COMMISSIONERS OF THE STATE RESERVATION AT NIAGARA. Under the foregoing act Governor Cleveland appointed as Commissioners of the State Reservation at Niagara, ex-LieutenantGovernor William Dorsheimer, of Buffalo; ex-Comptroller Andrew H. Green, of New York; Hon. J. Hampden Robb, of New York; Mr. Sherman S. Rogers, of Buffalo, and Martin B. Anderson, LL. D., of Rochester. The Commission organized at Albany, May 29, 1883, by electing Dr. Anderson President, and Mr. Robb as Treasurer and Secretary. The names of the Commissioners and Officers from the organization of the Commission to the present time, with their respective terms of office, are as follows:

COMMISSIONERS OF THE STATE RESERVATION AT NIAGARA SINCE THE ORGANIZATION OF THE COMMISSION.

SUPERINTENDENT OF THE RESERVATION.

For Superintendent of the Reservation, the Commissioners selected the Hon. Thomas V. Welch, of Niagara Falls, and

Mr.

18 years continuous and faithful devotion by him to the interests of the State has proved the felicity of the choice. Welch, having lived for many years within sound and sight of the Falls, was thoroughly imbued with the spirit which led to the acquisition of the Reservation by the State, and as a member of Assembly from the Niagara district had given efficient aid in forwarding the necessary legislation at Albany. He has been a conscientious and efficient officer, and during the past year all the present Commissioners and all the surviving ex-Commissioners joined in giving him a token of their personal and official esteem in the shape of a superb silver loving cup, inscribed as follows: "Presented to Thomas V. Welch, Superintendent of the State Reservation at Niagara, by the present and all the surviving Commissioners of the Reservation, in appreciative recognition of his faithful and efficient services. Andrew H. Green, Charles M. Dow, George Raines, Thomas P. Kingsford, Alexander J. Porter, J. Hampden Robb, John M. Bowers, Robert L. Fryer, William Hamilton, James Mooney."

LOCATION OF THE RESERVATION.

On June 9, 1883, in performance of the duty imposed by the act creating this Commission, the Commissioners met at Niagara Falls for the purpose of selecting and locating such lands as, iu their opinion, were needed for the preservation of the Falls and the restoration of the surroundings to their natural condition. After spending several days in making a careful examination of the premises, the Commission adopted the following resolution:

"Resolved, That in the judgment of this Board, it is desirable to select and locate, as proper and necessary to be reserved for the purpose of preserving the scenery of the Falls of Niagara and restoring the said scenery to its natural condition, the following lands situate in the village of Niagara and the county of Niagara, to wit: Goat Island, Bath (now Green) Island, the Three Sisters. Luna Island, Chapin Island, and the small islands adjacent to said islands in the Niagara river, and the bed of said river between said islands and the main land of the State of New York, and also the bed of said river between Goat Island and the Canadian boundary; also a strip of land beginning near Port Day in said village and running along the shore of said river, to and including Prospect Park and the cliff and debris slope under the same, substantially as shown by that part colored green on the map accompanying the fourth report of the Board of Commissioners of the State Survey, dated March 22, 1880; and including also at the east end of said strip sufficient land not exceeding one acre for purposes convenient to said Reservation, and also including all lands at the foot of said Falls, and all lands in said river adjoining said islands and the other lands herein before described."

The area of the Reservation is as follows:

Land on main shore (original survey)...

Acres.

25.530

Made land on main shore (original survey).

0.520

Islands (original survey)...

80.006

Made ground on Bath Island (original survey).

0.860

The limits of the strip on the mainland

which extended in

a great crescent shaped bend along the northeastern shore of the river for a mile and a quarter, and varied in width from a minimum of about four rods to a maximum of about forty-eight rods at Prospect Park were laid out to coincide with a natural ridge within which were embraced all points from which the Falls were visible. A larger part of this area was then fenced in for the purpose of exacting payment from all who desired to see the cataract. Beyond those limits no view of the Falls could be obtained, and at the time that this Commission began its operations, the Falls could not be seen from a foot of American soil without paying for the privilege.

It was suggested that the limits of the Reservation should be extended along the shore so as to include the Whirlpool, but although the desirability of the extension was obvious from the artistic standpoint, the Commissioners deemed it undesirable upon economic grounds to plan upon too extensive a scale a Reservation for which, as yet, the State had made no appropriation. The tract located was even smaller than that recommended by the Commissioners of the State Survey.

The Commissioners then requested the State Engineer and Surveyor to make a map of the lands located, and he assigned Mr. Thomas Evershed, engineer of the western division, to the task. By September 27, 1883, the map was laid before the Commissioners, and on December eighth was approved and adopted by them.

APPRAISAL AND AWARD.

Retaining Messrs. Allen, Movius & Wilcox, of Buffalo, as attorneys, the Commission presented a petition to the Supreme Court, January 26, 1884, praying for the appointment of Commissioners of Appraisement; and the Court appointed as such

Commissioners, Messrs. Luther R. Marsh of New York, Matthew Hale of Albany, and Pascal P. Pratt, of Buffalo.

During the month of July, 1884, the Commissioners of Appraisement held many sessions and took a great volume of testimony as to the value of the property to be taken by the State. In the course of the trial, a question of great importance arose concerning the right of riparian owners to receive compensation for potential but unused water power. The proprietors of islands and riparian lots claimed that they owned the bed of the river; and independently of this that they had the right to use without limit the power afforded by the rapids and Falls. They claimed, therefore, that they should be compensated for the value of this vast water power, even where it had not been reduced to use. Upon this basis they were prepared to present claims aggregating twenty or thirty million dollars an amount which, if just, would have rendered the cost of proposed Reservation prohibitive.

After a careful hearing and full argument of these claims the Commissioners of Appraisement rejected all such claims except where the water power had actually been reduced to use and had been used for a period, long enough to create a prescriptive right. They held (1), that Niagara river was a public stream and its bed and waters belonged to the State; (2) that as against the State, private riparian owners had no right to encroach upon its bed, to divert its waters, or to subject them to the burden of manufacturing uses, unless they had acquired such right by grant from the State or by prescription.

After the exclusion of such claims for unused water power, the claims of the property owners amounted to about $4,000,000. Of this amount, the Commissioners of Appraisement finally awarded only $1,433,429.50.