Travelers' Original Accounts: 1 801 -1 840 



Summary 



The year 1 840 has been set, rather arbitrarily perhaps, as the 

 limit of this chapter. The only justification for the choice of 

 this date is that it fixes a sort of high-water mark in the produc- 

 tion of Niagara Falls literature, for by that time not only had 

 nearly half the book-writing visitors of the nineteenth century 

 published their accounts but after that date there was a steady 

 diminution in the annual output on the subject. 



The accounts quoted present plenty of evidence that the tourist 

 procession to Niagara was well begun even as early as 1818. 

 The bulk of the literature of our period, however, falls between 

 1 825 and 1 840. The difficulties of travel at the opening of the 

 century and the war with England probably contributed much to 

 the comparative literary barrenness of the early years. The 

 opening of the Erie Canal in 1825 and the multiplication of 

 railroad facilities in the thirties no doubt were important factors 

 in the promotion of travel to Niagara. The accounts quoted 

 bear witness to the increased accessibility of the Falls. The 

 primitive wilderness was slowly but surely giving way before 

 the approach of civilization. The land along the river was 

 being cleared, towns were springing up within sight of the Falls, 

 and writers were already lamenting the probable intrusion of 

 industry. 



It is interesting to notice the character of the tourists who 

 wrote of Niagara in this period. It is evident that though many 

 nationalities are represented, the majority of the visitors are 

 English, and that in the production of Niagara literature women 

 share the laurels with men. A.s in the previous periods, there is 

 much mediocre writing, but on the whole the accounts are of a 

 higher grade than in the earlier period. Indeed it is no misnomer, 

 when the standard of excellence is set by such accounts as those 

 of Margaret Fuller, Harriet Martineau, Caroline Gilman, and 

 Nathaniel Hawthorne, to speak of Niagara literature. 



It is quite evident from the accounts cited that the personal 

 equation plays a large part at Niagara. The writing is of every 

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