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APPENDIX.
The Seneca Chief was superbly fitted up for the
occasion, and among other decorations her cabin was
adorned with two paintings, of which the following is a
description.--One was
a
view of Buffalo Harbour, a section of
Lake Erie, Buffalo Creek, and its junction with the
Canal, &c.: the whole representing the scene exhibited
at the moment of the departure of the Seneca Chief. The
other was a classic emblematical production of the
pencil. This piece, on the extreme left, exhibited a
figure of Hercules in a sitting position, leaning on his
favourite club, and resting from the severe labor just
completed. The center shows a section of the Canal,
with a lock, and in the foreground is a full length
figure of Gov. Clinton, in Roman costume; he is supposed
to have just flung open the lock gate, and with the
right hand extended, (the arm being bare,) seems in the
act of inviting Neptune, who appears upon the water, to
pass through and take possession of the watery regions
which the Canal has attached to hi former dominions; the
God of the Sea is upon the right of the piece, and
stands erect in his chariot of shell, which is drawn by
sea-horses, holding his trident, and is in the act of
recoiling
with his body,
as
if confounded
by the fact disclosed at the
opening of the lock; Naiades are sporting around the
sea-horses in the water, who, as well as the horses
themselves, seem hesitating, as if half afraid they were
about to invade forbidden regions, not their own. The
artist is a Mr. Catlin, miniature-portrait painter.
Besides the paintings, the boat carried two elegant
kegs, each with an eagle upon it, above and below which
were the words-- “Water of Lake Erie." These were filled
from
the
Lake, for the purpose of being mingled with the Ocean on
their arrival in New York. The Committee deputed by the
citizens of Buffalo, and attached to this boat, was
composed of the following gentlemen, viz.-Hon. Judge
Wilkinson, Captain Joy, Colonel Potter, Major Burt,
Colonel Dox, and Doctor Stagg.
In
addition to the- boats above enumerated, was
another, which, with its cargo, was more novel than the
whole. This was "Noah's Ark," literally stored with
birds, beasts, and "creeping things." She was a small
boat, fitted for the occasion, and had on board, a bear,
two eagles, two fawns, with a variety of other animals,
and birds, together with several fish - not forgetting
two Indian boys, in the dress of their nation--all
products of the West.
At
BLACK
ROCK
the Celebration was commenced previously to the arrival
of the Seneca Chief. Early in the morning a very
handsomely fitted boat, called the Niagara, of Black
Rock, started down the Canal, with several respectable
citizens and some distinguished guests on board.*
* From the mouth of
Buffalo Creek, the Canal runs close along the
Lake shore to Black Rock, and thence along the Bank of
Niagara River to the mouth of Tonnewanda Creek, ten
miles from Buffalo, with a descent
of a half inch in each mile; at the mouth of this Creek
is a dam of four feet six inches,
and
the Canal enters the pond formed by this dam:--this
Creek had a descent of only one foot in twelve miles,
and the Canal follows the Creek, or rather the Creek
forms the Canal these twelve miles, having a tow-path
formed
along its bank; at the
end of this distance, leaving the Creek; a deep cut
commences, which extends seven and a half miles, in a
North Easterly direction, across what is called the
Mountain Ridge, with about three miles of rock,
averaging twenty feet in depth, and a descent of a half
inch in each mile, to the brow of the mountain. |