Niagara Falls 



1820 stone and red clay, the fissure would enlarge, and in course of 

 time the whole intervening rocks would be swept away, and Lake 

 Erie would plunge into Lake Ontario. The great plateau, or 

 table land, below Lewiston, would then be deluged, and the age 

 of Deucalion would visit this portion of the great western region. 

 At the feet of great falls of water and in the bosom of seques- 

 tered ravines, the devotee of natural science generally finds a 

 fertile field of investigation. This cataract however does not 

 furnish many interesting specimens of mineralogy, but its neigh- 

 borhood is rich in botany. The banks of the river about the falls 

 are lined with white pine and cedar. 



The passage of the river below the cataract is not considered 

 dangerous. There is a boat stationed there for the conveyance 

 of passengers, in which I have passed. During the late war 

 smuggling was carried on in that direction in the night time, and 

 before a ladder was erected on the east bank, people frequently 

 passed over from Canada to steal apples at Fort Schlosser. 



1820 Schoolcraft, Henry Rowe. (Visit to Niagara Falls, 1820.) 



Schoolcraft (/ n /,f 5 Narrative journal of travels through the northwestern regions of 



the United States extending from Detroit through the great chain of 



American lakes, to the sources of the Mississippi river ... in the 



year 1820.) Albany: E. and E. Horsford. 1821. Pp. 33-47.) 



Schoolcraft visited the Falls in May, 1820, as a member of the expe- 

 dition under General Cass. He approached the Falls from Buffalo, tells 

 of the distance at which he first heard the sound of the Falls, describes 

 his first impressions and discusses the inaccuracy of various writers in their 

 descriptions of the Cataract, notably Hennepin and some of the earlier 

 visitors to the region, and dwells upon the importance of knowledge of 

 the action of the Falls for geological accuracy and research. 



What has been said by Goldsmith, and repeated by others, 

 respecting the destructive influence of the rapids above, to ducks 

 and other water fowl, is only an effect of the imagination. So 

 far from being the case, the wild duck, is often seen to swim down 

 the rapid to the brink of the Falls, and then fly out, and repeat 



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