Niagara

Tuesday, September 30th, 1823 – This morning before daylight I was up and at the Falls. I am, like most who have seen them, sensitively impressed with their grandeur. Out of the cliffs of the rock grow Red Cedar, Juglans and Quercus. I crossed below the Falls to the American side and then to the island called Goat Island. It is partly covered with woods of large dimensions; the soil is variable, part rich and part sand and gravel. 

So Douglas is finally at Niagara Falls, and is suitably impressed. He loses no time in botanising and describes how he visited Goat Island. I've always wondered how he actually did that, having been there myself and seen just how fast and powerful the current is in the Niagara River. I'd always thought that getting onto Goat Island would be easy enough, basically a matter of putting into the water sufficiently far upstream and colliding with Goat Island on the way downstream (although with only one chance to get it right). But getting off the island would be another story, in a fast current with rocks and the Falls themselves only just downstream. 

I never resolved how he did that, until now. Turns out there was a bridge! Built in 1817. Rebuilt in 1818. Doh!!