116 



CITIES, AMERICAN. (NIAGARA PALLS.) 



in the State. In 1880 it had 4,183 inhabit- 

 ants, and in 1890 11,494, an increase of 7,311, or 

 174'78 per cent. The elevation varies from 907 

 to 972 feet above sea level, and overflows of the 

 river are unknown. Railroad facilities are af- 

 forded by the Missouri Pacific, the Kansas City, 

 St. Joseph and Council Bluffs, and the Burling- 

 ton and Missouri River lines, the last having 14 

 passenger trains daily, arriving and leaving, 12 

 of which are fast mail express. The steel rail- 

 way and wagon bridge across the Missouri cost 

 $1,000,000. The streets are paved with cedar 

 blocks and vitrified brick ; a good sewerage sys- 

 tem supplements natural drainage, and gas and 

 electric lights are in use ; there are street cars, 

 water works, a fire department with all the latest 

 apparatus, and 4 banks with a capital of $250,- 

 000, 3 of which are national and 1 a farmers' 

 bank. Three daily and 3 weekly newspapers 

 are published. The Federal post-office building 

 cost $100,000, and there is free mail delivery. 

 In 1888-'89 the total of taxable property was 

 $1,048,677, while the amount used for school 

 purposes was $82,000. The expenditures for 

 schools were $27,661. Ten school buildings, 6 

 of which are fine structures, had an enrollment 

 of 1,354, and 27 teachers were employed, while 

 200 pupils attended parochial and private 

 schools. There is a high school. The State 

 School for the Blind is here. It is a brick struc- 

 ture, one of the finest in the State, and was 

 opened in 1875. There are 45 pupils. Two parks 

 add to the beauty of the city one of 25 acres 

 and there is a city hospital and a board of trade. 

 The churches number 17. There are 2 large 

 packing houses in Nebraska City, one of which 

 has a main building 5 stories high, 224 by 112 

 feet, and 2 large expansion ice machines, with 

 storage capacity of 12,000,000 pounds in the 

 cooling rooms ; 250 men are employed, and $3,- 

 000,000 are disbursed yearly for hogs. The firm 

 owns also 150 refrigerator cars. Next to South 

 Omaha the city claims the largest stock yards in 

 the State. A large distillery company, with 

 capital of $300,000, manufactures 10,000 gallons 

 daily of cologne spirits and alcohol ; 2,500 bush- 

 els of grain are consumed daily, and the firm 

 has its own cooper shops. The cereal mills, with 

 a capacity of 6,000 bushels of grain a day, have 

 an iron grain elevator, with capacity of 125,000 

 bushels; a starch company, incorporated in 

 1891 with a capital stock of $100,000, went into 

 operation in February, 1892. It has a capacity 

 of 2,000 bushels of corn daily. A vitrified-brick 

 company, established in 1889 with a capital of 

 $50,000, uses 40 tons of coal daily, and turns out 

 50,000 bricks. There are also novelty works, 2 

 extensive breweries, boiler works, planing mills, 

 lumbar yards, foundries and machine shops, 

 plow and wagon works, bottling establishments, 

 marble yards, a canning company, a creamery, 

 and a broom factory. About $1,000,000 are in- 

 vested in manufacturing. There are many hand- 

 some residences, and the business portion of the 

 city has fine brick and stone buildings. 



Niagara Falls, a city of Niagara County, N. 

 Y., incorporated March 17, 1892, as the thirty- 

 third city of the State in order of incorporation. 

 It lies 20 miles north of Buffalo. The city was 

 formed from the village of the same name to- 

 gether with the village of Suspension Bridge. 



The population is estimated at 14,000. The new 

 city is on the following trunk lines of railroads: 

 New York Central and Hudson River. West 

 Shore, New York, Lake Erie and Western, 

 Michigan Central, Grand Trunk, Lehigh Val- 

 ley, New York, Lackawanna and Western, and 

 Rome, Watertown and Ogdensburg. The gorge 

 of Niagara river is crossed by two railroad 

 bridges the original suspension and the canti- 

 lever and a third is projected. A carriage and 

 foot bridge spans the river just below the falls. 

 The area of the city is about 6 square miles, the 

 plan being that of an irregular quadrilateral. 

 The first side is bounded by Niagara river for 

 more than a mile above the falls ; the second, by 

 the same river for two miles below the falls ; the 

 third and fourth, by surveyed lines on the land. 

 The greatest length of the city is from north to 

 south, the two villages formerly composing it 

 having been about two miles from one center of 

 population to the other. At the southwestern 

 angle are the famous falls of Niagara, now un- 

 der the control of the State of New York. The 

 State Reservation extends from just below the 

 falls to a .point nearly a mile above, the river 

 boundary being the middle of the river. In 

 1879 Gov. Robinson, of New York, and Lord 

 Dufferin, Governor-General of Canada, conferred 

 as to the inclosure of "a suitable space on 

 each side of the river from which annoyances 

 and exactions should be excluded." On Gov. 

 Robinson's recommending the matter to the 

 Legislature, a commission was appointed to have 

 the lands surveyed and appraised. The survey 

 included Goat Island, the Three Sisters, Bird 

 Island, Luna Island, Chapin Island, the smaller 

 islands adjacent, and a strip of land from Port 

 Day to arid including the private property 

 known as Prospect Park. The strip along the 

 shore was from 100 to 200 feet wide, and the 

 area of the whole tract was 118 acres. In 1885 

 the Legislature appropriated $1,433,429.50 for 

 the purchase of the tract, .and the Reservation 

 was formally opened on July 15 of that year. 

 Since that time much progress has been made 

 in restoring the falls to a state of nature. Tiie 

 Reservation is absolutely free to visitors, save 

 that small fees are charged for the inclined rail- 

 way, the Cave of the Winds, and the steamer 

 at the foot of the falls Victoria Park, on the 

 Canadian side, was opened on May 24, 1888, but 

 an admission fee is charged. Although the 

 project of a ship canal around the falls has been 

 often suggested, no practical steps have been 

 taken to build a water way on American soil 

 similar to the Welland Canal in Canada ; but 

 the using of a part of the immense power of the 

 falls has become almost an accomplished fact. 

 The earlier efforts in this line were impractical 

 (see the " Annual Cyclopaedia " for 1887, page 

 561), but in 1886 the Legislature of New York 

 granted a charter to a corporation with ample 

 capital to build a tunnel through the solid rock. 

 This tunnel will be opened in 1893. It will 

 take the water from the river a mile above the 

 falls and convey it through a short surface ca- 

 nal to the mouth of the tunnel, where it drops 

 to the level of the deep tunnel through a series 

 of wheel-pits, thus generating several hundred 

 thousand horse power. The power will not only 

 be used on the spot, but will be conveyed to 



