Niagara Falls, Canadian side, Tuesday night, Sep 20/98.
This morning, I arose about 7 & had breakfast about 8. The interval I employed by preparing for my journey, putting into my handbag what I was likely to need till I get to Simcoe, & had the Gladstone[1] & holdall checked on to Simcoe to await my arrival. As the 2nd boat did not leave till 11, I went into the city during the morning. While passing a bookseller’s shop, I was attracted by a portrait of Dr. Cairns,[2] the frontispiece to Dr. McEwen’s memoirs. I was cheered to see it. I called at Cook’s to see if any letters. Didn’t expect there would be, but better to enquire before leaving. By the way, I wrote to N. York & asked them to forward what letters & papers waiting on to Simcoe. I returned to hotel. On my way, called at the Bank of British North America & got some money. Exchange is low at present, so I came out with somewhat less than satisfactory. However, this is the rule outside of our glorious little island & exchange is variable. After squaring up at the hotel (& by the way, the Walker is a very good house to stay at, good table, very clean, well conducted & apparently always very throng). I made [7:18] my way to the Niagara wharf, foot of Yonge St. She was not at the wharf but just coming in from Niagara River, where she left Queenston at 7:45, 4 services each way daily, 5th was discontinued Sep. early & the service for the season closes next month late. A few passengers got off & a quantity of fruit, principally peaches, was discharged. Peaches are commoner here than apples are with us, & such peaches, as big as large Baldwins.
We left at 11 punctually. The hotel porters fetch the luggage down so we have no trouble, & place it on board for us & into a baggage room where it can be had if required. It was a very charming morning, clear & mild, & as we left Toronto, the city looked so grand with its spires, high buildings & trees every where, & as Toronto is built on a gentle slope, a fine view is obtainable. As the steamer is a little way off, I admired the picture & has [sic] it on my mind. I may get it strengthened if I go back same way. A quantity of passengers were on board & the luxuriously fitted-up paddle steamer, “Chicora”, licensed to carry 800, chairs by the dozen on the upper deck while the saloon is upholstered & carpeted, drawing room style. We passed a sister vessel on our passage across, the Cordora, & she looked well as we closely passed each other on Lake Ontario. We had a very delightful passage across & at 1:15 p.m. was just entering the fine river Niagara, broad at entrance [7:19] & a beautiful perspective from the deck of steamer. On the entrance, right bank (or our left), is a fort, Niagara Fort, but no signs of defence thereon, & on the other side a pretty watering place with a noble hotel. This is Niagara on the lake & here we stopped to discharge & take up, but not for more than 5 minutes & off again, & now into the river proper, pretty scenery all the way up to Lewiston, our 2nd call, & this on the American side where many got off to go up to the falls by that side.
I went on to Queenston, just across the river at an angle & on the Canadian side, where electric cars were waiting, so were they at Lewiston. We were soon on rail, no waiting, & we gradually ascended until we attained a great height & curve course all the way up, & such views of the river & scenery as you would be charmed to see. I snapped the Chicora just as we got a short way on. She was proceeding up river. Well, we soon got to the summit where Brock’s[3] great monument is, & saw also the spot where he fell. It is covered by a dwarfed monument. The conductor calls out all places of interest as we go along, & a rare rate they drive the cars. Still, you can grasp all nicely as the views are so near, & we above them. On the American side, the cars run low down along the bank side & near the river, but the Canadian side is rather rugged & varied, so the cars are on the top of cliffs & a most [7:20] delightful view is obtainable about. Here were fields well cultivated & innumerable orchards, chiefly peaches. From the heights, the river looked so grand & we gradually neared the cataracts & rapids, & all interest was centered as view after view, all different, opened up. Then we came to the great whirlpool rapids & these were a grand sight as the raging torrents swirl round & round, & on the surface was a quantity of wood which rotated with the swirling rapids, & was quite delightful to gaze on. Here the car describes a horse shoe which forms the great pool, & we look deep, deep down upon it as we glide along, slowly at some points, then the very high bridges we occasionally cross, & stop on each for a minute to gaze down the gorge beneath. Soon we came to a place where you leave the car to de[s]cend to view the rapids. The car goes on, but by the time you get up again, another car is forward. The de[s]cent is by elevated railway, just like Saltburn. I was the only one who got off & went down, & I was pleased I had, as it was a fine sight & I snapped a view, No. 2. As I was ascending, the down car had 2 men in & one had a camera. I soon got a car & onwards to Niagara, but we passed 2 very magnificient [sic] bridges which span the river, one for railway traffic, & a beautiful sight it was to see 2 trains on it. This is called the suspension bridge, & only a short distance up is a cantilever [7:21] bridge, also a fine piece of work, & now we are near Niagara & can hear its roaring noise, & all are intent to catch a glimpse, & at 3:15 we were just opposite the Great Niagara Falls, & oh, what a most glorious sight, & then only a very short distance higher up is the finest of all sights, the Horse Shoe Falls. I shall not attempt to describe these. They cannot be exaggerated & your imagination cannot compass the vastness & awful grandeur of these great natural wonders. You can fancy, if you like, the Tweed running over the cliffs edging the Magdalene Fields at Berwick, & then you have only a faint notion, as the volum[e] of water here is like a sea, & as it surges over into the great whirlpools below, a cloud, aye, & big is the cloud, of mist that rises like a steam from a great geyser. I stood during the afternoon on the platform that forms a part of every photo you see of the Horse Shoe Falls & looked at the rushing mighty water rolling over the great precipice & oh, the charm & delightsomeness! I could have stood hours, but soon I should have been wet with the mist & spray from the raging rapids above the fall.
Well, I’ve got afront of events & must return to arriving at Niagara, which is a fine little town on the Canadian side & Niagara [7:22] town, a large, important manufacturing center on the American side, & the finest bridge I’ve yet seen spans the river just a short distance below the falls, which are on the American side. The Horseshoe Falls are on Canadian territory. The car goes 2 ½ miles beyond this point, & all the way by the river side to an old settlement called Chippewa, on the river Welland. The journey is to view the rapids above the Horseshoe Falls & very grand is the sight, as the Niagara is very broad here & you get an idea of the immense volume of water which flows over these precipices, & on this journey the car crosses a fine run of rapids, on a bridge spanning this portion of the river. At Chippewa, there was an old barque, now dismantled, but evidently a fine ship at one time, & one of the traders on these lakes in days gone by. On returning & passing the Horseshoe Falls, I got a snap of a portion only, but at the moment, a pretty rainbow was visible, & I chanced this view. The outline will be there, if nothing else, & a little further on, I got the American Falls. We were now nearing the fine bridge end again & here I left the car, immediately opposite the Hotel La Fayette & where I had been advised to stay, & a fine place it is, with perfect view. It is 5 stories high & on [7:23] the roof, which is flat, a large area, chairs, lots of them, a “lift” up to the very level. You get a magnificent view of all that is to be seen at a glance, & from here I took a shot of the fine bridge immediately below. This bridge is a grand picture itself & worth coming a long way to see it, so I trust the photo will be fair. Now don’t imagine that all these sights are at great distances from each other. You can see all in one view & within the radius of distance equal in size to Hartlepool harbour, from the ferry looking up to the fish landing, & in one hour, taking it very leisurely, you can see & inspect every object that bears world wide popularity. It’s certainly a most wonderful sight. I am delighted beyond expression to have been so highly privileged as to witness this natural wonder. It is awfully grand. The roar of the falls is music to the ear, never silent. I can, in a degree, give you the impression of the sound after you’ve got somewhat accustomed to it & it’s this, hearing from our house the sound in early morning – quiet – of a locomotive blowing off, at high pressure, steam. That’s the sound. Then you know it will soon cease, but this, never. After I had got myself settled, I went out & viewed again these falls. Then I went across the bridge on the elec. car, 15c. return (the toll is 5c.), to the American side & viewed closely the falls from one of the points [7:24] (I should say the many points), where platforms & erections are placed for view. Then 4 wheelers run a circle which is called Goat Island round, fare 15c., & they put you down at points of interest, & you stay as long as you like, then back to where you got off, & pick up another trap & on to the next point & so on. The falls, Horseshoe, Three Sisters, islands amongst the rapids & joined by bridges, so you get well into these rapids. Also you cross the rapids on a bridge, low, just above the Horseshoe Falls. I walked over this. I got back to hotel at 6:15, had tea, then wrote some postcards. Willie will get one, Andy, Thomas, the minister, No. 29. Then I went out for a walk & to hear again the voice of nature, & the first of the new moon was over head but not strong enough to cast her light on the great sight. Electricity every where & no lack of motor power, as you may imagine, & every place is well lighted. The bridge is a fair panorama with lights & the cars blazing with light.
The snaps I’ve taken this afternoon are:
No. 1 Steamer “Chicora” on Niagara River leaving Queenston.
2, Railway suspension bridge from elevator which I de[s]cended to the river rapids side.
3, Same bridge from elec. car after I had come up & joined the following car.
4, Series of small falls below the new suspension bridge.
5, Horseshoe Falls (& rainbow, if in it).
[7:25]
6, The Am. Falls from immediately opposite & a rainbow there also from car.
7, Suspension bridge from roof of Hotel La Fayette.
8, Horseshoe Falls from another point.
9, Am. Falls again from opposite.
So far this is all, & I hope some, if not all, will come out & give you all some notion of the wonders of the world.
Referring to No. 4, these falls are the waste water from the mills above them on the American side, but they are a sight by no means inferior. The rush of water is enormous & the spaces between each flow lends to these what is absent in the Great Falls.
Then the bridge, No. 7, they still call it the suspension bridge because it occupies the site whereon the original suspension bridge stood. This is a single arch bridge built of steel, very light in appearance & quite skeleton in architecture. It’s a noble erection & you can gaze on it long & yet feel amazed, & as I before said, when lighted by electricity, it presents quite a spectacle.
[1] A suitcase with flexible sides on a rigid frame that opens flat into two equal compartments
[2] Rev Dr. John Cairns, United Presbyterian Minister in Berwick-upon-Tweed.
[3] Sir Isaac Brock, a British soldier who commanded the British and Canadian forces at the beginning of the War of 1812. While leading his troops against the Americans at the battle of Queenstown he fell mortally wounded.