The French Period 



have gradually receded in proportion as the volume of the lakes 1755-60 

 has diminished by the gradual lowering of Niagara Falls and 

 the other rapids or cascades that interrupt the course of the river 

 above Montreal. 



We also report a proof of change of which we will speak. 

 If we seek upon the highest mountains in Canada, we shall 

 everywhere find sea shells of every sort, as well as in the ancient 

 plains covered with lime-stone,- sulphurous rock, shales and sand- 

 stones. The more recent plains are on the contrary filled with 

 petrifactions of wood, fruits, serpents, snails, and various fresh 

 water shells. 



SUMMARY OF THE FRENCH PERIOD 



It is appropriate that our quotations from the first, or French, 

 period of Niagara Falls history should be concluded with extracts 

 from the work of Captain Francois Pouchot, the defender of 

 Fort Niagara and the last official representative of French 

 dominion on the American side of the Niagara River. The 

 original narrative, published at Yverdon in Switzerland in 1781, 

 is both rare and costly. Even the translation, which we have 

 cited and from which we quote, is difficult to procure. 



The first extract adds little to our knowledge of the Falls 

 except the detail concerning the possibility of crossing the river 

 below the Falls in bateaux. 



It is rather difficult to segregate Pouchot's personal contribu- 

 tion in the second extract, for the compiler has apparently added 

 his own observations to those of Pouchot. It is interesting, 

 nevertheless, not only because of its comparatively early date 

 and its critical attitude toward previous writers on the Falls, but 

 because of the additional information which it presents. 



Several facts are outstanding in this brief presentation of the 

 earliest period of Niagara Falls history. Most striking, perhaps, 

 is the antiquity of that history. We are not accustomed to think 

 of the Niagara region in the same breath with the Atlantic coast, 



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