TABLE ROCK.
The Canada shore can claim one point over all other localities in the vicinity of the Falls, in being the only place where a good view of the cataract can be had without the payment of toll or admittance fees. The effort now being made to create a public park on the New York shore, and thus secure similar privileges in the “land of the free,” is attracting much attention from tourists. Its results are as yet conjectural, but so much has the value of the property become enhanced by the very practices which this plan proposes to abolish, it seems now like a great undertaking to accomplish what a few years ago would have been much more easily brought about.
There are opportunities, however, to pay fees on the Canada side, and to receive an equivalent in return. A staircase leading to the foot of the Horseshoe Fall, permits a fine view from below, and in addition a visit to the cavernous recess under Table Rock and Horseshoe Fall. For the latter excursion, water-proof suits and the services of a guide are necessary, and the experience is one long to be remembered.
TABLE ROCK.
Table Rock itself is an object of much curiosity. It is an overhanging cliff, extending along the bank to the very junction with the Horseshoe Fall. Its shape and dimensions have been several times changed within the memory and observation of the present generation, and “the oldest inhabitants” remember it as projecting far beyond its present limits. In July, 1818, a mass some thirty or forty feet wide, and about one hundred and sixty feet in length, fell into the bed of the river. In December, 1828, three sections, comprising a very large portion of the overhanging cliff, and extending to the verge of the Horseshoe Fall, broke off and fell with a terrible crash. In the summer of 1829, another large mass separated and fell, and in June, 1850, still another, the latter about 60 feet wide by 200 long. The precipice still hangs far out over the perpendicular, and with these losses in view, the reader can readily imagine its appearance before the action of the elements had robbed it of so much that made it celebrated.
Several other objects of interest are to be seen on the Canada side, which will be mentioned further on in these pages, and we will now proceed to a description of the principal objects of interest immediately connected with the Falls. In crossing the river to the American shore, the visitor has a choice of two methods. He may descend the bank and cross by the ferry, or may go over the New Suspension Bridge. If intending to return, he will do well to go over by the bridge and re-cross by the ferry.
THE NEW SUSPENSION BRIDGE.
This structure, although opened to the public in 1869, is still called the new bridge, to distinguish it from its elder brother, two miles below. Previous to the construction of the New York and Brooklyn bridge, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, its roadway being 1,300 feet in length, and its cables 1,800 feet long. It is 190 feet above the river, being suspended from two towers, each 100 feet in height. Access may be had to the interior of the towers, and very fine views are obtained from their summits.
From the bridge itself a magnificent view of the Falls may be had, the finest, in fact, to be secured from any one point, the entire line of the cataract being embraced in a single glance, and in closer proximity than is possible elsewhere, except from below. The view down the river is also a fine one, comprising the deep gorge through which the stream flows, with its precipitous banks on either hand, and the Railroad Suspension Bridge in the distance.
The strength of the new bridge is estimated by the engineers as thirteen times greater than sufficient to bear any weight that can possibly be placed upon it. The year of its completion it was subjected to the severest gale it has ever had to withstand, and safely and successfully “weathered the blast.” All fears, therefore, as to its security in ordinary weather, are entirely groundless.