History - The River
Where is the Niagara River?
Niagara forms the international border between the United States and Canada in the Providence of Ontario in Canada and New York State in the USA, respectively.
The western three Great Lakes drain into Lake Erie. The Niagara River connects Lake Erie to Lake Ontario, flowing south to north. From there it flows through the St. Lawrence Seaway to the Atlantic Ocean. On the satellite photo above right, Lake Erie is on the bottom and Lake Ontario is at the top. Connecting them is the Niagara River. The large body of land in the middle of the river is Grand Island which the river splits around. Niagara Falls is located after the river recombines above the island. The land to the left of the river is Canada and to the right is the USA. All of Grand Island is American. An interesting note is that, although we think of Canada as being above and north of the USA, along the shore of the Niagara River it is actually west.
The Niagara River and Falls have been known outside of North America since the late 17th century, when Father Louis Hennepin, a French explorer, first witnessed them. He wrote about his travels in A New Discovery of a Vast Country in America (1698).
Where did Niagara get its name?
While it is definitely of Indian origin, there are differing theories as to which tribe of Indians. Iroquoian scholar Bruce Trigger claims the name is derived from the local native Neutral Confederacy, who were described as being called the "Niagagarega" people on several late 17th century French maps. Then, according to George R. Stewart, it comes from the name of an Iroquois town called "Ongniaahra", meaning "point of land cut in two". Another theory combines parts of the claims above, saying it’s a Neutral Indian Confederacy name of ‘Ongniaahra’ meaning ‘Thunder of Waters’.
Wherever it came from, everyone today hears the ‘thunder’ and feels the ‘roar’ when they hear the name “NIAGARA”.
What is the Niagara River?
By technical definition it’s not a river at all but is a ‘strait’ which empties the Great Lakes of Superior, Huron, Michigan and Erie into Lake Ontario. But, being the ‘river rat’ that I am, to me – it’s not only ‘a’ river but is ‘the river’.
The Niagara River is young. It’s the legacy of the last Ice Age. 18,000 years ago (a mere instant in geological time) the upper mid-west was covered by sheets of ice, 2-3 miles thick. As they advanced southward, the ice gouged out the huge basins of the Great Lakes. The Niagara Peninsula became free of the ice 12,500 years ago.
Then the climate changed and the ice began to melt. As the glaciers retreated northward, they released vast quantities of meltwater filling those huge basins. They overfilled and began flowing down through what became Lake Erie overflowing into the ‘Straits of Niagara’ to Lake Ontario. From Lake Ontario the water went into the St. Lawrence River and finally out into the Atlantic Ocean. There were multiple spillways from Lake Erie into Lake Ontario, which eventually all reduced to one – Niagara Falls. From there the Falls began its steady erosion through the bedrock eating its way to Lake Erie. At its current rate, in 2000 years there will be no American Falls.
How long is Niagara?
The river is about 35 miles long and is divided by Niagara Falls into two separate and characteristically different waterways. The falls have moved approximately 7 miles upstream from Lake Ontario off the Niagara Escarpment, leaving a deep gorge in its wake below the falls.
How high are the Falls?
The Horseshoe Falls:
The name is derived from its curving, horseshoe-shaped crest that is 2,201 ft in width. It passes over the crest at a speed of about 20 mph. The fall is 177 ft high. The depth of the river at the base of the falls, estimated (due to the turbulence, it can’t be accurately measured) at 184 ft, is actually higher than the fall itself.
The falls produce a large amount of mist, which occasionally renders viewing them difficult. The amount of natural mist has been reduced since the early 20th century by the diversion of most of the water from the Niagara River for power generation.
The American and Bridal Falls:
Length of brink is 1060 feet and the height is 176 feet, but due to the rocks at the base, the actual water fall is 70 feet. Flow over the Falls is greatly reduced by the power companies and the amount of water being siphoned away depends on two variables: the time of year, and the time of the day. Flow is greatest in the daytime during peak tourist season (June, July, and August).
The Bridal Veil Falls is named for its appearance. It is the small Falls to the right. located next to the American Falls.
About 500 waterfalls in the world are taller than Niagara (Angel Falls in Venezuela is the tallest, at 3,212 feet), but many have little water flowing over them. It’s the combination of height and volume that separates Niagara from all the rest and makes them the majestic wonder they are.
The Upper Niagara River
The Upper Niagara River features two large islands, being Grand Island and Navy Island and numerous smaller islands such as Goat Island, Strawberry Island, Squaw Island and many others to include the tiny Luna Island which splits Niagara Falls into its three sections, the Horseshoe, Bridal Veil, and American Falls.
The Upper Niagara is fairly wide and drops only about nine feet from Lake Erie to the beginning of the Upper Niagara Rapids and only flows about 2 – 3 feet per second entering the rapids.
While they don’t compare to the terrifying rapids of the lower Niagara – it’s knowing that, as they roar past Goat Island at 25 mph – mere feet away they hurl themselves into the abyss that makes them terrifying in their own right. 68 mph has been recorded going over at the brink.
While the drop at the falls itself is 177 feet, the total drop in elevation from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario is 325 feet. 37,000,000 gallons of water flow over the Falls per minute during the day.
The Lower Niagara River
The Lower River changes its width and depth along the journey to Lake Ontario. At places, it rolls and undulates like a giant serpent, looking calm and serene. The Lower River extends 15 miles downstream from the Falls to Lake Ontario, cutting its way through the Niagara Escarpment and includes the Niagara Whirlpool and two sections of rapids.
The Niagara Gorge is beautiful – charming and appears as it was thousands of years ago. The walls are covered with trees and lush growth as they climb upwards of 200 feet. In general, the American side of the gorge is higher and steeper than the Canadian side.
Why is it green?
Niagara gets its translucent coloring as a direct effect of its erosion power. The emerald color comes from the dissolved salts and ‘rock flour’ from the limestone and shale beds. The Upper Niagara is distinctly different in color than the Lower Niagara. Over 60 tons of dissolved minerals and limestone are swept over the brink every minute.
What is the ‘Whirlpool’?
About 5,500 years ago the waterfalls reached an area intersecting an old riverbed, buried and sealed during the last Ice Age. It must have been a violent encounter where the water changed directions and turned into this buried gorge, tearing and cleaning out the glacial remains inside of it, creating a hard bowl basin before turning back into its original course, carving its way to its present location. In its wake, it left a 90-degree turn in the river forming a basin 1700 feet long and 125 feet deep where the water swirls counterclockwise and when it cuts across its own inlet, goes under the flow creating a vortex. Welcome to the ‘Niagara Whirlpool’.
The Lower Niagara Rapids
"The sheer volume and speed of water cruising through the Niagara Gorge, when the riverbed changes in both width and depth, creates one of the most amazing transformation in nature, changing the previously ‘serene’ river into some of the most frightening rapids on earth. “The river, that only a few yards back had given us comfort and assurance, had turned into a raging lunatic. Roiling green waves threw themselves high into the air, in foaming rebellion against the gorge. They were so close we could touch them—if we had the nerve to. They roared with vehemence, smashing and crashing in angry conflict…” Bridges – a Tale of Niagara
“Here, the roiling river turned into a white, foaming monster spewing its vengeance into the air with fury and abandonment, crashing down on the boulders and icebergs. The sight stopped us dead. It was exciting and beautiful to see—from a distance or maybe on TV. But now, up close, it was the most frightening thing I’d ever seen in my life.” Bridges – a Tale of Niagara
“Visualize this rock, encased in a thick layer of hard ice, the river- a wall of monstrous water - hammering, slamming on the outside, sending sheets of freezing, stinging water over the top with the wall of the gorge towering overhead on the opposite side……
……that’s what the ‘boys’ climbed over.”
Bridges – a Tale of Niagara 
“…when you climb down, you’ll be on that rock I was standing on...from there, it’s just a five-foot jump to the bottom…can’t jump to the right…it’s an ice slide into the river…there’s one flat rock we can jump to…it’s in the river.”
Bridges – a Tale of Niagara 
How about it? Would you jump?
The Niagara Rapids are the largest series of standing waves in North America. Traveling at rates upwards of 28 miles per hour, portions are ‘Class 5+’ rapids – impossible to traverse - deadly.
“The river continued its eternal course, as if we had never been there. It was the single constant in the gorge, dominating and controlling its ancient kingdom, as it had done for thousands of years. Despite my pain and bruises, I felt a warmth spread across me that wasn’t generated from the last rays of the sun, which were disappearing over the horizon, or from the efforts of our travels. Niagara wasn’t just a river to me anymore, a name on a map, or even an address where I lived. It was something special, something living, and I was now a part of it—and would be for the rest of my life.” Bridges – a Tale of Niagara
Niagara and the Underground Railroad
The river was a major route to liberation before the American Civil War, when many African-Americans escaped slavery on the Underground Railroad to find freedom in Canada.
‘Freedom Crossing Monument’ at Lewiston Landing, New York
The Freedom Crossing Monument stands on the bank of the river in Lewiston, to commemorate the courage of the escaping slaves and the local volunteers who assisted them in secretly crossing the river.
Power Generation
In the 1880s, the Niagara River became the first waterway in North America to be harnessed for large-scale generation of hydroelectricity. A major battle ensued between Thomas Edison, promoting direct electrical current (DC) generation and Nicolas Tesla, advocating alternating electrical current (AC) generation. Thomas Edison publicly electrocuted dogs and cows creating widespread panic and fear of AC generation but eventually lost his case due to the transmission line losses of DC current.
The Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo in 1901 was the first major event showing electrical illumination. The electricity was generated at Niagara Falls and transmitted 25 miles to Buffalo.
On September 6, 1901, while touring the ‘Temple of Music’ at the Exposition, President William McKinley was assassinated by the anarchist Leon Czolgosz.
Many industries took up residence in the Niagara Regions on both sides of the borders for the lost cost electricity. Prominent among these was the chemical industry whose legacy would have long reaching impact upon the area and would erupt into national infamy with the ‘Love Canal’.
Today, the diversion of water for electrical generation has significantly reduced the rate of erosion slowing down the march of the Falls to Lake Erie, but on the other side of that coin, no one alive today has seen the true wonder and beauty of the Falls as Father Hennepin, Augustus Porter or the ‘Hermit of Niagara’ witnessed. 50% of the Niagara River is diverted away from the Falls during the daylight hours to feed the voracious appetite of the power generation stations lined up along the river. During the evening hours this diversion is increased to 75% of the River’s volume leaving only 25% of the water to flow over the brink.
We can only imagine what the mighty Niagara looked and sounded like then!
If you’ve never seen the Falls – better hurry – in 50,000 years they’ll be gone.
But there’ll always be a River – with lots more rapids.