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In 1879, botanist Frederick Law Olmsted,
wrote that he had traveled four thousand miles throughout the continent
"without finding elsewhere the same quality of forest beauty which was
once abundant about the falls, and which is still to be observed in
those parts of Goat Island where the original growth of trees and shrubs
had not been disturbed..." Olmsted concluded that the spray from the
Falls created a natural nursery for indigenous plant life.
The channel of the Niagara River splits in
two above the falls, creating two sets of falls, one on either side of
the island. In 1959-60, the eastern side of the island was extended
about 8.5 acres (34,000 m²) for additional parking and a helicopter pad.
Fill was provided from excavation for the construction of the Robert
Moses State Parkway. The waters immediately around Goat Island are
relatively shallow and studded with islets and rocks, many of them
scenes of dramatic rescues and rescue attempts.
John Stedman - an early pioneer and
miller - kept a herd of goats on the island. The animals all died in the
terrible winter of 1780, but gave the island its name.
The preservation of the island as
parkland is due to the early efforts of Augustus Porter, who in the
middle 19th century recognized the long-term value of the falls as a
tourist attraction. Porter purchased the island and later allowed a
group of Tuscarora Native Americans to live
on the island and sell their crafts to the tourists who came to the
falls by stagecoach and early railroads. In spite of pressure, Porter
refused to tame the environment on the island. In 1817, he built a toll
bridge to the island for tourists. It was swept away by ice, so another
was built the following year downstream. Basil Hall called it "one of
the most singular pieces of engineering in the world". Almost seven
hundred feet long, it soon became the best-traveled walkway in the
region.
In 1885 the island was included in the
Niagara Reservation State Park which is the oldest state park in the
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