Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1874-09-03
All NIAGARA FALLS.

My las letter brCugh us to the town
of NiagaI Falls-a town whose 5,0O(
inhabitar derive their support main
ly from travellers who visit the
great cat; ct. We stepped from the
train into n omnibus, and were car.
ried few hundred yards to the Inter-
national 'tel, where we were receiv-
ed with a rand burst of music from a
full brass md. 1t was hard to COM
prehend at this was all for us, and
when the nth flashed upon US we felt
proud an happy that our fame had
preceded 5. Amid the compiacent
self-impOr nee that our grand recep-
tion inspi d, we confess to feeling that
it was be 0nd what the occasion re-
quired. my companion remarked,
sit was to pig band for the size of
the crowd. After shaking from our
feet and clothes the dust of the n. Y.
Central r. r., we walked down to the
gate of the hotel enclosure whereon is
painted, "Walk to Goat Island" and
there contracted with Thomas Shannes-
sy TO drive us to the various points of
interest. We soon found to our sorrow
that the fee we paid Thomas was but a
small part of the expense attending our
explorations. Almost every attractive
poiut is owned and turned to account
by some one who charges fee for
looking at, or from it. We crossed to
the Canada shore by the suspension
bridge, from which we had the first
view of the Falls. The first feeling was
one Of disappointment, and / felt .hy-
self saying mentally, mot such big
show after ALL" You do not compre-
hend at once their vastneSs and gran
deur. We were astOnished when our
driver, who proved to be very intelli-
gent guide, told us the bridge we were
on is 1916 feet above the water. 1t did
not seem higher than the suspension
bridge at Wheeling, or the railroad
bridge at Bellaire. am told that this
sensation of disappointment on first
witnessing this great wonder is not an
unusual one. With us it was soon dis
PEELED, and we comprehended that
hight mysterious, depth unfathomabfe,
and all the wonderful forces of nature
were here mingled to form one of her
sublimest works.
Our guide drove US TO the Canada
side and up the shore, where 1 think
one gets the best view of the Falls.
The sun was low in the west, and the
two rainbows which had been smiling
at each other across the intervening
space of Goat Island, as we watched,
were welded into one blissful arch, eX-
tending from the Canada to the Amer
ican fall. After contemplating the mag
nificent spectacle for short time, We
drove on to where was once Table
Rock. 1t is gone now, and looking
over the precipitous bank which still
projects slightly you see its huge fallen
fragments washed by the angry waves.
From The top of Prospect House, which
is just at the edge of the cataract, you
get fine view of the Horse Shoe Fall,
Goat Island, the Three Sisters, and the
rapids above the Falls. " here Table
Rock once projected there is winding
stairway, where you descend by 126
steps to point about fifty feet above
the bed of the river, and can walk
round underneath the Canada fall a
short distance. A guide takes you in
charge, clothes you in an oil-Skin suit
and cap, making you look like Ku-
Klux, and leads you down, and around
under the Falls as far as you have the
nerve to follow him. You get much
better idea of the height of the Falls by
being below. After drinking the wa
tiers of the white sulpher spring, at The
foot of the stairway, which are as sui
phurous as ifthey came direct from the
moss-covered bucket of old Pluto, we
came up,counting the steps as we came,
and after leaving our oil-skin suits,
drove back to the American side. On
our way back our guide pointed out his
ideal hero, Il am sorry have forgot
ten his name), who has rope stretch
ed across the river just below the
bridge, and performs the difficult and
perilous feat of walking acress from
shore to shore, turning somersaults
backwards and forwards, and some
times jumping from the rope to the wa
ter. Three years ago, the story goes,
our guides hero was, like himself, an
unpretending cab-driver, who, with
other cab-drivers, witnessed almost
daily the timid ventures of a pretended
who had rope stretched |
across the river. One day, to the as
tonishnent of himself, and the world,
he seized the bar and daringly wake
across, delighting the people there as
sembled, and so filling the timid rope
walker with chagrin, that he took
down his cable and departed in disgust.
Our nameless hero at once tied anoth-
er cable from shore to shore, and ever
since has delighted to repeat his per-
formance with varied additions, and
sell his photographs to admiring tour
lists.
Across ON the American side we drove
lown the river about 2! miles to the
Rapids. We are let down
1y an elevator moved by water
wheel. AT this point the stream is
about $50 feet wide, and the immense
volume of water seethes and bubbles
and roars, and you wonder how the
Maid of the Mist" made her famous
descent through them without being
lashed to pieces. A half mile further
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