In order to have a comprehensive glance of Nature's grandest wonder known
to man, in its climax of sublimity, we took a ride back through Prospect
Park, across the New Suspension Bridge, below the American Fall, to the
Canadian shore. This splendid drive was continued through the Queen
Victoria Niagara Falls Park, opened to the public in 1889.
Following the example of New York State, the Ontario Parliament had passed an act to reserve the western side of the Falls vicinity—the Canadian Reservation—covering an area of about 154 acres, and beautifully laid out.
Here we had the most imposing view; a finer panorama cannot well be imagined.
The concussion of the descending waters with those in the depths below occasion a spray that veils the cataract two-thirds up its height. Above this everlasting and impenetrable foam, there rises fifty feet above the fall a cloud of lighter spray, which, when the rays of the sun are directed upon it, displays solar rainbows, grand in their magnificence.
It was here on Table Rock, formerly one of the most celebrated points about Niagara, that Mrs. Lydia Huntley Sigourney wrote her spirited eulogy on Niagara, which commences with the musical rhymes:
"Flow on forever, in thy glorious robe
Of terror and of beauty. Yea, flow on,
Unfathomed and resistless. God hath set
His rainbow on thy forehead, and the cloud
Mantled around thy feet. And he doth give
Thy voice of thunder power to speak of him
Eternally,—bidding the lip of man
Keep silence,—and upon thine altar pour
Incense of awe-struck praise."
Three miles below the falls is the Whirlpool, a vast basin formed by the projection of a rocky promontory on the Canadian side, against which the waters rush with such violence as to cause a severe reaction and rotary motion; and in it logs and trees are frequently whirled around for weeks in succession.
Geology has accepted as a matter of certitude that within the memory of men now living, the Falls have receded 100 feet, and authorities in that science have stated the fact, that the retrocession—estimated from one inch to one foot per year—began near Lewiston. The whole waters of the lakes there foamed over this dam several miles in width.
The name "Niagara" is supposed to belong to the vocabulary of the Iroquois language, meaning "Thunderer of Waters."
The first white visitor to Niagara Falls was Father Hennepin, a priest and historian, accompanying Chevalier Robert de la Salle on his discoveries. He published the first description of "this wonderful Downfall" in 1678.