Read, D. B., _The Life and Times of General Brock_, cited, 232
Red Jacket, anecdote of, 22
Reed, Andrew, suggests reclamation of Niagara, 77
Remington, C. K., on the building-site of the _Griffon_, 183
_Road to Frontenac, The_, mentioned, 162
Robb, J. H., on first Niagara Commission, 80
Robinson, Joel, sails the _Maid of the Mist_ through lower rapids,
144-146
Rogers, Sherman S., on first Niagara Commission, 80
S
St. Davids, Ont., in the history of geologic Niagara, 63
St. Lawrence drainage, 3
St. Lawrence River, George Waldo Browne on, 4
Schlosser, Capt., 15, 213;
see Fort Schlosser
Scott, Gen. Winfield, in War of 1812, 267 _seq._
_Scribner's Monthly_ quoted, 25
Senecas dominate Niagara frontier, 5
Severance, F. H., _Old Trails of the Niagara Frontier_, 6, 219-222
Sheaffe, Gen., mentioned, 268 _seq._
Ship Island, 30
"Shipyard of the _Griffon_," the, see Remington
Shirley, Gov., plans Niagara attack, 207
"Shoreless Sea," the, 45
Silliman, Prof., Basil Hall writes, 34-35
Simcoe, Gov., John Graves, mentioned, 229, 294 _seq._
Smyth, Gen., in War of 1812, 271 _seq._
Spelterini, Signorina, tight-rope artist, 130
Spencer, J. W., estimates Niagara's age, 66
Spouting Rock, 41
Steadman Bluff, 30
Steadman, John, first owner of Goat Island, 18
Steel arch bridge, built by Roebling, 46
_Story of Canada, The_, by Bourinot, quoted, 288-291
Sullivan's campaign of 1779, 223
T
Table Rock, 38, 45
Taft, Sec'y William H., on the "destruction of Niagara," 117-120
Talbot, E. A., description of early Toronto, 308
Taylor, Mrs. A. E., barrel-fiend, 141-143
Tempest Point, 104
Terrapin Rocks, 33, 37-38
Terrapin Tower, 33, 37
Tesla, Nikola, on Niagara electrical power, 120
Thayer, Eugene, on the music of Niagara, 25-26
Thompson, Sir William, prophesies era of electricity, 77
Three Sister Island, 40
Tonawanda, N. Y., mentioned, 10
Toronto, Ont., 51;
history of, 292-313
Toronto and Niagara Power Co., 104, 105, 112, 121
Tupper, Ferdinand Brock, _The Life and Correspondence of Major-General
Sir Isaac Brock, K. B._, cited, 232
Tyndall, Prof., on Terrapin Rocks, 33
U
United Empire Loyalists, 228
Upper Canada, and Lower, divided, 295
V
Van Rensselaer, Mrs. Schuyler, on Niagara, quoted, 24, 27, 42-44
Van Rensselaer, Col. Solomon, 264-266
Van Rensselaer, Gen. Stephen, 263
Victoria Falls compared with Niagara Falls, 13
W
Wagenfuhrer, Martha E., barrel-crank at Niagara, 140
War of 1812, 263-291
Webb, Capt. Matthew, drowned at Niagara, 134-135
Welch, Thomas V., labours to enfranchise Niagara, 79;
_How Niagara was Made Free_, cited, 79-82;
mentioned, 81, 89
Whirlpool, the, 47, 50
Whitney, Gen. P., 40
Willard, Maud, Niagara crank, killed, 140
Woodward, Prof., surveys Niagara Falls, 65
Wool, Capt., hero of Queenston Heights, 265 _seq._
Wright, Dr. Geo. Frederick, makes new estimate of Niagara's age, 66-70
Y
York, Ont., Americans capture, 300-306
York Harbour, early description, 296-297
Youngstown, N. Y., 50;
skirmish at, 211
=Transcriber's Notes:=
original hyphenation, spelling and grammar have been preserved as in
the original
various "De Nonville" changed to "Denonville" [Ed. for consistency]
Page xii, "Fort Missisagga" changed to "Fort Mississauga"
Page 2, "Lake Superior. 381 miles" changed to "Lake Superior, 381 miles"
Page 3, "length. the Niagara" changed to "length, the Niagara"
Page 50, "Fort Mississagua" changed to "Fort Mississauga"
Page 82, "Albany, N Y" changed to "Albany, N. Y."
Page 88, "with the nortnerly" changed to "with the northerly"
Page 95, "made to day." changed to "made to-day."
Pages 124,126,127 "tight rope" changed to "tight-rope" [Ed. for
consistency]
Page 169, "Raddison" changed to "Radisson"
Page 179, "Belief to the fame." changed to "Belief to the same."
Page 187, "Writings, 123-186." changed to "Writings, pp. 123-186."
Page 210, "Mississaga" changed to "Mississauga"
Page 262, "this Monuument" changed to "this Monument"
Page 268, 269, "Scheaffe" changed to "Sheaffe"
Page 278 plate, "Fort Missisagua" changed to "Fort Mississauga"
Page 281, "Mississaga" changed to "Mississauga"
Page 317, "Magazine Royale" changed to "Magazine Royale,"
Page 317, "MagazineRoyale," changed to "Magazine Royale,"
Page 317, "see Niagara-on-the Lake" changed to "see Niagara-on-the-Lake"
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