of the State, occupies a commanding position, overlooking the valley. The
site of old Fort Plain, of revolutionary memory, is within the village
limits.

Having passed Cox and Mindenville, a route of nine miles brought us into
the proximity of the busy town of _Little Falls_, which has a population
of about 10,000. It is romantically situated, and many elegant dwellings
stand upon steep acclivities, commanding views of grand and attractive
sceneries. The chief products of the numerous manufactories are knit
goods. Little Falls is also one of the principal cheese markets of the
Empire State. The Mohawk river supplies the place with abundant
water-power, having at this point a fall of forty-five feet in half a
mile.

Still proceeding on our voyage, the town was soon out of sight. The sun
shone with the clearest splendor from the zenith, beautifully illumining
the smiling valleys, wooded hills, sparkling brooks and dimpled lakes,
which makes this landscape scene so attractive. We were unable to leave
our seats on the stern-deck; for everything around us seemed to have
assumed the character of enchantment, and--had I been educated in the
Grecian mythology--I should scarcely have been surprised to find an
assemblage of Dryads, Naiads and Oreads sporting on the plain beside us.

After having viewed Mohawk, eight miles from Little Falls; Herkimer, a
town of about 5,000 inhabitants; Ilion, with a population of nearly the
same number, and Frankfort, four miles from Utica, we reached the latter
city as

"The sunset gorgeous dyes,
Paled slowly from the skies,"