THE

CANADIAN GUIDE BOOK,//

WITH

A MAP OF THE PROVINCE.

MONTREAL: ARMOUR & RAMSAY.

Messrs. J. M'Coy, R. & C. CHALMERS, C. BRYSON, B. DAWSON, R. & A. MILLER. Three Rivers, GEORGE STOBBS. Quebec, P. SINCLAIR. Sherbrooke, W. BROOKS. Bytown, A. BrySON. Brockville, W. BUELL. Perth, J. ALLAN. Kingston, RAMSAY, ARMOUR & Co. Belleville, J. HARRISON. Toronto, SCOBIE & BALFOUR, H. ROWSELL, and T. MACLEAR. Hamilton, M. MACKENDRICK. Niagara, J. SIMPSON. London, C. W., T. CRAIG. New York, G. P. PUTNAM & J. DIS

TURNELL.

CANADIAN GUIDE BOOK.

THE NIAGARA RIVER,

which conveys the waters of Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, is about thirty-four miles in length. At its entrance on the left appear the remains of Fort Erie, which was destroyed during the American War; and about a mile below stands the village of Waterloo. Between it and Black Rock, a village directly opposite on the American side, a steam-ferry-boat constantly plies. Here the river is about a mile wide. About three-and-a-half miles below is Grand Island, belonging to the Americans, aud bearing splendid timber. It is about nine miles long by seven in its greatest width. At its eastern extremity is White Haven, whence there is a ferry to Tonawanda, where the Erie Canal reaches the Niagara and skirts it onward to Buffalo. A little to the N. W. of this island lies Navy Island, far inferior in size and richness of soil. During the late insurrection William Lyon M'Kenzie issued his proclamations, as Provisional President of Canada, from the latter island, and a party of rebels and American sympathizers took possession of it. Thither the American steamboat Caroline was employed to convey ammunition and stores from Schlosser Landing on the American side. From this place she was cut out (in Dec. 1837), set on fire, and sent over the Falls about two-and-a-half miles below. This was effected by Captain Drew and a party of Volunteers by order of Col. M'Nab, who was then commanding the British Militia at the opposite village of Chippewa. At this place the Welland River falls into the Niagara. CHIPPEWA is very advantageously situated for ship-building, and many vessels of large tonnage for the Upper Lakes have been built here by the Niagara Harbour and Dock Company. Hence a steamboat plies during the season to Buffalo. Here navigation

ends, and even the Canadian boatmen dare not venture beyond. A little below, the river contracts suddenly to less than a mile, and the current rapidly increases from three to eight miles.

We shall now present our readers with a few paragraphs from Roy's History of Canada, descriptive of the world-renowned Falls of Niagara and their surrounding scenery:

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"Whilst travelling over the few intervening miles before reaching the Falls, you can, by looking upwards, see the calm waters in the distance, whilst nearer they swell, and foam, and recoil, and seem to be gathering up all their force for the mighty leap they are about to make. Mrs. Jameson, when speaking of them, says in her own beautiful manner, The whole mighty river comes rushing over the brow of a hill, and, as you look up at it, seems as if coming down to overwhelm you; then meeting with the rocks as it pours down the declivity, it boils and frets like the breakers of the Ocean. Huge mounds of water, smooth, transparent, and gleaming like an emerald, rise up and bound over some impediment, then break into silver foam, which leaps into the air in the most graceful and fantastic forms.'

"The Horseshoe or Canadian Fall is not quite circular, but is marked by projections and indentations which give amazing variety of form and action to the mighty torrent. There it falls in one dense mass of green water, calm, unbroken, and resistless; here it is broken into drops, and falls like a shower of diamonds, sparkling in the sun, and at times it is so light and foaming that it is driven up again by the currents of air ascending from the deep below, where all is agitation and foam.

"Goat or Iris Island, which divides, and perhaps adds to the sublimity of, the Falls, is three hundred and thirty yards wide, and covered with vegetation. The American Fall, which is formed by the east branch of the river, is smaller than the British, and at first sight has a plain and uniform aspect. This, however, vanishes as you come near, and, though it does not subdue the mind as the Canadian one does, it fills you with a solemn and delightful sense of grandeur and simplicity. It falls upwards of two hundred feet, and is about twenty feet wide at the point of fall, spreading itself like a fan in falling.

"An ingenious American has thrown a curious wooden bridge across this Fall to Goat Island, which you cross only a very few yards above the crest of the cataract. Passing by it, and crossing the island, you reach the extremity of the British Fall on its eastern side. Here a piece of timber projects about twelve feet over the abyss, on which you can stand safely, and view the waters as they rush by, whilst the spray dashes over you, and your frail support quivers under your feet. Here you may follow the course of the waters as they roll from the rude confusion below you, and spread themselves out into bright, curling, foaming green and white waves. To some persons nothing at the Falls appears so beautiful as the columns of mist which soar from the foaming abyss, and shroud the broad front of the great flood, whilst here and there rainbows peep out from the mysterious curtain.

"At the foot of the Canadian Fall, there is a ledge of rock, which leads into a cavern behind the sheet of waters, called the Cavern of the Winds." It is in the form of a pointed arch, the span on the left hand being composed of rolling and dark water, and that on the right of dark rocks. It is fifty or sixty feet large, and the obscurity that surrounds it, together with the strong wind which Plows the spray and water all over you, render this rather a difficult dertaking, especially for young persons.

"Within a few minutes' walk of this lovely scene are to be found all the bustle and activity of life. On the American side are hotels and mills of every description, and a busy town called Manchester, through which passes the railroad that connects it with Lockport and Buffalo. On the Canadian side, too, several mills are built on the edge of the beautiful rapids, large and elegant hotels are erected, and a railroad is in operation from Chippewa to Queenston Heights.

"A little below the Falls the Niagara resumes its usual soft and gentle beauty. The banks here are very high and beautifully wooded. About four miles below, the river has formed a circular excavation called the Whirlpool.' The rapid current here sweeps wildly past the sides of the high and perpendicular banks; and in its course the dead bodies or trees, that come with its reach, are carried with a quivering circular motion round and round this dismal spot. The