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NIAGARA
FALLS: THE REPORT OF [Including
a discussion and evaluation of the Gardner Report] by
In Governor Robinson's message to the
legislature in January, 1879 (Robinson, in Report of the Executive Committee
of the Niagara Falls Association, 1885), specific reference was made to the
protection of visitors, and, although New York and Ontario had civil
jurisdiction over the Falls of Niagara, yet "in one sense, the sublime
exhibition of natural power there witnessed is the property of the whole
world." That there was an agenda already in place is referred to by the
sentence: "There can be no doubt that many persons abstain from visiting
the Falls in consequence of the annoyances referred to, nor can there be any
reasonable doubt that the removal of these objections would largely increase
the number of visitors annually." As already discussed in the previous
section, there was competition between the Canadian and American cities by
the cataracts for the money visitors brought with them in their desire to see
the falls. There was extensive building and expansion of commercial
enterprises and the introduction of rival spectacles and entertainments to
lure increasing crowds to the tourist infrastructure in place in the prospect
areas of both countries. In one sense, Robinson's message was not only an
appeal to protect the ephemeral visitor population at the Falls, but an
appeal to devise a plan to "increase the number of visitors
annually." It appears that Robinson's message was protective of the
tourist industry in place at However, there are two published
versions of Robinson's 1879 message to the Legislature. The one quoted above
by the Niagara Falls Association, to be discussed below, and one, presumably
the official one, as it is a Senate document, contained in the first annual
report of the Commissioners of the Niagara Reservation published in 1885. In
this second version of the message, the remarks of Lord Dufferin,
Governor-General of Canada, with whom Robinson collaborated on introduction
of the The Legislature did not hesitate to
respond "by a joint resolution of the Legislature of that year"
(1879) to direct the Commissioners of the New York State Survey "to
inquire, consider and report what, if any, measures it may be expedient for
the State to adopt for carrying out the suggestions contained in the annual
message of the Governor with respect to Niagara Falls" (Report of the
Executive Committee of the Niagara Falls Association, 1885). The
Commissioners were W. A. Wheeler, Robert S. Hale, William Dorsheimer, Francis
A. Stout, George Geddes (son of James Geddes, engineer of the Erie Canal -
the son being a specialist in law, engineering and farming,) and F.A.P.
Barnard, President of Columbia College (Roper, 1973). Director of the New York State Survey at
the time was James T. Gardner, who was directed "to make an examination
of the premises, and prepare for their consideration such a project ... and
they associated with him Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted" (Rep. of the Exec.
Comm, Nia. Falls Assn., 1885). Note that the spelling of Mr. Gardner's name
here follows that used in the final report submitted to the Legislature in
1880 - it is sometimes spelled Gardner or Gardener. The resolution laid out
an agenda that was a striking contrast to that presumably proposed by
Robinson, according to the Niagara Association. The response of the New York
State Legislature promoted an environmental, not a tourist, agenda, that is,
the entire point of all interest was the integrity of that area the tourists
were visiting. The intent of the legislation was not to provide for tourists,
but to protect the object of their interest and the freedom to enjoy that
object without distraction. The State Legislature appointed the
Commissioners and Gardner and Olmsted to determine "how far the private
holding of land about Niagara Falls has worked to public disadvantage through
defacements of the scenery; to determine the character of such defacements;
to estimate the tendency to greater injury, and, lastly to consider whether
the proposed action by the State is necessary to arrest the process of
destruction and restore to the scenery its original character" (Report
of the Executive Committee of the Niagara Falls Association, 1885). Note that
"scenery" here is essentially synonymous with
"environment" and is botanical in character, as will be seen below. In that same year, the Commissioners,
Gardner and Olmsted came to the area and contributed their findings, which,
together with the determinations of the Commissioners, were published in 1880
in the Report of the New York State Survey for the year 1879 entitled
"Special Report of New York State survey on the Preservation of the Scenery
of Niagara Falls, and Fourth Annual Report on the Triangulation of the State
for the year 1879." The special report is 42 pages long. In it Governor
Robinson's full message to the Legislature is included, together with Lord
Dufferin's comments. The
Report The plan for the preservation of the
scenery at Niagara Falls is composed of the report of the Commissioners of
the New York State Survey, the report of Mr. Gardner, and that of Mr.
Olmsted, in addition to two illustrations, a series of heliotype prints, the
signatories of a petition in favor of the establishment of the reservation,
Governor Robinson's 1879 message and a facsimile reprint of Hennepin's
description of the falls at Niagara. The First Illustration To give it the most dramatic thrust, the
first product of the study is an illustration of the object of the plan, the
product of the study itself. It is a fold-out illustration drawn by Francis
Lathrop and engraved by a Mr. Marsh entitled "Ideal view of the American
Rapids, after the Presumably this illustration would not
have been included or given such prominence had it not been an important part
of the intentions of the Commissioners, Mr. Gardner and Mr. Olmsted. In the drawing, the sight of the City of
The banks are not riprapped and show
irregular erosional effects, including the slumping slope with a many-stemmed
tree group inclining into the river, much as can be seen today on the wet,
sagging slopes of the north shore of Goat Island. The trees are of
considerable age and show no attempt at pruning: broken major branches are
conspicuous on some trees, stems distorted by natural processes are shown, a
tall old tree bole with its canopy blasted away by natural events is shown on
what is probably Note that in the heliotype print
constituting Plate III showing the aspect of Prospect Park in 1879 as seen as
looking north across the American Falls from Goat Island, and that the Park
is still extensively wooded for all the buildings and other improvements
reported to have been constructed on it. The city is completely masked from
view by the tree canopy. To resume, there are no roads or paths
or structures of any kind shown in the illustration, nor are any human beings
shown at all. Note that the shoreline of the mainland does not depict the
limestone flats that probably occurred there at the time of the drawing, but
perhaps were built over or appeared to the illustrator to represent human
degradation of a natural landscape feature but which were, in fact, created
by the dynamics of the river itself. Note that the caption said the depiction
is an ideal situation. To give the viewer today some idea what the view up
the American rapids would look like after restoration, one may stand on one
of the two farther bridges on the Three Sisters Islands where the vegetation
comes uninterrupted to the river bank, and where most of the developed
shoreline in the Canadian and on Goat Island is blocked from view. The helioprint of the It is apparent from the illustration
that the primeval vegetation exhibited on The Report of the Commissioners The Commissioner's topics proceeded as
follows: 1. The duty of the Commissioners was
defined as investigation into the defacement of scenery, degradation of
landscape, necessity of government action to arrest further deterioration. No
reference was made to the duty of the Commissioners to investigate conditions
with respect to visitors, but their duty was entirely environmental. 2. Visitor dynamics. The Commissioners
discussed certain characteristics of tourist behavior but explicitly state
this is "a matter not directly comprehended in the instructions of the
Commissioners," which was to correct scenic disfigurements. They
addressed this subject due to an extensive "public concern." First they expressed surprise that the,
at that point, still healthy climate of the City of Niagara Falls, its high
quality inns, and related services and natural attractions should not be
"the temporary residence of great numbers of those who every summer
migrate from town to country, and one of the most popular places of vacation
sojourn in all the world." They observed that Yet tourists at The source of the quickness of the stay,
and the ease with which disappointment is stimulated was considered due to
the nature of the landscape itself. This observation is critical to an
understanding of the "best use" of Flat, glaciated terrain of little note
extends right up to the crest of the Niagara Gorge. Only several city blocks
away from the falls and gorge there is no evidence for the existence of the
falls, except, today, for a sound that could be that the railroad yards, and
an atmospheric cloud that could be taken for vented steam from a factory
stack. This may account for the subsequent century-long attempts by various
proposers to build up the expectations of the visitor as they cross miles of
unremarkable terrain to prepare them for the spectacle they have come miles
to see. Unprepared, the visitor may be unable to easily assimilate the
extraordinary phenomenon presented and be "unimpressed," that is to
say, unable to shake the boredom associated with the monotony of the adjacent
and surrounding prairies and lake plain, or, upon leaving, be unable to
retain the excitement they did permit themselves - as was the experience of
Judge George Clinton when he saw the falls as a youth of eighteen.
Topographically uninteresting terrain leading up to the falls, in the present
day, for example, exacerbates this lack of interest by the urbanization on
all approaches, which intensifies the sameness of visitor experience and
deadens their immediate memory. Similar phenomena probably occur wherever the
significant natural feature is a canyon worn below the surrounding regional
land surface - even the These sentiments were expressed over a
century ago by the famous English geologist Charles Lyell (1855): "In the region between Lake Erie and
the borders of As early as 1819, the educated Scotch
botanist John Goldie also noted the strange and, to him, unexpected, flatness
of the region approaching the falls. "On approaching them I found the
ground in their vicinity to exhibit a very different appearance from what I
had expected. Instead of high rocks & precipices above the Falls, and low
valleys & glens below them, all is perfectly level to appearance. ... At
the distance of 200 yds there is nothing to be seen in the banks of the River
that would lead you to expect any such thing as Falls at this place"
(Goldie, 1819). Goldie is a perfect example of the nature of the ill-humor,
or disappointment frequently remarked upon by proponents and developers of
the falls alike. Their expectations of The Commissioners had a remedy for this
disappointment - to slow the pace of the visitor long enough for the beauties
of According to the Commissioners,
"the value of Niagara to the world, and that which has obtained for it
the homage of so many men whom the world reveres, lies in its power of appeal
to the higher emotional and imaginative faculties, and this power is drawn
from qualities and conditions too subtle to be known through verbal
description." This value can only be appropriated by slowness, by
activities and environments promoting a "composed, receptive and
contemplative frame of mind." This concept would later be translated
into modes of transportation, and later still be abandoned by the
administration of the park eventually established at Niagara Falls in the
promotion of the automobile and its potential for supporting "the bare
satisfaction of curiosity in the waterfall." 3. The Commissioners resumed their
environmental conclusions and determined that the "scenery of 4. The Commissioners recommended the
employment of eminent domain to condemn the private properties for the public
good, such as "when private ferries are supplanted by free public bridges."
This was to reserve such land "to give satisfactory access to the Based on determinations by Gardner and
Olmsted, they recommended that the islands in the river and a bit of land
along the riverbank on the mainland be taken for the public good. It is clear what the Commissioners
accepted were a. the buildings in place were to be
removed. b. the immediate bank of the river
"shall be formed so as to have a natural aspect." c. Its shoreline was to be protected
from erosion by modifications of the slope and "by rough, loosely piled
local rock." d. "Trees and bushes are proposed
to be planted": 1. composed of the same species as were
native to the area and 2. are to be laid out to conform to the
ecosystem structure observable in the unaltered woodlands and riverbanks in
the e. This ecosystem restoration was to be
carried back from the river margin "back to the boundary on the crest of
the terrace." f. The effect was to visually isolate
the lands in question completely from the buildings of the g. Inside of this "narrow
woodland," and "along the rear" of it, about "one hundred
feet distant from the water's edge" was to be a road and a walk. From
the walk would be constructed "inconspicuous shaded seats commanding views
of the rapids" except at The illustration preceding this
discourse appears to clearly express the visual objectives of 5. The Commissioners made it clear that
they accepted Olmsted urged that the land: a. not be used for "general
pleasuring," in today's terms, such as picnicking, playing tennis,
baseball, frisbee, concerts, helicopters, hot-air balloon rides, roller
skating b. not be used for ornamental displays,
such as gardens (the artificial laying out of exotic species in unnatural
arrangements) and monuments. c. whatever was to be built was not to
break the visual integrity of the natural landscape. Mr. Olmsted's reasons were based on the
understanding that greater numbers of people would eventually have the means
to visit the falls. If any one of the preceding three requirements were
neglected, such visitation would overwhelm and destroy the natural
environment. It was to negate the impact of great visitor numbers that
Olmsted made those recommendations. To protect the considerable value of the
native landscape and the landscape restored, the only service the government
would be required to provide would be to allow visitors, in comfort and
safety, to come, look, and go away. This may seem like an unnaturally
proscribed service to tourists, but the visual environment at This explains the other illustration
included in the special report on the preservation of the scenery at The nearby commercial enterprises in the
village were adequate to attend to all other visitor needs, hence Olmsted saw
no need for "houses of refreshment, shops, booths, and places of
amusement and exhibition." Nor did he see any need for "extensive
shelters." Olmsted did, however, entertain the idea
of structures built to improve the ability of visitor-access to views.
Visitors came from around the world to do what they could do nowhere else in
the world: look on the 6. The next paragraph makes reference to
Schoellkopf's hydraulic canal. The Commissioners assure the Legislature that
it is fully operational. The Porters, who operated the mill on The reason why these milling operations
occurred between Port Day and the brink of the American Falls was because
they were taking advantage, not of the 200-foot head accessible at the Canal
Basin, but the rapid 50-foot drop in elevation of the river associated with
the ridges (The Cascades) perpendicular to the river bed forming the western
boundary of the Chippewa-Grass Island Pool. The hydraulic canal of 1877 and
the one built later just upriver of it both diverted water from the pool,
above the cascades, exploiting the hydraulic potential of the drop in
elevation of the canal bed and the gorge rim, not that of the river. In a
sense, the canal and the discharge races at its lower end, were hydraulic
analogues of the natural river and falls. It could not be determined whether the
Porters ever actually did relocate their mill on Schoellkopf's canal, or the
fate of any of the other mill operations then operating on the riverbank. But
then, as will be discussed below, the Porters may have been more interested
in establishing a second, rival, canal east of Schoellkopf's. 7. The Commissioners determined that the
cost of the land recommended by Gardner and Olmsted would not be excessive
since the boundary lines "are so laid down as to leave out, not only the
principal water works, factories and shops for which the Falls have given
occasion" but also the hotels and other public accommodations. Furthermore, the State would, if
following Olmsted's suggestions, not need to anticipate "costly
constructions or elaborate arrangements for the entertainment of the
public." And as for the potential for corruption (by whom and from where
is not mentioned), there would be no licenses or leases "which might be
corruptly dealt with." 8. " The continued operation of private
enterprise on the riverbanks at Future generations were expected to
deplore the failure of the State in protecting this distinguished resource.
"If we blame the men of a former day for not setting apart when it was
the property of the State and might easily have been done, the Falls of
Niagara as the Yo Semite and the Yellowstone have in our day ..., then how
much more culpable shall we be, who knowing their value and perceiving their
certain destruction, still refuse to take the necessary measures for their
preservation." It is significant here to understand
that Roper (1973) appears to settle this
question: "In recommending the proposal,
Mowat advised that the governments of the Dominion of Canada and of the 9. The Commissioners held a conference
with the "members of the ministry of the They met on September 27 in company with
Gardner and Olmsted. "'The general outlines of a scheme which I
presented was fully approved by all,' Olmsted wrote [Charles Elliot] Norton.
Oliver Mowat ... and one of the commissioners, reported on it to Lord Lorne,
successor to Lord Dufferin. Only those arrangements were to be made that were
necessary to restore and preserve the natural character of the scenery; it
was not intended to make a park or artificial enclosures. The reservation
[for State and Province] was to include the islands above the falls and a
strip on either side of the river, wide enough for planting to screen out the
buildings behind it, from the head of the rapids downstream to the railroad
suspension bridge. A modest fee, to defray expenses, would probably be levied
on sightseers" (Roper, 1973, from a copy of a letter Oliver Mowat wrote
to [Lord Lorne], 9 December, Box 31). After the report of the Commissioners
was written, they received news that "the legislature of On the This insistence on the exclusion of the
federal government from protection of The Commissioners reassure the
Legislature that the Canadians would cooperate in the legislation to make an
international park. In fact, an Act passed "by the Legislature of
Ontario in March, 1880, entitled 'An Act respecting Niagara Falls and the
adjacent territory'" (Statute of the Province of Ontario, 43 Vict., cap.
13) stated that Canada would, in cooperation with the State of New York,
"restore the scenery about the Falls to its natural condition and at the
same time afford travelers facilities for observing the points of interest in
the neighbourhood" (Way, 1946). 10. The Commission recommended that the
Legislature "take such action ... to acquire the lands" under
discussion, and to appoint a Commission to deal with the legal matters in so
doing. The Report of Mr. Gardner to the Gardner defined Niagara Falls: the rapids
(cascades), the islands in the river, the falls and the plunge pool. He
emphasized the quality of the remaining woods and the quality of the
experience still to be had, but threatened by the imposition of development:
the mill on Bath Island. Verbally Gardner contrasted the positive
and the negative: Positive: picturesque clusters of
evergreens, rich overhanging foliage, deep woods seclusion, surrounded by the
influences of nature, graceful woods, banks rich in verdure and overhung with
stately trees, pebbly shores, graceful ferns, trailing vines, a mighty
torrent writhing and foaming in fury. Negative: paper mill, started in an
"evil hour," unsightly sheds and buildings, disfigurations by
wing-dams and ice barriers, the mill an abomination, blank stone walls with
sewer-like openings through which tail-races discharge, timber crib work,
advertisements, ranks of buildings in all stages of preservation and decay,
hotels, mills, carpenter shops, stables, bazaars, ice-houses, laundries, bath
houses, rookeries, fences, patent medicine signs, ruin, confusion, solid
ugliness. Later, the State would acquire the
"Tugby Bazaar building, the brick and stone shops, the pulp mill and
machinery, and the Rapids Hotel building," and sell at least six frame
buildings, a planing shop, flouring mill, boat house, bath house, stone
foundry, barn, shed, stone house, wing of a hotel building, ice house, store,
shop buildings, mill flumes, old fences and lumber. These were "three
dwellings, four mills, two hotel buildings, two stores, five stables, two ice
houses, one stone house, one pump house and one bath house, beside a number
of sheds, and many fences" (2 Ann Rep Comm, 1886). One of the mills was
the Witmer mill, and one of the sales, later in 1886, was an "Edison
electric light plant" (3 Ann Rep Comm, 1887). Gardner naively assumed the permanence
of the liquid landscape: "The Falls themselves man cannot touch."
This is because the hydraulic canal was barely operational and had not yet
tested its ability to divert water from the river. Perhaps its owners had not
yet computed to the square foot the amount of water it could rent to those
using water in their mill sites situated on the canal. Gardner confined his
discussion to the destruction of the "beautiful frame of foliage"
at the Falls. Loss of foliage creates "deep
feelings of regret and even of resentment" on intelligent visitors.
"The chasm below the Cataract depends for its impressiveness largely
upon the wooded character of the debris slopes and the maintaining of a fringe
of verdure along the very brink of the precipice." These elements are
"essential to the perfection of the landscape." Note that in the
heliotype print of the Canadian side as seen across the brink of the
Horseshoe Falls how destitute of vegetation is the bank of earth behind the
buildings in the foreground. Today, this embankment is heavily wooded with
trees of considerable age. Note, except for the canopies of scattered trees
down on the embankment, the complete lack of trees on the top of the embankment. The only acreage left with its original
forest was Goat Island - if the State did not purchase it, even this would be
lost. The Porters had to and were in the very process of selling it
"owing to a partition suit now in progress." Gardner gave a list of
developments proposed for the island, no doubt prepared, according to
subsequent literature published by a member of that family (Porter, 1900), by
the family itself. Note at this juncture how helpful the
Porter family was being in assisting the Commissioners, Gardner and Olmsted
in preparing arguments in favor of the State buying their land, first in the
case of their milling operations on Bath Island, as discussed above (section
6), and now in the case of Goat Island itself. It appears as though the Porters
were leaving their water-front properties at the brink of the American Falls
- but perhaps not those upriver of the entrance to Schoellkopf's hydraulic
canal. Gardner again specified the
environmental nature of the State's role: "to restore to all the river
shores something of their original character." Gardner cited several examples of
government setting aside land for public protection: the Yosemite valley,
1865, the "great tract covering the region of the Yellowstone Geysers -
a National Park, the land occupied by the California Big Trees, and, in New
York State, the Islands of Lake George." Gardner chastised the State for selling
any of the five-mile strip of land along the Mile Strip embracing the falls
of the Niagara River. He urged that "the spot [be] restored by planting
to its former beauty," that the mainland strip be planted with trees so
that "the whole village may be shut out from view - 'planted out'"
and the banks restored to their present appearance on Goat Island. The utility of including both the
drawing described above, showing the restored view, and the heliotype prints
showing the developed condition of the riverbank was explained: "To
realize the total change that the carrying out of this plan would make in the
aspects of Niagara, those who are not familiar with the scene may compare the
accompanying photographs of the village shore with the picture of the same
ground as it will appear when restored according
to our plan [my emphasis]. These illustrations were not decorations
but served a definite purpose. Gardner recommended that the State also
purchase the debris slopes on the mainland section "for the purpose of
preserving and restoring the woods that border this part of the river." "We also recommend that the right
be secured to plant and maintain a narrow belt of trees with a walk at least
a mile in length along the edge of the cliff below the suspension bridge.
This planted belt need not be over twenty five or thirty feet broad. Its
trees will clothe the barren nakedness of the cliff edge and partially screen
out mills and unsightly structures from the river views, and at the same time
afford shade to visitors enjoying the profound impressions of this part of
the chasm." The State need not buy the land but only secure a right to
plant and preserve. The property belongs to the Hydraulic Power and Canal
Company and is to be used for Mills. The walls of these mills will be set
back from the cliff, their wheel pits only being sunk at the edge of the
precipice. There will be few of these pits, and they can be easily bridged
for the proposed walk. The President of the Company owning this property
[Jacob Schoellkopf, according to Adams, 1927] has assured us that he will
willingly cede the desired right to the State." Gardner urged that a board of
commissioners be set up to assess the value of lands slated for condemnation
under the right of eminent domain. Prior to the era of the railways, only
the rich enjoyed Niagara. Now everyone could. A total of 100,000 people
visited the falls in 1897. Ownership by the government would make the area
open to all citizens. Again, Gardner urged the illustration
showing the objective of his and Olmsted's design be examined: "Although
truthful in the general impression conveyed, such a view cannot, of course, be
accurate in detail." The Goat Island forest is a living
monument of history, and so facsimiles of Hennepin's description and
illustration are included in the report, "this first recorded visit of a
white man to the Falls." The ancient trees on Goat Island have witnessed
all the history of the past two hundred years, they are "the only living
witnesses" of the passage of history at the falls and must be preserved.
One cannot help but wonder if this interesting historical perspective was
provided by the Porters, who obviously consulted with both Commissioners, as
noted above, and Olmsted and Gardner. Albert Porter had written a short
pamphlet published sometime after 1875 detailing the history of the village
and the Porter fortunes there, and some of Gardner's historic sentiments
reappear in Peter A. Porter's history of Goat Island published for the
Legislature in 1900. Gardner ends with the declaration of the
value of the geologic environment of the Falls for study: "the
conclusions to be attained by accurate geological study of the region open
almost limitless views into far-reaching vistas of the continent's physical
history." The value of the scenery, associated
history and opportunity for scientific study may be preserved by the State
against the values of "money-getters," the "axe of the
mill-man," the "purveyor of public amusements," that is, the
present owners of the riverbank properties. The Report of Mr. Olmsted to the It was Mr. Olmsted's opinion that "most
of the people of Niagara [are those] to whom it appears that the waterfall
have so supreme an interest to the public that what happens to the adjoining
scenery is of trifling consequence." His opinion derives from personal
experience with local opinion. "Were all the trees cut away, quarries
opened in the ledges, the banks packed with hotels and factories, and every
chance-open space occupied by a circus tent, the falls would still, these
think, draw the world to them." This opinion, indicated Olmsted, derived
from profit alone as the sole value. Olmsted cautioned that because visitors
use the arrangements made for them, they must be considered a captive market.
Their use of the facilities should not be taken as their acceptance of their
approval. Over the course of forty-five years of
occasional visiting Niagara Falls, Olmsted recalled a gradual quickening of
pace throughout this time. Visitors originally alighted from their carriages
and made expeditions into the natural areas over the course of several days.
It was because they were hurried along by tourist-related
"services" that the duration of their stays decreased. Olmsted gave an extended quote from
"Alpine Flowers" by William Robinson (1875) who provided a lavish
description of the natural environment about the Falls. Olmsted identified
two of the world's most distinguished students of botanical science, Sir
Joseph Dalton Hooker of Kew Gardens, and Dr. Asa Gray of Harvard, as
expressing their appreciation of the exotic diversity of the vegetation in
the Goat Island complex, and Olmsted, referring to his extensive travels in
the American southwest throughout the rich forests of the Appalachian
mountains, has found no example of forest beauty to match that on Goat
Island. He owed this extraordinary condition of
the flora to its extraordinary situation beside the cataracts of the Niagara
River and discussed various atmospheric reasons for the luxurious beauty of
the Goat Island forest. Olmsted ended his section by a quote
from the Duke of Argyle who became nearly prostrate with delight by standing
in one single vista up the rapids from the falls. Otherwise, he rested his
case on the statements made by the Commissioners and by Mr. Gardner, made,
where appropriate, at his recommendation. The "Memorial addressed to the
Governor of New York and the Governor-General of Canada" This is the result of a petition. Lord
Dufferin is given exclusive attribution for the political suggestion that
there be an international park at the falls of Niagara. The undersigned universally deplored the
de-foliation of Niagara's river banks and the development arising in their
place. There followed a list of the world's
luminaries in society and culture, including the Vice-President of the United
States, the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and perhaps all of the
Associate Justices, the Chief Justice Court of Appeals, Canada, the Judge of
the Queen's Bench, United States Senators, an Admiral, and so forth. Then follow English men of letters such
as Thomas Carlyle, John Ruskin, and famous Americans such as Ralph Waldo
Emerson, Henry W. Longfellow, and so forth. It is an extraordinary list of
contemporaries of the greatest prestige. Western New York's own Josiah
Letch-worth, George W. Clinton and William Dorsheimer appear, and so was the
manufacturer Pascal P. Pratt, who sat on the Board of Parks Commissioners and
was central to the plan to bring Olmsted to Buffalo to distinguish the city
with a series of urban parks under his design (Brown & Watson, 1982). The report concluded with a facsimile of
the pages of Hennepin's book with his description of the falls, and a
reprinting of Governor Robinson's message to the New York State Legislature
of January 9, 1879.
"Ideal view of the American Rapids
after the Village Shore and Bath Island are restored."
BIBLIOGRAPHY Adams,
Edward Dean. 1927. Niagara Power: History of the Niagara Falls Power Company
1886-1918. 2 Vols. Niagara Falls Power Company, Niagara Falls, New York. Goldie, John. 1819. Diary of a Journey Through
Upper Canada and Some of the New England States, 1819. Privately published.
In the copy seen from the Sidney B. Coulter Library, Onondaga Community
College, Syracuse, New York, 13215, penciled in the title page is the
notation "Toronto, Ontario, 1961." Mr. Willman Spawn of
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, has written an introduction and notes to the
latest published edition. Porter, P. A.
1900. Goat Island, in Sixteenth Annual Report of the Commission for the State
Reservation at Niagara for the Year 1899. Albany, pp. 75-129. Robinson, W.
1875. Alpine Flowers. John Murray, London, in Gardner, J. T., Director. 1880.
New York State Survey. Special report on the preservation of the scenery of
Niagara Falls, and fourth annual report on the triangulation of the state for
the year 1879. Albany: Charles Van Benthuysen and Sons, pp. 27-31. Roper, L. W.
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