Rand, McNally & Co.'s illustrated guide to Niagra Falls ; with maps and diagrams . land belonging to theState. Part of this they located on Goat and other adjacent 3 33 34 NIAGARA FALLS. islands, immediately above and adjoining the Great Falls, theirpatent bearing date 1816, and signed by Daniel D. Tompkins asGovernor, and Martin Van Buren as Attorney-General of NewYork. An early record says the island once contained 250 acresof land; at present the group contains some 65 acres. The areaof Goat Island is sixty-one and a half acres ; its circumferenceabout one mile. A strip about 10 rods wide a
Rand, McNally & Co.'s illustrated guide to Niagra Falls ; with maps and diagrams . land belonging to theState. Part of this they located on Goat and other adjacent 3 33 34 NIAGARA FALLS. islands, immediately above and adjoining the Great Falls, theirpatent bearing date 1816, and signed by Daniel D. Tompkins asGovernor, and Martin Van Buren as Attorney-General of NewYork. An early record says the island once contained 250 acresof land; at present the group contains some 65 acres. The areaof Goat Island is sixty-one and a half acres ; its circumferenceabout one mile. A strip about 10 rods wide and 80 rods long hasbeen washed away on the south side since the first road was made, in 1818. Longbefore it wasbridged, it wasvisited from timeto time by per-sons to whom itsattractions were ofmore importancethan the peril ofreaching it. Thelate Judge Porter,who visited it in1805, found namescut in the bark ofa beech near theHorseshoe Falls,with the subjoineddates of 1771,1772and 1779. Thefirst bridge to thisgroup was built in1817, and reachedThe next winter the high water and. The Cataract above Goat Island. to the head of Goat Islandthe ice washed it away. In 1818, another bridge was built, but lower down, on the site ofthe present one. This was repaired frequently till 1856, when thepresent iron bridge was constructed. The foundation consists ofoak cribs, filled with stones and covered with plates of iron. Thesuperstructure is of iron, and consists of four arches of ninetyfeet span each, supported between these piers. The whole lengthof the bridge is three hundred and sixty feet, and its width is NIAGARA FALLS. 35 twenty-seven feet. Of this a double carriage way occupies sixteenand a half feet, and two footways, one either side of the carriage-way, five and a quarter feet each. Visitors often ask how the firstbridge was built over the Rapids. A suitable pier and platform was built at the waters edge; longtimbers were projected over this abutment the distance theywished to si
Size: 1498px × 1667px
Photo credit: © The Reading Room / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1880, bookpublisherchica, bookyear1885
