26 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Brock's monument, which commands the hights above Qneenston, 

 on the Canadian side of the river. Looking northward from this 

 elevation, the observer sees an almost level plain, cut only by the 

 winding lower Niagara, stretching from the foot of a pronounced 

 and often precipitous escarpment to the shores of Lake Ontario, 7 

 miles away. Ordinarily the distant northern shore of the lake is 

 not readily recognized by the unaided eye, though on clear days a 

 faint streak of land may be seen between sky and water on the dis- 

 tant horizon. A good field glass however will generally disclose 

 the opposite shore, and the much eroded cliffs of Scarborough. Far 

 beyond these, fully a hundred miles to the north of the observer, the 

 crystalline rocks of the Laurentide mountains rise from beneath their 

 covering of Paleozoic strata, as formerly they rose above the waters 

 of the Paleozoic sea. These ancient Canadian highlands, together 

 with the Adirondack mountains of New York, and the old crystal- 

 line regions of the Appalachians, constitute the chief visible rem- 

 nants of the old pre-Cambric North American continent. The 

 erosion of these ancient lands has furnished much of the material 

 from which beds of later date in this region were derived. Some of, 

 these beds may be seen in the sections cut by the rivers through 

 the deposits in comparatively recent times, and no more instruc- 

 tive example than the gorge of the Niagara need be cited. 



In the banks of the lower Niagara gorge may be seen the cut 

 edges of the red shales and sandstones of the Medina group, the bril- 

 liant color of which is in striking contrast with the greenish blue of 

 the water, and the darker green of the foliage which fringes its 

 borders. The plain above is dotted with farms, orchards and ham- 

 lets, and is one of the richest agricultural and fruit districts of the 

 country. In the foreground, on opposite banks of the river, lie the 

 sister towns of Queenston and Lewiston, former rival guardians 

 of the head of navigation of the lower Niagara, but now for the 

 second time joined by bands of steel across the intervening gulf. 

 Farther down the stream Niagara-on-the-Lake and Youngstown 

 crown respectively the left and right bank of the river. These four 

 towns of the lower Niagara, hold daily communication by ferry, 

 steamboat or electric railway; the last and the steam railway keep- 



