Here is located a State Normal School, and also
several extensive manufactories of agricultural implements.
Passing Holley, Hulberton and Hindsburg, we came to Albion, the capital of
Orleans County. The latter village is nicely laid out with wide streets
and shaded by large trees. It contains many handsome residences and public
buildings.
Having proceeded more westward, beyond Eagle Harbor and Knowlesville, we
caught sight of the pleasant town of Medina, about midway between
Rochester and Buffalo, noted for its quarries of dark-red sandstone.
Located in the midst of a fine fruit country, it has the reputation of
being one of the best fruit markets in the State. Speeding through the
thriving villages of Middleport, Reynall's Basin and Cataract Springs, we
neared a deep ravine, through which the Erie Canal passes, following a
natural waterway. Here we met the most remarkable drop of the canal, in
its chain of five continuous double locks, resembling a flight of stairs.
Entering these, the "Marguerite" gradually rose higher and higher; and
when quitting the last of them, she had been lifted up to an elevation of
sixty feet by these five locks, and if we had not observed the busy hands
working for our ascent, we might have been inclined to imagine that an
invisible cloud was slowly carrying us to unknown regions on high.
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