Niagara Falls, on the Niagara River, is actually a strait separating Great lakes Ontario and Erie. Once known as "America's Honeymoon Capitol," the town now calls itself an international tourist destination. Niagara's honeymoon connection began in 1803 when the first honeymooners arrived. They were rich newlyweds from Baltimore - Jerome Bonaparte, kin to the French emperor, and his bride, daughter of a wealthy merchant - on a grand tour of the northeast.
Each second 3 million liters of water plummets over the edge of the falls. Goat Island, named for its former residents, divides the water of Niagara River into the eastern American Falls, which are 182 ft high and 1076 ft wide, and the western Horseshoe (or Canadian) Falls, which are 176 ft high and 2100 ft wide. The smaller cascade off to the side is called Bridal Veil Falls. Due to erosion, the falls will eventually flatten out - but not for some 30,000 - 40,000 years. They have already moved 7 miles upstream from their original spot.
4 miles north of the Falls is the Niagara Power Project, which is where the energy from the Niagara's tremendous power is harnessed. The U.S. and Canada have collaborated to exploit the Falls' power resources - a daily average of 2,190,000 kilowatts on the American side and 1,775,000 kilowatts on the Canadian side. Every day the amount of water that the power station allows over the falls varies. It is twice as much during the summer for the tourists. In 1970 the American Falls were actually turned off for a season so engineers could investigate ways of moving the talus, or piled rocks, from beneath them.
In 1901 a school teacher named Annie Taylor became the first person to successfully go over the falls in a barrel. Unfortunately the feat did not bring her the riches that she hoped for. She ended up sitting of the street in Cleveland, her hometown, with her barrel, selling autographed pictures. Although several people who tried to go over the falls in a barrel lived to tell about it, just as many perished.
Sam Patch, later widely celebrated in song and legend for his daring leaps, was the first to hazard life and limb in the churning waters. In 1829 he made two leaps from a platform built out from Goat Island - and survived both of them. He later perished while leaping into the Genessee River at Rochester.
The French tightrope walker, The Great Blondin (Jean Francois Gravelet), established for himself perhaps the most enduring Niagara legend. On June 30, 1859, he attempted what many considered to be the impossible: walking a tightrope across the Niagara Gorge. A seasoned circus performer, his showmanship was obvious when he decided to sit down on the rope and have a drink halfway across the gorge. During the rest of 1859 and 1860 he crossed the gorge below the falls on a number of occasions. Perhaps his worst moment came the time when he was carrying his manager across on his back and a guy wire broke.
Captain Matthew Webb, fresh from swimming the English Channel, drowned in an 1883 attempt to swim the rapids in the gorge below the falls. The final change on Niagara stunts was rung by Lincoln Beachey, who in 1911, flew a Curtiss biplane under the Falls View Bridge.
All of these dangerous stunts were outlawed in the 1960s by both the United States and Canada.
Cave of the Winds takes you to the foot of the American Falls by elevator. (Raincoats are provided) There was a time when visitors could actually walk right behind the American Falls through the Cave of the Winds; but a falling rock that killed 3 tourists in 1920 put an end to that. Further collapse has since eliminated the cave.
Maid of the Mist There has been a Maid of the Mist to take visitors into the rapids right below the Horseshoe Falls more or less continuously since 1846 (actually today there are three). The boat trip is perfectly safe, and only once has one of the boat's life preservers been used.
Back in the summer of 1960, seven-year-old Roger Woodward was swept over the Falls after a boat he was in stalled and broke up on the rocks near the brink. He was wearing an orange life jacket, so passengers spotted the child quickly and threw his the preserver. He became the only person in history to survive a plunge over the Falls without a protective device such as those used by stuntmen.