Failure™ Magazine

Niagara Falls

The lost history of an American icon.

Written by Jason Zasky   Filed under History

For a long time, humans have controlled the volume of water that goes over the Falls. Tell me about that.
The U.S. and Canada have been arguing about taking water out since 1909, when they made the first of a series of treaties in which they agreed how much water—or stream share—each side was going to take out. The stream share kept going up and up over the course of the 20th century, and finally in 1950 they agreed that together they were going to take out one-half to three-quarters of the water, and that they were going to divide it 50-50, while still making sure that 100,000 cubic feet [per second] goes over the Falls during the day and 50,000 at night. Then they did remedial work to make it look like they weren’t taking water out.

The flow is typically 100,000 cubic feet per second during the day in the summer. In the winter it’s dialed down to 50,000, which is roughly one-quarter of the natural flow. Anyone who visits between October 15 and April 1 will see half of what they would see during the day in the summer. You can tell, if you know the place. But with all the remedial work, it’s still postcard perfect.

Where is the water diverted?
They take the water out of the river upstream of the Falls and run it through four tunnels—two on the American side and two on the Canadian side. The tunnels run underneath the cities on each side and ultimately feed into giant reservoirs. Then they let the water out through the power plant as they need to make power.

Can the Falls be shut off?
I asked the supervisor on the American side that question and he couldn’t help but crack a grin and say, “Yeah, you can.” They don’t like to talk about it but the [American] power plant has a capacity of a little more than 100,000 cubic feet per second. Which is to say the supervisor can run that much water through his plant. The Canadians can do the same. And that is pretty much the full flow of the river.

But they do dial it down to almost nothing when stunters try to go over, or if a boat gets caught in the rapids upstream of the Falls. It happens more than one might think.

In the book you write: “On every level, Niagara Falls is a monument to the way America falsifies its relationship to nature.” What do you mean by that?
Niagara Falls is clearly a splendid gift from nature as a source of power. But what fascinates me is that even as we have completely mastered it and controlled it and are using it for power, we have gone to great lengths to disguise that and still use it as a symbol that nature is bigger than us.

What is the most remarkable or scandalous thing to go over the Falls?
The schooner Michigan in 1827—a schooner full of live animals—which was the first in a long line of stunts performed to draw tourists. They took a decommissioned schooner and packed it with a variety animals—a couple of bears, a buffalo, geese, a dog—and cut it loose in the rapids. Thousands of people lined the riverbank to watch. By most accounts it was disappointing because the ship broke up before it got to the brink and was mostly underwater by the time it went over, so the audience didn’t get to see the ship crashing to its destruction and the animals yowling their way to their deaths. One bear escaped; he jumped overboard and swam ashore. And they retrieved a goose downstream. But the rest of the animals were never seen again.

Page 4 of 6 pages « First < 2 3 4 5 6 > Last »