The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1934-08-31

Niagara river to Canada, the Union Jack low.
cred from the flagstaff and Old Glory given to
the breeze.in its place.
An American garrison was maintained there
and the interval between the Revolution and the
War of 1912 was one of pleasant social inter-
course between the officers and their families
at the American Fort Niagara and the British
Fort George (now Queenstown, Ont.). In De-
cember, 1913, the British captured Fort Niagara
and held it until the close of the war; but by
the Treaty of Client it was restored to the
United States and since that time it has been
under the American flag Although a garrison
was maintained there for awhile after that the
signing of the Rush-Bagot treaty in 1918 marked
the end of the military career of Fort Niagara.
In the years that followed, the historic old
fort fell into a gradual decline. The waters Of
Lake Ontario, washing against the sea wall, be-
gan to undermine it and much of the wall fell
into Sshe lake. Then "The Castle began to settle
and it became apparent that it, too. would soon
disappear. Then the Old Fort Niagara associa-
ton, composed of representatives of various pa
triotic and civic organizations of the Niagara
Frontier country, came into being 1t secured
appropriations from congress for restoration of
the old fort and that restoration, under the di-
rection of the War department, has gone for
ward steadily since that time
Today from the moated "Porte des Cling Ma
tonS" Straddng the entrance, to the British
block-house which is its northeastern corner, the
old fort stands precisely as it was at the stage
of it's most advanced physical development.
Twenty FOUNDERS frown again from its barbettes
and waited redoubts; imperishably reconstructed
the famous Lombardy poplars on the parade
ground is the 1S-foot cross Father Pierre Milet
raised in 1888; the hot-shot oven from which
heroic Fanny Doyle snatched her incandescent
cannonballs is once more in operating condition.
the primitive lifting mechanism of its draw
bridge has been recommissioned; the 30-man
beds in the ancient French barracks are ready
for exhausted soldiery; the armed French castle,
fort within fort, has been restored in detail,
from its subterranean dungeons, grotesque with
the Clipped names of military and political pri-
soners, to its interior well, stocked trade
and covered gun-deck on the roof
And on the rampant which tops the sea wall
on the Lake Ontario side, there will be unveiled
during the celebration in September the impos-
ing sandstone monument to the Rush-Bagot
treaty. Two months ago this site was the scene.
of dramatic ceremony In the crypt of this
! memorial were placed the bones of number of
.Unknown Warriors which had been unearthed
during the reconstruction work Whether they
were the remains of French British American
soldiers or Indian warriors no one could tell.
But they found a common grave there and over
them were held burial rites by Tuscarora In
dian chief, Catholic priest and an Episcopal
clergyman. Enemies they were once, perhaps, dur
ing century of warfare which centered around
Old Fort Niagara but now their dust mingles
in sepulchre beneath monument dedicated
to a century of friendly neghborliness and to
future centuries of peace.
Q by western Newspaper Union.