Preservation of the Falls 



power to interfere with and destroy the grandeur of the cataract 

 and the natural beauty of its surroundings. In the second quarter 

 of the nineteenth century these aspects became a common theme, 

 and were soon accompanied by more or less indignant accounts of 

 the annoyances heaped upon travellers by the hackmen and guides 

 for the various viewpoints about the Falls. The charges of these 

 men at this period and later were regarded as an outrage upon 

 the travelling public. Many writers longed with regret for the 

 days when Niagara was an inaccessible wilderness. 



In the year 1879, Governor Robinson sent a message to the 

 New York State Legislature urging the Reservation of Niagara 

 Falls, and the New York State Survey of that same year con- 

 tains the report of the special commissioners on the preservation 

 of the scenery around the Falls. From that time on until the 

 establishment of the New York State Reservation in 1885, the 

 literature of the day — books, periodicals and newspapers — 

 shows a concerted effort for the reservation and preservation 

 movement at Niagara. 



Travellers to Niagara after the work of the reservation was 

 well under way, noted with approval the changed conditions. 

 Disfiguring structures were removed, extortionate hackmen and 

 guides gradually disappeared, necessary charges were regulated, 

 and in so far as was consistent with its use as a public park the 

 scene was restored and preserved in its natural beauty. 



The laws granting and regulating the use of Niagara power 

 are included in this chapter rather than in that on Industrial 

 Niagara, because the state and federal regulation of such grants 

 seems most properly a phase of the movement for preservation. 



The history of the struggle between the Commissioners of the 

 State Reservation together with various societies working always 

 for the preservation of the Falls — with due regard for the 

 economic interests dependent upon the power — on the one hand, 

 and the advocates of unlimited and unrestricted use of the power 

 on the other hand, forms a literature of its own. Enthusiasts in 



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