All The Waters Of These Huge Northern
Inland Seas Run Over That Breach In The Rocky Bottom Of The Stream;
And thence it comes that the flow is unceasing in its grandeur, and
that no eye can perceive a difference
In the weight, or sound, or
violence of the fall whether it be visited in the drought of
autumn, amid the storms of winter, or after the melting of the
upper worlds of ice in the days of the early summer. How many
cataracts does the habitual tourist visit at which the waters fail
him! But at Niagara the waters never fail. There it thunders over
its ledge in a volume that never ceases and is never diminished - as
it has done from times previous to the life of man, and as it will
do till tens of thousands of years shall see the rocky bed of the
river worn away back to the upper lake.
This stream divides Canada from the States - the western or
farthermost bank belonging to the British Crown, and the eastern or
nearer bank being in the State of New York. In visiting Niagara,
it always becomes a question on which side the visitor shall take
up his quarters. On the Canada side there is no town; but there is
a large hotel beautifully placed immediately opposite to the falls
and this is generally thought to be the best locality for tourists.
In the State of New York is the town called Niagara Falls; and here
there are two large hotels, which, as to their immediate site, are
not so well placed as that in Canada. I first visited Niagara some
three years since. I stayed then at the Clifton House, on the
Canada side, and have since sworn by that position. But the
Clifton House was closed for the season when I was last there, and
on that account we went to the Cataract House, in the town on the
other side. I now think that I should set up my staff on the
American side, if I went again. My advice on the subject to any
party starting for Niagara would depend upon their habits or on
their nationality. I would send Americans to the Canadian side,
because they dislike walking; but English people I would locate on
the American side, seeing that they are generally accustomed to the
frequent use of their own legs. The two sides are not very easily
approached one from the other. Immediately below the falls there
is a ferry, which may be traversed at the expense of a shilling;
but the labor of getting up and down from the ferry is
considerable, and the passage becomes wearisome. There is also a
bridge; but it is two miles down the river, making a walk or drive
of four miles necessary, and the toll for passing is four
shillings, or a dollar, in a carriage, and one shilling on foot.
As the greater variety of prospect can be had on the American side,
as the island between the two falls is approachable from the
American side and not from the Canadian, and as it is in this
island that visitors will best love to linger, and learn to measure
in their minds the vast triumph of waters before them, I recommend
such of my readers as can trust a little - it need be but a little -
to their own legs to select their hotel at Niagara Falls town.
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