Niagara Falls - The American Falls.

Those are very beautiful photos, Dawg. I have always been to the area in the Spring and early Fall. Actually these are the first photos I have seen of snow at Niagara!

Very nice! I guess when the falls completely freeze over then the pigs will fly? ;)

-Tina

Thanks... it's tough getting photos of the 'Falls when the angle of the sun was at where it was at. The best would have been to take them on the Canadian side, but I didn't feel like walking that far. Hell, I didn't feel like walking to Goat Island 'cause once I found out the falls didn't freeze over, I just went to the observation deck to get a few snaps & just left.

Pigs COULD fly... if the WNY area got a deep artic-air freeze for a good consistant month where temperatures remained I'd say below 15 degrees, and dipped in the negatives at night... there is a CHANCE it could freeze over. Despite the ice-boom, it could happen. I'd say it's about a good chance of happening as Six Flags Great Adventure would be to claim "Coaster Capital of The World".

I don't blame you for not wanting to cross the bridge just to get photos!

Well, I coulda played a few games at the slots while I was there! :)

That Great Canadian Midway... is that the project that is supposed to eventually include a wood coaster, or am I thinking something else?

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DawgByte II said:
The shut-off of the falls that one year is what prompted many cartoons to use the Falls as a simple shut-off valve. I still remember Woody Woodpecker cartoon where Woody wants to go over the falls in the barrel, but the ranger turns the valve off & stops the flow each time or winds up going over himself.

The water still trickled to keep the rocks moist (from cracking) but I think it would be a huge tourist draw if they shut it off again... not for tourism sake, however... but to actually remove some of the debris. All those boulders from years of erosion makes the main American Falls seem like a smaller and not as intense. Yes, environmental conservatives would complain, as it's not "natural"... but in all honesty, some removal should be necessary.

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You know what.. I think that would actually be a good idea. Just think about how much MONEY is at the bottom of the falls. All those millions of people throwing even just a penny off making a wish. There must be millions of dollars down there. Probably washed a little bit up stream or sunken in the dirt, but there is millions down there. How i would love to get a magnet the size of a semi truck and just stick it down in the water:P

I'd be more curious to find out what else went over those falls and ended up wedged in the ground at the bottom. That river has surely inhaled some pretty impressive stuff throughout the years and I'm sure not all of it floated downstream.

I forget where I saw it, but I did a search this morning on Niagara pics and found some old historical pictures. What is interesting to see is that in some from the late 1800 and early 1900's is that the point of land on goat island used to have water flowing over it from the Canadian Falls. Another pic showed the American Falls in the early 1900's BEFORE the massive rock collapse that added most of the debris at the base of the falls that we see now.

Other interesting tidbits... iron pins used to strengthen some of the rock formations to try and slow erosion. Also that in the far future the Canadian Falls might erode enough to completely cut off the American Falls.

Okay, it's not coaster related, but it is damned fascinating.

Rob, you're not suggesting Hoffa's down there, ehhhhh?
:)

^^ If you remember where you saw those pictures, please link to them. I'd love to check them out.

^ Not suggesting THAT. We all know that Hoffa is buried at Giants Stadium and they'll find him when they replace the thing in 2009 ;)

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DawgByte II said:

The shut-off of the falls that one year is what prompted many cartoons to use the Falls as a simple shut-off valve. I still remember Woody Woodpecker cartoon where Woody wants to go over the falls in the barrel, but the ranger turns the valve off & stops the flow each time or winds up going over himself.

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That cartoon led to some of my deliquent behavior in my youth at SFGAm. A group of friends and I all put on hooded clokes and stood on the bridge of the Splash Waterfalls, this was before you were forced to ride the ride in order to obtain access to the bridge and also before park staff forced you off the bridge after one boat splashed you, we all raised our arms and shouted "Hurray!!!!!!" for each boat about 30 times until we were threatened with ejection.....those were good times.

The one time we were ejected and lucky we weren't arrested was when we re-created the scene in "Forest Gump" where Jenny runs across the reflecting pond screaming "Forest!". We of course did this in the reflecting pond in front of the Grand Carousel. Back then, before the gang bangers started fighting in the parking lot after closing, and stabbing each other in the park and the metal detectors, the staff had a much better sense of humor about those things than they do now.

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*** Edited 3/9/2007 7:42:03 PM UTC by RollerCoastin!!!!***

I can't imagine many parks having a sense of humor about people running through their fountains!

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Rob Ascough said:
That Great Canadian Midway... is that the project that is supposed to eventually include a wood coaster, or am I thinking something else?

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You're thinking the right thing.
If you check out the link right here...

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"Tivoli Gardens is really my benchmark for this," Oakes said.

The park will include about 20 rides including a wooden roller coaster and a Wild Mouse-like ride. It is designed to play off the family market.

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That sounds like positive thinking... I'd just like to hope he'll keep on schedual with the opening. Their plans are for a whooole lot more than the amusement park (56+ story hotel, another indoor waterpark, retail... etc). This is just one phase of 3, I think.

As for the bottom of the Falls... if the water was drained out, you MIGHT find a few bodies, but most of the bodies that didn't make it out alive would be on the Horseshoe Falls since there's no rocks on the bottom of that. However, you will probably find some interesting artifacts. Money? Perhaps... although a metal detector would be hard to pick up money since pennies are nearly 98% Zinc, while quarters are made from 91% copper... I don't know if any of those are really picked up well by a magnet... or even detected well by a metal detector...
...however, you should find some bones from people committing suicide, and possibly other junk... most of it crap that flowed from the Niagara River which sunk at the bottom after getting stuck from the under-toe.

Did construction on that park begin? Was it approved, or is this just speculation right now?

Not sure what kind of remains you'd find there- any bodies would likely be, umm... pretty mashed up from the fall and the pressure of the water. Maybe there'd be bones, I'm not really sure. I was thinking other things, like things that get sucked into a river by a huge storm... things like cars. I'm sure big stuff has disappeared down there when no one was looking!

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Jeffrey R Smith said:
Time before said ice bridge is blamed on global warming...?

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28 posts. ;)

I was actually wondering how many posts it would take for some weather related thread to have someone take a jab at global warming.

There has to be global warming, otherwise the water would be frozen!

(couldn't resist the urge... it's Friday afternoon and I'm terribly bored)

When they blocked the flow in '69 they found two bodies. 1 of a man who had recently jumped in and one of a woman who was "badly decomposed". They knew that the guy was down there somewhere... witnesses saw him jump... but the woman's remains were a surprise.

Had the flow not been stopped for the survey work, those two discoveries would never have been made.

How did they stop the flow of the falls? Any plans to do that again in the near future?

Rob:
http://www.niagarafallslive.com/Facts_about_Niagara_Falls.htm

I believe they used Coffer dams and diverted the flow to the Horseshoe Falls.

That's great! So the idea to remove the rocks at the base of the falls is actually an old one? I'm kinda glad they didn't.