Burning Spring, Lord Dufferin Isles, Canada
The Burning Spring was the first of many tourist traps to appear around Niagara Falls in the early nineteenth century. Entrepreneurs transformed this reservoir of sulfurous gas into a popular attraction, containing its fumes with a barrel and pipe. Ushered into the dark
shed seen here, visitors could watch as the gas was uncorked and set aflame. One eyewitness recalled that, as the roiling fumes were lit, “The faces of those standing near looked like the ‘weird sisters’ of Macbeth around the cauldron.” The vapors illuminate this photograph with a similarly eerie glow.
shed seen here, visitors could watch as the gas was uncorked and set aflame. One eyewitness recalled that, as the roiling fumes were lit, “The faces of those standing near looked like the ‘weird sisters’ of Macbeth around the cauldron.” The vapors illuminate this photograph with a similarly eerie glow.
Artwork Details
- Title: Burning Spring, Lord Dufferin Isles, Canada
- Artist: Attributed to J. Zybach and Company, Niagara Falls, Ontario (active 1885–1910)
- Date: ca. 1885
- Medium: Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions: Image: 24.5 x 19.5 cm (9 5/8 x 7 11/16 in.)
Sheet: 26.5 x 20.5 cm (10 7/16 x 8 1/16 in.)
Mount: 36 x 29.9 cm (14 3/16 x 11 3/4 in.) - Classification: Photographs
- Credit Line: Gift of Mariana Cook and Hans P. Kraus Jr., 2006
- Object Number: 2006.563
- Curatorial Department: Photographs
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