While in New York State, the tourist, whether he be American or European, is careful to pay a visit to the Niagara Falls, which have been viewed by a greater number of people than any other scene or wonder on the American continent.  This fact is due, in part, to the admirable railroad facilities which bring Niagara within easy riding distance of the great cities of the East.  It is also due, very largely, to the extraordinary nature of the falls themselves, and to the grandeur of the scene which greets the eye of the spectator.

The River Niagara is a little more than thirty-three miles long.  In its short course it takes care of the overflow of Lakes Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie, and as it discharges the waters of these lakes into Lake Ontario, it falls 334 feet, or more than ten feet to the mile.

The rapids start some sixteen miles from Lake Erie.  As the river channel suddenly narrows, the velocity of the current increases with great abruptness.  The rapids are but a third of a mile in length, during which distance there is a fall of fifty-two feet.  The boat caught in these rapids stands but a poor chance, as at the end of the torrent the water dashes down a cataract over 150 feet deep.  The Canadian Fall passes over a rocky ledge of immense area, and in the descent leaves a space with a watery roof, the space being known as the “Cave of the Winds,” with an entrance from the Canadian side.  The Canadian Fall has a sweep of 1,100 feet and is considerably deeper than the other.

It is little more than a waste of words to endeavor to convey an impression of the grandeur and magnificence of Niagara.  People have visited it from all parts of the world.  Monarchs and princes have acknowledged that it exceeded their wildest expectation, and every one who has gazed upon it agrees that it is almost impossible to exaggerate its grandeur, or to say too much concerning its magnitude.  Even after the water has dashed wildly 150 feet downwards, the descent continues.  The river bed contracts in width gradually, for seven miles below the falls, where the whirlpool rapids are to be seen.  After the second fall, the river seems to have exhausted its vehemence, and runs more deliberately, cutting its channel deeper into the rocky bed, and dropping its sensational habits.

Some writers have hazarded an opinion that, as time changes all things, so the day may come when Niagara Falls shall cease to exist.  Improbable as this idea naturally sounds, it has some foundation in fact, for there have been marvelous changes in the falls during the last few generations.  About two hundred and fifty years ago a sketch was taken of Niagara, and a hundred years later another artist made a careful and apparently accurate picture.  These two differ from one another materially, and they also differ greatly from the appearance of the falls at the present time.  Both of the old pictures show a third fall on the Canadian side.  It is known that about