1837] 



F A R 31 E U S ' R K G IS T LT R 



225 



eideral)lft village is irrowinsr wp n\ the nioutli of the 

 river, iiearlv opposite to Wliiiehavoii on Grand 

 Island; ami ■ln:*. timber from Grand Island, des- 

 tined lor th^ New York and liosion shipyards is 

 here admi!'-*ci into the «Tiand canal. 'J'he rail- 

 roads bei'/.i \" BuHalo and Nia^rara Falls passes 

 through tii^; .illage; and in limne, passengers in 

 the canal i^avketg will probably disembark liere 

 and take the -^ars to Bufiido, by which means a 

 distance, which, by water, occupies about three 

 liours, will be putrsrd over in less than an hour, 

 three quarte'-s oi" an hour wdl ordinarily be deem- 

 ed sutticient, :■. -reat and most valuable gain to 

 travellers. Th- river Niairara, at the entrance of 

 the Tonau-anda .'liO it, presents deep water and 

 a secure anciiuiiiije ibr larije vessels, which 

 may be empl ^u! m navigating the lakes-, but 

 the dilliculty oi • -aching the lake against a surong 

 current and S'.hm ■ dilficult rapids, excepting under 

 peculiarly ('avorai.ic winds or very strong power 

 of" steam, ma_, be thought to present strong ob- 

 stacles to its use and in)provement as a port of 

 shipment; Tluse, however, will be easily over- 

 come by ptgt! ai power, and availintr ol' the ship 

 canal at Blade Rock. This and Whitehaven, 

 nmst, (rom tlie facility of |)rocuring the best of 

 timber in the immediate vicinity, ofier a most lii- 

 vorable situation for the building ol' vessels?.-.. The 

 village is destined to extraordinary prosperity 

 from its advantageous situation and the great im- 

 provements now in progress. The land in the 

 vicinity of Tonawanda is of aln excellent descrip- 

 tion. As ffir as the backwater of the creek ex- 

 tends, a distance of three or four miles, this cir- 

 cumstance is prejudicial; the cultivation ,in some 

 places beittg necessarily hindered, and the general 

 healthiness of the country has been supposed to 

 be att'ectedi The latter circumstance, however, 

 is becoming obviated by clearance and cultiva- 

 tion. But, when the land is not so affected, the 

 soil is eminently favorable to wheat, oats, pota- 

 toes and grass. Indian ctfrn is sometimes culti- 

 vated with success, but it cannot be considered a 

 safe crop; The soil is improved by cultivation. 

 The whole country is ot calcareous ibrmation: 

 loam resting upon limestone and intermixed with 

 limestone gravel, which, in the form of a carbon- 

 ate, is se^n intermixed abundantly with the soil in 

 small grains. These being brought to the air by (he 

 plough, become decomposed ; and the soil in this 

 way acquires constantly increased blackness and 

 fertility. Peas are a favorite and very productive 

 crop. On visiting one of the best farms in the 

 neighborhood of the creek, the farmer informed 

 me that his crop of wheat usually averaged from 

 twenty-five to thirty bushels per acre; of peas, thir- 

 ty bushels; of grass, one and a half to two tons per 

 acre. He uses no manure lor his land, exceptmg 

 that he has spread some on his crass land; and 

 he showed me a field which, with the exception 

 of three intermediate years, had been in wheat 

 thirteen years without a diminution of the crop. — 

 I have perfect confidence in the honor of the 

 gentleman who made these statements, but possi- 

 bly there may be some litlle unintentional over- 

 statement; as it almost always happens, where 

 crops are not matter of exact measurement, but 

 of estimate or conjecture merely, there is a tenden- 

 cy to overstate. A crop of wheat certainly, with- 

 out very careful cultivation, averaging fi-om twen- 

 ty-five to thirty bushels is quite larce. The af- 

 Vol. V— 29 



termath in the fields was short; and by no means 

 a liiir test of what the land is capable of being 

 made to do. The farming in most jjarts of thia 

 country was inferior and slovenly; and the regu- 

 lar introduction of clover, with all the grain 

 crops and the ploughing it in, would produce a 

 most favorable and extraordinary change in their 

 condition. Speculation, however, is so rifii, other 

 means of procuring money seem to promise so 

 much quicker n^turns; and labor is indeed so dif- 

 ficult to be procured, withal so expensive and 

 troublesome, that mere cultivation, it is to l)e fear- 

 ed, will continue to be regarded as a secondary 

 interest. The |>afsage of the canal through this 

 country, and the multitude of canal boats which 

 seem to pass and repass in an almost uninterrupt- 

 ed succession, aflbrd a ready and cash mai*ket 

 for all th^ produce of their farms. Their wants, 

 even then,- are but imperfectly supplied. The 

 growth of the country here is- m many places 

 magnificent — oak, black-walnut, maple, white- 

 wood and elm, of the largest description. JMostof 

 the wood, which is cut here, is fenl to Buffalo, or 

 sold at the steam saw mill on Grand Island. — 

 JMuch of that which is suitable ibr timber is saw- 

 ed at the same establishment for this purpose. 



The ride fiom Black Rock to the Niagara Falls, 

 by the side of the Niagara river, is extremely 

 beautiful; the expanse of' water, the several fine 

 islands skirted with rich Ibliasre to the water's edge; 

 and the excitement of an approach to the falls,- 

 which it is not easy to suppress, though you may 

 have visited them repeatedly, render this jaunt 

 exceedingly interesting and delightliil. The ride 

 for some miles below the falls towards Lake On- 

 tario increases in picturesque effect; and presents 

 many points of view embracing the falls them- 

 selves, the wonderful passage of this torrent 

 through its walls of natural masonry, which it 

 would seem, must have occupied centuries, not to 

 erect, but to excavate and widen, the compression 

 of the torrent before it branches into the whirl- 

 pool, where owing to the narrowness of the pas- 

 sage, and the velocity with which it is forced on- 

 ward, the central ridge of waters like the roof of a 

 barn is elevated at least ten leet above the edge 

 of the wa'ers at the shore; the whirlpool itself, 

 and afterwards the whole course of the river until 

 it enters into Lake Ontario, which is seen dis- 

 tinctly from the high grounds, and lastly the mag- 

 nificent and glittering expanse of the lake itself, 

 present a succession of views unrivalled and en- 

 chanting. 



The land on the shores of the Niagara river, 

 from Tonawanda to a distance of three miles be- 

 low the fails, as far as my ride extended, is simi- 

 lar to what I have already described, excepting 

 that in some places the clayey portions predomi- 

 nate much more here than in others. A good 

 deal of this land has been a long time cleared and 

 the stumps removed. It is much of it of a very 

 fine character fbr wheat. A highly intelligent 

 gentleman of the village, at the falls, who ae 

 companied me, showed me a field, which with 

 the exception of one year, had been fbr thirty 

 years in succession in wheat, without manure, and 

 without any apparent diminution of its fertility. — 

 Twenty to twenty-five bushels of wheat are con- 

 sidered an average yield; thirty are ofien obtained. 

 The first ploughing is generally shallow; after- 

 wards deeper ploughing improves the soil. Plas- 



