Niagara Falls is one of the most famous tourist
attractions in the World, and easily compares with other famous attractions like
the Giza Pyramids and the
Eiffel Tower. Unlike these other famous locations,
however, Niagara Falls is not man-made. Each year, millions of tourists are
drawn to the falls and make it a point to vacation here. Over the years a viable
tourist trade has grown up around the Falls and in the surrounding communities.
It is responsible for drawing in more visitors each year and for bringing in more
commerce to the area.
American Side and Bridal Veil Falls - furthest to right
Even though Niagara is not the largest falls in the world (that privilege
belongs to the Victoria Falls in Africa), they are the most popular, especially
for couples; they even have the nickname “The Honeymoon Capital”. That’s what
the official website says at least, but maybe they were trying to boost up
sales. If you are not the romantic type, but still want to know what the Niagara
Falls have to offer, and what makes them so special, here is your list of
interesting things about them. Surely at least one or two of them will get your
interest, and if you can’t afford a trip, there is always the fact that you can
watch one of the live webcams and pretend you are there.
Canadian Side - "Horseshoe" Falls
15) Water Hoarders
You might have heard that only one
percent of the planet’s water is freshwater. In reality, the number is a bit
more favorable, and it’s around two percent. The only problem is that most of it
is either in the glaciers or underground. So, if you are thinking about the
water in lakes and rivers, then the real number is a measly 0.01 percent. But be
happy if you ever decide to move near Niagara Falls, because the Great
Lakes contain a whopping 21 percent of the earth's freshwater.
That is a lot of water just in itself, but when you keep in mind that most of
that water courses through the Niagara Falls, when you are standing in front of
them, you are witnessing a fifth of the world’s drinking water fall into an
abyss of thunderous roars and mist. If that doesn’t put things into perspective
for you, little else will.
American and Bridal Veil Falls
The Great Lakes are so massive, that walking along the shores is the same
distance as walking half of the Earth’s equator. It might take you a bit, so
make sure you have comfortable shoes on if you give it a try.
14) America’s Oldest State Park
The Niagara Falls State Park was created in the year 1875, which is an
impressively long time ago. The story of how this happened, and that would later
lead to other national parks to pop up all around the states, is all about
sticking it to the man.
Back then, taking advantage of the natural resources that the falls provided
was A-Okay, and many industrialists did so with gleeful, carefree greediness,
building mills and factories galore. However, some early environmentalists
noticed that it was a really bad idea to destroy one of the most beautiful spots
on the continent to make some bucks. In 1860 they started protesting and created
the Free Niagara movement. After fifteen years of protests, the New York state
government finally listened to them and purchased the lands, creating the
Niagara Falls State Park.
By the way, the name of the movement’s leader was Frederick Law Olmsted, the
man that designed Central Park.
Portrait of Frederick Law Olmsted
13) Tropical Storm Simulator
The Falls have lot more to see than just a lot of water falling and being
really noisy. Aside from the whole natural park that you can visit, you can get
really intimate with the falls and visit its nether regions. That’s the Niagara
Gorge, of course.
All you have to do is take a 175-foot trip down the falls in an elevator, and
you will find yourself in the middle of a tropical storm. Due to the mist
constantly emanating from the falling water, there is always a faint rain
falling down in the Gorge, and you can parade all around it. The park’s resort
offers you a nice poncho and sandals, and has a wooden plank walkway installed
during the warmer months of the year so you can see how life is down there for
the local wild life; from the plants that grow down there to all of the
different raining fish.
Well, perhaps it’s not exactly raining fish, but you have to admit that it’s
really impressive that fish actually jump down the falls when swimming
down-stream, and 90 percent of them survive. The other ten percent must be the
easiest dinner a bear could ever have, almost like getting take-out pizza. Or at
least it would be if there were any bears around. Let’s hope there are no bears
around.
12) Look at the Pretty Colors
Watching the falls by daylight is really impressive, but don’t think that the
fun ends when the sun sets. In an effort to make water more exciting, even when
it’s dark, the park installed some flashlights all the way on the other side of
the falls to light them up at night. These are the kind of flashlights strong
enough to blind an alien mother ship and make them curse at you as they fly by.
They are really potent, but they are also of many different colors, and when
they are reflected in the mist and the shimmering waters of the falls, it
becomes a spectacle worth blinding a million extra terrestrials.
But no worries if you are the kind that likes to see things explode, because
in summer, you can see fireworks every Friday and Sunday night. Now that talk
about the falls being such a romantic place starts to make some sense. And if
you feel patriotic, you can pretend it’s the Fourth of July every weekend of the
summer and have an excuse to wear a flag shirt at all times, if you ever feel
inclined to do such thing, but at the same time you need a way to justify
yourself.
11) Hold on, Mate
Daredevils trying to best Mother Nature are nothing new, and when you
remember that the Niagara Falls are the second tallest falls in the world, it’s
only normal that they would attract a lot of wannabe famous, or just plain
unconscious people trying to earn their fifteen minutes of fame, or just get an
adrenaline high.
Tourists Posing for Barrel Photograph
In the past there were many of the first kind; for example, the first person
to survive a fall inside a barrel. It was not a brave man, but a 63-year-old
schoolteacher that wished to make herself famous. She survived with just some
good bruises, but sadly, she died as poor as it can get.
Another famous daredevil was a man named Charles Blondin, who just thought that it
was too boring to simply cross over the falls on a tight rope. So, to add some
excitement, he crossed, with her manager who was twice his size getting a piggy
bag ride. No wonder he had to stop for a rest midway.
Daredevil Charles Blondin born in 1824
In the last decade, two people died trying to best the falls, one of them was
a man that jumped off the falls with a watercraft and whose parachute failed. An
Egyptian tourist was able to take a picture of the impacting moment, which
hopefully will help discourage future jumpers.
10) When Hell Freezes Over
Usually, the strength of the falls’ water crashing down is too strong that it
flippantly ignores winter’s attempts to make it stop. Even in the coldest days
of the year, the Niagara Falls never completely freeze and water is always
falling. Of course, the water flow can slow down, and the riversides freeze
every year; so much that it was a really popular activity to cross from one side
to the other walking on the ice. That was banned a long time ago, so there is no
need for you to get out your snow boots or skates.
However, as said before, it was a really popular practice back in the old
days where safety was something nobody cared about; so when the only single day
in history when the falls froze for good, you can be sure there was someone in
there to take advantage of it.
Aerial View of the Niagara Falls
One cold March day of 1848, an ice jam on the upstream of the river had the
falls completely stopping, and you can be sure there was someone there to cross
over the falls and take pictures. If Facebook had existed back then, it would
have been posted on everyone’s wall.
9) Cleaning Up
There was actually one instance where the falls were completely stopped, and
it wasn’t just for a few hours, either. In fact, it was for quite a while
longer: several months longer. This miracle didn’t happen because God really
wanted a white Christmas that year and went overboard with the snow either, but
because of man’s work. Back in the year 1969, they completely stopped the flow
of the river to oversee an important project.
American Falls During Winter
What was that project? Well, they wanted to primp up the falls, cleaning up
all of the accumulated sediments and loose rocks that had been dragged over the
years from the Great Lakes and into the falls. This task was meant to make the
waters flow better and generally improve the way the falls would look.
Eventually though, and after months of looking really hard, they decided that it
would cost too much money, and the project was dropped altogether. It’s
interesting to note that they went through the trouble of making one fifth of
the running freshwater in the world stop in order to study this problem, only to
decide that it was too much effort. You already stopped the water! Taking out a
few rocks couldn’t be that much harder, Moses.
Canadian Side During the Winter
8) The Goat Herder
This story sounds a bit like a fairy tale, one of those with a moral hidden
that’s meant to teach children some important lesson about life… perhaps about
not blaming your pet goat for eating your homework when you really didn’t do it.
As it happens though, this is a true story about how Goat Island got its
name. To get you up to date, Goat Island is an island that formed 500 years ago
and that currently divides the falls in two. The island was former due to the
accumulation of sediments that were dragged by the currents, and that had been
part of the vanished lake Tonawanda. This newborn island was named after the
goat herder John Stedman, who had all of his goats die - frozen to death during
an especially cold winter back in the year 1780.
That actually makes no sense whatsoever; the story about the goats has
absolutely no relation with the island, unless somehow the goats were in the
island for some unexplained reason and got stuck until they became horned
popsicles. It would be nice, if you happen to visit the area, to ask some locals
more details about this one.
7) Have a Good Swim
There is yet one story left of a daredevil that defied all logic and common
sense and decided that jumping into the deadly waterfalls was a good idea and
that it would be totally fun and awesome. This one brave soul is named Kirk
Jones, a citizen of Michigan.
Niagara Daredevil Kirk Jones of Michigan
Kirk had been planning the stunt for a few years, but he ended up doing it in
one moment of drunken spontaneity. In the middle of a visit to the falls with a
friend, he decided that safety and planning were too boring for him, and he
jumped into the river with nothing but the clothes on his back. He swam
downstream and then fell the 175 feet down to the roaring waters below. Then, he
emerged to the surface, likely having used up all of the good luck of his life,
and after refusing a ride on a boat, swam to the shore and got out of the water
on his own.
Risking his life and the 2.3 million dollar fine had to be worth it, as well
as being banned from Canada for life. At least, it would have been if his friend
hadn’t been even drunker than him and didn’t know how to make the camera work to
record the feat. Better luck next time, Kirk! Oh wait…
6) The Wheel Goes ‘Round and ‘Round
If the 175-foot-fall off the Niagara Falls doesn’t quite cut it for you, and
you want some extra height to make everything funny, congratulations, you would
probably feel nothing watching the movie Vertigo. And you are also a lucky
camper, because your wish can become true.
Clifton Hill's Infamous Skywheel overlooking the Falls
All you have to do to see the falls, not from the bottom of the Gorge, but
exactly at 175 feet above the level of the falls, is get a ride on the Skywheel. This massive wheel is one of the bigger on the world, and it will grant
you a sight of the falls that only birds should have, as well as one of the
whole landscape. It’s also the perfect place to enjoy the lightshows displayed
every night, or the fireworks if you get to plan ahead and book a trip during
the weekend.
Skywheel all Lit Up at Night
It’s a nice thing of the creators to make the gondolas completely closed and
add air conditioning and heaters so you can stay warm and cozy even in the
coldest months of the year. That way you don’t have to freeze to death like poor
Stedman’s goats.
5) Uncle Tom’s Cabin
The falls have inspired many artworks, with dozens of landscape artists
flocking to them for a chance to capture their beauty, but it’s not only images
that they inspire. Famous novelist Harriet Beecher Stowe got inspired by them
too. After one visit, she learned more about the history of the falls, and more
precisely, about the story of Reverend Josiah Henson, and how he had smuggled
escaped slaves through the falls from the Unite States to Canada. An escaped
slave himself, the good reverend had become an author and abolitionist after
becoming a free man and citizen of Canada. He earned some fame for inspiring
Stowe’s character; an escaped slave like the reverend that helped other slaves
make it through the borders, and he used the chance to publish his own memories
and become famous on his own merits.
Uncle Tom's Cabins at Stamford Centre Niagara Falls, Canada
If you are around the area, you sure can go see Henson’s cabin, which has
been since then become an historic site, and where he lived until his death, or
the Underground Railroads art gallery museum.
4) More American than Apple Pie and Freedom
Whenever you think about that one perfect, clear image that instantly screams
“America”; you can bet your britches that what comes to anyone’s mind is the
Statue of Liberty. But as odd as it may seem nowadays, it wasn’t always like
that. The statue wasn’t made and brought to New York until the year 1886.
So,
before that, the national monument that was known as a symbol of all things
American was the Niagara Falls. Everyone who visited the country was bound to
come to the very top of it and see the falls, because if you didn’t, you really
hadn’t visited the United States.
Skylon Tower and Revolving Restaurant Overlooking Falls
It’s amusing then, when you come to realize that only part of the Niagara
Falls is really in USA territory. Because the falls are actually divided in two
sections, one that is called the American falls and another called the Canadian
Horseshoe Falls.
3) The Camera Loves Them
The falls are such an impressive, recognizable landmark that movie directors
can’t stay away from them, and many have used them as background or as important
plot devices for their movies. From having their own movie called, not
surprisingly, Niagara, to showing up in the most super movie of them all,
Superman with Christopher Reeve, Niagara Falls has spent plenty of time on the
silver screen. It’s not only in movies of the last century that you can see the
Niagara Falls featured either. If you pay close attention, you can spot them in
disguise, making a cameo on the first Pirates of the Caribbean movie.
It’s not only movie stars that love the Niagara Falls either. Even royalty
can’t stay away. Back in the year 1939 King George IV visited, and in the 1990s,
it was Princess Diana’s turn to visit the enchanting place in the company of her
two sons.
King George IV
Princess Diana in 1995
2) It’s All About Bows
One of the best things of having a constant cloud of water vapor in the air
is that when you mix it with light, you get one of the fanciest natural
phenomena you can see when light decides to get fancy. Forget about going out to
hunt down rainbows and hope you get lucky, because in Niagara Falls, they happen
every day, all the time. Maybe it takes a bit of the chasing fun out of it, but
it’s also very convenient. Don’t hope to see any leprechaun holding gold-filled
cauldrons though.
Before the year 1925 and the installation of the flashlights, if the night
was clear you could enjoy the sight of moonlight rainbows, which are a rare
occurrence. Sadly, since the lights were added, this is no longer possible.
1) Miracles in the Water
Despite how deadly and treacherous a waterfall can be, and especially one of
the Niagara Falls' size, there has been one case where someone (other than your
dear friend Kirk) survived the fall. It happened in the year 1960, when a man
called Honeycutt took two of his coworker’s kids, 17-year-old Deanne and
7-year-old Roger, for a boat trip around the falls.
Bad luck caused the motor to die out when they were a little too close to the
fall’s brink, and then the boat capsized. Deanne was lucky enough to be grabbed
by a nearby rescuer before she could fall, but little Roger and Honeycutt
plummeted down the whole 175 feet to the foamy waters below.
Canadian Side of Niagara (Horseshoe) Falls
Honeycutt, sadly, died, but young Roger was wearing his life jacket, which
his sister had put on him. He resurfaced and was rescued by one of the tourist
boats that was around the area. It’s a miracle that such a young boy survived
such a fall, but maybe he had a guardian angel that day with him.
Conclusion
Niagara Falls is really something worth seeing, and it’s always nice to know
a few facts beforehand. That way, you can better plan your trip, and you won't
have to rely as heavily on the availability or expense of local tours. Just
remember not to go overboard. You don't want to drive your friends or family
nuts by playing know-it-all. That's almost as bad as being known as the person
who makes everyone sit through a million and one vacation photos. Of course,
having a couple of hundred quality pictures to show off is definitely
reasonable. Bring your camera and snap enough of these pictures so that you'll
be able to pick out some amazing ones after you explore the falls and the
surrounding city.
Whether you just want to use your knowledge to pick the best spots for
sightseeing, aim to try something more adventurous, or simply want to give more
historical or cultural depth to your vacation, there are options for you at
Niagara Falls. This beautiful and historic site is sure to take your breath
away.
