The Republican journal. [volume] (Belfast, Me.) 1829-current, 1885-07-02
Our George at the BIG Mill Privilege.

would awaken the enthusiasm that it did. On
stepping from the car, l received such an ova-
ton as Is seldom accorded even to me. From
hurried count, q didn't have time to be very
particularly, seven hundred and eighty-six, or
seven, descendants of the late Capt. Kidd, each
armed with whip and wearing badge on his
nat, cordially, urgently, yea, franticaly, coax
ed, urged and insisted on my accepting the hos
pitality of his hack herdic, barouche. clarence,
ambulance, hearse, etc., etc., village or dog
cart. And the modest, unassuming, gentle
manly conduct of those hackmen, will remain
with me, and hang over me like the shadow of
great crime, or the seven years itch Their
flow of language was even greater than that of
the great river on whose banks we were, only
the stream was not as pure. Placing cork in
each ear, to prevent the drums from being
burst, and holding on to my grip sack with Il
grasp that only death could unloose, made a
bee line for a hotel across the street, iostled,
hustled, pulled and pushed through that crowd
of hackmen, and reaching the office door, fell
on the floor in a dead faint, completely ex-
hausted. All. little do your readers who sit in
their comfortable New England homes know
of the perils that beset the visitor who comes to
| Niagara. There is something here more Won
derful than the famous cataract, and that Is the
organized band of pirates who infest this town.
in the shape of hackmen, and whose cheek is
more colossal than the Bartholdi statue
| The visitor who comes here, comes TO see the
| Falls. and unless he sees them, his visit is a
failure; and if he does see them and takes In all
the side shows, he is liable to meet with tinan-
ciai failure. | should Judge that Mr. Wander
bilt might come here and stay thirty days or so.
/ by which time his pile would be reduced 50.
that his income would not be more than five
| hundred dollars year. 1t may be quite I'M
necessary for me TO state that my visit was very
/ brief, but stayed long enough to see All |
wanted 70, or rather to see all the points cared
! to visit for one cannot see all lie wants to of
the falls. unless lie can see them every day.
/ Seeing the falls is not like seeing ''hand Il
brief look will oftimes suffice In the latter case.
but that look Is sometimes quite as expensive
as Niagara But they have got prices quite ee-
| waited here. Talk of the Charge of the Light
| Brigade, I'll back Niagara with my money
/ but the end is soon to come. On July 18th all
on the American side will be thrown open to
the public, free. The State of New York has
! purchased Prospect Park, Goat island and all
The islands on the American side and will tear
down all the stores, mills and buildings that are
now standing on the land, and throw the whole
| open as Park, for the benefit of the public.
There ought to be general Thanksgiving all
through the land, over the event. I'd be willing
TO attend church half day myself, for IL the
thing is now managed, it is a disgrace to the
country. There is no established rate of
! hacking, or if there is, the law is dead letter
The visitor is told nothing of the fees and tolls
when he starts out, and As they are gradually
drawn out of him, by the time he has dropped
| ten or Il dozen dollars, in about as many min
utes, he begins to surmise that there is some
thing rotten in Denmark, as it We're. | met Il
victim who was full of wrath and things and
he thought he would feel better, suppose if
be talked it over with some one, sort of baied
himself out, and he said, Have YOU taken this
thing all in, friend? aud did they stick il to YOU
too? Why, bless my soul wouldn't have be-
lteVed it, If | hadn't come right here and
bought my knowledge and paid for it too, by
thunder. just think Of it, friend. Why. rs
near AS can find out, a man can't come here
on the American side, and even get glimpse
of the Falls, without paying for it, unless be
owns balloon. 1t isn't is bad on tile Cana
dian side OF course if you 90 under the falls.
or take in any of the whrlpool, or rapids or
that sort of thing, or let them drop YOU
down an elevator, why you expect to pay, but
you "'n walk along the bank OF the river and
<eD the falls all you want to, without some
body sailing up to you and saying fifty cents,
| and that you can't do on our SIDE and from
all could learn he was right. All the available
places on the river. from where you can see
the falls, are guarded, that fee i, cxacted
before YOU can get there.
There is but one Niagara in the world; there
are other falls that are greater in height, but
for the volume of water Niagara stands at THE
head, and to use classic expression takes the
cake" 1t has all the water OF Lake Erie with
its feeders, 10 back it up, in lis passage to Lake
Ontario, and there is no evidence of amy inten-
ton TO scrimp or economic on water, on
account of dull times. The river pours over
the falls. a. if it had all the water in the world
at lis back, and that there was also every indi-
cation of wet season, think the majority
of visitors are disappointed at the first view of
the falls. They expect too much, and don't
seem to know what they do expect either ii
the falls were narrower and higher, and a
much less amount of water was used, it would
have satisfied the public Just as well That is,
less expensive and more economical fall
would have filled the Bill, and given better
satisfaction. But the longer the visitor gnzes
at IT, and the more he takes il in, the NOR; BIZ
begins to get it into him, what stupendou,
work Of nature it is, and he feels biz head
swell, and he uneonsciously takes of bis hat
out Of respect TO its greatness-the falls mean
| not the hat.
There are three fails, two on tie American
side, and one on the Canadian. Above tho
falls on our side, and extending to the edge OF
the fall, is Goat Island which divides the river
and gives Us the American Fail, which Is 16l
feet high, and a smaller fall about the same
height, "aed believe the Middle fall This
latter is sort of baby fall, and for Il Ger
tain amount of currency, one can 90 dowr
an elevator, pass under the fall and Their
back in front of it, to the elevator. From
Goat Island to the Canadian side is the BIZ fall
which is called the Horse Shoe FAN. from The
fact that it resembles a horse shoe about a,
much as it does Penn's treaty with the Indians
There is an inward curve to the fall, while tho
American is as straight as a storks leo, but nor
enough SO that blind man would see any re-
sembiance in it, to Il horse shoe. Thi, fall Is
about 2500 feet wide, while the American +,
some 100. The color of the water on the two
falls is quite different, on account of the thick.
ness of the water at the place where it takes it,
leap over the edge of the precipice The Horse
Shoe Is much greener, as there is Il much great
er volume of water passing over it. Our first
view of the falls was from the bank at Prospect
Park ('FfIy cents all around pletsp.") A.
the water passes over the brink OF the fall il
does not look like water at all, but more resenl.
bes partly frozen water. As YOU stand close
to it, it is bard to believe that it is not ice that
is just dissovng. Following it down in its de-
scent, it is lost in cloud of spray, pure and
white, that can only liken to white smoke
that one sometimes sees coming out of a burn.
ing building. ones idea of SPRAY usually l..
that it comes and goes, but here it Is. and al
nN he n1i I