Niagara Falls And It's Enduring History

© Allan Street, 2008


It’s one of the world’s grandest natural wonders, and one that has played a prominent role, not only as a tourist attraction but also as a form of electrical power production since the days of Nikola Tesla. Yet, how many of us have ever taken the time to read an account of its history, since the days when the first humans set foot in the area to present day. This article will offer a brief account of the history of the Niagara region and it’s majestic and world renowned falls, and how humanity shaped around this region.

Our story begins with the arrival of the first humans into the Niagara region holding the falls, this is believed to have occurred somewhere around 12,000 to 15,000 years ago. It is also believed that these first humans who wandered through the tundra and spruce forests, would have been the first to witness the birth of these mighty falls.

According to our historical timeline, this would have placed, not only the first humans in this region, but also the birth of the falls, in the era we know as the Palaeo Indian Era, which lasted as long as up until 9,000 years ago. During this age, the Niagara region was inhabited by a people known as the Clovis people, who appear to have been an indigenous nomadic people, skilled in the arts of hunting and gathering. They would have constructed very simple dwellings to live in, and usually inhabited areas that were close by the shoreline of the now gone Lake Erie. The Clovis people left little evidence of their culture behind other than the chipped stones which can be found in the region. These specimens of chipped stone would have been used to fell large animals such as moose and elk, as well as huge animals such as mastodons.

Going back now, 9500 years into the past, the Niagara region, and indeed much of the southern end of the state of Ontario, appeared as a giant forest of deciduous trees. This massive forest that thrived in this region, would be the forest that was responsible for being the food source for many of the humans during the Archaic Age, that followed the Palaeo Indian Age. It would supply these hunter gatherer peoples with a large variety of plants that could be collected and eaten, as well as being the home to most of the animals on the diet of these people, such as deer, moose and fish.

When the winter months would approach and the cold set across the land, these hunter gatherers would band together into small groups that would survive the winter on a basic diet of nuts and berries, as well as those animals which would seek out their shelter from the winter, in the forest as well. By banding into smaller groups during the winter months, meant that these peoples had a higher survival rate, and also dispersed themselves across the forest effectively, so as not to strip it. During the summer months, however, the Clovis peoples would gather in larger sized groups where they would set up larger communities and fishing camps at the mouths of the rivers and along the shoreline of Lake Erie.

The next age that the falls endured, and lasting from 3,000 years ago to as recently as 300 years ago, is better known as the Woodland age. The effects of this age upon the peoples now living in the Niagara region, would see, towards the end of this age, the height of the Iroquai Indian culture. During this age, the main source of food came through the practice of farming and the main crops were maize, beans and squash. It was during this age also, that it is believed that food farming was shaped and developed on its path towards the modern techniques we use today.

With such an advanced knowledge of agricultural practices, the Iroquai were never short of food, and so were able to focus their enquiries into knew pursuits and interests. It is believed that due to this fact the population grew in size to immense proportions. The villages that the Iroquai constructed were small well protected compounds that housed a number of long buildings that would house large families, often being made of all the members of a family including aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents too.

The Iroquai peoples went on to develop their own set of important burial rituals and rites, among other practices, that helped shape their culture, and it is also said that these peoples were the first to use the art of ceramics in this region, and indeed, in all of Ontario. They went on further to develop other important practices such as the introduction of a political value system that was based on the popularity or alliances someone held with other prominent members of society. At this point the Iroquai culture and civilisation had become quite complex, with many newly developed practices and arts. At this time, the falls had grown to almost the same as they appear today, allowing for a few slight changes that have occurred in the past three centuries.

Just after the turn of the 16th century, into the 17th century, European explorers and missionaries began to arrive in the Niagara region. While at the very same time the Iroquai communities were under the control of an elected leader, or chief for each of their various clans throughout the region. Each of the clan’s communities were also under alliance to a very powerful tribal confederacies.

These powerful tribal confederacies were created to solve the problem of inter tribal warfare between the members of the Five Nations Iroquai peoples from New York State. The confederacies were set up, when the situation worsened considerably for the Five Nation Iroquai people with the arrival of Europeans to the region. The three confederacies put in place in Ontario were known as the The Huron, The Petun, and The Nuetral Confederacies.

During the year 1615, Etienne Brule, visited Niagara falls and may have been the first known European to do so, being known as the first European to see not only Lake Ontario and Lake Erie, but also Lake Huron and Lake Superior. Also occurring during this year, was the arrival of not only the Recollet missionary explorers, but also the Jesuits, who arrived only a decade later. In fact it the first records of the original Iroquai name for the mighty river was recorded by a Jesuit father named Gabriel Lalemant, who stated that the Iroquai named it “Onguiaahra”. According to the Iroquai language of the time, this translated into meaning “The Straight”. The word we use today for the river and indeed the region, being Niagara, is simply an easier way of saying the original Onguiaahra.

Later, during the 17th century, in 1651, warring arose again as the Huron clans and the Iroquois clan that was said to be turned from a dispute to a war, about the fur trade, and aided by the French. The result was that the Iroquois clan wiped out all of the Neutrals, removing all Europeans from their region. They continued to keep their region free of any European inhabitants right up until the occurrence of the American Revolution.

A Recollet priest named Louis Hennepin, visited the falls and wrote of his visit in his book named Nouvelle Decouverte, where he recounts of his 1678 trip, that these majestic falls were, as he estimated, 183 metres high, which is more then double the actual height of the falls. He also included the very first engraving of the falls in his book as well.

The next major event to occur in the history of Niagara Falls was an event that shall never be forgotten easily. At the request of the President of the United States of America, at that time being President James Madison, the US congress declared war upon Canada. To this day, as a reminder of the events that took place there, one can find artefacts and monuments laid in dedication to those involved in the war, and that can be found scattered all along the mighty river.

After the devastating events of this war took place in the region, and once the dust had settled, the region began to slowly creep back to being a healthy and thriving region ready for rebuilding efforts. Eventually small communities began to thrive again and before too long the Chippawa community began to boom, developing not only industry, but also being famous for having it’s large breweries.

As communities in the region continued to develop and expand, there became a need for an effective way to cross the river, and so a ferry service was constructed at the area known as Table Rock. Initially there was only a staircase constructed to help people to get down to the bank where they could board the ferry. However, 7 years later, on the Canadian side of the river, construction had gone so far as to see a paved road laid that ran from the bank all the way down to the shoreline where one would board the ferry.

The mighty Niagara River has posed a serious challenge to many of the inhabitants in the region over the continual history of Niagara. The very first of the Welland Canals, was completed in the year 1829, with many more to follow in subsequent years. After the constructions of the canals slowed down a little and during a period spanning from 1849 through to 1962, there were several bridges constructed spanning various sections of the river, in fact there were 13 of them. Up until this date there are still four of those original bridges still standing.

Between the end of the 1700s and 1896, the first stage coaches used in Canada, began operating, along a stretch of road known to be named as the first of the King’s Highway, being the stretch of road running the distance from Chippawa to Niagara. During this period also, in 1841, the opening of the very first railroad in upper Canada took place. Being still early days of industry the rail system consisted of little more than horse drawn carriages at that point, and ran on a line that stretched between the Queenston and Chippawa communities. When technology had finally caught up, during 1854, and provided Canada with steam engine technology, the line and service was upgraded and relocated to serve the Town of Niagara Falls.

In the following year, Niagara saw the construction of a very important and special bridge, special because it was the first of it’s type ever built. The designer who was commissioned to design the Brooklyn Bridge, named August Roebling, was hired to construct the Niagara Railway Suspension Bridge. This bridge played a vital part in maintaining the flow, in and out, of goods and stock for the residents of Niagara.

Niagara is also known to have provided one of the first electrified tram systems in the region, meeting the local travel requirements of the residents of the city. Then later, in 1893, construction finished on the expansion of the existing railway system, that would see Chippawa and Queenston connection become a dedicated line that would carry boat passengers in either direction from Queenston to Table Rock and further, while the line ended in Queenston at that point and further travel had to be undertaken by boat to get across the river. However, 1902 saw the construction of another Railway Suspension Bridge that would carry the line across the river.

Continual construction on the line saw it’s extension, on the US side, leading the line down to follow the lower Gorge and continue on until it linked back up again to the Canadian line, at the area better known as the Upper Arch Bridge. This line later earned the name as the Great Gorge Route, and acted mainly as a transit line, that would continue to run and service the regions it ran through, well up until the Depression.

With all of it’s other industries thriving in the Niagara region and surrounding regions near the falls, it is very surprising to learn that the tourism industry did not take rise in Niagara until somewhere around the early 1800s and that by the end of the 1800’s tourism had grown to become the dominating industry in the Niagara region. After the events of World War 1 had taken place, and as automobiles became more popular, touring by car became the chosen way for tourists to get to Niagara. This posed serious threats to the Railway and other transport systems in place that relied on this industry. Due to this, there occurred new industries in the region that were more focussed on tourist entertainment and comfort, such as accommodation premises and various different entertainment establishments to attract the tourist dollar with. Some of these locations are still standing in present day.

In conclusion to this article, there is but one more event of major importance that helped shape not only the region but also it’s inhabitants, and that is the harnessing of the falls, by electrical genius, Nikolai Tesla, to generate hydroelectric power for the Westinghouse corporation.

During the 2 years spanning from 1892 through to 1894, construction began on a horseshoe shaped tunnel of immense proportions, for the Niagara Falls Power Company, that measured 2042 metres long, by 6 metres high and also 5 meters wide, and further requirements set by the company stated that this tunnel should be locate 50m below the surface. This large tunnel ran out from the building known as the Powerhouse and owned by the Niagara Power Company, and amazingly replaced over 300 thousand tons of rock and took the incredible amount of over 20 million bricks, as well as 2 and a half million feet of timber, to complete it’s construction.

Powerhouse #1 was built 1.5 miles above the falls, and was designed by Edward Dean Adams. The building, itself, was constructed in bayed sections, where the generators would be housed. The original length of the building was 140 feet long and was later expanded, as more generators were added to it, becoming now 450 feet long. The generators were designed to harness the flow of the waters that gushed beneath them, delivering and astounding 100 thousand horsepower. After the success of this first Powerhouse, the Niagara Power Company commissioned the bulding of a second Powerhouse, which was constructed over a little more than 2 years from 1901 to 1903.

During 1895, the Niagara Falls Power Company, working in conjunction with the Westinghouse Company, began to construct overhead electrical lines that would carry a whopping 11,000 volts along them. They were, therefore, able to supply the surrounding communities with electrical power.

With the success of this power transmission system, the development of a power grid began, and by 1896, the City of Buffalo, was connected up to the existing grid. This was the first long distance transmission of power from the Niagara Falls Power Company, and was the start of another expansion in the local industry and economy!

In today’s modern times, Niagara Falls is used mostly for power generation and also for it’s commercial tourist value, offering a range of different tour, holiday and accommodation packages, however these falls have stood the test of time and remain a majestic location of natural beauty on our Earth, and shall remain so for many centuries to come!

About The Author:
Allan Street is a professional writer and owner of the Shadow’s Articles Blog. He has written numerous published articles of his own, since the mid 90s, and for many others as well, helping new website owners and ezine, newsletter or opt in list creators, to develop quality, fresh and up to date content for their projects. You can search through a growing list of Allan’s latest articles, to be found at his new blog, Shadow’s Articles:
http://shadowsarticles.blogspot.com/