Preservation of the Falls 



charged one shilling each for only going into the wood, from 1853 

 whence a good view of the whirlpool can be obtained! As 

 ground is becoming of great value in this neighbourhood, it may 

 be necessary to require payment for keeping any part of it free 

 from the desecration of taverns and saw-mills; but a more 

 moderate fee would answer better to the proprietors, and not act 

 as a prohibition to a large class who have not many spare shillings 

 in their pockets. . . . It is certainly worth crossing the 

 Atlantic for Niagara alone. 



New York (State) Legislature. An act to incorporate the 1853 

 Niagara river hydraulic company. (Laws of 1853, chap. 116.) 7 " s °ature 



The act passed, April, 1 832, creates the corporation, gives the name 

 and powers of the corporations, and makes general provisions thereof. 



WELD, CHARLES RlCHARD. A vacation tour in the United States 1853 

 and Canada. Lond. : Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. 1855. 

 Pp. 159-179. 



The author visited the Falls 55 years after his half-brother Isaac Weld. 

 He gives a good description of all the points of interest at the Falls. He 

 viewed them at dusk, in the morning and by moonlight. 



The scene (from Brock's monument) towards the Falls is 

 very remarkable, consisting principally of a boundless expanse of 

 table-land covered by a dense forest, through which the river has 

 cut a passage. Of the falls themselves, seven miles distant, not a 

 trace is visible; and the dark-blue waters of the great river flow 

 so smoothly at the bottom of the deep gorge, as to give no idea 

 of their having passed over a mighty precipice. . . . 



. . . Resuming my seat, I drove along a sandy road through 

 the partially-cleared bush, my excitement increasing as the dis- 

 tance to the falls diminished. When about three miles from 

 them, I ordered the driver to stop; and as soon as the carriage 

 ceased to move, a deep booming noise was heard, issuing from 

 the depth of the forest. It was the eternal voice of the falls. My 

 impatience increased, but it found no sympathy in my young 

 Yankee driver, who, " guessing " he had driven hundreds of 



1089 

 69 



