A SCENIC GIFT TO NEW YORK STATE. 



569 



upon these crags because they loved the 

 beauty of the spot, we should be as appre- 

 ciative; if the better view of the movements 

 of the red man was the motive, we should 

 venerate the scenes of these vigils, and guard 

 them against encroachment. 



And so Christopher Clarke, nature lover, 

 drove the State Harbor and Land Commis- 

 sion and a few crestfallen objectors over 

 these forgotten old roads in a four-horse 



wagon, past the old cellar holes, haunted by 

 the sweetness of surviving lilacs. The im- 

 pressions of that day's -drive won the assent 

 of this influential board, and by sanction of 

 the county electorate a glorious mountain, 

 accessible to 200,000 people, for a 5-cent fare, 

 accumulating the wild creatures that find 

 refuge here from the sportsman, safe from 

 the assaults of the lumberman, became the 

 possession of Massachusetts forever. 



A SCENIC GIFT TO NEW YORK STATE. 



BY FRANCIS W. HALSEY. 



YX/ r HEN Governor Hughes signed the bill 

 accepting Letchworth Park as the gift 

 of William Pryor Letchworth to the State of 

 New York, he described the gift as "an act 

 of generosity which fitly crowns a life of 

 conspicuous public usefulness, and entitles the 

 donor to the lasting regard of his fellow citi- 

 zens." The circumstances in which Mr. 

 Letchworth made this gift date, as to their 

 beginnings, from a period somewhat remote 

 from the present generation. After he had 

 become a successful business man in Buffalo, 

 he made, in 1859, his first purchase of land 

 bordering on the great gorge of the Genesee 

 at Portage. He bought additional tracts 

 from time to time, until eventually he became 

 the owner of about 1000 acres, extending on 

 both sides of the river for a distance of three 

 miles. 



Retiring definitely from business in 1872, 

 this estate, to which long before he had given 

 the name " Glen Iris," became his perma- 

 nent home. He had already done much to 

 improve the grounds, and on the three farms 

 included in his purchases carried on agricul- 

 tural industries. Mr. Letchworth's life 

 thenceforth was to be largely philanthropic 

 and has had its radiating center in this beauti- 

 ful domain. From the beginning he liked to 

 have its charms shared by others. He was 

 always hospitable to visitors, the grounds be- 

 ing constantly open to such persons as might 

 wish to enter them. His desire to increase 

 the usefulness of the property finally assumed 

 definite form when he founded there an in- 

 stitution where poor children from cities 

 might be entertained. This for many years 

 continued in active operation through 3 

 board of trustees. 



Meanwhile, Mr. Letchworth was ap- 

 proaching old age. (His years now number 



eighty-three.) Just what he could most ad- 

 vantageously do with the property in his will, 

 long remained a problem he could not satis- 

 factorily solve. Through an act of the Legis- 

 lature, a power company acquired, a few years 

 ago, the right to use the waters of the river. 

 This pointed to the building of a great reser- 

 voir above the' upper falls and the conversion 

 of the lower gorge into a tail-race, thus de- 

 priving the three cascades of their supply of 

 water, all of which meant the virtual de : 

 struction of the chief beauties of Glen Iris. 

 Indeed, Mr. Letchworth saw in this enter- 

 prise the probable defeat of his long cherished 



VIEW OF THE RIVER GORGE FROM MR. LETCHWORTH S 

 HOUSE. 



