Nice view titled Trenton Falls, View down the Ravine, from steel engraving with fine detail and clear impression, nice hand coloring, approx. page size is 25.5 x 219.5 cm, approx. image size is 18 x 12 cm. From: N. P. Willis, American Scenery; or Land, Lake, and River: Illustrations of Transatlantic Nature, publisher George Virtue, London.

Trenton Falls

Trenton Falls is a waterfall on West Canada Creek in Trenton, New  York. Scenic trails were developed by Brookfield Renewable Power and the Town of  Trenton.

The scenic trails consist of the primary trail (stone dust), which leads  tourists to the Trenton Falls Hydro Dam overlook, and the secondary trails (wood  mulch), which leads tourists along the gorge. Near the dam, there is a  collection of rocks in the water that are accessible to visitors by a winding  trail which leads from the adjacent bridge. This specific part of Trenton Falls  attracts swimmers, anglers, and photographers.

The limestone in Trenton Falls contains fossils, and some locals sell them to  visitors. The fossils include: Concularia (an ancient “armored” jellyfish),  echinoderms (spiny-skinned creatures including starfish and crinoids, or sea  stars), cephalopods (shelled mollusks with squid-like tentacles), gastropods  (snails), and bryozoans (tiny moss animals)." Trenton Falls also has an  abundance of limestone deposits. Since the late 19th century, limestone has  contributed to the economy of upstate New York.

The Haudenosaunee called the falls Ka-na-ta-dork ("brown water") or Kuy-a-ho-ra  ("slanting water").

In 1805, John Sherman was the first known non-indigenous person to see the  falls. With funds from Joseph Bonaparte, a pathway to Trenton Falls was created.  In 1822, Sherman and his collaborator, Jarvis Phelps, bought 60 acres of land  from the Holland Land Company but in 1823 Phelps was bought out by Sherman and  the Rural Resort was started. In 1825, the Rural Resort expanded to host  overnight guests. While visiting, a tourist named Michael Moore fell into the  gorge and acquired a crippling leg injury. Maria, Sherman's daughter, took care  of him and In 1831, Moore and Maria were married and acquired the resort. In  1863, the United States Secretary of State, William H. Seward, held a meeting of  diplomats at the Trenton Falls Hotel.

"Once a vacation spot for the country's elite, the falls were all but closed to  the public for 100 years by the various power companies that used the waterway  to generate electricity." Utica Electric Light & Power Company received Moore's  Hotel and surrounding land in 1897. Because of the creation of hydroelectric  powerhouse and the dam in 1899, the City of Utica, New York was able to receive  electricity from Trenton Falls in 1901.

After the infrastructure of the Trenton Falls Hotel failed, the building was  destroyed in 1945. In 1950, Niagara Mohawk Power Company bought the hydropower  plant. Reconstruction of the building was completed in 1984. Orion Power bought  the Niagara Mohawk hydro facilities at Trenton Falls in 1999 and in 2002,  Reliant Energy joined Orion Power. In 2004, Reliant Energy hydro facilities and  Trenton Falls were bought by Brascan Power, known now as Brookfield Power.

William Henry Bartlett

William Henry Bartlett (March 26, 1809 – September 13, 1854) was  a British artist, best known for his numerous drawings rendered into steel  engravings.

Bartlett was born in Kentish Town, London in 1809. He was apprenticed to John  Britton (1771–1857), and became one of the foremost illustrators of topography  of his generation. He travelled throughout Britain, and in the mid and late  1840s he travelled extensively in the Balkans and the Middle East. He made four  visits to North America between 1836 and 1852.

In 1835, Bartlett first visited the United States to draw the buildings, towns  and scenery of the northeastern states. The finely detailed steel engravings  Bartlett produced were published uncolored with a text by Nathaniel Parker  Willis as American Scenery; or Land, Lake, and River: Illustrations of  Transatlantic Nature. American Scenery was published by George Virtue in London  in 30 monthly installments from 1837 to 1839. Bound editions of the work were  published from 1840 onward. In 1838 Bartlett was in the Canadas producing  sketches for Willis' Canadian scenery illustrated, published in 1842. Following  a trip to the Middle East, he published Walks about the city and environs of  Jerusalem in 1840.

Bartlett made sepia wash drawings the exact size to be engraved. His engraved  views were widely copied by artists, but no signed oil painting by his hand is  known. Engravings based on Bartlett's views were later used in his posthumous  History of the United States of North America, continued by Bernard Bolingbroke  Woodward and published around 1856.

Bartlett’s primary concern was to render "lively impressions of actual sights",  as he wrote in the preface to The Nile Boat (London, 1849). Many views contain  some ruin or element of the past including many scenes of churches, abbeys,  cathedrals and castles, and Nathaniel Parker Willis described Bartlett's talent  thus: "Bartlett could select his point of view so as to bring prominently into  his sketch the castle or the cathedral, which history or antiquity had allowed".

Bartlett returning from his last trip to the Near East suddenly took ill and  died of fever on board the French steamer Egyptus off the coast of Malta in  1854. His widow Susanna lived for almost 50 years after his death, and died in  London on 25 October 1902, aged 91.