Niagra Falls on Ice

[Gannon]

Whoa...on the way to searching out that satellite photo of the 2003 BlackOut, I stumbled upon this photo from 1911. It is really unbelievable that this could've happened, without this picture I'd bet against it.

This image was sourced from http://0.tqn.com/d/urbanlegends/1/0/j/l/19111.jpg.

I'd love to see more shots of the facing of the cliff underneath those falls when they were frozen...

Cheers!

[jcole]

This is from Niagara Falls Alive

Do the Falls Freeze over in the Winter?



Yes and No...... We'll try to explain

The tremendous volume of water never stops flowing, However, the falling
water and mist create ice formations along the banks of the falls and river.
This can result in mounds of ice as thick as fifty feet. If the Winter is cold for
long enough, the ice will completely stretch across the river and form what
is known as the "ice bridge". This ice bridge can extend for several miles
down river until it reaches the area known as the lower rapids.
Until 1912,visitors were allowed to actually walk out on the ice bridge and
view the Falls from below. February 24th of 1888 the local newspaper

reported that at least 20,000 people watched or tobogganed on the ice.
Shanties selling liquor, photographs and curiosities abounded. On February
4th 1912 the ice bridge broke up and three tourists lives were lost.
There can also be a great deal of "mini-icebergs" which flow down the

Niagara River from frozen Lake Erie. The flow of ice has been reduced
considerably by the yearly installation of the "ice-boom" on Lake Erie. The
ice-boom is a long floating chain [[2miles- 3.2 KM) of steel floats strung across
the Niagara River from Buffalo New York to Fort Erie Ontario.
It is set in place during the month of December and removed during the
month of March or April. It is maintained by the New York State Power
Authority. The ice boom helps prevent the ice from clogging the river and most
importantly the hydroelectric companies water intakes.

HOWEVER.... The flow of water was stopped completely over both falls
on March 29th 1848 due to an ice jam in the upper river for several hours. This
is the only known time to have occurred. The Falls did not actually freeze
over, but the flow was stopped to the point where people actually walked out
and recovered artifacts from the riverbed!

Here's a cool picture of the frozen falls that shows water is still flowing

[Ray1936]

It'll happen again when the Lions win the Super Bowl.

[Gannon]

Niagra is HELL?


That explains all those creepy wax museums...

[PlymouthRes]

My uncle was a police inspector with the Niagra Falls police department for over 30 years, finally retiring in the mid 1980's. I remember going to see them many times in the 60's and 70's, often in the winter.

Uncle Victor would always arrange a "tour" of the falls for us at night, which included going behind the falls on a walkway that was approximately half way down the spill. I remember specifically that the water was flowing behind the ice curtain that was formed by the phenomenon described below by jcole, and I also remember how eerie [[and cold!) it was due to the fact that in those days they lit the exterior of that curtain with colored lights. The scene from behind that curtain was very surreal with all the color hues projecting thru the ice and it was almost akin to the ice palace in Superman, which I saw many years after going to see the falls.

Res

[LodgeDodger]

betterhalf's family is from Buffalo. This happens whenever there is an extremely cold winter. betterhalf has some beautiful pics of frozen falls. Res, that tour wasn't the Behind the Falls tour, was it?

[PlymouthRes]

Yes, but in a much more "personal" way, as it was later in the evening as I remember and we were the only ones there [[dad, mom, Uncle Victor, cousin Bronco and a copule of others that were part of the immediate tribe)!

Res

[Gannon]

Funny story, Res.

MY first and only time in Niagra Falls was just after my senior year. We didn't do the Maid of the Mist boat tours, but went down in the caves and such for the regular tour behind the falls.

A day later, we were in Sarnia overnight...and bored enough to go see a movie.

What was in the theaters then? The original Superman...where he flew into the falls to save the young boy who'd fallen.

I lost it, the whole cinematic experience was just too REAL for me, and I gasped loudly enough to bother everyone around me...and my friend along for the trip never stopped teasing me about it.


LOL


Thanks for the anecdotes. This place is surely one of the more impressive natural features of North America.


Cheers

[PlymouthRes]

Gannon-

It IS strange the things we link together to form our memories and experiences that we have shared. I think sometimes that we traveled in the same paths, wearing the same moccasins, but at a decidedly four year differential as we have often discussed.

Nice to hear from you and I sincerely hope you are well. Mrs. Res extends her good wishes for you as well.

Hope to see you soon.

Res

[Stosh]

I was there when they shut off the American Falls in 69'.

[Downtown Lady]

It's funny but it seems that the word viagra is everywhere so much these days that it has people spelling the falls as Niagra instead of Niagara.

[Gannon]

Stosh, wow. Thanks for that. Stunningly clean cut on that edge.


D'Lady, nice catch. Apparently I've been spelling this incorrectly all of my life.

I'll try to not let this be the only thing I learn today, I hate having my minimum daily learning requirement fulfilled so early!

Cheers

[GOAT]

I am sure it was due to "man-made" climate change.