Gardner, James T. & Olmsted, Frederick L.; Special Report of New York State Survey on the Preservation of the Scenery of Niagara Falls, and Fourth Annual Report on the Triangulation of the State for the Year 1879. Charles Van Benthuysen & Sons, Albany, 1880. One of 100 copies printed. Large octavo, pp. 96, folded engraved plate, 3 folded maps and 9 heliotype prints from photo negatives, 2 folded maps in rear pocket.

The volume is complete and in the original red cloth with gilt cover and spine titles. X-lib. with book plate on paste down and withdrawal stamp on book plate and edge of two text pages, stamp on verso of two maps in pocket, call number removed from spine edge. Ad for this book by Edgar A Werner rare books of Albany, NY on end sheet with penned note above it indicating original owners receipt of book from Frederick Law Olmsted. Plates and maps are quite clean as is text. A very good copy of a rare work on Niagara Falls.
FREE SHIPPING ON ALL ITEMS

By the 1870s, Niagara Falls (Both on the United States and Canadian sides) was becoming an important destination for tourists. However, visitors to Niagara Falls on both sides of the river were dismayed at the uncontrolled and unsightly private commercial development around the Falls. The Canadian side of the river had become known as “The Front.” Visitors were frequently harassed and views of the cataracts were accessible only after paying exorbitant fees. At the time, the leading landscape architect in North America was Frederick Law Olmsted. He designed Central Park in New York City and Mount Royal Park in Montreal. Olmsted had just completed his involvement in California in preserving Yosemite Valley and the Mariposa Big Trees. His son, Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr. was to use his Yosemite report of 1865 when he wrote a section of the Yosemite enabling legislation for the National Park Service of 1916. Olmsted was to share his concerns with regards the deterioration of the Niagara Falls with Lord Dufferin – Governor General of Canada and The Governor of New York, Lucius Robinson. In 1878 both Canada and the United States began the development of "parks" to preserve the Niagara Falls. In New York the Commissioners of the New York State Survey directed a report on the preservation of the scenery at Niagara Falls be undertaken. The Commissioners engaged James T. Gardner, director of the State Survey (who surveyed Yosemite as a California state preserve in 1864) and Frederick Law Olmsted to examine both the American and Canadian sides of the river. The results of the survey are contained in this beautifully illustrated report. The New York State Legislature passed an Act on April 30, 1883 appointing a board called The Commissioners of the State Reservation at Niagara to select lands for the American park. Two years later, the Legislature set aside money for the expropriation of the park lands. On July 15, 1885, the 412-acre State Reservation at Niagara, supported by the State of New York, opened to the public with the promise that it would “forever be kept open and free of access to all mankind".