The day that the Falls actually went dry.
If you happen to be one of those people planning a trip to Niagara Falls for your honeymoon, vacation, or whatever, you better hope that the falls actually has water going over it.
After all, a dry falls is nothing more than a big rock cliff and we all know that there is nothing special about this.
If you have never been to Niagara Falls, then you are missing quite a sight. It is almost impossible to describe its force, fury, and unparalleled beauty.
Prior
to diversion of some of its water to the great hydroelectric plants located
on the Niagara River, it was estimated that approximately 93,000,000 gallons
of water dropped some 190 feet over its edge every minute. Not exactly your
typical home shower.
Perhaps you have heard about the time that the United States Army Corps of Engineers shut off the American Falls by placing a dam across part of the river way back in 1969. However, this did not shut the falls off totally - the water was diverted to the Horseshoe Falls and the power plants.
I'm talking about the strange series of events that took place on March 29, 1848 - the day the falls went totally dry - and there wasn't even a drought.
So what happened? Here's the scoop:
It seems that on this typical day, residents were awakened by a very strange silence - the lack of water flowing over the falls. It's kind of like living under the elevated trains in New York City - after a while you don't even notice the noise. But when it's not there you experience an unexplained strange feeling.
Hundreds of people came out of their homes to see what had happened - the falls had gone to a small trickle. It had been running at normal levels when they went to sleep.
No one was quite sure what happened. After all, you couldn't get into an airplane to see what happened up stream. There were no phones to call others. And, of course, they didn't have the luxury of television and radio.
In other words, people were clueless as to what happened.
Many assumed that this was the end of the Earth - the day that many religions had warned about. They filled the churches in the area and surely prayed for everything to turn out fine.
Others decided to earn some money. Since this was the first time that the river bed had actually been exposed, souvenir hunters decided to do some hunting. They examined the river floor and found lots of junk - mainly old guns and rusted artifacts. One enterprising man hauled logs out of the river - after all, this is easier than actually chopping the trees down (no chain saws in these times).
So what caused this to happen?
It seems that the wind had been blowing very strongly that day, causing the water level in the river to drop. At the same time, an ice block occurred at the entrance to the Niagara River at the point where it drains from Lake Erie.
The result was the dry falls that everyone woke up to.
The ice jam lasted for 30 hours and by April 1st the falls had returned to normal.
I guess it was nature's way of playing an April Fools joke on the residents of Niagara Falls.
