The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and
Instruction, by Various

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Title: The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction
Volume 20, No. 562, Saturday, August 18, 1832.

Author: Various

Release Date: March 14, 2004 [EBook #11568]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

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THE MIRROR OF LITERATURE, AMUSEMENT, AND INSTRUCTION.

VOL. XX. NO. 562.] SATURDAY, AUGUST 18, 1832. [PRICE 2d.

* * * * *

FALLS OF THE GENESEE.

[Illustration: Falls of the Genesee.]

The Genesee is one of the most picturesque rivers of North America.
Its name is indeed characteristic: the word Genesee being formed from
the Indian for _Pleasant Valley,_ which term is very descriptive of
the river and its vicinity. Its falls have not the majestic extent
of the Niagara; but their beauty compensates for the absence of such
grandeur.

The Genesee, the principal natural feature of its district, rises
on the _Grand Plateau_ or table-land of Western Pennsylvania, runs
through New York, and flows into Lake Ontario, at Port Genesee, six
miles below Rochester. At the distance of six miles from its mouth are
falls of 96 feet, and one mile higher up, other falls of 75 feet.[1]
Above these it is navigable for boats nearly 70 miles, where are other
two falls, of 60 and 90 feet, one mile apart, in Nunda, south of
Leicester. At the head of the Genesee is a tract six miles square,
embracing waters, some of which flow into the gulf of Mexico, others
into Chesapeake Bay, and others into the Gulf of St. Lawrence. This
tract is probably elevated 1,600 or 1,700 feet above the tide waters
of the Atlantic Ocean.

[1] It may be as well here to quote the formation of Cataracts
and Cascades, from Maltebrun's valuable _System of Universal
Geography._ "It is only the sloping of the land which can at first
cause water to flow; but an impulse having been once communicated
to the mass, the pressure alone of th