Evergreen Trees. 51 



agara, we could pass behind the falling sheet. Beneath these pro- 

 jecting rocks, ice remains unmelted until the beginning of June : 

 there was a considerable quantity lying there to-day. About mid- 

 way of the falls, an immense block of the conglomerate rock, from 

 thirty to forty feet in height, and more than that in diameter, being 

 of a cubic form, lies in the middle of the stream, the water passing 

 on each side of it : several large hemlock trees crown its hoary head ; 

 the roots piercing ihe crevices of the rock, find moisture and a steady 

 support. The tops and sides of the cliffs are lined with fine large 

 trees of the hemlock (Abies Canadensis) and white pine, (Pinus 

 Strobus,) adding tenfold life and beauty to this romantic spot. I 

 look forward with regret to the period, when these ancient and 

 beautiful trees must fall before the increase of manufacturing build- 

 ings, which will soon supply their place. Almost my last words to 

 the proprietors and influential inhabitants were, " Spare, oh spare 

 these noble evergreens, so charmingly appropriate to the spot, and 

 standing on the brink and sides of these romantic cliffs, where the 

 hand of man can never replace them." At several points along the 

 falls, the view up stream is grand and imposing. The immense 

 cliffs of perpendicular rocks, crowned with the towering hemlock, 

 whose tall shaft in many places hangs gracefully over the gulf be- 

 low, as if listening to the voice of the waters, which, confined to 

 their narrow bed by the rocky walls of the stream, come foaming 

 through with headlong fury. In some places there is a descent of 

 eight or ten feet at a single bound ; at others, it rushes down an in- 

 clined plane. The greatest pitch is twenty two feet in a distance of 

 ten feet, but accomplished at two leaps. This long succession of 

 falls and rapids will ultimately become of incalculable benefit to the 

 manufacturer, and a cordon of mills and machinery may be continued 

 without interruption, touching each other like the houses in a crowd- 

 ed street, for the distance of two miles on each side of the stream ; 

 the same water being used successively at the different dams, and ta- 

 ken along the sides of the river in plank raceways or penstocks. 

 From its proximity to two canals, leading to the two greatest cities 

 in the Union, this spot is destined to become in a few years a place 

 of great commercial importance and immense manufacturing busi- 

 ness. The town now contains eight hundred inhabitants, and it is 

 supposed by good judges that two hundred buildings will go up the 

 present year. The manufactures now in operation are, a paper mill, 

 oil millj flour mills, saw mills, sash manufactories, smitheries, Sic. &;c. 



