BOTANICAL EVALUATION OF THE GOAT ISLAND COMPLEX, NIAGARA FALLS, NEW YORK
P. M. Eckel
Buffalo Museum of Science
1020 Humboldt Pkwy
Buffalo, NY 14211 U.S.A.
www.buffalomuseumofscience.org

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H. STONE BRIDGE TO THE FIRST SISTER
In the final decade of the nineteenth century, several "rustic stone-arched bridge" constructions, all now gone, were built on the mainland part of the Reservation, such as at Willow Island, including the rustic bridge, the "Bowlder Bridge," on the west side (12th Report), and the Weir Bridge (13th Report), with accompanying photographs (12, 1896 and 13 Ann Rep Comm, 1897). A "rustic stone-arched bridge and forest coping" was built on the mainland made of "water-worn stones ... collected in the fields in the outskirts of the city," and another stone arched bridge was built at the outlet of a pond at Port Day in 1896 (13 Ann Rep Comm, 1897). A photograph of a rustic bridge at Port Day, and one of the French Landing Bridge was printed (14 Ann Rep Comm, 1898).

The stone for certain of these bridges derived from various places, some from stone excavated for the nearby hydraulic canals, from stone fences removed, and some from the Goat Island sediments themselves: "many of the boulders brought here in the ice age ... have been collected ... and used in the construction of the handsome stone bridges that have been built on the Reservation, on the main shore opposite Goat Island" (Porter, 1900).

The bridge to the First Sister was designed by Calvert Vaux. Made of river-bed dolomite or limestone, it duplicates the substratum of the Three Sisters, and other old shorelines and riverbed substrates all along the Niagara River from Niagara Falls to Lewiston.

In 1898, when construction of the bridge to the First Sister was begun following plans drawn by Calvert Vaux, the structure was to appear "rustic," and it "has a dark gray coloring which harmonized with the surroundings .... Although at present rather massive in appearance, when partially overgrown with vines it will be an exceedingly picturesque and graceful object" (15 Ann Rep Comm, 1899). The bridge was made of stones "removed from the retaining wall at 4th Street in the city of Niagara Falls" (Scott & Scott, 1983) - of dolomite or limestone to duplicate the native rock exposures in the bed of the Niagara River and its gorge.

An intention was expressed in 1901 to replace the other two bridges to the Second and Third Sister Islands with similar stone arch bridges (17 Ann Rep Comm, 1901).

Perhaps indicative of times to come, when the masonry dam under the first bridge to Willow Island was destroyed by high water, a reinforced concrete dam replaced it (27 Ann Rep Comm, 1911).

The uneven surfaces of native-stone bridges promotes the establishment of mosses, lichens and other vegetation - a fact approved of by those with the intention to restore and protect the Reservation's natural richness. The bridge to the First Sister Island, for example, presently supports the following plants:

Caloplaca flavovirescens. Bridge to First Sister, Harris 22876 (NY).

In the textured surface of the "water-worn" rock the of the following mosses have become established:

Grimmia alpicola var. alpicola. In depression, with lichens, Eckel, Sept. 29, 1988 (BUF).

Replanting trees and shrubs at the boundaries of the bridge to promote moist shade would encourage the establishment of lichen and moss species. Establishing spectacular native vines such as Climbing Bittersweet (Celastrus scandens - male and female plants are needed) is also possible.