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diff --git a/31955.txt b/31955.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..06f0b9a --- /dev/null +++ b/31955.txt @@ -0,0 +1,1665 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Niagara, by Peter A. (Peter Augustus) Porter + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: Niagara + An Aboriginal Center of Trade + + +Author: Peter A. (Peter Augustus) Porter + + + +Release Date: April 12, 2010 [eBook #31955] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NIAGARA*** + + +E-text prepared by the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading +Team (http://www.pgdp.net) from page images generously made available by +Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries +(http://www.archive.org/details/toronto) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 31955-h.htm or 31955-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31955/31955-h/31955-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/31955/31955-h.zip) + + + Images of the original pages are available through + Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries. See + http://www.archive.org/details/niagaraaborigina00portuoft + + + + + +NIAGARA + +An Aboriginal Center of Trade + +by + +PETER A. PORTER + + + + + + + +Niagara Falls +1906 + +Copyright, +Peter A. Porter, +1906. + + + + +NIAGARA, AN ABORIGINAL CENTER OF TRADE + + +The printed story of Niagara dates back only three centuries; and +during the first three decades of even that period the references to +this wonderful handiwork of Nature--which was located in a then +unexplored region of a New World, a Continent then inhabited only by +warring tribes of superstitious Savages--are few and far between. + +Three facts relating to this locality--and three only--seem to be +proven as ante-dating the commencement of that printed story. + +That its "Portage" had long been in use. + +That it was then, and long had been, a spot for the annual assemblage +of the Indians "for trade." + +That here, and here only, was found a certain substance which the +Aborigines had long regarded as a cure for many human ills. + +Before 1600, everything else that we think we know, and like to quote +about Niagara, is only Indian Myth or Tradition; possibly handed down +for Ages, orally, from generation to generation, amongst the +Aborigines; or, quite as probable, it is the invention of some Indian +or White man Mythologist of recent times; the presumption in favor of +the latter being strengthened, when no mention of the legend, not even +the slightest reference thereto, is to be found in any of the writings +of any of the authors, who (either through personal visits to the +Tribes living comparatively near to the Cataract, or from narrations +told to them by Indians living elsewhere on this Continent) had learnt +their facts at first hand, and had then duly recorded them,--until long +after the beginning of the eighteenth Century. + +It is probably to the latter class--modern traditions--even with all +their plausibilities, based upon the superstitious and stoical nature +of the Aborigines--that several of the best-known Legends concerning +Niagara belong. + +Three of those legends, especially, appeal to the imagination. One +relates to Worship, one to Healing, one to Burial,--embracing the +Deity, Disease, and Death. + +The Legend of Worship is the inhuman yet fascinating one that the +Onguiaahras (one of the earliest-known orthographies of the word +Niagara), who were a branch of the Neutrals, and dwelt in the immediate +vicinity of the Great Fall--and, according to Indian custom, took their +name from the chief physical feature of their territory--long followed +the custom of annually sacrificing to the Great Spirit "the fairest +maiden of the Tribe"; sending her, alive, over the Falls in a white +canoe (which was decked with fruits and flowers, and steered by her own +hand) as a special offering to the Deity for tribal favor, and for +protection against its more numerous and more powerful foes. + +And that, at the time of this annual Sacrifice, the tribes from far +and near assembled at Niagara, there to worship the Great Spirit. If +this Legend is based on fact, it would certainly have made the +locality a famous place of annual rendezvous; and at such a +rendezvous the opportunities for the exchange of many and varied +commodities--"trade"--would surely not have been neglected. + +The Legend of Healing is, that anyone, Brave or Squaw, if ill, would +quickly be restored to perfect health could they but reach the base of +the Falls, go in behind the sheet of falling waters,--entering, as it +were, the abode of the Great Spirit,--and, on emerging therefrom, be +able to behold a complete circular Rainbow--which should symbolize the +Deity's absolute promise of restoration to perfect health. + + [Illustration: THE MAIDEN SACRIFICE.] + +Of course, it was the difficulty and danger of descending +into the Gorge, and of scaling the face of the cliff in +returning--accomplishable in those days only by means of vines which +clung to the rocks, or by crude ladders (formed of long trunks of +trees, from which all branches had been lopped off about a foot from +the trunk, and set upright, close to the face of the cliff)--that lends +any plausibility to the legend. + +The Legend of Burial was, that Goat Island was specially reserved as a +burying-ground for famous chiefs and noted warriors. + +If this Legend was founded on fact, it certainly would have made +Niagara at that time one of the best known and most frequented spots on +the Continent; and at each visit for such burial, trade would doubtless +have been carried on. + + + + +CIRCULAR RAINBOWS + + +It is possible to-day, as it most certainly was in those traditional +days, to behold a complete circular Rainbow at Niagara; generally, only +when one is out in front of the falling waters, close to the spray, +near the level of the river in the Gorge; always with the Sun at one's +back--and the Sun must shine brightly, and the Mist must be plentiful. + +It is possible to see a complete circular Rainbow anywhere, on land or +water, whenever one stands between the Sun and a sufficiently abundant +mist (standing close to the latter), and the Sun is near the horizon. + +It is possible to see it, at some point at Niagara, often,--that is on +every bright day,--because that abundant curtain of mist is ever +present; and the Gorge, by reason of its great width and depth, affords +specially favorable opportunities. + +This curious phenomenon is obtainable easily and regularly only in the +Gorge at the Goat Island end of the American Fall, from the rocks in +front of the Cave of the Winds (for the prevailing winds of the +locality are from the southwest, which bring the spray cloud into the +best relative position at this point), or from the deck of the +steamboat, at certain parts of the trip,--and from both only in the +afternoon. + +It can sometimes be seen from Prospect Point, and from the Terrapin +Rocks--in the early morning, when the spray-cloud rises towards the +north. + +It can also, sometimes (at the season when the Sun sets farthest to the +northward), be seen from the rocks out in front of the American Fall, +below Prospect Point. + +This was the spot where the Aborigines would most easily have tested +the efficacy of the Legend; for their descent into the Gorge was made +at a point on the American shore, not so very far north from the end of +that Fall. + +When white men first settled near the Cataract, in the first decade of +the 19th Century, the location of the "Indian Ladder" was amongst the +present overflows from the mills of the Lower Milling district. That, +by reason of the "debris slope" of the Gorge being highest at that +point, had doubtless been its location for ages. + +The fact that, even at the most accessible (and that by no means easily +reached) end of the Fall in the Gorge, the entire conditions of the +Legend could so rarely be fully complied with, would have been to the +unscientific minds of the Savages only an additional incentive to a +firmer belief in it. + +It is also observable from the rocks beyond and below Terrapin Point, +on the Goat Island side of the Horse-Shoe Fall; but the climb out to +that point is both arduous and dangerous, and is very rarely attempted. + +No such phenomenon can be seen from the Canadian shore, because there +are no rocks out in front of that end of the Horse-Shoe Fall on which +one can stand. + +Were one to stand upon the apex of the Rock of Ages, or on the apex of +any other high rock at the base of the Fall, at noon, when the sky was +clear above, and the currents of air happened to surround the base of +that rock on all sides with spray, as one turned completely around one +would be in the center of a complete circular Rainbow--which would be +below the level of the feet--and of which one would see but the half at +any portion of the turn. + +At Niagara, when one gazes on a complete circular bow, as seen against +the perpendicular curtain of spray, the center of the circle will +always be lower than the point where one is standing. This is +necessarily so, from the very nature of things,--because the Sun, one's +head, and the center of that circle must be in a line. + +When the point of observation is high enough, and the spray-cloud +spreads out extensively enough, it is possible to see two concentric, +complete Rainbows at one time. In fact, one does often see a portion of +the arc of such a second bow; but three complete concentric bows, or +three arcs of bows, are never seen at Niagara, nor anywhere else. + +George William Curtis, in "Lotus Eating," records,-- + + "There [at the Cave of the Winds], at sunset, and there only, you + may see three circular rainbows, one within another,"-- + +He does not say, "complete circles"; he doubtless meant "arcs." He does +not say he saw them; so in the absence of a more definite statement, it +was certainly merely hearsay to which he referred. + +John R. Barlow, who has been a guide at the Cave of the Winds for over +thirty years, says that on numerous occasions during that period he has +seen two complete circular Rainbows at one time, at that point. He +observed it twice, and only twice, in 1905. + +In 1872, Professor Tyndall, with Barlow as his guide, made an +exhaustive study of the Goat Island ends of the American and Horse-Shoe +Falls. As he was gazing at a complete Rainbow circle, Barlow told him +that he had sometimes seen two complete concentric bows at one time. +"That is possible," replied Tyndall. + +"And I have heard people say they have seen three such bows; though I +myself have never seen the third," said Barlow. + +"Because it is an impossibility," answered Tyndall. "The second bow is +merely the reflexion of the first. A third bow would be a shadow of a +shadow; and no one can see that." + +Had this Legend of Healing been found recorded in any of the early +chronicles, it would have been the earliest known reference to Niagara +in its relation to Medicine; and would have associated the Cataract +therewith long, long before the advent of the white man. + +But, alas! it is not so found; and no trace of it can be met with, +until a very recent date. It has so much the appearance of a +made-to-order story, such a specially-prepared-to-fit-the-locality +aspect, it savors so strongly of an attempt to make the early Indian +Mythology conform to the Christian story of the "Bow of Promise," that +its Aboriginal authenticity may well be doubted. + + + + +FIRST WHITE VISITOR + + +We do not know, and we never shall know, the name of the first white +man who gazed upon the Cataract of Niagara; that marvelous spot, the +scenic wonder of the World, that glory of Nature, which has been +referred to as "The Emblem of God's Majesty on Earth,"--where, in the +words of Father Hennepin, in 1697,-- + + "Betwixt the lakes Erie and Ontario, is a great and prodigious + cadence of water, which falls down after a surprising and + astonishing manner; insomuch that the Universe itself does not + afford its parallel." + +Which description, even to-day, two Centuries later, stands out as the +most impressive, as well as the quaintest, brief mention of Niagara +that was ever penned. And Father Hennepin also gave to the World, in +the same volume, the first known picture of Niagara. + +It was unquestionably a Frenchman who first, through pale-face eyes, +saw the great Cataract; and it was later than 1608, the year when the +ancient City of Quebec was founded, and white men first settled in the +northern part of this Continent. + +Possibly, though improbably, he may have been one of those holy men, +Priests of the Catholic Church, who devoted their learning, their +strength, and their years to the cause of their Maker; who daily risked +their lives, as alone they braved the hardships and the sufferings of +long journeys through pathless forests, and who encountered the fury of +unknown savages, as they carried the Gospel to Tribes who dwelt along +the shores of mighty waters, in a vast and an unexplored wilderness; +and tried, though in vain, to lead those strange peoples to the Ways of +God. + + [Illustration: FIRST PICTURE OF NIAGARA, BY FATHER + HENNEPIN--1697.] + +It is more likely to have been one of those fearless and hardy men, one +of the earliest members of what later became a distinct class--the +Coureurs de Bois, or Woodsmen--a class founded by Champlain; on a +correct principle for commercial intercourse and the extension of +sovereignty, under conditions as they then and there existed (but +probably without any full appreciation of the important and prominent +part it was destined, later, to play in the development of New France); +when, in 1610, he gave a young Frenchman, Etienne Brule, to the +Algonquin chief Iroquet; who, in appreciation of Champlain's +confidence, gave him a young savage named Savignon, as a pledge of +future friendship. + +Brule was the first Frenchman known to have joined the savages, to +become one of them, and adopt their manner of life. He spent years +amongst them, was a woodsman or trader, learnt their languages, was +Champlain's personal interpreter among the various tribes, and was +often sent as Ambassador from the French at Quebec to savage Nations. + +Beloved and trusted by the Indians for years, traveling all over the +Northwest, claiming to have discovered Lake Superior, and a copper mine +on its shores (in proof of which he brought back samples of that metal +to Quebec), he was finally tortured, put to death, and eaten by the +Savages. + +By reason of his acquaintance with many tribes, of his occupation, and +of his travels, there is no one who is more likely to be entitled to +the distinction of having been the first of the white man's race to +behold Niagara than this same Etienne Brule. + +From his intimacy with Champlain, he must have known--what Champlain +knew and had recorded--of the existence of such a waterfall; indeed, it +is by no means improbable that many of the details of Champlain's maps +(especially those relating to regions which Champlain never saw, but +which Brule did visit) were drawn from the latter's descriptions. + +From his intimacy with Iroquet--Brule spent the better part of eight +years in his Country and in that of his allies; being the territory +lying to the north of Lake Ontario--he must have known what Iroquet +knew of the location of such a waterfall (which was only about 150 +miles from the center of his territory, and a journey of that distance +was of small moment to the Indians of those days); and when Iroquet +went to it as a "trading place," Brule doubtless accompanied him. + +It must also be remembered that it was this same chief, Iroquet, who +later confirmed to Father Daillon the renown of "the great River of the +Neutrals"--that is the Niagara--as a Center of Trade; whose location he +knew well, but refused to divulge to the Priest. + +Knowing of such a wonderful waterfall's existence, and its general +location; being a "trader," and Niagara being even then a well-known +Center of Trade, the probabilities are that Brule visited it at a very +early date. + + + + +A TRADING PLACE + + +But, while white men were no doubt at Niagara early in the 17th +Century--possibly as early as 1611--and while we know that Traders and +Priests were in its immediate vicinity at various times prior to 1669; +and while we have good reason to believe, that in that latter year +LaSalle himself explored the whole of the Niagara Frontier; yet it is +not until 1678 that we have any positive record of any visit, nor any +description of the Cataract by a man who claimed to have actually seen +it. + +Father Hennepin's first work, "Louisiana," published in 1681, tells of +that first recorded visit, and gives the first description of Niagara +by an eye-witness. + +At the time when that first unnamed white man saw the Cataract the +Indians had, and firmly believed in, at least one positive tradition +regarding it; one which had long been believed in by the tribes far and +near, and which had long been turned to good account in trade by former +generations of Indians who dwelt at Niagara; and which was believed in +and maintained for many a year afterwards. It was a tradition which had +long caused the vicinity of the Cataract to be known far and wide as, +and to be, a great Center of Trade; because it related to a +highly-prized commodity which was found and primarily procurable only +at this spot. + +The first printed direct mention of Niagara referred to its famous +Portage. The two next references to it were indirect and poetic, and, +in so far as geographical location, certainly exemplified a poet's +license. + +The second printed allusion to it,--an indirect one, as noted +later,--was in regard to trade. + +Champlain was on the lower St. Lawrence River when, in 1603, he first +heard of the Niagara Portage; Father Daillon was within a hundred miles +of the Cataract when, in 1626, he first heard of Niagara as a "trading +place." + +When white men first became really acquainted with the Indians, 300 +years ago, the various tribes had, and no doubt had long had, certain +"trading places" where they annually met for barter. + +At that time, the Hurons and Algonquins had such a meeting place on the +upper Ottawa River. + +It was at such a trade gathering at Lake Saint Peter, that Iroquet, in +1610, received Brule as a gift. + +Father Sagard, who in 1625 was a Missionary among them at Lake +Nipissing, has stated that the Hurons used each summer to travel for +five or six weeks southerly, in order to meet the tribes which had +goods they wanted; and that they brought back those articles both for +their own use and for sale to other tribes. From the direction stated, +and from other deductions, it is probable that that annual summer +journey of the Hurons "for trade" had Niagara as its objective point. + +That the Indians traded among themselves is unquestioned. When Cartier, +in 1534, ascended the St. Lawrence River, the Indians of Hochelaga were +smoking tobacco which had been grown in the sunny south lands. The +Muskegons, around James Bay, traded their furs with their southern +neighbors for birch bark, out of which to make their canoes. Axes and +arrow heads of obsidian--a stone found on the lower Mississippi--were +in use among the tribes to the north of Quebec. The Indian "trade" was +not all done haphazard. The most of it was done at gatherings held at +regularly agreed upon times and places. And in the selection of +localities, Niagara must have been a favored meeting place. + +That there, and there only, were found those "Erie Stones," a +much-sought-for article, was an important reason for its selection as +such; its central location and its accessibility from all points were +other reasons. + +No tribe which feared the fierce Iroquois--and that embraced almost +every known tribe--would have dared to go to a "trading place," when in +order to reach it they had to cross the country of the Iroquois. But +they could get to Niagara from all sides without touching that Iroquois +territory. There they could meet and barter with tribes otherwise +almost impossible for them to reach. + +The tribes of the southeast, and those of the northeast, could there +meet in safety. + +Again, it was in the Country of the Neutrals, whose territory lay +between that of the Iroquois and the Hurons. And Indian law +decreed--and it was observed--that in the cabins of the Neutrals even +those bitter foes, Iroquois and Hurons, met in peace. + +Champlain was certainly the first white man to mention the Falls of +Niagara in Literature; Brule was probably Niagara's first white +visitor; and equally probable, he was the first white man ever to +"trade" there. One would like well to know the particulars of that +"trade"--what he got and what he gave. + + + + +EARLY REFERENCES + + +Champlain and Brule are two names of surpassing interest in their +relation to Niagara. The first unquestionably heads the long list of +Authors who have ever written about our Waterfall; the other probably +heads the infinitely longer list--comprising many millions--of those +pale-faces who have ever visited our Cataract. + + [Illustration: PETER KALM'S VIEW OF NIAGARA--1751.] + +That first reference to Niagara in all Literature is found in that of +France, in 1603, when Samuel de Champlain, the subsequent founder of +Quebec, the first Governor-General of New France,--and still the most +picturesque figure in all Canadian history,--narrated, in his now +excessively rare pamphlet, "Des Sauvages" (of which only about +half-a-dozen copies are known to exist), what the Indians on the St. +Lawrence River told him about this waterfall (for he himself never saw +Niagara), in these words: + + "Then they come to a lake [Ontario] some eighty leagues long, with + a great many Islands [the Thousand Islands], the water at its + extremity being fresh and the winter mild. At the end of this lake + they pass a fall [Niagara] somewhat high, where there is quite a + little water which falls down. There they carry their canoes + overland for about a quarter of a league, in order to pass the + fall; afterwards entering another lake [Erie] some sixty leagues + long and containing very good water." + +In the same volume Champlain records that another savage told him,-- + + "That the water at the western end of the lake [Ontario] was + perfectly salt; that there was a fall about a league wide, where a + very large mass of water falls into said lake." + +It was not the wonders nor the beauty of the Cataract that impressed +itself upon the minds of those savages, and that led them to furnish to +Champlain--and so to the white man's world--the very first knowledge of +the existence of Niagara. No! What most impressed the Cataract upon the +minds of those Aborigines was the fact that at this point, the Falls +themselves, together with the Rapids for a short distance above them, +and for a long distance below them, were an insuperable obstacle to +water--that is, canoe--navigation; that here they were obliged to make +a long "portage." It was the only break in an otherwise uninterrupted +water travel of hundreds of miles; which, going westward, extended from +a point on the St. Lawrence, many miles east of the outlet of Lake +Ontario, clear to the farthest end of Lake Superior; and which, coming +eastward, extended nearly 1,500 miles, from where the City of Duluth +now stands even until it reached the bitter waters of the Atlantic +Ocean in the Gulf of the St. Lawrence. + +In the same volume, "Des Sauvages," appeared a poem by one "La +Franchise," addressed to Champlain, in which mention is made of the +"Saults Mocosans" or Mocosan Falls, "which shock the eyes of those who +dare to look upon that unparalleled downpour." + +Mocosa was the name of that territory vaguely called Virginia, and +which seems to have embraced everything from New York to Florida, +extending indefinitely to the west and northwest. The allusion is +generally considered to refer to Niagara; thus making Niagara's +appearance in Poetry cotemporaneous with its appearance in prose. + +In 1609, Lescarbot published his "Histoire de la Nouvelle France," +wherein he quotes extensively (including the references to Niagara) +from Champlain; the work being reissued in several editions in +subsequent years. And in 1610, Lescarbot, who was a great admirer of +Champlain (he may himself have been "La Franchise"), produced a poem, +wherein he speaks of the "great falls" which the Indians encounter in +going up the St. Lawrence, from below the present site of Montreal, +"jusqu'au voisinage de la Virginia"; which, under the above-noted +boundaries of Virginia, has been stretched in imagination to include +Niagara, but more likely meant the Rapids of the St. Lawrence. + +Champlain, in the map which he made in 1612, notes a "waterfall," but +places it at the Lake Ontario end of the river; still it is clearly +meant for Niagara. + +Early references to this Niagara Region--which up to about the middle +of the 17th Century was owned and occupied by the Neuters, and after +that time by their conquerors and annihilators, the Senecas--are to be +found in that wonderful series of Reports made by the Catholic +Missionaries in Canada to their Superiors in France, during a large +part of the 17th Century, and known as the "Jesuit Relations." + +From them we learn that Father Daillon was among the Neutrals, and "on +the Iroquois Frontier" (which was east of the Niagara River, somewhere +about midway between that and the Genesee River), in 1626. + +In a letter, dated at Tonachin, a Huron village, 18th July, 1627, +Father Daillon told of his visit to the Neuters the year before. In it +he wrote: + + "I have always seen them constant in their resolution to go with at + least four canoes to the trade, if I would guide them, the whole + difficulty being that we did not know the way. Yroquet, an Indian + known in those countries, who had come there with twenty of his men + hunting for beaver, and who took fully five hundred, would never + give us any mark to know the mouth of the river. He and several + Hurons assured us well that it was only ten days journey [from the + Huron Country] to the trading place; but we were afraid of taking + one river for another and losing our way, or dying of hunger on the + land." + +The above quotation, which was given in Sagard, 1636, was omitted from +Daillon's letter by Le Clercq in his "Premier Etablissement de la Foi," +1691. In his translation of the latter work, John Gilmary Shea, in a +note concerning this very passage, says: + + "This was evidently the Niagara River and the route through Lake + Ontario," and he adds: "The omission of the passage by Le Clercq + was evidently caused by the allusion to trade." + +That omission was doubtless at the instance of the French Government, +whose permission was then a necessity before any book could be +published. That Government knew the importance and the advantages of +Niagara, both as a strategic point and as a Center of Trade. Only four +years before Le Clercq's book appeared a French army, under De +Denonville, had built a fort there; but the hostility of the Iroquois +(incited by British agents) had forced its abandonment a year later. +Anxious to again possess it, planning now to do so by diplomacy rather +than by arms, the French Government would naturally have objected to +any published allusion to the locality as a point of Trade,--which +could in no way have aided its designs, but by further calling +Britain's attention to Niagara's importance, would naturally cause her +agents to be still further vigilant toward frustrating any move of +France for the control thereof. + +In the same letter Daillon says: + + "But the Hurons having discovered that I talked of leading them + [the Neutrals] to the trade, he [Yroquet] spread in all the + villages when he passed, very bad reports about me * * * in a word, + the Hurons told them so much evil of us [the French] to prevent + their going to trade * * * adding a thousand other absurdities to + make us hated by them, and prevent their trading with us; so that + they might have the trade with these nations themselves + exclusively, which is very profitable to them." + +Yroquet, who was Champlain's friend, as before mentioned, being a close +ally of the Hurons, evidently had no desire for a Frenchman to open +trade directly with the Iroquois--the sworn foes of the Hurons--and +thus to divert any of the trade which he carried on with the French in +the Huron Country. + +So the first white man known to have been on the Niagara River (in +1626) wrote about it as a "trading place." It clearly was regarded in +that light, at that time, both by the Neutrals and by the Hurons; those +being the only two tribes which Father Daillon had visited. And if it +was so known to the tribes on the west and northwest, there was no +reason why it should not have been so known--and it no doubt was so +known--to the tribes to the south, to the east, and to the west. + +On his map, in 1632, Champlain continues his location of the Cataract +at the point where the river enters Lake Ontario; and marks it, "Falls +at the extremity of Lake St. Louis [Ontario] very high, where many fish +come down and are stunned." + + [Illustration: NIAGARA IN 1759, BY THOMAS DAVIES.] + +In 1640, Fathers Brebeuf and Chaumonot, on their famous Mission to the +Neutrals, crossed the Niagara River at Onguiaahra, a village of that +Nation, which stood on the site of the present Lewiston. They probably +never saw the Falls; their visit being filled with danger, hunger, and +threats of their destruction by the very savages whose souls they were +trying to save. Father L'Allement, their Superior, in his account of +their Mission, in the Jesuit Relation of 1642, speaks merely of "the +village Onguiaahra, of the same name as the river." + +Another passage in his letter says,-- + + "Many of our Frenchmen, who have been here in the Huron Country, in + the past made journeys in this Country of the Neutral Nation, for + the sake of reaping profit and advantage from furs, and other + little wares that one might look for." + +And in all probability some of those Frenchmen had reached the Niagara +River, in their trade with the Neutrals, before Father Daillon crossed +its stream. + +Niagara was then, as it is now, the geographical center of the eastern +one-third of North America; it was the center of population among the +many and widely distributed Indian Tribes; it was the most accessible, +the most easily reached place, from all directions, in America. Indian +trails led toward it from all points of the compass; it was easily +accessible by water from every quarter--and, by canoe, was the Indians +preferred means of transportation. + +It was thus easily reached by the tribes on the east and northeast by +Lake Ontario; by the tribes on the north by Lake Simcoe and the portage +to Toronto; by the tribes in the great west and northwest (covering a +vast territory) by all the upper lakes; by the tribes in the southwest +by the Mississippi, the Ohio, and the Alleghany rivers; by the tribes +in the southeast by the Susquehanna River. Even in aboriginal days--by +reason of its central location, its portage, its position as a Center +of Trade, and its "Erie Stones"--Niagara was the best and most widely +known spot on the Continent; even as--for other reasons--it is to-day. + +Father Ragueneau, in a letter written from the Huron Country, in +Canada, in 1648, and published in the "Jesuit Relation" of 1649, makes +the second known direct printed reference to the Falls themselves, when +he writes,-- + + "Lake Erie, which is formed by the waters from the Mer Douce [Lake + Huron], discharges itself into Lake Ontario, over a Cataract of + fearful height," + +which description was, word for word, the same as is found in a letter, +written not later than 1645, from that same Huron Country, by Docteur +Gendron, but which was not published until 1660. + +The third direct printed reference to our Cataract was in a letter, +written by Father Bressani, from that same Huron Country, in 1652, and +published the following year. He wrote,-- + + "Lake Erie discharges itself, by means of a very high Cataract, + into a third lake, which is still larger and finer, called Lake + Ontario." + +Thus, up to 1660, the Jesuit Fathers, Ragueneau and Bressani, were the +only persons, except Champlain, who had made any direct printed +reference to Niagara's Waterfall; like him, neither of them ever saw +it;--the three known men, who first mentioned in print what is to-day +the best known Cataract on Earth, wrote from hearsay,--and none of them +gave it a name. + +Sanson, who, in 1650, had issued a map of North America, largely +following those of Champlain, but improving on their accuracy (though +not indicating Niagara), in 1656, issued one of New France or Canada, +whereon he both correctly places our Waterfall, and, for the first time +in Literature or Cartography gave it a direct name, marking it "Ongiara +Sault." Much information about Canada had no doubt been made public in +France--by Missionaries and Explorers, with the Government's +approval--during those half-a-dozen years. + +Hennepin, in 1683, was the first person to use the word "Niagara," +which has been the accepted name ever since; though more than a hundred +different ways of spelling it have been found. And from Hennepin's +time,--by every known form of pictorial reproduction; during the last +forty years by photography more than all other forms put +together--Niagara has been the most pictured and therefore the best +known spot on earth. + + + + +DOCTEUR GENDRON + + +In 1660, another, and a most interesting reference to our Cataract +appeared in print; written by one Docteur Gendron. It does not appear +that he ever saw it, but he seems to have learnt a good deal about it; +of course he learnt it from the Indians; moreover, he learnt it from +Hurons, who dwelt in more or less proximity to it; from men who, no +doubt, themselves had seen it. He learnt it from the same source, not +improbably from the same men, from whom Fathers Ragueneau and Bressani +had gotten their less comprehensive knowledge of it--for he had a +special reason, in the line of his profession, for learning about it. +He had written home to France concerning it, at least three years +before Ragueneau, at least seven years before Bressani, had done so. +And, curiously enough, at the very time when Docteur Gendron wrote his +letters, Fathers Ragueneau and Bressani were also in that Huron +Country. It is, therefore, more than reasonably certain, that all three +of them being Europeans, all three living among the Hurons,--whose +territory was not large, through which news of the presence of white +men in those days traveled fast,--that they must have known each other, +not only as acquaintances, but as intimates. The Priests had their +headquarters at the Home of the Huron Mission, and the Docteur would, +for every reason, take up his residence in that same Indian Village. +Those three men,--with the exception of Champlain, the earliest known +chroniclers of the existence of Niagara Falls,--were doubtless near +neighbors and close friends, in the Huron Country, in the wilds of +Canada, over two hundred and fifty years ago. + + [Illustration: NIAGARA IN EARLY DAYS, BY THOMAS COLE.] + +In 1636, there had been published at Paris a work in five volumes, +written by one Pierre Davity, who had died the year before, entitled +"The Whole World; With all its Parts, States, Empires, Kingdoms, +Republics and Governments." It had been reissued at least twice by +1649. In all three of those Editions, "America, The Third Part of the +World," had been treated of at some length--especially the Southern +Hemisphere;--and while Canada had not been overlooked, there had been +no mention of Niagara. + +In 1660, Jean Baptiste de Rocoles, who was both a Counsellor to the +King and also his State Historian, reissued the work, enlarged and +"brought up to date." This issue was in three volumes, folio; rather +ponderous tomes; well printed, and elaborately bound. As in the +previous editions, it was issued by consent of the King, and with the +approval of the Clergy; and it now had the official editing of the +King's Historian. + +At the end of the portion relating to America--that is, at the very end +of the last volume--its contents evidently coming to Rocoles' notice at +the last moment; probably after the work was entirely printed (for the +preceding page bears the imprint, "End of America"; and there is no +mention of its contents in the Index), is a short Chapter entitled +(translated), + + "Certain Special Information about the Country of the Hurons in New + France. Recorded by the Sieur Gendron, Doctor of Medicine, who has + lived for a long time in that Country." + +This supplementary Chapter is six pages in length, and, while it is not +signed, we may justly assume that Rocoles himself, and none other, +wrote it. It begins,-- + + "One of my friends having lately placed in my hands a few letters + written in the years 1644 and 1645, which Sieur Gendron, native of + Voue in Beausse, had sent to him from that Country [of the Hurons], + where he was at that time; I have had the curiosity to transcribe + from them, word for word, what follows; for a better knowledge and + acquaintance of those lands, newly discovered. And I have done so + the more willingly because this person is worthy of credence, and + he wrote these letters to men of merit, who had travelled much." + +In the letters thus transcribed, "word for word," Sieur Gendron gives +the location of the Huron Country, where he writes,-- + + "I now am," "as between the 44th and 45th degrees of Latitude; and + as to Longitude, it is half an hour more to the west than Quebec." + +From his descriptions of the Lake Region, from his location of other +Indian tribes, and from the context, Sieur Gendron was very near the +southern end of Georgian Bay, when he wrote those letters. That he was +in the same Indian Village, as was the House, or Headquarters, of the +Mission to the Hurons (which was located at that point), is deducable +even more strongly, from the fact, that Father Ragueneau, in his report +to his Superior, in 1648, uses, word for word, over more than a score +of printed lines, in locating the adjoining Indian tribes, the language +of Sieur Gendron, written at least three, possibly four, years before, +and published by Rocoles in 1660. + +That he did so, not plagiarizing, but with the knowledge and consent, +and not improbably (in those parts of his letter which dealt with +physical conditions) with the assistance, of Docteur Gendron, must be +admitted by those who know from history of the splendid abilities, the +exalted piety, and the noble character of Father Paul Ragueneau, S.J., +who, after his labors amongst the Hurons were ended, became the +Superior of his Order at Quebec--that is, in Canada. + +A little further on, Docteur Gendron writes,-- + + "Towards the south, and a little towards the west, is the Neuter + Nation, whose villages, which are now on the frontier, are only + about thirty leagues distant from the Hurons. It is forty or fifty + leagues in extent" [that is from west to east, for it extended from + the Detroit River to some distance east of the Niagara River]. + +Then he writes, what for the purpose of this article is the most +interesting portion of the letters, as follows: + + "Almost south of the Neuter Nation is a large lake, almost 200 + leagues in circumference, called Erie, which is formed from the + Fresh Water Sea, [Lake Huron] and falls, from a terrible height, + into a third lake called Ontario, which we call St. Louis. + + "From the foam of the waters, roaring at the foot of certain large + rocks, which are found at this place, is formed a stone, or rather + pulverized salt, of a somewhat yellowish color, of great virtue for + healing wounds, fistulas, and malignant ulcers. In this place, full + of horrors, live also certain savages, who live only on elk, deer, + buffalos, and all other kinds of game that the rapids drag and + bring down to the entrance of these rocks; where the savages catch + them, without running for them, more than sufficient for their + needs, and the maintenance of strangers [Indians from other and + distant tribes], with whom they trade in these 'Erie Stones' + ['Pierres Eriennes']--thus called because of this lake--who carry + and distribute them to other Nations." + +In confirmation of the Doctor's statement that articles were brought to +Niagara, for the purposes of trade,--in 1903 there was opened an Indian +Mound, on top of and close to the edge of the Mountain Ridge, some +three and a half miles east of the Niagara River, on the Tuscarora +Reservation, in the town of Lewiston, Niagara County, N.Y. It was a +Burial Pit; and a Peace Burial Pit; more than probably dating from +1640, which was the last date of the ten-year Ceremonial Burials +observed by the Neuters, who then owned and occupied all this Niagara +Region; for before the expiration of the next ten year period, the +Neuters had been annihilated by the Senecas. In it were found nearly +400 skulls, and the bones of probably an equal number of bodies, some +articles of copper (made by the French, and proving trade with them), +many hundreds of shell beads, and other articles of Indian make, among +them some made from large Conche Shells, such as are found on the +shores of the Gulf of Mexico, and curiously enough three or four large, +unbroken, Conche Shells. These latter, it is fair to assume, were +brought nearly 2,000 miles, to Niagara, there to be traded for those +"Erie Stones" (and they were brought unbroken, so that their buyer +could cut from them gorgets and other ornaments of the shape and size +that suited his fancy), thus proving, that for some years, no one can +pretend to say how many, perhaps centuries before Docteur Gendron wrote +the second known reference to Niagara, the fame of the Cataract was +widely known among the Indians of North America; even beyond the +far-off, sunny lands, inhabited by the Arkansaws; clear to the mouths +of the Mississippi, "The Father of Waters," and along the shores of the +Gulf of Mexico. + +So it was a Physician, in a letter written from an unnamed place in the +wilds of Canada, to a friend, of whose name we are ignorant, in +France,--the contents of which letter were, in a few years, to be +published to the World,--that was, in date the second, though in print +the fourth, man ever to refer directly to Niagara Falls. + +Yet, it is not surprising that it should have been so, for almost every +instance in History tells us that, so far as newly discovered lands are +concerned, it is the Explorer, or Empire-Builder, who first penetrates +them, and the Priest soon follows the explorer, and the Physician soon +follows the Priest. And that was exactly the order which was followed +in the explorations of the Great-Lakes-Region of North America. + +The Quartette--the third was an Italian, the other three were +Frenchmen--who first referred directly to Niagara in print, +stands--Champlain, Ragueneau, Bressani, Gendron, and in that order:--A +Soldier of the Sword; two Soldiers of the Cross; and a Soldier of +Medicine--though, so far as the dates when the letters of those four +were written, and the information thus put in form which made its +publication possible, are concerned, the Physician, Gendron, should +occupy the second--instead of the fourth place. And, by-the-way, this +Sieur Gendron was the first white Physician who is known to have lived +anywhere in the western portion of this Country; the first white +Physician in the limits of the present province of Ontario in Canada; +and the first white Physician among the Indians of North America. + +In the case of the good Docteur Gendron--who, next to Champlain, was +the earliest to mention Niagara,--it was not the scenic beauty of the +Falls (he does not say that he ever saw them), but it was something in +the direct line of his profession which caused him to refer to them. It +was because, at their base, and created, as he was told, by their +waters, there was found--and there only--a panacea for many, if not for +all, human ills. From his statements, it seems clear, that those "Erie +Stones," which were "found only at Niagara," were themselves widely +known amongst the Savages; and were a considerable article of trade +between many, even to the most distant, Tribes. + +And, even as to the minds of the Aborigines who dwelt far from it, the +triple importance of Niagara was that it necessitated a long Land +Carriage or Portage in their canoe voyages, that it was a famous +"trading place," and, that it was the only source of supply of those +famous "Erie Stones"; even so, to the mind of Docteur Gendron, their +main importance lay, not in their imagined grandeur, but in the +authenticated statement, that it, and it alone, produced a stone or +powder, efficacious in the treatment of certain ills; which was +undoubtedly a very welcome and a very decided addition to the probably +very limited stock of his Materia Medica. Thus, Niagara, which to-day +is famous the World over, for its Scenery, for its Botany, for its +Geology, for its History, for its Hydraulic works, and lastly (and +almost equally with its Scenery), for its Electrical developments, has +also, through Docteur Gendron's "hasty letter"--written in 1644 or +1645--a distinct, and a very, very early claim to a place in the annals +of the Healing Art--as it was known and practiced on the Continent of +North America, during the first half of the 17th Century; and also +therefrom another distinct proof that the locality was an Aboriginal +Center of Trade. + +This "Trade" in those "Erie Stones" must have been a most important +thing for those Savages,--the Onguiaahras--who dwelt close to the +Cataract at that time, and prior thereto. + +It is further a most interesting fact, that the "Trade" therein was the +first recorded trade ever carried on at Niagara; and it is also most +interesting to recall, that this first Trade, at this famous spot, was +in an article used for the relief of human suffering,--a simple remedy, +furnished by Nature, and "all ready for use." + +That Niagara product; which, possibly long before Columbus landed at +San Salvador, probably during all the 16th, certainly during the 17th +Century; made the locality famous, far and wide; was among the earliest +known of America's healing remedies. It was evidently a leading, and a +much-sought-for, prescription among the Aborigines. To-day, it has no +value whatever. It is still to be found in abundance in the immediate +vicinity of the Falls, in the Gorge below them; but no one seeks to +gather it, save as a curiosity. + +But, in those early days, among the ignorant and phenomenally +superstitious Savages, those "Erie Stones," to be "found only at +Niagara," seemed to them a special gift from the Great Spirit to his +children. To the Savages, they were, veritably, "Big Medicine." + +Their fame lasted for many a year. They were gathered and traded +in--yes, and used--even until the middle of the 18th Century. As late +as 1787, their reputation still clung to the great Fall. + +That year, Capt. Enys, of the 29th Regiment, British, was at Niagara, +and wrote of them--they were no longer called "Erie Stones," but the +substance was known as "petrified spray of the Falls,"-- + + "On our return" [from the base of the Fall, and walking along the + water's edge, under the cliff], "we employed ourselves in picking + up a kind of stone, which is said to be the Spray of the Fall, + petrified, but whether it is or no, I will not pretend to + determine; this much I can say, that it grows, or forms itself in + cavities in the cliff, about half way to the top, from whence it + falls from time to time; its composition is a good deal like a + piece of white marble which has been burnt in the fire, so that it + may be pulverized with ease. Whatever may be its composition, it + does not appear that it will bear to be exposed to the air, as some + pieces which seem to have fallen longer than the rest are quite + soft; while such as had lately fallen are of a much harder nature." + +Robert McCauslin, M.D., who, during and after the War of the +Revolution, spent nine years at Niagara--undoubtedly as British Post +Surgeon at Fort Niagara,--furnished a scientific paper entitled, "An +account of an earthly substance, found near the Falls of Niagara, and +vulgarly called the Spray of the Falls," to Dr. Benjamin Smith Barton; +and he, on October 16, 1789, communicated it to the American +Philosophical Society; in whose Transactions it was subsequently +published. Dr. McCauslin specially noted, that + + "This substance is found, in great plenty, everywhere about the + bottom of the Falls; sometimes lying loose among the stones on the + beach, and sometimes adhering to the rocks, or appearing between + the layers upon breaking them. The masses are of various sizes and + shapes, but seldom exceed the bulk of a man's hand. Sometimes they + are of a soft substance and crumble like damp sugar; while other + pieces are found quite hard, and of a shining, foliated appearance; + or else opaque and resembling a piece of burnt allum. It often + happens that both these forms are found in the same mass. Pieces + which are taken up whilst soft soon become hard by keeping; and + they are never known to continue long in a soft state, as far as I + have been able to learn." + +He records that it is not found at all above the Falls, in the greatest +amounts in the Gorge, close to the Falls; and in decreasing quantities +as the distance from them increases; and is never found at a greater +distance from them than perhaps a mile. From several scientific +experiments which he made upon this substance, he deduced, + + "1st, That this concrete is not an alkaline earth, as it is not + affected either by the vitriolic or vegetable acids. + + "2d, That we may, with more probability, say that it is a + combination of an acid with a calcareous earth, and that it might + with propriety be ranked amongst the selenites." + +He thought it was formed by the moisture arising from the Falls +constantly and slowly filtering between the layers of rock, in whose +crevices it deposited its heavier portions, and that the violent +agitation which the water had undergone disposed it to part with its +earth more easily than it would otherwise do. + + He adds, "The circumstance of this Spray not being found above the + Falls seems to suggest an opinion that that part of the vapor which + hangs upon the surrounding rocks is the heaviest, as being most + loaded with earthy particles, whilst the remainder which mounts up + is the purest and contains little or no earth." + +Dewit Clinton, when he visited Niagara in 1810--as a Member of the +first Board of Commissioners, appointed by the State of New York, to +report on the whole subject of the proposed Erie Canal, noted in his +diary, + + "A beautiful white substance is found at the bottom of the Falls; + supposed by some to be Gypsum, and by the vulgar, to be a + concretion of foam, generated by the forces of the Cataract. But it + is unquestionably part of the limestone, dissolved and re-united." + +Since Clinton's time no attention has been paid to this substance as a +curative agent. + +As a geological substance it is still collected, but with greater ease +than formerly, for, besides being found on and below the face of the +cliff, its existence in the limestone all over the vicinity of the +Falls has been demonstrated by means of the huge excavations that have +been made in the development of the various Power Plants at Niagara. + + + + +CHANGES OF CONTOUR + + +Wonderful changes have taken place in the contour of the greater Fall +at Niagara since Docteur Gendron recorded that the Indians traded in +those "Erie Stones." The additional Fall, which Father Hennepin +pictured in 1697, as pouring eastward from the Canadian end of the +Horse Shoe Fall, was formed by the waters flowing around a large rock, +which stood at the very edge of the cliff. Before the middle of the +18th Century that rock had disintegrated and been swept away; and that +separate Fall then merged itself into the greater cascade; as is shown +in a view of Niagara accompanying Peter Kalm's description thereof in +1751. But it must be remembered that in Hennepin's time that Canadian +end of the Horse Shoe Fall extended very much farther down the Gorge +than it does to-day--probably 800 feet farther. That Fall then extended +its shallow end down to where old Table Rock stood. Then the levels of +all the upper lakes were higher than they are to-day, those levels +having been considerably lowered through the white man's denudations of +the forests in the Basin of the Great Lakes. As the downpour of Niagara +thereby diminished in volume, that end of the Canadian Fall receded; so +that, as far as can be deduced, that Fall was some 400 feet shorter in +contour (all taken off its western end) in 1900 than it was when +Hennepin saw it--two and a quarter centuries before. Since 1900, the +policy of the Province of Ontario, to turn its share of Niagara into +cash--in renting out to corporations the right to use the waters of the +Cataract for the development of electrical horsepower ("at so much +per")--has resulted in still further shortening the contour of the +Horse Shoe Fall, by another 400 feet. The contour of that Fall was +given by survey in 1840 as 3,060 feet. Hence, in Hennepin's time, it +must have been about 3,500 feet. To-day, owing to the filling in of the +old river-bed, along the edge of the precipice at the Cataract's +western end, that contour line would not be more than 2,700 feet. + +But it must be recalled that the recession at the apex of that Fall has +been very marked since 1840; and as that recession is V shaped it has +added somewhat--fully two hundred feet--to the figures of that old +contour line; making the contour line of the Falls to-day about 2,900 +feet. + +By reason of that shortening of that Fall, two scientific questions are +brought up in regard to those deposits of gypsum, or "Petrified Spray +of the Falls." + +First--to what extent has that concretion formed behind the falling +water? Has it formed there in greater quantities than it has where the +face of the cliff has been open to the air? In greater quantities might +have been expected, on account of the greater amount and absolute +continuity of the moisture on the rocky face. The 400 feet length of +cliff, from which the waters have now been permanently shut off, +furnishes the answer. Practically, none of that concrete has ever +accumulated in the crevices of the rock on the face of the cliff +immediately behind the Falls. The currents of air, and the furious +blasts of water which they create, rush constantly away from the under +surface of the falling sheet, and continuously against the face of the +cliff. These scour and cut away the rock, even as a sand blast would +do, though more slowly. They allow no chance for deposits. The strata +of the Clinton Formation (which commences at about the level of the +water in the Gorge, and of the Niagara shale, which overlie it--the two +combined having a depth of about eighty feet) are eaten away the +faster. The eighty-feet-deep layer of Niagara Limestone, which overlies +the shale, being harder, is eaten away slowly; its lower layers being +attacked by the winds and waters from below (as the underlying shale +disappears) and also on its face, yielding faster than the upper ones. + + [Illustration: AMERICAN FALL--NIAGARA. CAVE OF THE WINDS IS + BEHIND SMALL FALL.] + +That this concretion has always formed in the limestone, back from the +face of the cliff, behind the falling sheet (where the blasts of wind +and water cannot reach nor effect it) is certain. + +That it forms under the river bed, and back from the face of the gorge +on both sides of the river, and wherever the water percolates through +the upper layer of rock, is also certain. + +It is so found in the limestone (but not in the shale) wherever deep +excavations have been made near the river in the vicinity of the Falls +and wherever tunnels have been driven through the limestone--in the +crevices and especially where a pocket or hollow space exists in that +formation. + +This process of eating away the lower rocks, undermining the upper +limestone, which, as its support is taken away, tumbles into the Gorge, +shows the means by which the Falls gradually recede. + +It is shown to the best advantage in the Cave of the Winds, which, +during the past thirty years, by this wind-and-water-blast process, has +been enlarged to four times its former size. Some day the layer of rock +at the top of that cave will fall; the edge of the Luna Island Fall +will be thus moved back a number of feet; the Cave of the Winds will +become merely a narrow space between the outward-curving fall of water +and the perpendicular rock; and the wind-and-water-blast will continue +its erosive work on that rocky face;--and in the course of years will +again produce a distinct cave. + +The other scientific question--which the future will answer--is, How +fast does this Niagara concrete form? With that 400 feet length of +cliff on the Canadian shore--which was formerly covered by the end of +the Horse-shoe Fall--exposed to the air and to observation (the outer +end of those crevices in its face being now free from any such +deposit); with the extensive excavations on the debris slope for the +Power House below the bank, exposing new surfaces, where little such +deposit now appears; with other probable excavations in connection with +the power development, exposing similar surfaces at other points along +the Gorge; it will be possible to approximately determine the yearly +amount of accumulation and deposit of this ancient Niagara product. For +that deposit will go on as ceaselessly as it has been going on, ever +since the time--possibly many thousands of years ago--when the waters +of a great lake (which was formed by the melting of the ice sheet) +covered all this region; finally breaking over its northern barrier at +the Lewiston escarpment, where, seven miles from its present location, +Niagara was born. + + + + +STILL A TRADE CENTER + + +Le Sieur Gendron, of whom we know nothing more than is contained in the +printed letters, noted before, passed away many a year ago; but at this +late date, some two and a half centuries after his death, a lover of +Niagara, in his search for and his collecting of early books that in +any way refer to its famous Cataract, secured a copy of De Rocoles' +"America, the Third Part of the World," 1660, which contains the first +publication of Docteur Gendron's interesting letters from, and about, +the Huron Country, in Canada. Therein he found this remarkable +reference to the Waterfall,--which was quoted verbatim from the good +Docteur's "hasty letter," by the State Historian of King Louis of +France,--and is thereby enabled to add an hitherto unknown link (which +turns out to be the second) in the chain of the earliest references to +Niagara Falls; and so, both in History and in Medicine, to assign to +good Docteur Gendron, a place (next alongside of the great Founder of +Quebec) in Niagara's Temple of Fame. For the Sieur Gendron probably +wrote from actual knowledge; he had probably, through some Huron +emissary, secured some of those "Erie Stones," that "Petrified Spray of +the Falls" in trade, at Niagara; he had doubtless tried the healing +qualities thereof on some of his Savage Patients--and let us hope that +this Niagara Remedy proved efficacious, and justified its wide-spread +reputation. At any rate, in recording its uses, and its distribution by +"Trade," and by probably himself using it in his Practice--limited then +to the Huron Indians; and the few Frenchmen (perhaps a score or more) +who then made their headquarters at the Home of the Jesuit Mission to +the Hurons,--he showed, even as many a good Physician of later days has +done, that he was a believer in, and user of, every one of Nature's +Remedies, as furnished by her to man, and in their simplest forms; and +if that Niagara product benefited his savage patients (mainly because +they had faith that it would do so) surely the good Docteur earned his +professional fee--which he probably had to take in trade--that is, in +furs. + +Niagara, meaning thereby the Niagara Frontier, or, more properly, that +portion thereof which extended from Lake Ontario to about two miles +above the Falls (which included Fort Niagara, and the whole of the +famous Portage around the Cataract) even in Aboriginal days, before the +first Fort Niagara was built, when the Indians applied the word +Onguiaahra to the same territory, by reason of its accessibility, its +central location, its Portage and its "Erie Stones," was widely known +as a "Center of Trade." When the French became the masters of this +region its main importance lay in its portage; and the same is true of +it under British rule; and also under United States ownership, down to +1826, when the Erie Canal was completed. + +And during all those three periods it was indeed a Trade Center. For +over it passed on their westward way, all the soldiers, French, +British, and American, who built or won, and garrisoned every fort and +trading post in the West. All the cannon, equipments, arms, ammunition, +clothing of all kinds, tools, most of the food (all of it save the fish +they caught, the game they shot, and the few vegetables they raised) +which sustained life in the poorly-fed garrisons in those far off posts +on the upper Lakes; most of the necessities, everyone of the +luxuries,--every pound of coffee, of tea, of sugar, of tobacco, of +salt, of flour, of dried and salted meats, every bit of medicine, every +gallon of rum;--all those and many other articles had to go to them, +annually, by "way of Niagara." There was no other feasible way of +transporting goods to the West. In fact there was no other way, save by +the Ottawa and through the Georgian Bay; and on the Ottawa, there were +forty-two portages, whereas via Niagara there was but the one. And +under both French and British rule, Niagara was a great Center of +Trade, in furs, and an enormous trade it was. Both the military and the +commercial trade of half a Continent flowed by its doors; and both, +going eastward and westward, required unloading and transporting over +its seven miles of portage. + +At one time, in 1764, when provisions were being forwarded to the West +for the use there of Gen. Bradstreet's Army, it is recorded that over +5,000 barrels of provisions alone lay at Fort Schlosser, the upper +terminus of Niagara's portage, awaiting shipment to the West. By +Niagara also went--had to go, for besides being the only feasible +route, it was the only safe way, for it had military protection,--all +the traders, with their boat loads of cheap merchandize; men who spent +months at a time in journeying among the tribes in the Northwest, +trading their wares for valuable furs; all of which peltries, in turn, +they had to bring east "by Niagara." + +With the opening of the Erie Canal, in 1826, all that portaging +business at Niagara disappeared; and Niagara, that is the territory +immediately adjoining the Cataract, became a famous Watering Place; +which character it has ever since retained, and always will retain. + +In the early days of that scenic glory it still preserved a tinge of +its ancient aspect, as "An Aboriginal Center of Trade." For many years +Indian bead-work was one of the main attractions offered in the Bazaars +there. And the elder generation of visitors will recall the familiar +sight of aged Indian Squaws, and dusky Indian Maidens, who daily, +during the season of travel, sat at various points along the route of +the tourist--on the steep banks of the road leading up the hill to Goat +Island, beneath the trees, close to the rapids, on Luna Island, +alongside the path leading down the bank on Goat Island to old Terrapin +Tower, and at various points around the Ferry House, and what is now +Prospect Park--offering for sale, crude bead work, pincushions, +mocassins, etc. + +Often a pappoose, strapped to the board which formed the back of its +picturesque but doubtless uncomfortable cradle, gazed stolidly at the +pale faced visitor, as the cradle leant up against the foot of a tree, +or swung suspended from some low-hanging branch. The "Braves" at home +then made the toy canoes, the bows and arrows, the quivers, the war +clubs and tomahawks, which the squaws also disposed of to tourists as +souvenirs of Niagara. + +Those "Squaw Traders" were a most picturesque feature of Niagara, and +the fact that those descendants of a passing Race now seldom or never +sit by the roadside and offer their wares directly to the visitor is a +distinct loss to the artistic environment of the Cataract. + +In those days also some enterprising genius devised the scheme of +manufacturing trinkets--such as watch charms, seals, etc.,--out of that +Niagara gypsum, or "Petrified Spray of the Falls"; thereby +unconsciously reviving the Aboriginal Trade in that substance, which +Docteur Gendron had so early recorded--only this time without any +pretension that it possessed any healing qualities--but that trade was +neither so famous nor so wide spread, nor so long continued, as the +original. + +The projectors of the Village at the Falls of Niagara, named it +Manchester, in the belief that by reason of its water power (and they +then contemplated the use of only a fractional part thereof--not enough +to have offered any danger of "Ruining Niagara") it would develop into +a manufacturing center which should rival its British prototype. + +To-day, through its hydraulic developments, mainly devoted to the +generation of electric power, Niagara has again become a really great +Center of Trade. How great this locality is destined to become--when +the stupendous works, now either in operation or under construction, +shall have been completed up to the limits of their rights--whether +that enormous development (over a million horse-power on both sides of +the river, equal to one-quarter of the total estimated power of +Niagara) shall build up a great International Manufacturing Community +within close sight of the ever-ascending spray cloud; or whether the +most of that power shall be utilized at far distant points, and Niagara +be known commercially rather as the Producer of Power than as itself an +Enormous Center of Trade--Time alone will tell. But, however great or +less that growth shall be--by reason of its power, of its central +location, of its accessibility, of its more than a million annual +visitors--it will always be, what it is to-day, what it was in +"Aboriginal days," a "Center of Trade." + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK NIAGARA*** + + +******* This file should be named 31955.txt or 31955.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/1/9/5/31955 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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