Hayward’s United States Gazetteer (1853) page 652

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652    MINERAL SPRINGS, AND OTHER FASHIONABLE RESORTS,

of the tales of youth — Arabian Nights, and all
— seem tame, compared with the living, growing
reality. Here and there, through the whole ex-
tent, you will find openings in the sides, into
which you may thrust the person, and often
stand erect, in little grottoes, perfectly incrusted
with a delicate, white substance, reflecting the
light from a thousand different points. All the
way you might have heard us exclaiming, Won-
derful ! wonderful! 0 Lord, how manifold are
thy works ! ''

The route by which this cave is commonly
reached is by the daily line of U. S. mail stages
from Louisville to Nashville, over a very good
turnpike road. The stock has been subscribed
for a railroad between these places, and in a few
years the cave will be rendered much easier of
access.

MITCHELL'S PEAK, N. C.

This lofty peak, which now enjoys the reputa-
tion of being the highest summit on the E. side
of the Rocky Mountains, is seen on the road ,
leading from Morgantown to Asheville, through
the Swannanoa Gap, a few miles from where the
Gap is entered. This name was given it in honor
of Professor Mitchell, of Cincinnati, who has
recently determined its altitude to be more
than 250 feet higher than Mt. Washington in
N. H., which had always before been supposed to
be the highest land in the U. S., E. of the great
chain of the Rocky Mts.

MONADNOCK MOUNTAIN, N. H.

This lofty mountain, whose summit is 3718
feet above the level of the sea, is situated in the
towns of Jaffrey and Dublin, about 22 miles E.
of Connecticut River, and 10 miles N. of the
southern boundary of the state. It has long been
visited as one of the most celebrated mountain
heights in New England. The prospect from its
top is most extensive and delightful. The ascent
has been much improved within a few years past,
and, for so great a height, is by no means diffi-
cult. Visitors have not unfrequently found a
serene and beautiful atmosphere upon the summit
of this mountain, while thunder, lightning, and
tempest have been raging below. For a more
minute description, see the towns above named.

MONTAUK POINT, N. Y.

See Mountains, &c., p. 221.

MONTMORENCI FALLS, CANADA.

This beautiful cataract is the greatest natural
curiosity in the vicinity of Quebec. It is about
9 miles N. E. of the city, by the usual land route,
on the river of the same name, which, coming
from the N. W., in a stream about 60 yards wide,
here falls directly into the St. Lawrence, over
a perpendicular precipice 250 feet in height.
Viewed from a distance, this magnificent waterfall
appears like a motionless streak of snow upon
the precipitous bank of the river. It is seen to
great advantage from the St. Lawrence, immedi-
ately abreast of the cataract, where it appears a
mighty torrent, projected with incredible velocity
over the lofty cliff into the river, acquiring a'
fleecy whiteness as it falls; while the sun, in fine
contrast with the snowy effulgence of the falling
water, paints a deeply-tinted rainbow on the vapor
at its base. The breadth of the fall is 100 feet,
and its height, as will be perceived from a com-
parison, is about 100 feet greater than that of

1^

Niagara Falls. The volume of water is so much
less than that of Niagara, that the effect of the
fall, in sublimity and grandeur of impression,
bears no comparison, of course, to the effect of
that stupendous cataract. Yet, from its great
perpendicular descent, the ample woods with
which it is fringed, and the broken rocks which
surround and intersect its channel, sending it
over the brink in foam resembling snow, spar-
kling in the light with its myriad crystal points, it
has long been regarded as one of the most ro-
mantic and beautiful curiosities of the kind on
the American continent. These falls may be
seen in all their beauty and grandeur from the
summit of the hill, near the shore of the St.
Lawrence, and also on the S. side, from a position
which may be gained with no great difficulty,
part of the way down the bank.

On the hill near the falls is the house which
was once the residence of the late Duke of Kent
It is now the residence of the proprietor of the
extensive saw mills in the vicinity. These mills
are carried by water taken out of the Montmo-
renci, about half a mile above the falls. They
have upwards of a hundred saws in motion, and
are said to be capable of turning out an entire
cargo of planks in a day.

It was on the high grounds N. of these falls
that General Wolfe first encountered the French,
in 1759, and was repulsed, with the loss of 700
men — a disaster which he so fully retrieved for
the British arms, though at the cost of his own life,
a few days afterwards,upon the Plains of Abraham.

The ride from the city to the falls, on the S.
side, is through the suburb of St. Roch, over the
St. Charles River, near its mouth, and onward
amidst beautiful farms and orchards to the pretty
village of Beauport, which is well worth seeing,
as furnishing a specimen of the better sort of
Canadian country settlements. The view of
Quebec, of Point Levi, of the St. Lawrence, and
other interesting points, which is enjoyed in re-
turning over this beautiful drive, is sufficiently
splendid of itself to compensate all the trouble of
obtaining it.

MONTREAL,

City, river port, seat of government, and chief
mart of the commerce of Canada. The com-
munication with this city from the U. S. has be-
come so free and frequent, both for purposes of
business and of pleasure, that we deem it de-
sirable to give in this work a brief notice of the
place. Its position at the head of ship naviga-
tion on the St. Lawrence, and near the conflu-
ence of that river with the Ottawa, in connection
with its situation in relation to the U. S., renders
it necessarily one of the most important com-
mercial emporiums of America. It is the centre
of the trade between Canada and the States,
which is carried on by Lake Champlain and the
Hudson to New York; with the west by the La-
chine and Welland Canals and the lakes; and
with New England by the railroads connecting
with its ports. It is situated on the S. side of
the large island from which it takes its name,
and extends, with its suburbs, nearly two miles
along the bank of the St. Lawrence, having, for
some distance, nearly an equal breadth inland.
It is divided into the Upper and the Lower towns,
although the difference of elevation between the
two parts is but slight. The Upper town, being
the more modern, is the more handsomely built

The situation and appearance of the city from


























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