| PAGE |
[View of Horseshoe Falls from the Canadian Side]
From a photograph. | Frontispiece |
| [A Glimpse of Buffalo Harbor] | 4 |
| [Lafayette Square] | 8 |
| [St. Paul's Church, Buffalo] | 12 |
[Niagara Falls]
From the original
painting by Frederick Edwin Church, in Corcoran Gallery. | 14 |
| [The American Rapids] | 16 |
[The View from Prospect Point]
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal. | 20 |
| [Goat Island Bridge and Rapids] | 24 |
| [Horseshoe Falls from Below] | 26 |
[The Shoreless Sea]
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal. | 28 |
| [Rustic Bridge, Willow Island] | 30 |
| [The Cave of the Winds] | 32 |
[The American Fall]
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal. | 36 |
| [Remains of Stone Piers of the "First Railway in
America"—the British Tramway up Lewiston Heights, 1763] | 38 |
[Amid the Goat Island Group]
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal. | 40 |
[Horseshoe Falls from the Canadian Shore]
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal. | 44 |
[Looking up the Lower Niagara from Paradise Grove]
From a photograph by Wm. Quinn, Niagara-on-the-Lake. | 46 |
[The Mouth of the Gorge]
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal. | 48 |
| [The Whirlpool Rapids] | 50 |
[The American Fall, July, 1765]
From an unsigned original drawing in the British Museum. | 54 |
[The Horseshoe Fall, July, 1765]
From an unsigned original drawing in the British Museum. | 60 |
| [Ice Mountain on Prospect Point] | 64 |
| [Cave of the Winds in Winter] | 66 |
| ["Maid of the Mist" under Steel Arch Bridge] | 70 |
| [Beacon on Old Breakwater at Buffalo] | 72 |
| [Winter Scene in Prospect Park] | 74 |
[Bath Island, American Rapids, in 1879]
From New York Commissioners' Report. | 80 |
| [Path to Luna Island] | 86 |
| [Green Island Bridge] | 92 |
[Bird's-eye View of the Canadian Rapids and Fall]
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal. | 100 |
| [American Falls from Below] | 106 |
| [The Riverside at Willow Island] | 118 |
| [Goat Island Bridge, Showing Niagara's Famous
Cataract and International Hotels] | 124 |
[The Path to the Cave of the Winds]
From a photograph by Notman, Montreal. | 130 |
| [American Falls from Goat Island] | 136 |
| [Horseshoe Falls from Goat Island] | 142 |
| [Ice Bridge and American Falls] | 148 |
| [Colonel Römer's Map of the Country of the Iroquois, 1700] | 154 |
| [Champlain] | 160 |
| [Map of French Forts in America] | 164 |
[Niagara Falls by Father Hennepin]
The first known picture of Niagara, dated 1697. | 166 |
| [R. Réné Cavelier, Sieur De La Salle] | 172 |
| [Frontenac, from Hébert's Statue at Quebec] | 178 |
| [Luna Island Bridge] | 184 |
["Carte du Lac Ontario." A Specimen French Map of the
Niagara Frontier Dated October 4, 1757]
From the original in the British Museum. | 190 |
| [Stones on the Site of Joncaire's Cabin under
Lewiston Heights, where the "Magazine Royale" was Erected in 1719] | 198 |
[Specimen Manuscript Map of Niagara Frontier of
Eighteenth Century]
From the original in the British Museum. | 204 |
| [A Drawing of Fort Niagara and Environs Showing
Plan of English Attack under Johnson] | 208 |
| [A Sketch of Fort Niagara and Environs by the
French Commander Pouchot Showing Improvements of 1756-1758] | 210 and 211 |
| [Canadian Trapper, from La Potherie] | 212 |
| [Youngstown, N. Y., from Paradise Grove] | 214 |
[The Stone Redoubt at Fort Niagara, Built in 1770]
From the original in the British Museum. | 216 |
| [Pfister's Sketch of Fort Niagara and the "Communication."
Two Years before the Outbreak of the Revolutionary War] | 220 |
[Fort Erie and the Mouth of the Niagara, by Pfister, in 1764]
From the original in the British Museum. | 226 |
| [Major-General Brock] | 232 |
| [A Plan of Fort Niagara after English Occupation, by Montresor] | 238 |
["Navy Hall Opposite Niagara"]
A drawing on bark by Mrs. Simcoe. | 244 |
[Queenston and Brock's Monument]
From a photograph by Wm. Quinn, Niagara-on-the-Lake. | 250 |
| [Brock's Monument] | 260 |
["Queenston or Landing near Niagara"]
A drawing on bark by Mrs. Simcoe. | 266 |
[Lieutenant Pierie's Sketch of Niagara, 1768]
From an old print. | 272 |
| [Old View of Fort Mississauga] | 278 |
| [Monument at Lundy's Lane] | 284 |
| [Lieutenant-General Simcoe] | 294 |
[York Harbor]
A drawing on bark by Mrs. Simcoe. | 296 |
["The Garrison at York"]
A drawing on bark by Mrs. Simcoe. | 302 |
[Captain Sowers's Drawings of Fort Niagara, 1769]
From the original in the British Museum. | 308 |
The Strait of Niagara, or the Niagara River, as it is commonly called, ranks among the wonders of the world. The study of this stream is of intense and special interest to many classes of people, notably historians, archæologists, botanists, geologists, artists, mechanics, and electricians. It is doubtful if there is anywhere another thirty-six miles of riverway that can, in this respect, compare with it.
The term "strait" as applied to the Niagara correctly suggests the river's historic importance. The expression, recurring in so many of the relations of French and English military officers, "on this communication" also indicates Niagara's position in the story of the discovery, conquest, and occupation of the continent. It is probably the Falls which, technically, make Niagara a river; and so, in turn, it is the Falls that rendered Niagara an important strategic key of the vast waterway stretching from the mouth of the St. Lawrence to the head of Lake Superior. The lack—so far as it does exist—of historic interest in the immediate Niagara region, the comparative paucity of military events of magnitude along that stream during the old French and the Revolutionary wars proves, on the one hand, what a wilderness separated the English on the South from the French on the North, and, on the other, how strong "the communication" was between Quebec and the French posts in the Middle West. It does not prove that Niagara was the less important.