Preface 



Roebling and scientists like Audubon, Agassiz, Argyll, Lyell, 

 Tyndall have speculated upon its tremendous physical powers 

 and the cataclysmic forces of nature which have produced it; 

 presidents like John Quincy Adams, state governors like DeWitt 

 Clinton, crowned heads like the Prince of Wales have in their 

 day and turn paid it tribute. Even in what may be called a 

 lighter vein the exploits of acrobats like Blondin entertain us 

 with breathless interest. 



Doctor Dow has truly given us not only a state document of 

 history and science, but a book for entertainment and pleasure 

 in prose and in verse. 



James Sullivan 



Stale Historian 

 November 5, 1917 



