Rochester

a city of New York. It is situated on both sides of the Genesee River. The Genesee here leaps down two precipices of eighty feet and ninety-six feet sheer descent, respectively. Among many bridges is one lined on either side with shops, quite in Old World fashion. The city lies in the midst of what was at one time the leading wheat-producing section of the Union. An abundance of grain and power made Rochester for a time the center of the American milling industry. The Erie Canal is carried across the river here by means of a stone aqueduct. The city is also a central point for several railway systems. In regard to industries, Rochester is now the first of American cities in the magnitude of its nursery and orchard interests. No other city in the world cans so much fruit. It is headquarters for the manufacture of microscopes, cameras, and other optical instruments. It is the third city in the Union in the manufacture of clothing and fourth in boots and shoes. The population is about 200,000. The natural beauty of the city has been enhanced by a series of public parks. There are over a hundred churches and numerous educational institutions, including the University of Rochester, a Baptist institution with about three hundred students. Rochester was long the home of the Fox sisters, the founders of modern spiritualism, and of Frederick Douglass, the eloquent colored abolitionist. Sam Patch, a famous athlete of whom boys have heard, lived here. He made a specialty of leaping from the masts of ships and from bridges, as at Niagara and Passaic, New Jersey. In 1829 he advertised an exhibition leap over one of the falls in the Genesee at Rochester. He made the leap but lost his life.