Dublin Core
Title
Description
Promotional brochure from the motor age--"There is no Automobile Road Through the Gorge"--was created by an electric railway company started in the early 1890s. Capt. John M. Brinker, a Buffalo businessman, had the perseverance to capitalize a tourist line running between the towns of Niagara Falls and Lewiston, running down through the gorge alongside the Niagara River. Despite considerable engineering difficulties, the line proved popular; tourists would ride in open-sided cars beholding the river's sublime power. A tourist rail line along the Canadian rim had been constructed in 1892, and the two companies were combined in 1902 resulting in the circular route show here.
But the gorge's geology, namely a type of shale prone to erosion and rockfall, eventually doomed the railroad. There were fatal tourist accidents in 1907, 1915, and 1917; landslides destroyed portions of the rail lines and rendered it unprofitable. The company dissolved in 1935, but traces of the gorge railway still are visible today. Source consulted: "The Niagara Gorge Railroad," Amusing Planet.
But the gorge's geology, namely a type of shale prone to erosion and rockfall, eventually doomed the railroad. There were fatal tourist accidents in 1907, 1915, and 1917; landslides destroyed portions of the rail lines and rendered it unprofitable. The company dissolved in 1935, but traces of the gorge railway still are visible today. Source consulted: "The Niagara Gorge Railroad," Amusing Planet.
Creator
Niagara Gorge Railroad Company
Date
Contributor
Format
Type
Still Image Item Type Metadata
Original Format
Bird's-Eye View
Physical Dimensions
22 x 82 cm