Preservation of the Falls 



mouth of the Niagara River, connecting Lake Ontario with Lake 1875 

 Erie. The river is by no means wide, and the country on either 

 side is somewhat low and monotonous. Entering the river, we 

 have Fort Massauga, a Canadian fortress, on the right, and Fort 

 Niagara, an American fortress, directly opposite, on the left. 

 Passing up the river, the banks on either side have more the 

 appearance of a canal than of a river, being of a generally uni- 

 form slope. Six miles up the river we came to Lewiston, where 

 we landed, and for the first time I here set foot on American 

 soil. Having been discharged by the Custom House officer, who 

 was stationed here to examine our baggage, we were taken by 

 'bus for about a mile to a railway station, and after another ride 

 of about six miles along the top of the rocky and precipitous left 

 side of the river, we arrived at the Falls railway station. The 

 ride to this place was a most exciting one. In front there were 

 the Falls, seen as yet only by the mind's eye, but we were making 

 our way toward them through a rock-cut track, the sides of which 

 sometimes seemed as though they would topple over and crush us, 

 occasional breaks or opening in the rocks on the right affording 

 glimpses of the river as it danced and ran madly on, and let in 

 upon us, as with a great rush, the sound of troubled and rushing 

 waters, and a half-suppressed " din," struggling as it were for 

 mastery over the hissing of the engine and the rumbling of the 

 carriages. ... It would seem that the very pick of the 

 touts and rascals of the world had assembled here. We could 

 not move a yard without having some fellow at our heels descant- 

 ing on the excellence and cheapness of the dinner he was at 

 that very moment of time having placed on his table, and pro- 

 testing by all that was good, that if we went further we should 

 fare worse. Then the trinket sellers ran after us with their hands 

 full of samples of the wares they had on offer inside their respec- 

 tive establishments, assuring us in the most earnest manner that 

 we should never regret " walking in." As for the cab drivers, 

 if they only worried their poor horses as they worried us, I can 

 pity the poor horses from my heart. . . . 



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