of the site of the cottage in the northwest corner of the park has been raised, the high bank rip-rapped with large rustic stones, and a new and desirable view opened to visitors. Since these changes the spot has become a favorite place of observation.

GUARD-RAIL.

A guard-rail of unique design has been erected extensively throughout the Reservation. Its purpose is to admit the visitor as near to the edges of precipitous places as is compatible with safety. It consists of iron-standards, firmly fixed in the rock and curving inward, to which are riveted either three or five lines of strong piping, according to the requirements of the place. The standards are cast in a foundry in Niagara Falls and the railing is built by the employees of the Reservation.

HENNEPIN'S VIEW.

About 350 feet south of Gorge View, on the edge of Prospect Park overlooking the boiling foam of the American Fall, is a commanding elevation called Hennepin's View, so named after the French missionary who was the first white man, so far as positive testimony goes, to have seen Niagara. This Point, which commands the best general view of the Falls from the American side, was formerly occupied by a wooden platform reached by a flight of wooden stairs. With a view to restoring this and other salient points in Prospect Park to their natural appearance, pictures made in 1845 were consulted. The wooden platform and stairs were then removed, an elevation of rock and earth substituted in the similitude of a natural formation, the walk carried over the elevation, seats arranged for visitors and an inconspicuous but substantial guard-rail erected.

THE INCLINED RAILWAY.

Just south of Hennepin's View is the Inclined Railway, an archaic device constructed 64 years ago for the conveyance of visitors from Prospect Park down a vertical distance of 160 feet

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to the river's edge. From time to time portions of the tracks, cables, stairs, and buildings have been renewed, but for want of adequate funds, the Commission has been unable hitherto to instal a suitable substitute or to abolish the unsightly structures in connection therewith. The best that we have been able to do so far as external appearance is concerned has been to tear away the wing to the building, and somewhat reduce its size.

Inside, however, material improvements have been made. In 1898, a two-inch water pipe was laid from the city main to the building, replacing the old surface pipes and thus permitting the toilet rooms to be kept open in the winter. In 1905, electric lights were installed in the building, and in 1906 an electric power plant was installed.

PROSPECT POINT.

Prospect Point is the principal view point in the Reservation. Here the natural beauty of the scene was formerly marred by a stone wall enclosure, with cut-stone coping, stone stairs, a plank walk and a wooden platform. All artificial constructions have been removed and the point has been extended and restored to the conditions which existed before the artificial features were erected.

ELECTRIC LIGHTING.

One of the most important transformations in Prospect Park has been effected by the introduction of incandescent electric illumination. By chapter 513 of the Laws of 1892, the Niagara Falls Power Company was required to furnish to the State Reservation at Niagara, free of charge, electricity for light and power. For several years, the Commission, with its well-known unwillingness to do anything which could be construed as encouraging the diversion of water from the Falls, hesitated to avail itself of this privilege lest it should thereby establish a contractual relation between the State and the company by which the rights of the company to take water would be made irrevocable. The question was therefore submitted to Governor Higgins and AttorneyGeneral Mayer. The former advised the Commission to avail itself of the privilege if, as he believed, such action would not