Slike strani
PDF
ePub

advisable, would undoubtedly be the appointment of commissions by both governments to confer together as to its details. Should such a commission be appointed by the authorities of Ontario, I recommend that you provide for the appointment of a similar one to consider the subject. There can be no doubt that many persons abstain from visiting the Falls in consequences of the annoyances referred to, nor can there be any reasonable doubt that the removal of these objections would largely increase the number of visitors annually."

FIRST LEGISLATION.

The result of Governor Robinson's message was the passage by the Legislature that year (1879) of a joint resolution instructing the Commissioners of the State Survey, to "consider and report what, if any, measures it may be expedient for the State to adopt for carrying out the suggestions contained in the annual message of the Governor with respect to Niagara Falls." The Commissioners of the State Survey, of which ex-Governor Horatio Seymour was President, instructed Mr. James T. Gardner, Director of the State Survey, to examine the Falls property and prepare a plan for their consideration. Associated with Mr. Gardner in the preparation of this plan was Mr. Frederick Law Olmsted. On March 22, 1880, the Commis sioners transmitted to the Legislature a special report of the State Survey on the preservation of the scenery of Niagara. This very interesting and valuable document was a careful and elaborate review of the arguments for State intervention, and became a basis for the legislation which created the present Commission.

The report declared that the attractions of the scenery and climate of Niagara Falls were so inviting and the place so accessible by several favorite routes of travel, that Niagara might reasonably have been expected to be a popular summer resort. There was, however, no such resident summer population as might have been expected; in fact, in no other notable pleasure resort in either Europe or America did visitors tarry so briefly. This transient character of the visiting was attributed chiefly to the constant annoyances to which the traveler was subjected - the pestering demands and solicitations with which he was met and the exasperating exactions and impositions to which he was subjected. While it was true that such annoyances were felt wherever tourists were gathered in large numbers, yet at Niagara the inconvenience was greater because the distinctive attractions of Niagara were concentrated within a comparatively limited area. Moreover, the enjoyment of the travelers was marred here to a greater degree than elsewhere, because Niagara appealed to the higher emotional and imaginative faculties, and whatever prevented or interrupted a contemplative and receptive frame of mind caused a deeper irritation than elsewhere amid other surroundings. Those annoyances could be abolished only by the removal of the fees and tolls then exacted and the exclusion of business traffic from the limits affording the views of the chief splendors of the Falls; and the only prospect of such relief, in the opinion of the Commissioners, lay in State control.

The Commissioners reported further that the rapid destruction of the forests, which once formed the perfect setting of nature's gorgeous panorama, and the erection of mills and factories upon the margin of the river, were producing a most injurious effect upon the character of the scene. They advanced other strong reasons for extending the protecting authority of the State over the Falls and immediate vicinity, and said:

"Niagara is not simply the crowning glory of New York State. but is the highest distinction of the nation, and of the continent of America. No other like gift of nature equally holds the interest of the world or operates as an inducement for men to cross the sea."

In conclusion they recommended the acquisition by the State of as much land as was absolutely necessary for the protection of the characteristic scenery of the Falls, to be held in trust forever for the people of the State; that unnecessary landscape gardening or formal ornamentation should sedulously be avoided; and that natural conditions should be restored as far as possible and be maintained.

A REMARKABLE MEMORIAL AND ITS NEGATIVE RESULT. In the same month (March, 1880), in which the foregoing report of the Commissioners of the State Survey was made, a remarkable memorial upon the subject was presented to Governor Cornell. A duplicate was addressed contemporaneously to the Governor-General of Canada. Probably no docu-' ment of a similar character ever bore such a distinguished list of names, and it represents so thoroughly the high character of the sentiment in favor of the Niagara Reservation that we are justified in quoting it in full, as follows:

TO ALONZO B. Cornell, Governor of the State of New York:

The undersigned, citizens of several States and countries, address you by reason of the suggestion lately made by Lord Dufferin, that the State of New York and the Dominion of Canada should secure and hold, for the world's good. the lands adjacent to the Falls of Niagara.

The Falls of Niagara are peculiarly exposed to disastrous injury. The heights of snow, the precipitous crags of great

[graphic][merged small]
[ocr errors]
« PrejšnjaNaprej »