The English Period 



driving its waters into this its outlet meets with no resistance until 1787 

 it comes to the Falls where not being able to empty itself so fast nys 

 as it comes from the Lake it causes the waters above the rapids 

 to rise. Now this Creek being a dead swampy Creek, just above 

 the rapid, some of the repulsed water forces itself into it and 

 counteracting its own current favours one of the contrary way. 



This is perhaps the most detailed account thus far. Of especial interest 

 are the author's speculations on the recession of the falls. It appears 

 that in Enys's time industry had already intruded into the primeval 

 solitude on the banks of the Niagara. 



1787 



SHARAN, James. The adventures of James Sharan: compiled from 1787 

 the Journal, written during his voyages and travels in the four quarters of Sharan 

 the globe. Bait.: Dobbin & Murphy. 1808. Pp. 108-1 16. 



Sharan seems to have been a sailor, wheelwright, and itinerant trader 

 of an adventurous disposition. It was while he was in New Orleans in the 

 spring of 1 787 that he resolved " to penetrate into the United States by a 

 course up the river Mississippi, and endeavor to find his way through the 

 forests and Indian tribes until he had seen that wonder, the Falls of 

 Niagara." By his own account, he apparently attained his journey's end 

 in the summer or autumn of 1 787. As it happens, however, his account 

 is so obviously taken from Kalm that it is hard to accept his story. 



1789 



MoORE, THOMAS. The life and death of Lord Edward Fitzgerald. 1789 

 Lond. : Longman, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green. 1831. Pp. 1 44—1 45. Moore 



The Irish patriot was at Niagara in May, 1 789. What he has to say 

 concerning the Falls may be found in a letter to his mother, headed " Fort 

 Erie, June 1 , 1 789." Though he found description impossible, it is evident 

 from his letter that he was much impressed with " the greenness and 

 tranquility of everything about, the quiet of the immense forests around, 

 compared with the violence of all that is close to the Falls." 



POWELL, Ann. Journal of a tour from Montreal to Detroit, 1789, 1739 

 with notes by Eliza Susan Quincy. (Mag. Am. hist., July, 1880. Vol. Powell 

 V, pp. 37-46.) 



A journey to Niagara in 1 789 was a trip through the wilderness, 

 whatever the route by which it was approached. Miss Powell's journal 



89 



