IV. 



PLAN TO ENLARGE THE STATE RESERVATION AT 

 NIAGARA AND ESTABLISH THE NEW YORK STATE 

 MEMORIAL RIVERWAYS AND RESERVES 



A wonderful opportunity is presented by the plan for ex- 

 tending the New York State Reservation at Niagara from its 

 present limits to Fort Niagara and Lake Ontario in one direct- 

 tion, and to the city of Buffalo and Lake Erie in the other direc- 

 tion. This would take in the whole of the river roads on the 

 American side, as similar roads have been incorporated in the 

 Canadian Reservation, and by the creation of occasional small 

 parks or reserves and lookout points along the river, it would 

 afford unlimited opportunities for the erection of special me- 

 morials to our soldiers and sailors of the World War. 



This is a project which interests not only the people of west- 

 ern New York but the whole state and indeed the nation, and 

 our Canadian neighbors and foreign visitors as well. Niagara 

 Falls is probably the most widely known place in the United 

 States, and more generally visited by tourists than any other 

 single attraction. 



The movement for the rescue of Niagara Falls from the 

 hands of those who were spoiling its natural beauties began 

 over 40 years ago. As a result of an international impulse, it 

 was taken up and advocated by leading men from all over this 

 country and from Canada. The movement took concrete form 

 on the two sides of the river almost simultaneously, but the 

 Canadians had an easier job and more favorable conditions, and 

 they have already carried their Queen Victoria Park and the 

 improved highways leading out of it to the limits of the river 

 in each direction. 



On the New York side the first move was more difficult and 

 far more expensive, and the New York State Reservation at 

 Niagara has never been extended beyond its first limits. It 

 includes Goat Island with Green Island and the other small 

 isles surrounding it; also Prospect Park at the brink of the 

 American Falls, and from that point extends in a narrow strip 

 along the upper rapids to the intake of the Hydraulic Power 

 Canal. This property originally cost the state of New York in 

 1885 about $1,433,000, a very large sum for those days. Ob^ 

 stacles apparently insurperable have always prevented the fur- 

 ther extension of the reservation either down or up the river. 

 But plans are now presented thrQUfh vhich much may be ao- 

 complished. 



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