Preservation of the Falls 



. . . I spent an entire day on Goat Island, happily left in 1853 

 its primeval state of wildness. From this lovely isle . . . 

 endless views of the two falls are obtained. That of the Horse- 

 shoe Cataract from the gallery of the Terrapin Tower is the most 

 imposing. Here you look upon the long water-curve of exquisite 

 green, forming the lip of the fall, which in the most concave part 

 is said to be twenty feet thick, and down into the abyss boiling 

 with mist and foam. The solemn and slow majesty of the descent 

 of the water is very remarkable, presenting vast green curtain-like 

 folds, from which burst globes of compressed air. The prodigious 

 quantity of mist and spray renders the bottom invisible, and gives 

 infinite variety to the scene, which, when lighted by the play of 

 innumerable vivid rainbows, possesses a witching beauty unsur- 

 passed and unequalled. 



A flock of large gulls were sporting amidst these quivering 

 hues, rejoicing in their power ; now dashing downwards until lost 

 in the blinding spray, now soaring aloft in the deep blue heavens. 

 Amidst such sights and sounds, it was an inexpressible relief to 

 find the horrible American creation of " Manchester," with its 

 cotton mills, does not yet destroy the magnificence of the Ameri- 

 can cataract. The present buildings are far above the fall, but 

 it may be, that triumphing over all difficulties — for there are 

 none too formidable to check Yankee enterprise — the rapids on 

 the verge of the descent may be made to do cotton-spinning duty, 

 and the fall itself be diverted into innumerable mill-dams. 

 Already numerous daring projects are contemplated to " use up 

 the almighty water privilege " of Niagara, which is stated to 

 exceed in power the entire steam force employed to drive 

 machinery in Great Britain ; but as half the falls belong to Eng- 

 land, it is to be hoped the Horseshoe Cataract is not included in 

 the scheme. I could not help wishing that the influence which 

 will, I trust, prevent any attempt to perpetrate such barbarity, 

 would sweep away the frippery curiosity-shops and museums now 

 deforming the Canadian side of the river. 



1091 



