Lancaster daily intelligencer. [volume] (Lancaster, Pa.) 1864-1928, 1886-04-06
&l)e Lancaster 1ntelligct.fer.
GANOAsTER,. APRIL G. 1856.
Hew Niagara Falls Were Saved.

It has, perhaps, not secured the atten.
tion it deserves that the state of New
York, with the imperial bounty of great
commonwealth, has saved the scenery OF
Niagara Falls from Disagreement and
rpoliation for the citizens of that state, of
he nation and of the world. At what
would be considered in any state except
one Of magnificent resources, revenues and
expenditures an enormous cost, there has
been accomplished work not only of
economic importance to the visiting thou
sands, but of great significance, as
one of its patrons puts it, because
Il b " the FIRST effort made in the country
on % large scale to use the machinery of
the government for an object Of this kind,
that is for purpose belonging so entirely
TO the realm of elevated sentiment and
nOble spiritual emotion"
It seems that +. E. Church, the artist,
WAS the first person to call attention to the
impending ruin of the characteristic seem
cry of the falls. In the earlier days
Of the civilized settlement of that
region there was luxuriance and
beauty of vegetation on the Niagara river
banks that is usually only to be seen in
tropical climates. Asearly as 1906 a small
part of this majestic water power had been
chained TO mill wheel; but it was within
the experience of the present generation
that one abuse after another and the re-
peated desecration of the ruthless money
maker threatened the extinction of nearly
all the surrounding beauties of the falls,
ON both sides of the international boundary
line. The recent visitor saw little or moth
ing Of the splendid vegetation that made
English botanists like Hooker and Ameri-
cans like Asa Gray bear testimony to the
existence of greater variety of vegetation
ON Goat Island, than can be found within
given space anywhere in Europe or east
of the Sierras in America. Another close
and intelligent observer said:
al have followed the Appalachian chain al
most from end to end, and travelled on
horseback Sin search of the picturesque,
over four thousand miles of the most prom.
1etng parts OF the continent without finding
elsewhere the same quality Of forest beauty
which was once abundant about the falls,
and which is still to be observed in those
parts of Goat island where the original
growth of trees and shrubs has not been dis
turbed, and where trees are now OK posed, by
caving banks, to excessive dryness at the
root.
"Nor have l found anywhere else such
tender effects OF foliage were once to be
seen In the drapery hanging down the walls
OF rock on the American shore below the
fAllA and rolling DOWN the slope below it
or with that still to be seen in favorable sea.
son and under favorable lights, on the Cana.
dian sleeps and crags between the falls and
the ferry.
aAn ihese distinctive qualities-the grea
variety OF the indigenous perennials and
ANIMALS, the rare beauty OF the old woods
and the exceeding loveliness Of the rock foil
age-I believe to be direct effect OF the tails
and ~ much part OF their majesty as the
mtgt-clOud and the rainbow.
ssThey sre all, as 1t appears to me, to be ex-
planned BY the circumstance that at two
9 periods Of the year when the North Ameri
can forest elsewhere is liable to suffer actual
constitutional depressions that Of Niagara is
insured against like ills, and retains youth
fnl Iuxuriance to an unusual age.
s.FirDt tho masses OF ice, which, every
winter, are piled to great height below the
& 1alls, and the great rushing body of ice-cold
water coming from the northern lakes in the
spring, prevent at Niagara the hardship
under which trees elsewhere often suffer
through sudden checks TO premature growth
and, second, when droughts elsewhere occur,
- they DO every few years, of such severity
that trees In full foliage dToop and dwindle,
and even sometimes cast their leaves the
atmosphere at Niagara is more or less
moistened by the constantly evaporating
epfay Of the falls, and in certain situations
frequently bathed by drifting clouds of mist
something OF the beauty of the hanging
Ionage below the falls is also probably due
70 the tact that the effect of the frozen spray
upon 10 ts equivalent to the horticultural pro.
ceee Of shortening in,' compelling a denser
eno closer growth than Is, under other cir.
cumstances, natural"
When all this was in danger of destruc.
tion by the vandal, and the beauties and
wonders Of the falls were shut off by the
toll bar and visitors had become the vic.
TINS OF remorseless rapacity, it is to the
nlgh credit OF the state of New York tina,
her public-spirited citizens set on foot
2 movement for the preservation OF
Their most majestic wonder. As thu
story is told by Mr.. J. b. Harrison
N the Nep Princeton Rerie,c, Gov
Hobinson and Lord Dufferin coun
eeiied together for the recommendation O
: commission; newspaper writers were EN-
paoyeo Or enlisted voluntarily to set fortl
- s@sS Aailo do pOpuldI dTJ tuu
cstof' and the impending destruction Of
tne'r beauties; society was organized
1eep aiive the movement CONSPICUOUS
public men like Roscoe Conkling, John G
Whittier, Oliver Wendell Holmes wi,
Nam d. Howells, Presidents Andrew n
White and Charles w. Eliot, Mark Hon
kins and Noah Porter, and many other o
~ most prominent citizens of all portion
q the country, wrote and spok
I tn the movement; Governor Cley,
lond took deep interest in it; Ell
Ghtened newspapers favored it an
na1ly TIE legislature rose superior [
1xxoW c0nsiderstion Of false economy an
Ioonl )falousiss, paid million and ha
ol|nsp damages TO private owners and IL
~ Was accomplished. 1t is q vel
1oEfnl ons and in all its aspects-n
~ 1noe important Of which 10 the inte
N Nos--;s monumental In the da
Ranps,eEation that saw it, accomplish