Niagara Falls： America's First Tourist Attraction

Nettled on the border between the U.S. and Canada is one of the world's most beautiful natural wonders. The rampaging waters of Niagara River are thrown out into the open air of a gorge, falling over 100 feet in an endless rhythm that has gone on for 10,000 years. Niagara Falls has been wowing visitors for hundreds of years. It was one of America's first tourist attractions, as train companies encouraged people to travel there to view this wonder of nature. In the process, it also became one of the first places to pose the problem of whether the government should be responsible for encouraging the use of natural resources to further the economy, or for conserving those resources for future generations to enjoy. The Great Lakes of North America are collectively the largest repository of freshwater on Earth, comprising over 20% of the total freshwater by volume. The two smallest of these, Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, are connected by the Niagara River, a short 36-mile, 58-kilometer waterway that travels north from Erie to Ontario. The marked difference in elevation between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, a drop of over 325 feet, 100 meters, contributes to how fast the water of the Niagara River flows, an average of over 204,000 cubic feet per second, or 5,800 cubic meters. This high water flow and difference in elevation created, over the course of 10,000 years, the Niagara Gorge, a channel carved in the surrounding rock that results in a sudden drop of 167 feet, 51 meters. A small island in the middle of the river at the top of the gorge, Goat Island, splits the river in two, creating two sets of waterfalls, the American Falls on the U.S. side, and the far more famous and spectacular Horseshoe Falls, also called the Canadian Falls because it's on the Canadian side. The incredible power of erosion continues to move Niagara Falls an average of one foot every year, and it's estimated that 50,000 years from now, the river will finish carving the channel all the way back to Lake Erie, and the falls will cease to exist. But in the meantime, an average of 99,000 cubic feet per second, or 2,800 cubic meters, travels over the falls, making the spectacular drop that results in a whirlpool at the base of the falls, roaring white water, and, often on sunny days, rainbows. The History of the Falls The first European to describe Niagara Falls was the famed French explorer Samuel de Champlain, the founder of the French colonies of Quebec and New France, who is purported to have visited the area in 1604, and though he didn't actually visit the falls himself, members of his party did, and he described what they reported to him in journals. Belgian missionary Louis Hanepin provided the first detailed description of the falls when he visited in 1677, and soon all of Europe was captivated by them. British Army Captain Thomas Davies painted them in 1762, the first eyewitness picture of the falls. The painting was sold at Christie's in London for £146,500, or about $217,000 in 2015. By the start of the 19th century, the falls were already subject to a high number of visitors, wealthy travelers who were taking advantage of the new concept of tourism, traveling for leisure and sightseeing. In 1801, the daughter of Vice President Aaron Burr and her new husband were the first couple known to honeymoon at Niagara Falls, the start of a trend that would become cliché in the following century. Other famous visitors in those days included Jerome Bonaparte, the brother of the French Emperor Napoleon. But it wasn't until after the American Civil War that tourism at Niagara really kicked into gear. The victorious North had built thousands of miles of railroad track during the war to transport troops and supplies from all over the country to the battlefield quickly, and the railroad companies were looking for a new use for all of this track. The New York Central Railroad began advertising Niagara Falls as a holiday destination. At the same time, they dropped ticket prices so a growing middle class could make the trip from New York City to the falls by train. A tourist industry sprang up around the falls on both sides of the border as the number of visitors skyrocketed. But with this new industry came problems that no one had anticipated. During the 19th century, there were several gold rushes. In the post-Civil War years, there was another gold rush, this time to Niagara Falls. Only, instead of looking for a piece of wealth coming out of the ground, the people that flocked to Niagara were looking to claim a piece of the increasing amount of tourist dollars being spent at the waterfall. Soon, the road between the train station and the falls was lined with the kind of attractions you might see at a seedy county fair. Freak shows, wax museums, collections of oddities including mummies looted from Egyptian pyramids, picture shows and, in grand 19th century fashion, a fine collection of brothels and saloons. Also lining the route were self-reclaimed tour guides, hawkers selling souvenirs, pickpockets, bodyguards selling themselves claiming to be able to protect you from pickpockets, and food vendors with products of questionable quality. All of it was specifically designed to separate hapless tourists from the money in their pocketbooks as quickly as possible. It soon became clear that, immediately after becoming America's first tourist attraction, it had become America's first tourist trap. Meanwhile, land speculators quickly bought up all of the land along the Niagara River to make way for a different kind of visitor, heavy industry. Factories sprung up both sides of downstream of the waterfall, taking advantage of the terrific force of the river to power their machines. By 1900, hydroelectric power plants had been constructed on both sides of the border, providing electrical power to the surrounding area and drawing in stormwater manufacturing companies. With little to no government oversight, these factories polluted the surrounding land and the water with reckless abandon to such a degree that it would come back to haunt residents later. Toward the end of the 19th century, a new generation of people known as conservationists emerged. Led by men like John Muir, the co-founder of the Sierra Club, conservationists believed that the reckless plundering of natural resources by the industrial titans in pursuit of profit was robbing future generations of their inheritance, the natural wonders of the world. For the first time, there was a conscious effort to preserve nature, to act as stewards for future generations, and the chaos surrounding Niagara Falls was seen as a perfect test case of exploitation run amok. Fears that what had happened to Niagara would happen elsewhere led directly to the creation of the U.S. National Park System. Efforts to make Niagara Falls a national park like Yellowstone or Yosemite failed because the waterfall straddled the border between the U.S. and Canada, and neither country was willing to relinquish control to the other. Still, everyone agreed that something needed to be done. So much water was being diverted upstream of Niagara Falls to the power plants that there was real concern that the flow of water over the falls might be reduced to a pathetic state park on the American side of the falls, buying up land from developers to ensure that visitors had unrestricted access to the waterfall. The province of Ontario on the other side of the river did the same thing, establishing the Niagara Parks Commission to regulate the entirety of the Niagara River on the Canadian side, including the falls. The next step was to regulate how much water was diverted from the river, preventing it from going over the falls. In 1906, the U.S. Congress passed legislation restricting how much American plants could divert, and a treaty between the U.S. and Canada was signed in 1909 that limited the amount of water both countries could divert. In 1950, a new treaty was agreed to, establishing the International Niagara Board of Control. The treaty is designed to ensure that an unbroken curtain of water goes over the falls, at least during the day, that is. At night, water flow is cut in half over the falls, and people who witnessed it have likened it to turning the waterfall off. Another effort at conserving the falls is aimed at slowing down the natural process of erosion that is constantly shifting the brink of the waterfalls back. The top of the falls has been artificially strengthened, and the erosion control was taken to an extreme in 1969 when a dam was constructed across the river that blocked water flow over the American Falls completely. For almost six months, the American Falls were dry, and engineers used the time to strengthen the rock and mechanically bolt fault lines they discovered. Originally, they'd planned to clean up the bottom of the falls by removing rocks and debris they found down there, but after analysis, the engineers discovered that the mound of debris was actually propping the wall of the falls up, and if removed, it would have made the erosion worse. In November, 1969, the dam was dynamited, and water once again started flowing over the waterfall. The Fall of Niagara In the 1890s, twin cities on both sides of the falls were founded, both sourcing names Niagara Falls. For over 50 years, both cities flourished, their economies driven by tourism and manufacturing. But beginning in the 1950s, the factories started closing down, part of an America-wide collapse of the manufacturing sector that signaled a complete economic shift in both countries. The Niagara Falls in Ontario was able to cope reasonably well with the changes, transforming their downtown into the kind of global tourist playground you can find in dozens of other places. The American Niagara Falls was a different story. A new highway was built that completely bypassed downtown on its way to the waterfall, and the city embarked on a drastic decline that it never really recovered from. Things would only get worse. A neighborhood known as Love Canal was built on top of an old landfill that, as it turned out, had been used for decades as a dumping ground for toxic waste chemicals by a nearby factory. In the 1970s, people who lived in Love Canal started getting sick, showing signs of increased birth defects and cancer. Analysis of the soil and groundwater indicated that the entire area was permeated with toxic waste. President Jimmy Carter declared the area a federal disaster zone, the first time such a declaration had been made that wasn't after a natural disaster. Hundreds of residents were evacuated from the affected neighborhood, and Congress passed new legislation creating a permanent taxpayer fund, known as the Superfund, that the EPA can use to clean up toxic waste dumps. The Love Canal neighborhood was eventually declared uninhabitable, and all the buildings were demolished as part of the cleanup effort. The Love Canal landfill was one of just a number of similar dumps all over the Niagara area. The level of pollution in the area was so bad that it even affected the river water going over the falls. In the 1970s, when a sea lion escaped from a marine park in 1963, the newspapers recounted his dramatic flight over the falls and his trip down the Niagara River before being found and recaptured. Jeff's owners reassured the public that he was better off in captivity than in the river. The water was so full of poison that, if he'd stayed much longer, he would have gone blind. Other animals, including fish and birds, were similarly affected, and the Niagara ecosystem still hasn't recovered. Because Niagara Falls is a famous location visited by many people every year, it is a natural location for daredevils looking to create a spectacle. The first craze was tightrope walking over Niagara Gorge below the falls. A Frenchman named Charles Blondin was the first to cross the 1,100-foot, 335-meter-wide gap on a tightrope in 1859, and the stunt was repeated many times over the following decades. In an effort to generate more publicity, the performers kept upping the ante. One walker went across blindfolded and shackled, another carried their manager across on their back, and on one notable occasion, a performer stopped halfway across, lit a portable stove he had brought with him, and cooked an omelette, which he proceeded to eat, before resuming his trip. In 2012, wire walker Nick Wallenda became the first person in 112 years to tightrope across the gorge after receiving special permission from both the US and Canadian governments. After completing his trip, he pulled out his passport and presented it to the waiting Canadian authorities to have it stamped. But for the would-be daredevil, an even more high-risk, high-reward proposition emerged. On October 24, 1901, a schoolteacher named Annie Edson Taylor decided to celebrate her 63rd birthday by going over Niagara Falls inside a barrel. Many of her friends thought this was an elaborate attempt at suicide, but Taylor survived the trip and was the first person known to have been swept over Niagara Falls and lived to tell about it. Over the years, many other people have attempted the feat in their own barrels, with varying degrees of success. After one of them died going over the falls in 1951, both countries made it illegal to try, with stiff fines levied at anyone who attempts it. Despite this, people continue to attempt the stunt. As recently as 2017, a man died after going over the falls inside an inflatable ball. People being swept over the waterfalls is shockingly common. Since 1850, more than 5,000 people are known to have gone over the falls. Many of these are deliberate. Niagara Falls is one of the most popular spots in both countries to commit suicide. Crisis hotline phones have been placed at regular intervals along the railings on both sides of the river upstream of the falls, with regular police patrols to try and prevent people from hurting themselves. Only 17 people are known to have survived a trip over the falls, including 5 people not participating in a stunt. With all these horror stories about Niagara, you might be asking yourself, should I even visit the place? The answer, in our opinion, is yes. The place has moved past the drama, the circus acts and the toxic waste, and today is a place just as capable of wowing visitors as it was 150 years ago. Unlike visitors of the past, views of the waterfall are free to the public from both the New York State Park and the Canadian Parks Commission. A particular note are the views from Goat Island, which separates the American Falls from the Horseshoe Falls. You can get spectacular aerial views from the two observation towers, Prospect Point Observation Tower on the American side and Skylon Tower on the Canadian side. Helicopter tours showing off an overhead view are also offered. Easy access to both sides of the river is offered by the Rainbow Bridge, built in 1940 and spanning Niagara Gorge downstream from the falls. Visitors should note that since the bridge spans an international border, passports are required to cross back and forth. Visitors wanting to get up close and personal with the power of nature can visit the Cave of the Winds. After taking an elevator ride from Goat Island down to the base of the falls, visitors can walk on wooden decks almost directly below where the American Falls empties into the river. Getting soaking wet with spray from the waterfall is considered an essential part of the experience, along with getting blasted by gale force winds caused by the waterfall itself. Of course, the most famous attraction associated with Niagara Falls is the Maid of the Mist. Since 1846, this boat cruise has taken visitors right to the base of Horseshoe Falls. Riders are treated to breathtaking views of the waterfall from an angle normally inaccessible, powering right over the Niagara Whirlpool in boats powered entirely by electricity. The Maid of the Mist tour has entered Niagara lore for another reason, too. In 1960, the sightseeing cruise happened to be in perfect position to rescue a seven-year-old boy who was accidentally swept over Horseshoe Falls following a boating accident. The boy survived, the fourth person to make the trip and live, and the first to do so without being inside a barrel. At night, the waterfalls are lit up by a series of spotlights that turn the white water into a kaleidoscope of color, and on holidays like the Fourth of July or New Year's Eve, spectacular fireworks shows further light up the sky. Of course, not everyone comes to Niagara to enjoy nature. Large casinos have been built on both sides of the river, along with many other attractions like museums, aquariums, theaters, and convention centers, along with accompanying hotels, restaurants, bars, and gift shops. It is remarkable how the history of Niagara Falls mirrors the history of the North American continent. To the first European visitors, the waterfalls represented the beauty of an undiscovered wilderness. Later, the falls were right in the middle of man's attempts to conquer nature or harness its power for their own use. Just like everywhere else this happened, the residents of Niagara then had to deal with the catastrophic consequences of this unbridled exploitation, and were on the front lines of the attempt to preserve nature where it still existed, to keep it from disappearing altogether. Economically, the rise and fall and rise again of Niagara represents the industrial economy that was built up and then collapsed throughout America to be replaced, with varying degrees of success, with a service-oriented economy. Through all of it, Niagara Falls has endured. It continues to fling water into thin air, driven by the unstoppable power of gravity and momentum, just as it has for thousands of years. Mankind was unable to ruin Niagara despite its best efforts, and has learned to coexist with it, continuing to harness the power of the river, but in a more responsible manner, designed to ensure that it is still there for future generations to enjoy. Perhaps Niagara's most important function is to serve as a warning, to be mindful of nature and to take care of it, lest we accidentally destroy it.