THE OREGON DAILY JOURNAL, PORTLAND. SATURDAY EVENING, OCTOBER
1906.
GHOSTS there be (boats of past
achievements who steal from tbs
shadowy depths of nowhere, and.
In serried ranks, pass for silent
review alone the paths of memory. Their
buries ring no cheering melody, their
drumheads give no sound, their voices
have no tones and their footsteps fall
with noiseless tread on the misty roads
of an Imagination that grows with age.
The old constable at Fort Brie, dozing
In the sunrays of a warm October day,
shifted uneasily as the slats on the hick
ory bench msde ridges In his back, and.
with eyes still closed, gently murmured.
"Ten rods more and all la safe."
The a-hosts wVre walking for him.
He is himself an old soldier a soldier
f the crown, with flowing galoways of
a vintage long antedated and a memory
that serves him well. Clothed In the
uniform of the Canadian militia black.
with natty red trimmings he keeps his
dally vigil on the sits of old Fort Kris
and passes bis days In peaceful Janltor
shlp of the bloody plot. The site of Old
Fort Brie ths scene of many a san
rulnanr conflict has been Inclosed and
made a part of the Canadian National
Park system. It Is opposite Buffalo, on
the Canadian aide, at the head of Ni
acin river, and atands as a grim specter
of the British barracks that guaraea ins
river In the days when there was en
mity between America and Great Britain.
On the American side of the river la the
sits of old Fort Porter, now a beauti
ful barracks where soldiers are aent to
rest up after bard service, and S6 miles
away, at the mouth of the river, glaring
across at each other (in peaceful rivalry
now) are Forts George and Niagara, the
former In Canada and the latter In the
United States. When the day la elear
and the glasses are good all thla Ions
frontier stretch between may be seen by
tourists from ths top of Brock's monu
ment, marking the site of the battle of
Queenston heights. But the old con
stable at Fort Erie needs no wearisome
climb to view the panorama. The his
toric ground of the Niagara frontier la
familiar to him. Slumber doea for him
what travel doea for others. The noon
day dose not only paints in realistic
colors the landscape of the historic
Niagara frontier, bat summons by com
panies, by brigades, by armies and per
haps sometimes alone and unattended
the almost forgotten heroes of a bygone
day. As he shifts his position and mur
mur "Tea rods mors and all la safe,"
who can tell what he Is seeing.
Ths ghosts are walking for him.
Perhaps they come In overwhelming
numbers, those stojVhesrted, rsd-coated
oldlers, driving fas colonists before
them and cheering for Kins George and
the dragon. Perhaps It la a mighty race
to see whether the small, detached body
of redcoats out on a foraging expedition
shall reach the fort before the body of
American patriots shall aucceed in cut
ting them off. Perhapa the ghosts are
those of the War of 1812, and the sleep
Ins constable sees the rout that attended
the British In the first attack on Buffalo,
July 11, 1H. Perhaps his slumber Is
lighted by the blase of the burning of
Buffalo when the village waa destroyed
by redcoats and Indiana In a later and
successful attack on December II and
14 of the same year, when but one resi
dence was left in the ruins. Perhaps the
scene stands out In strong contrast to
any of these. Mayhap It I a bright
June day. with flower-scented air and
balmy breesea. There la no sign of war,
nod all Is still except for the flying foot
steps and the heavy breathing of the soli
tary figure In the constable's dream
a young girl with wavy hair and burning
cheeks, whose journey is beset with
many difficulties. Now ahe is flying
along a secluded roadway, now climbing
a, prickly hedge, anon struggling through
Swamp and morass, proceeding with un
daunted determination toward her desti
nation, passing along by circuitous
routes, avoiding here a figure that car
ries a gun and looks like a soldlsr with
oat uniform and now hiding until aome
suspicious traveler has passed. And thsn
all Is changed. Wet and dirty, with the
aauck of lowlands and barnyards cling
ing to her skirts, she dashea tato a
British camp. There la the call to "arms,
the quick and silent preparation, the
Jtni sil march, the terrtbls battle, and
sain balmy June day.
This sweet girl of the old redcoat's
dream thla Canadian Joan of Arc
Was named Laura Secord. A monument
has been erected to her memory In the
Old graveyard near the battlefield of
lundye Lane, on the Canadian ride of
the Niasara frontier. Not satisfied
With perpetuating her bravery, the people
of her race, with the characteristic Brit
ish bombast and, vanity, have included
la the tribute to her memory a touching
advertisement of how a mere handful
M British defestsd sn American army
Ays ths inscription on the Record mon
ument: ,- "To perpetuate the name and fame of
Laura Secord, who walked alone nearly
to miles by a circuitous, difficult and
perilous route, through woods and
Swamp" and miry roads, to warn a Brit
ish outpost at De Cows Falls of an ln-
attack, and thereby enabed I.lau-
t Fits Gibbon, on the 24th of June,
with less thsn 60 men of her ma
's Forty-ninth regiment, about 16
tamen and a small force of Six Ns
aad other Indians, under Captain
Ham Johnson Kerr and Dominique
rme, to surprise and attack tho
amy at Beechwoods (or Beaver Dam).
after a short engagement capture
Hoerstler of the United State
Bay, and hie entire foroe of 141 men,
th two fleldpleeea"
As our tittle party of tourists ap-
hod Fort Erie's sleeping caretaker
with a start and asked: "What
that noise? Did I hear anybody
lit" And then a smile rippled
ems the wrinkles on his seared old
atonance. '1 remember now; I was
Ming I waa dreaming of the battle
bake Brie, whan" your Commodore
ry you are from across the border.
an your iss, i Know u. mere
er girls as pretty as American
K as I was aay ins, I waa dream -0
battle of Lak Brie, when
pedore, with boats that h had
himself, captured and destroyed
fleet It was on September 19, 1112,
a relet l of sains Ions sines dead
- - "
aaw" LSS ji
jdkhi IvDL iai'i iVsk. 1
l HEflB tfS BnanBasaasnnBsBn
served one of the suns on a British
ship that went down. He often told me
Of that battle, and In mv dreama T
him training his sun and lighting his
fuse for one last ahot before the water
should run into the nossla of the run
on the badly careening ship. Just aa ho
fired I woke up, and I thought that the
noise of the Mot had awakened me.
But the bottle was fought too long ago
and the scene of ths engagement was
ar away ror ma to have heard the
snoi. it must have been something else,
I am an old man now and thinars in n
always clear to mo, Thla. ladles and
sanuemen. is old rort Erie. Here we
sos remains of ths old British store
house or bullet-proof retreat, and there
are the earthen breastworks thrown un
at snglee that enabled the defenders to
meei me attacking force with a terrible
fire. Here on the other aide you see"
And so he wandered on through the
Intricate maaea of the lecture long ago
learned by heart, while we aometlmea
listened and aometlmea lost ourselves In
pleasing (?) coniectura tn what the
place might have looked like In the days
mat ne 1010 aoout in the days when
frontier fights, revolutions, interna
tional squabbles of sll kinds snd nu
merous bands of treacherous Indians
made the tenure of life all too uncer
tain.
To properly Inspect all the points of
Interest all the battlefields, scenes of
ambuscade and terrible slaughter along
the banks of Niagara rlvsr on both
aides should take about a week. The
Niasara frontier fairly breathes with
historic Interest. From the days of ths
great explorer. La Salle, and the time
of Father Hennepin the first white
man to sss the falls of Niagara, down
on through the yesrs that wltneased ths
war of 1812 and the burning of Buffalo
tne shores of the river have con
tinually been trodden by the makera
of natlona. Blood letting there waa.
too. and here the British and French
have clashed, redman has fought and
scalped we white brother and Ameri
cana ansasod in revolution have grap
pled In deadly conflict men of their
own flesh snd blood. Soldiers of tho
mother country have engaged the In
diana to swoop down upon the settlers
along the shores of Niagara rlvsr and
raised no hand to stop ths savage cruel
ties upon men whoso blood was as red.
if their own costs were not aa scarlet,
aa the hirelings In the pay of King
George of England. Through years of
peace we come to tho time when the
eaglea of war agalA flapped their wings,
and countless slaves escaping from the
South during ths dvH war, wors rowed
across Niagara river by Abolitionists
to freedom Id Canada. And than when
war was declsred with Spain during
the administration of McKlnley, and
the Spanish ambassador, De Lome, was
given a polite intimation that bis room
was more desirable than his company,
ho mads for Niagara, and. crossing to
Niasara Falla. Canada, attracted the
eyes of the diplomatic world In that
direction, while ths stats department
at Waahlngton was demanding of the
Britlah government that he be dis
lodged from his point of van tags. Again
In ths city of Buffals, on ths shores
of ths mighty rivsr, snterprlslng cltl
sene reared in the year 1101 the beauti
ful pan-American exposition, where la
the month of September President Mc
Klnley met death by assassination.
Niasara rlvsr is virtually a strait
asperating ths United Stats from Can
ada and connecting Lake Erie with
Lake Ontario It Is sbout a mils wide
and S5 miles Ions. Its entire length 1
dotted with island, which aggregate In
all 17,000 acres. One of these called
Goat Island la right at tits brink of
Niasara Falls, and separates ths rlvsr
into two channels, each one falling ovsr
a preclph I 10 fast high. Early ex
plorers from ths East followed the
waterways Inland, coins along ths St
Lawrence river to Lake Ontario, in
ceaeeloas efforts to dlscovsr the west
ern country and thea along tho hanks
of Niasara rlvsr to Lake Erie and far
ther wsst. Thus Niagara river early be
came the acene of battles between the
whites and Indians, snd being regarded
as ths water gateway of ths wast was
th scans of a continual son test be-
lBsassaa
ann-k.
I ssvt ' asBsasal an sat SI assassaaJilSawesBi swam Bar
I Sal ' W B I 8 I asBPsBBBT''4r H !
I asaaaaj BT
annas ananas, Wans! fipsw'
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tween' the French snd English for con
trol. The French in the early stage
were tho moat enterprising, snd history
shows that ss early as 107 a French
officer, De Nonvllle, threw up earth
works on ths alt of what la now Fort
Niagara, on ths American side of the
river right at its mouth. In fact. This
barricade waa held and lost with varying
fortunes until 1725, when the French,
after a tricky deal with the Indians,
secured their consent to erect a stone
messhouss on ths slta This was ths
foundation of ths permanent fort there.
It wm captured by ths British In 1760
snd was used by the English ss a post
for tbs maintenance of an open road
of trade from the Interior to the settlsd
portion of the land near the coasts. The
fort played an important pert in me
revolutionary war and waa used aa the
headquartsra from which the bands of
Indiana that ravaged the colontas dur
ing that awful period were sent out.
After the wsr of 1771 it cams Into
American possession.
This story perhaps srtlcle would be
a better word does not pretend to be a
complete history of the Niagara frontier.
It ia rather the faithful chronicle or
what a party of tourists saw traveling
up one side of the Niagara river and
down the other a trip of about 70 miles
There sre many points along the trip
equally as Important aa that of Fort
Niagara. The march of progress the
advance of civilisation has wiped out
many of the spot a stamped with the
mark of history, and It ha remained for
a most worthy organisation tho Niag
ara Frontier Landmark' association to
rescue them from the apoilng hand of
commerce and mark them with appro1
prists tablets. Some Ides of the high
standing of this organisation can b
gained from the fact that It was organ
ised and includes In Us membership rep
resentatives from the following truly
American Institutions:
The Sons of the American Revolution,
the Sons of tho Revolution, ths Buffalo
Historical society, the Society of ths
War of .1812, the Society ol Colonial
Ware, the Daughtera of the American
Revolution, the Children of the Ameri
can Revolution and the Niasara Frontier
Historical society.
Truman G. Avery Is the president of
the Niagara Frontier Landmarks' asso
ciation and George D. Emerson ths sec
retary. It was Mr. Emerson who kindly
made out the Itlneraryfor our party of
tourists and thus guldsd them through
on of the most historic territories on
the continent today. The society In
question has only been In existence
from November of '1000. but since that
Its members have located and appro
priately marked several sits noted for
events that had an Important bearing on
th history or development of the na
tion It will b new to many people to
know thst ss early as lilt newspaper
In the Indian languase was printed In
America. Such la a fact, however, and I
saw ths house in which It was printed.
On of th first places we visited was
th Seneca mission-house, which was
erected prior to ths year 1111, and Is
still standing on Buffam street, in the
city of Buffalo, our starting point. It is
In good prsservstlon. 'Its heavy bswn
black walnut beams snsmlns to be good
for many years to come. In this house,
from KM to 1144, dwelt the Rev. Ashes
Wright, missionary to ths Saneoas, who,
with especially prepares, tft. printed
part or the Scriptures, hymnala, spell
Ing books snd s newspaper tn the Seneca
language.
It Shall be my aim In th remaining
nafses of my manuscript to refrain from
mfhUonlng facia and. fifurs that ar of
lntsrsst only to th particular locality
we are now vlsltng. Of mors than pass
ins interest perhaps Is the McKlnley
monument, ttandlng In Niagara squars
berore the home of President Millard
Fillmore, who resided there from th
time of hi retirement from office until
hi death. In th year of 1674. During
hi administration, If memory serves,
ths nation gained cheap postage, the en
largement of the national capital and
the Perry treaty, which opened Japan to
the world. From here we went to Fort
Porter, and In Its wiHnlty found many
spots where cannons and batteries had
been stationed, especially during ths war
with Great Britain in 1611. Coming
down Into more recent history, we found
sn Immense boulder marked with a
commemoration of the fighting Thir
teenth regiment that captured San Juan
hill In the Spanish war and later did lie
role service tn the Philippine. Part of
a brigade had been atatloned at Port
Porter before the war, and was gtvsn a,
great asnd off when It went to tbs
front. Ths send off, however, Was
nothing compared to the reception It met
when the company came back a little
handful of tattered and battered heroes.
The Thirteenth, It will be remembered,
was also oae of those regiments that did
such remarkable service preserving
order in San Francisco after ths r scent
earthquakes there.
Farther down th river Is the sits of
an old terry aeroa Niagara rlvsr. at a
point where formerly there was a great
hlsck rack. This rock was destroyed
In the building of the Erl canal In Its
tlms the most famous of artificial wa
terwsys but the name atlll clings, snd
a large part of Buffalo Is known todsy
as Block Rock. The ferry has Ions
since disappeared, but before It ended
Its dsy of usefulness thousands of Im
migrants ,to Michigan and ths, mlddls
wsst passed over It to their destination.
A little farther down we came to the
It ol the old Black Rock shipysrds.
where a portion of Perry' hat waa
fitted out, and where, in 111. was built
th Walk-In-th-Water, the first steam
boat on ths lakes. At thl point Sca
Jaquada creek enter into th river,
and it was on th bridge crossing this
that in 114 on Auguat to be exact
the second battle of Black Rock took
place. Twelve hundred British attacked
160 Americana ami made three assaults;
the Americana held tho bridge nobly
and repulsed the British, saving their
supplies. The first battle of Black Rock
was fought near by, and It waa also a
victory for the Americana. .
There are few sites, howsver, of
greater interest or of more historic
va.ue than the spot where. In 171, La
belle, the noted explorer, built ths Grif
fon, the first vessel other than a birch
bark canoe to ever sail on th Great
Lakes of America. Near thia spot a
little settlement bear the name of La
Salle, and the Niagara Landmarks as
sociation, to which I have frequently
referred, ha erected a monument on
th spot.
Midway on the road between the city
of Niagara Falla and Lewlston ' ar
Bloody Run and Devil's Hole. Here the
Senecas ambuahed a British supply
train on the first return Journey oyer a
newly reconstructed road that ran from
Fort Niagara, at the mouth of the Nia
gara rives, to Fort Schlosser, on the
baSiks of Niagara river, a little to th
south of ths present town of Niagara
Falls. Both forts wsre In the chain of
posts used to keep open the line of trade
along ths river. Only three men out of
100 escaped. A little farther north the
same Indians ambushed a British ' re
lieving force, which hurried sfter them
on news of tbs massacre reaching Lew
lston, Only eight escaped from the sec
ond slaughter. Th Devil's Hoi Is a
natural sort of tunnel through the great
rocks, for which Niagara gorge Is
notsd, and a spot most admirably suited
for an ambuscade. It Is 'a sort of a
gulch, and through It a little stream
finds Its way to Niagara rlvsr. Ths
little stresm ran blood-red on the day
of tho massacrs, and has ever since
borne th title of Bloody Run. The
ambuscade occurred en the 14th of Sep
tember, 171.
Father Hennepln'e nam I associated
with history. He was th flrt white
man who ever saw' the mighty cataract
of Niagara- and the Niagara Frontier
Landmarks association ha discovered
what It believes to be the alt of Hen
nepin's landing and th cabin'whlch he
built. It 1 near the present village of
Lewlston On ths height seat of Lewis
ton I still located a Tuscarora Indian
reservation, and near by, below th
mountain, 1 th site of General Van
Rensselaer's cam a the first , military
camp on thl frontier during th wsf of
1112. On th hill above the Lewlston
ferry landing la the sits whr General
tthen colonel) Wlnfleld Soott planted
hi battery which protected the Amor
loan troops In the first American in
vasion of Canada, on the morning of
October I, 1111.
From iowioion we numwiio run Ni
agara, which Mr. Emerson told us was
ths most historic point in tne wnoi rsi
agara frontier. On the road between
Lewlston and TounStown, th town
nssrest to th fort, we passed a place
known' as Five-Mils Meadow, where, on
the nlsht of December II, 111, tne Brit
ish landed for their attack on Fort Nl
asara. History tell us that thsy won.
and then proceeded at thslr lelsurs to
devastate the whole frontier, their oper
ations Including the burning of Buffalo.
Earlier In my article I hsv referred to
the establishment of Fort Niasara,
From this place the French and English
hsld sway ovsr a vast empire rrom ai
bany westward, first one and then the
othr Ming In control, in I7t it bo
cam an American stronghold. On of
th principal features of Fort Niagara
Is tho msaaslns built In 174. It came
Into the public eye In 1626, by reason of
ths Incarceration thsr of William Mor
san, who conducted an antl-Masonio
orusade. He disappeared from the dun
geonnobody knows how and was
never seen slaos. There was dispute as
to whether he hsd be'ir spirited away
by Masons and killed, or had been sl
owed to eteap. Still stsndlng on th
ground of OTort Niagara now an im
portant United State army barracks
ars two old blockhouses, built la 1771
and 1771. They, It will bo thus en,
antedate the revolution, and are pro
nounced by experts to be the most per
fect sSeclnsns of their kind. Opposite
Fort Niagara la Fori George, built orig
inally as an auxiliary to Fort Niasara at
a time when all that territory waa Brit
lah Farther up ths rlvsr, about appo
site Laariston, w come to the sits of
the bottle of Queenston Heights. .
As Niagara Is the most historic. SO
Queenston Is the most Impressive spot
on all the Niagara frontier. A grassy
knoll, resembling lh some respeots the
land side of Quebec, is crowned with
the Brock monument, a tall and graceful
shaft which marks the site of the battle
of Queenston Heights, on October 13,
1111, when an American force of 1,600
militia and a regiment of regulars at
tacked the Britlah under the command
of General Isaac Brock. The Americans
were dsfeated, and their commander,
Cnlnnal WU,i.l Ua a, . , u - A .A
"Every other commissioned officer- was
either killed or wounded. On the Brit
ish side General Brook lost his Ufa, and
many a British soldier found hie last
rearing place. The view from Brock's
monument is superb, the tourist being
enabled to ass aa far as ths sys can
raoh, almost to the head of the Niagara
river on the south, and seven miles
along Niasara rlvsr to its broadsnlng
mouth and Lake Ontario on the north.
The foot of the monument la surrounded
with cannon, and a stairway on ths In
side enablea those who desire to reach
the top of It It ia 16 feet high and
was erected In 116. From it base a
general descent takes ths tourist to ths
cenotaph, which waa erected In 110 by
the present King of England then
Prince of Wale who visited thl coun
try In 11(0. Th cenotaph mark th ex
act apot where General Brock fell dur
ing the baitle. On the heights near th
monument may atlll be traced th out
lines of Fort Drummond, snd on ths
very edge of the cliff the redan battery
of their period. General Brock wae first
burlsd In a bastion of old Fort George,
previously referred to, th ruins of
which are atlll tn a remarkable atats of
preservation. It was built in 17. en
larged later, and played a moat Import
ant part Irf the war of 1112.
In th Canadian town of Niagara ars
many points of lntsrsst. Among ths
old buildings art) Navy Hall (built In
1720), where was hsld ths first sssslon
of ths parliament of Upper Canada, and
ths old barracka uaed by Butler'
Rangers during .th revolutionary war
as a bass for their raids into American
territory when they, with the aid of
Indians, msde the lives of frontier resi
dents for miles around a constant source
of worrlmsnt. We also find Fort Mlesla
saraugua. built by the British In 114,
Coming along the river from Brock'
monument south or, to be more strict
ly speaking, up stream, we, having gons
down stream on the American side we
come to the battlefield of Lundys Lane,
which Is marked by a monument, a pic
ture of which appears on this page.
Thla monument was erected in 16.
and commemorate sddrsply the "Victory
of the British-Canadian forces on the
twenty-flfth of uly. J114," and Is In
"Grateful remsmbfanM of the brave
men who died on that day fighting for
tho unity of the empire." The monu-
ment waa erected by the Canadian par
liament. Passlngup the river still, ws
ooms to ths site of Fort Chippewa, built
in 170, and the battlefield of Chippewa.
Then on to old Fort Erie. Here we
disturbed the (lumber of the old Brit
ish soldier and listened to an Interest
ing description of the historic site. Fort
Erie was built by MontreaOor In 174,
built again In 1778, rebuilt in 17(0, again
in 17(1 and a fourth tims In 107, though
none of the latter times on ths exact
former location. Near the fort are tho
sites of three British siege works, a Una
Of earthworks, protected by abatis, ex
tending inland for nearly half a mile,
and still further strengthened by block
houses of ths 112 period. ,
Nearby Is the scsns of tho famous
battle of Rldgeway, ths really closing
Incident of the ridiculous Fsnlan raid,
when a handful of Ill-advised fanatics,
after gathering on sn island In Niasara
river, landed on Canadian soil, prepared
to tsks ths country as a protest to Ores t
Britain for ths way In which ths em
pire treated Ireland. Th engagement
soon became a disgraceful rout Thl
was In ll(.
A short distance away Niasara river
broadens out, snd ths widening of the
stresms expanse Into the bosom of
Lake Erie marka the termination of the
historic Niagara frontier and trie end of
our story.
' "AMUEL WILLIAMS HIPPLER.
RABBITS STOP TRAINS
N Texas ths Jackrabblt I no longer
looked on aa a means of good sport
He hss Increased by the million un
til he threaten to not only devour
all th vegetation of hundreds nt -
mile in th southwestern Motion of
th state, but her lately, spurred on
by desperate hunger, he has Maun hold
ing up railway trains by the simple pro
cess of getting himself killed by the
thousands, and ao greasing up ths rails
and blocking ths engine wheels that ths
moat powerful locomotives have been
forced to come to a Mop while th train
bands have god forth and cleaned up
th right of way.
Hunger I forcing millions of Jack
rabbit to com close to the more thickly
Mtttad sections of Texas, and whsrs th
wlr fence are used to keep them out
they have started burrowing underneath.
The brlsht glare of the locomotive head
light has attracted them along th rail
road line at nlsht Thla Is proved by
the fact that the railroad hav had no
trouble with their trains from th Jack
except at night. During the day tho
rabbits attend strictly to making n
trance into th farm lands The Texa
leglslsturs has decided tn an.nH
tlOO.OOO next rnr In an endeavor to stem
"m or tne jackrabbtt Invasion It
I hoped to And soms disease germs with
whloh the rsbblts csn be hnn .i.h ,A
o moat of thorn M swept away. Th
i.mi.u auiii government will also b
ssked to ssslst In ths sclsnUflo sear oh
for soma method of killing off th peats.
A Quorum la Always T IIHIIJ.
rteej the New York Obnmsrclsl
MIh Laara B Psyse, Dominated tot con
grass hy soclsllata in Tsxss. ssys sat will
OriT tta grafters sst of ths aatloa's Usls
latnre, If sleeted Perhaps shs targets that
eontrsss ssaaet trasssrt MslawaO wtthsat s
eneraav I
f
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