Dewatering Niagara Falls: A Classic Attempt at Controlling Nature
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- Опубликовано: 2 июл 2024
- With the benefit of hindsight, there is absolutely no way this story could end without dead bodies.
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I lived near Niagara Falls when this project was underway. We'd go there to watch the coffer dam being built and later taken down. Seeing the falls dry was quite an experience. While the Canadian falls were going great thunder the American side was quiet and it wasn't right to me. I was very happy when the water water returned and the falls came back to life.
I was 6 when we first went to see the falls, in Fall of 1969. We had moved East for a year to NYC, when my dad took a one-year transfer. We didn't know about the diversion. The next summer, we went back there, on our return home
I was 10 when that happened. I am a native of Niagara Falls New York. I was a bicycle ride distance from the Falls. Loved to ride there and watch them work.
I visited Niagara Falls once when I was 9 years old. The American side was dry. Yep, just happened to visit it that Summer. I was disappointed. Little did i know I was seeing something very unique.
I was 9 as well, when we visited the falls. I was pretty disappointed to see it dry. Unique or not I was hoping for waterfalls.
Our family came from SE Michigan knowing it was dry. A sight that relatively few got to witness.
My father grew up pretty poor and Irish (aka one of 8 kids), which meant vacations were rare. By far his favorite story was driving 6 hours to Niagra Falls . . . in 1969 when the Army Corps of Engineers had "turned off" the falls. It's cool in retrospect but imagine being an eight year old and your first ever family trip is to a waterfall that was shut off 😂
I am a life-long resident of Western NY, I was 9 years old in 1969 when this was going on. remember it well..Great Video!!
I saw the falls when it was dewatered in 1969. I was 8. That was interesting enough, but the real attraction was the Horseshoe Falls flowing *all* of the water. A truly awesome sight up close.
@@Lizwindsor lol anyone whos been there and visited both sides knows your side is best.....
Should have mentioned the other time the stopped, even through it was a natural cause that time.
From Niagara Falls Tourism
Just before midnight on March 29, 1848, Niagara residents accustomed to the flow of the Niagara River were awakened when the Niagara River ceased to flow. The reason - a strong south-west wind pushed the ice in Lake Erie in motion. Millions of tonnes of ice became lodged at the mouth of the Niagara River at Lake Erie blocking the channel completely.
Shee, it must have been a tsunami when the ice failed and let the water back through.
I wonder how long it stopped for.
I know im asking the wrong place but does anybody know a trick to log back into an Instagram account?
I was dumb lost my login password. I would love any tips you can offer me
@Adan Braylon instablaster ;)
@Joe Miles thanks for your reply. I got to the site through google and Im waiting for the hacking stuff now.
Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
I was working for Canadian National Railways that summer and was sent to Niagara Falls Ontario to check out somethings in the rail yard. When I arrived I thought something did not sound right. I asked the station agent and he said the US falls had been shot down. After finishing up my work I had a couple of hours before my train back to Toronto so I went up to the falls for a look. Positively amazing.
"Let's just jump in."
I see you have received your Dad Jokes manual, Mr. Whistler. ;)
So, firstly: great video! Second, I'm sending the share link to my mother because this came out on her birthday and I'm positive she will get a big big smile from the story and the way you present it.
Really enjoying the new channel, great topics, perfect Simon delivery :)
I actually have Home Movies of the de-watered Falls that year. I was just a kid and my Dad took the home movie. I posted it for my Family last year, but here it is if anyone wants to watch it: ruclips.net/video/mBcBIlS4NMY/видео.html
The Video of the Falls starts at about 6:45, and the American Falls is shown at about 10:45. Sorry - there was no sound on the old 8mm movie camera back then!
Those show water. Where's the de-watered part?
@@andybaldman 11:04
Thanks for sharing your family films with us! There was a lot of views I haven't seen and the old style of it made me nostalgic even though I wasn't even born back then lol
Thats an awesome home vid man
@@vekst Thanks - taken by my Dad on an old (wind-up) Kodak 8mm movie camera.
I walked across the dried river bed behind the American Falls just before we left Rochester to move to San Diego in 1970. Somewhere I have pictures, back then they were probably 35mm slides.
Yay!! I suggested this. 💙
Ayyyeeeeee so did I lol a few times actually! lol Simon@Crew on their game!
Allegedly.
👏👏👏👏
@@toastedfoolery7137 the upsmanship is on. I sent a Raven to Simon with a hundred dollar bill and a note attached.
@@onradioactivewaves I second that motion
Great job Simon, Accurate. I'm from Niagara Falls and was 13 when this happened, a very weird sight. BTW you should have worn the coat but I think you know that now.
I was a child when this occurred; I didn't see it in person, but in the newspapers, and the event was quite the sensation. I never knew HOW it had been accomplished, so thank you.
Having lived near the falls my whole life makes visiting them no less impressive.
Last week I visited the Iguaçu falls, between Brazil and Argentina, that was icredible! Now, I want so much to visit the Niagara falls and the Victoria falls in Africa.
@Dan Smulders oh, for real? I didn't know that... :/
but, is the view of the falls at least beautiful like as in the photos?
Been to Niagara, took the boat. I'm with Simon on this. Honestly the best part was taking the path next to it. What an absolute incredible amount of power. You can feel it in the walls of rock on the trail.
Great job as always.
3:10 - Chapter 1 - Saving the american falls
5:05 - Chapter 2 - Rocks & strange discoveries
6:35 - Chapter 3 - The aftermath
8:15 - Chapter 4 - A possible encore
I live about 3 hours away in Pennsylvania. This is something I’d never heard about and I’m certainly old enough to have done so! Thanks, Simon for info about my own backyard!
It would be cool to see a video on the Fort Peck Dam in Montana. My grandfather worked on the project, and I've heard so many insane stories!
Suggestion: john McPhee has a book called the control of nature, which features three examples of hubris, each an excellent subject for a video. It was written in the 70s or so, it would be interesting to see new developments and similar situations that have happened since. The topics are stopping a lava flow, controlling the mississippi river, and managing the mudslides that would flow into LA.
G'day Simon, I'm glad they didn't alter the rock profile of Niagara Falls. I also hope they don't mess around with it in the future. It is, afterall, a natural hydrodynamic manifestation. That is what has made it famous. To alter the falls would mean that 'spectacular' waterfalls could be 'manufactured' where ever there is a fast flowing river in an area that thinks it could make millions from tourism. Cheers, Bill
One of the most interesting Side Projects to date though many are quite interesting
I remember hearing about it on the news but you are right, it wasn't a big story. I was almost 14 and I was glued to the tv watching the moon landing. It was also the year of my favorite football team was on their way to a super bowl win and a new baseball team beginning their first year in Kansas City.
I remember a teacher told me about this project once (I'm from upstate NY). They mentioned that part of the reason they chose not to remove the rocks was that they were helping keep the escarpment from eroding even faster. I don't know how true that is since I never read any report on the project but that's what I've always remembered.
Thank you for nice video 📹 SER happy weekend to You,
I wish I had been able to see the falls dried up, but it was before my time. The first time I ever saw the falls when I was really little, my mom says I called it a 'biiiiiiiig bathtub."
Simon, I love both Megaprojects and Sideprojects, and while you get lots of suggestions for aircraft, here's an experimental drone aircraft I've always been fascinated by that might make for a good Sideproject: the HiMAT: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockwell_HiMAT I first heard of it reading a National Geographic Magazine article in 1980 (the same issue that covered the Mt St Helens Eruption) and I was reminded of it when I saw one of the two built hanging in the Smithsonian's Air & Space Museum. I always thought it would make an incredible full scale fighter, even though it was never built for that. It would be great to learn more about its history, as well as legacy, in terms of what was learned from the program. Keep up the great work!
I remember. Saw it with my own eyes but had to catch the moon landing on tv. Turning off the falls was billed to us Canadian-American kids as Uncle Harvey's project. Uncle Harvey was with Hydro, the Ontario power monopoly, back when the word still meant water. Uncle Harvey shouted a lot because he was an engineer on big projects. My dad was a geologist and mountaineer so we kids knew words like talus, but he was also a geophysicist in those heady days of Americans throwing money at physics. Dad would later say: "anyone from the rank of captain on up could blow up [an atomic] bomb if he could get a PhD to sign off on it." And lookee here, Dad happened to have one a them PhD's! Obviously the role of Uncle Harvey in the project would have been aggrandized a bit, but we knew we should be impressed. It was the age of big. Big this and big that. Maybe it still is. If so, we'll have a big end. Even as kids we knew the nuances, the wink-wink nudge-nudge of "flow" with the turned-off falls, that not just water but money was flowing. Money, power, water, we were able to figure it out. It wasn't rocket science--we didn't need tv's. Took me a long time and a renunciation of my own PhD to understand that all power is weakness. We are a craven, slavish species. Turning off the falls was a kind of turn-off for me, even as a kid. I'm still more interested in the opposite question: if we stopped stealing hydraulic flow from the falls so that fat fux in Toronto can have too many showers and leave their lights burning in order to destroy the night sky with light pollution etc. etc., what might the falls be like? What might nature be like if we just quit effing with it for a bit? That's the real question. Until we do that, only poets should be allowed near Niagara Falls.
The biggest factor in slowing the progression of the falls towards Lake Erie has been the diversion of water by the tunnels to the power plants far downstream. I expect that at some point in the future, the American Falls will be dried up (dewatered), to allow for more water to be diverted while maintaining a “sufficient” flow of water over the Horseshoe Falls for Niagara Falls Tourist Trap oops Trade purposes
The intakes for the tunnels carrying water to the power station are located about 2.5 miles (4km) upstream of the falls. You can see the two control towers from the Niagara Scenic Parkway. So they won't have to divert the water to the Horseshoe Falls.
Their are two power projects that divert water from the falls, one in each country. They were designed to, be able to divert all of the water from the falls to hydroelectric power generation. The amount of water they are allowed to divert is set by an international treaty, and varies by time of day and season of the year. Both generating stations have reservoirs that can be filled when more water is allowed to be diverted. The reservoirs can then be used to generate power when the amount diverted from the falls is an a minimum. (this would be a good topic for a upcoming episode) In an emergency situation, say when a boat is out of control and heading for the falls, the coast guard can call on the power stations to divert all of the water, thus grounding the run away boat on the rocks of the upper rapids, and avoiding disaster.
Local here. My grandparents have pictures of it when it was dry. And the boat is called the "Maid of the Mist", not Misty haha
"Misty". 🤣 It's called the Maid of the Mist.
You should have visited the tunnels under the Horseshoe Falls while you were there.
The tunnels are super cool. You get so wet!
The tunnels under Horseshoe Falls are absolutely incredible. The thunder of the water going by is indescribable.
The tunnels used to go twice as far with two more side tunnels to the water. If you watch an old black
and white movie called "Niagara", starring Marylin Monroe, you see a lot. When you visit the Falls you
can stand where she did and use the same viewing stand. The viewer has been stolen a few times so
it's not all the same. If you go down the Parkway and see the barrel that was used to go over the Falls,
sitting out in front of a business, don't be shy, climb in and get into it. Have your friends pound on it.
@@johnwattdotca I was there decades ago, and I think I remember 2 look-outs actually under the falls. Now that's where 'wet' takes on a new meaning.
@@imouse3246: Did you see the pile of coins that gather where one of those tunnels end? The Parks people unlock the gate and shovel what can be a three or four foot pile of coins and use them for their own business. I haven't done a tunnel walk for a few years, but I should this summer. For all my Niagara Falls talk I've never been on a Maid of the Mist.
I live in the area. I remember the de-watering. Unlike the Bugs Bunny cartoon's portrayal, there were not a slew of barrels at the base of the Falls.
Have you ever done a mega or side projects video on Angkor Wat? It and its history are incredible. And worthy of a deep dive.
I was very young at the time. I do remember that I was told the project was supposed to reduce or stop the erosion of the American falls and that the plan was to do the same to the Horseshoe falls in stages at a later date.
Two videos based in Western New York in like a week? Wild. Used to live about 25 minutes from here in Lockport
Walked across falls when it was dry, also had relative die going over the falls. Was disappointed they didn't continue the plan to clean it up
Rode maid of the mist. Did journey behind falls. Stayed on Clifton hill. Did butterfly house. Cable car over whirlpool. Indoor aviary. Helicopter ride over falls. Had a blast. Kinda lame compared to your story
1:00 The Canadian border with the US is on the very shore edge of the Horse Shoe Falls, making it entirely in Canada. The US and Bridal Vail are entirely on the US side. Been there about 30 times, and two weeks ago. Some 90% of the river flows over the Horse Shoe Falls. A good mega project video would be the Niagara Tunnel Project. It's 12.7 meters in diameter and runs as deep as 150 meters below the streets of NF, On and supplies water to a power station down stream. It was a massive project. It drains so much water from above the falls, they can only fully open it at night because it slows the flow so much, it takes away the majesty of the sight.
Good video 👍
Follow up with the story of the old scow which started moving a couple of years ago. I hope it goes over horseshoe falls in my lifetime
You're so close to reaching 100,000 subscribers
IT'll disappear in 50,000 years? I can't wait to see that...
No... no, you can't. 😅
I'm patiently waiting!
@@carolinerowles5951 I am literally staring at it right now...
Literally this
The "ripple" of the original dam still exists at eastern side at the top of Goat Island.
Side projects idea Cape Cod Massachusetts canal. A peninsula becomes an island to cut shipping times between Boston and the lower Atlantic coast. Plus two bridges and one elevator train bridge.
Maybe a video about how the Fort Mchenry Tunnel was constructed, or the Euro Tunnel, either or. 🥰
I thought this was going to be about the time they sent so much water to the power plants that the falls were nothing but a trickle. Maybe that story would be big enough for a Mega Projects.
Since your doing NY state projects the Robert Moses Dam was a pretty big undertaking. I mean there is literally a tunnel wide enough to fit 6 cars and at least 2 stories tall.
simon made a big splash with this video!
Throws Tomato
Sorry, the splash was dewatered.
Brilliant
Soo Locks. Iconic shipping locks serving 1000-foot Great Lakes Freighters pass the rapids in the St Marys river between Lakes Superior and Huron.
Not to mention the Welland Canal, just North of the Falls, where shipping from Lake Ontario travels up to Lake Erie. The earliest canal was built in 1824, with three subsequent canals being built as the freighters became bigger. There were even a couple of plots to blow the canal up in 1841and 1900.
So, _still_ no word as to how many shopping trollies & old tires were found, when they drained it, eh?!
Such a loss to humanity. 🤣🤣🤣
Word is after five months of it being dry they still hadn't even counted 1/4 of the shopping trollies
Check out "The Stray Shopping Carts of Eastern North America: A Guide to Field Identification" by Julian Montague (2006); it has a section on the debris thrown into the gorge near the falls, which is a likely representation of what might get tossed in the river, and therefore over the falls.
Thank you.
Hi Simon will you do a video about Turlough Hill power generator in Ireland please?
Being from Buffalo, New York, I would LOVE to take the opportunity to see that if it happens!
We have one dead waterfall up here in northern Sweden. Called Döda fallet, meaning Dead Waterfall was dried by people in 1796. Ty here was a project to make small channel for moving the wood, but the water broke the dam and changed course. It was a wave so high people were picking fish from tops of the trees. The guy thought being responsible for the disaster was later found dead in a boat on a lake.
Love all these vids about Upstate NY lately. Go Bills
Suggestion: The Silver Strand Highway in San Diego, California.
There was talk in 2019 of dewatering the falls again to repair the bridge that connects the US mainland to Goat Island
0:06 LOL Fitting thing to say on this topic.
Did you leave out the part about how hydro stations there already divert, I think about 2/3's of the water that would normally go over the falls? And how erosion would be several times greater than it is currently.
With modern technology the rocks under the falls could be harvested for construction projects. Also under the Canadian side there is a fairly new hydroelecric tunnel that generates power everyday
How about the isthmus of Corinth canal as a future video?
That side project was pretty Mega
Probably the best picture of Lake Erie I’ve ever seen.
St. Louis Arch Please.!
local history always so cool
Studying the ancient history of what is now Niagara Falls is interesting. 12,000 years of erosion created the separate falls as we see them at their current location. Luckily, diverting water for hydroelectricity has slowed down the erosion greatly.
A potential Megaproject is the huge hydroelectric power projects on both sides of the falls. Combined they can generate several gigawatts of power.
The water levels can still be controlled by dams and diversionary tunnels for hydroelectric reservoirs.... a few years ago the water levels were lowered so a drifting US boat would run aground before going over the Falls
I'd like to see a video about Simon, his youtube empire, and the teams that help him produce the videos! ...maybe a megaproject ...project...
I actually got to see the dammed-up version of the American Falls when I was a kid.
I guess this wasn't quite big enough for mega projects... Time to drain an ocean I guess
The Dutch already have the title for killing a sea, why not one-up that.
Again? Geez, you sure are hard to please! 🤣🤣
Lol I got my eye on you to, baby doll 😁🤣😎
@@tardvandecluntproductions1278 The Soviets did that to an even bigger sea - on accident. ;-P
😂
Hi Simon, are there any RUclips channels that you don’t host?
I read the title and saw the thumbnail, and for a second I thought, that's not Niagara Falls. Then I remembered the American Falls. As a Canadian, I always think of the Horseshoe Falls. I don't know why, we have a good view of the American Falls from our side.
Please do a video on the CN Tower
Two corrections...
First, they did not "pump the river dry" under the falls, in order to start work on the rock fall. That would have been almost impossible as the water flow diverted from the American Falls went over the Canadian Falls, and into the lower Niagara River and then passed by the base of the American Falls.
Second, when in fifty thousand years from now or so, the cap rock erodes away and the falls disappears...it will not "disappear into lake Erie", but will instead become a huge rapids on the upper Niagara River, extending miles to Buffalo and Fort Erie at the mouth of the Niagara River. This process has been ongoing for eons as the falls once stood on the brink of Lake Ontario, at the far end of the Niagara River. The falls have been moving back to the river's start ever since it's creation.
Whoa out doing a video on Nicholas Tesla’s electricfing the Falls
Maid of the Mist, though The Misty Thing is a better name.
The name Maid of the Mist has "historical" roots in a story told of a love forlorn, young indigenous female who went over the falls in a canoe. The falls were particularly misty that day, I guess.
Misty McMist!
I'd have to imagine that the falls receding back into the lake would create some issues both in the lakes and downstream.
I would be interested in seeing a video on how the electric generation facilities regulate the Niagara flow. It's my (uninformed) impression that there is a daily balance between electric generation and flow for the tourists.
Not sure if you've done this already, but you could talk about the abandoned Soviet Shuttle Program.
Doesn't look like he done that one yet.
@@JaredLS10 sweet. That means he might do it!
In South Africa 🌍 hove to, and othe water 💦 falls in South America, nice to see,
Another big splash in Canada with the Rideau Canal! Vote Canada!
I visited Niagara falls when I was 12 on a fishing trip to Canada. Almost everyone I saw there was from India. I'm not sure if that is normal or if there was a massive tour that day
It would be very cool to see it dry, iv seen it so many times that I often forget how unique it is.
At least now, there would be HD video!
For some reason, to me at least, turning off a waterfall seems like a megaproject.
Highly recommend the whirlpool jet boat tours above the falls if you’re ever in the American side during the summer. It’s a riot.
The jet boat ride is available from several locations on both sides of the border.
Most people acknowledge that the Canadian side is best for viewing both of the falls, and the grounds along the river, both upper and lower, are better maintained on the Canadian side.
@@blueeyeswhitedragon9839 my sister wasn’t allowed to leave the us due to a divorce issue (dad wouldn’t approve of mom crossing the border with the kids) so our family visit to the area was restricted to the USA side. I’d visit both sides next time.
They dewater st anything falls of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis this summer. Allot of metal detectors scoured the river bed when it was dry.
Interesting. Glad they decided not to "fix" the falls.
Michael Burgess: They have fixed the Falls all over. There used to be a small rock island in the middle
of the Horseshoe Falls. Americans built an observatory close to their shore with a walkway to this
island. At the island there was a metal ladder down to the base of the Falls were you could walk
around a little on rocks at the base. All that was removed. The incredible volume disoriented people.
It’s been done plenty before
Twould have been a fally
@@Benson_aka_devils_advocate_88: oh... oh... a fatefall fally it would be. How awe-full.
May i recommend a side project that has a connection to my own family. The International Peace Gardens between North Dakota and Canada my grandma's uncle designed the clock there
5:37 Ahem! ... Maid of the Mist! ... tyvm!
I was 10 years old in 1969. I distinctly remember NASA going to the Moon and anti war protests but this is news to me. And I'm a THG subscriber.
Above the Canadian falls there is a deer stuck on one of the islands who's been there for I believe several years now
How did it get there?
@@franl155 Failed suicide attempt?
Here we go. Local lore. Canada has a deal with Americans about water flow, Canadians wanting enough water
over the Falls for tourism and Americans wanting more water for hydro generation. At midnight, the water is
lowered because of more American draw. When the flow over Niagara Falls was stopped for the installation
of a new hydro generator, Canadians used hydraulic jacks to chisel the rock because the water didn't reach
the Canadian shore. Looking at it from Canada, you can see a ridge leading from the closest rock island,
where they started to chisel. The bedrock is not eroded smooth like water erosion, it's got lumps the size
of golf balls and divots the same size, with a granular rock face like very rough sandpaper. After midnight,
the water flow is around eight inches deep, and in the spring there isn't any green growth on the rocks or
flowing grasses, that are slippery. If you wait for the Parks parking lot attendants to shut down and leave,
you can walk out above the Falls and walk around. You can't climb up on the island from the sides because
there is a totally smooth and large trough eroded around it, but you can go to the point facing the flow and
climb up and get back down no problem. My friends and I have been doing that since high school, in the late
sixties, and I did it last summer. The coins people toss look like silver lightning bolts in the moonlight, pointing
to the Falls. When I pick up a pop cup from the shore and scoop some up, I get a minimum of $25 American and
over $5 Canadian with foreign coins, and the last few years Euros. When you are standing at Table Rock looking
down at the Falls where the rock wall ends, and the grass slope begins, you can see bare rock by the wall and
when you get there it looks like steps from being used. You can stand in the river there even during heavy flow
because the water is pushing you against the rock, but one step forward and you're going over. It's waist deep.
Maybe ten years ago, using online for the first time, I described this midnight Falls walk as a tourist attraction
for the Niagara Falls website, and it remained on for two weeks, getting repeated in a Toronto newspaper,
until a Parks employee complained it's illegal. We have been caught twice by Parks parking lot attendants
who didn't leave their cabins at midnight because they stopped to smoke. They just yelled if we don't get
out of the water they'll call the police. We got out because if a helicopter had to rescue us we'd have to pay.
What is amazing about being out in the water is the incredible noise you don't hear onshore. The effect of
the water rushing past your legs eventually makes the hair on your body stand on end, and all that static
electricity fills you with anxieties, making you want to get out. That makes it one of the wonders of the world.
1969 was the SECOND known "dewatering" of the falls --- on March 29, 1848 Niagara Falls ran dry due to the Niagara River being blocked by an ice dam for close to thirty hours.
As reported in the newspapers of the day --- people freaked out !!
Hey i live in niagara falls !!
I yhink so /i wish they had never let all the hotels build right at the edge /kinda ruined it as far as im concered
how about the gravity based oil platform off Newfoundland.
For sure. I'm a Newfie