Niagara Falls

By Sharon White

SUMMARY: The first written description of Niagara Falls was given in 1683 by Father Louis Hennepin, a Recollect priest from the Spanish Netherlands.

The first written description of Niagara Falls was given in 1683 by Father Louis Hennepin, a Recollect priest from the Spanish Netherlands. His account described ‘an incredible Cataract or Waterfall, which has no equal.’ His words still hold true today. A small town in Ontario features the world’s most popular waterfall. Canada’s number-one tourist attraction and one of the top destinations in the world, Niagara Falls draws 12 million people annually.

This natural and awe inspiring attraction is approximately 15 000 years old. The Falls span the Niagara River between Ontario and upper New York State measuring almost 800 meters wide. The vigorous, rushing waters are plunging from Lake Erie toward Lake Ontario generating a powerful four million kilowatts of energy per second. But it is not the statistics, the measurement or the history of the falls that interest most visitors – it is their immaculate beauty.

The beauty is not reserved for the summer months only. The winter months offer an equally spectacular view with the edges of the Falls frozen and parts of the rushing movement hidden behind a magical layer of diamond-like ice. It is not very often that Niagara Falls stop falling but once on Easter Sunday morning in 1848 they did stop completely. This caused many people to declare the end of the world.

There have been a number of strange events surrounding the Falls, namely the stunts and dare devilish acts that have been performed there over the years. The first person to successfully go over the Falls was a middle-aged school teacher named Annie Taylor hoped to make money by traveling over the Falls in a specially made barrel.