ENTRY - John Maynard Home Page

FOOTNOTE: NIAGARA FALLS:
Cooper‘s focus on the Great Lakes can be clearly seen in his treatment of Niagara Falls,
―almost the lion of America‖ [cf. Home as Found]. Memories of ―the Falls‖ dominate much of
Cooper‘s writing. The use of ―cataract,‖ when referring to Niagara, crops up frequently over
a span of nearly three decades. Numerous other references have also been located.
I was once asked how many times Cooper had been to Lake Erie. As writers travel much
greater distances in their minds than with their feet, a much more pertinent question would
have been to ask just how many times and with what frequency the Great Lakes and, at the
time, America‘s greatest natural wonder found their way into his works. As can be seen in the
quotes that follow, for Cooper the Great Lakes and Niagara were present in his mind‘s eye
throughout his writing career.
In Pages and Pictures from the Writings of James Fenimore Cooper with Notes by Susan
Fenimore Cooper (1860), Cooper‘s daughter Susan offered insights into what her father felt
when experiencing ―the Cataract.‖ In the second paragraph of her preface to The Pathfinder
(XVI), she writes:
―On this expedition [ 1809] Mr. Cooper saw Niagara for the first time. He was
struck with the grandeur of the cataract; but he felt its sublime character far more
deeply at a later day, when visiting the same ground, after his return from Europe.‖
In her first paragraph of her preface to The Oak Openings (XXIV), she adds:
―He saw Niagara again [June 1847]. The sublime character of the cataract impressed
him very deeply on this occasion; it far surpassed his recollections, and, having now
seen the most admired falls of Europe, he could better comprehend its dignity and
grandeur – the out-pouring of great seas amid those ragged cliffs. The idea of an
Indian narrative, connected with Niagara occurred to him; he would have dated it a
century earlier, and have carried a party of savages to Goat Island ere any bridge had
been built, and while the whole adjoining country was still a forest. Would that the
book had been written! What varied pictures of Niagara should we have had in its
pages; what wild interest of adventure would he not have thrown over its scenes!
With Buffalo and Detroit he was much pleased, from admiration of their growth and
promise. . . .‖
Given the multitude of allusions to ―Niagara‖ in Cooper‘s works, Susan Fenimore Cooper‘s
statement suggesting that the year 1847 made a particularly deep impression on her father
must be viewed in a broader context, for the ―impressions‖ were already there and had been
there from the year 1809 when he, with young Woolsey, first encountered ―the Cataract.‖
That Cooper‘s own physical presence was coupled with ―pictures‖ of a lifetime and thus
created a form of catharsis, seems likely.
A) CATARACT + NIAGARA FALLS:
1) It was thirty-three years after the interview which we have just related that an
American army was once more arrayed against the troops of England; but the scene
was transferred from Hudson‘s banks to those of the Niagara.
400