XXIV. 



THE GORGES. 

 FALL CREEK RAVINE. 



To an ardent lover of the picturesque in nature, the 

 neighborhood of Ithaca supplies an almost inexhausti- 

 ble fund of keen enjoyment. The lake and town lie in 

 a depression in the midst of a rolling plateau ; the streams 

 that take their rise in the surrounding territory flow 

 quietly until they reach the valley's edge, whence in a 

 short space they descend four or five hundred feet to 

 the level of the lake, through a series of remarkable 

 glens or gorges abounding in deep pools, silvery cas- 

 cades, and sylvan glades. Within a radius of twelve 

 miles from Ithaca there are no less than thirty of these 

 ravines, containing upwards of one hundred and fifty 

 cascades, each of a beauty peculiar to itself. 



The most accessible and most frequented of the glens is 

 the Ithaca Gorge — pre-eminently ' ' The Gorge. ' ' It is in- 

 disputably the most beautiful of them all. The visitor 

 may, for a moment, be overwhelmed by the mighty 

 leap of the Taughannock Fall, or carried away in 

 admiration for the grand cascade of Enfield, but he will 

 always revert to the beauties of Fall Creek with the feel- 

 ing that it, after all is most satisfactory. 



The ravine lies about three-fourths of a mile to the 

 north-east of the centre of the village and forms the 

 northern boundary of the University premises. The 



