Some Facts On Niagara Falls

If you’ve been to Niagara Falls, we’re sure that you have great memories of this majestic waterfall and its nearly incomprehensible amount of water cascading over cliffs which makes it one of the most scenic and beautiful places in the world. Here are some interesting facts about Niagara Falls:

Niagara Falls

• Niagara Falls is the oldest state park in the US, established in 1885 as the Niagara Reservation. It was the first part of a line of reservations that eventually became the cornerstone to the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation.
• Frederick Law Olmstead, the landscape architect of Niagara Falls State Park, also designed Central Park in NYC.
• 3,150 tons of water flows over the falls every second. This accounts for 75,750 gallons of water per second over the American and Bridal Veil Falls and 681,750 gallons per second over the Horseshoe Falls.


Niagara Falls

• The water that flows over Niagara Falls flows at 32 feet per second over the falls, hitting the base of the falls with 280 tons of force at the American and Bridal Veil Falls and 2,509 tons of force at the Horseshoe Falls.
• Niagara Falls generates more than four million kilowatts of electricity, which is shared by the United States and Canada.
• Four out of five of the Great Lakes drain into the Niagara River before emptying into Lake Ontario. These four Great Lakes (Superior, Michigan, Huron and Erie) make up almost one-fifth of the world’s fresh water supply.
• 140 out of the 400 acres that make up Niagara Falls State Park, are underwater.


Niagara Falls

• The first person in recorded history to see and describe Niagara Falls at length, was Father Louis Hennepin, a French priest who accompanied LaSalle on his expedition to the Niagara region in 1678.
• In 1885, a horse-drawn carriage ride around the falls would have cost $1 per hour (a tour of Niagara Falls costs a little more today).
• On January 27, 11938, the Upper Steel Arch Bridge, known locally as the Honeymoon Bridge, collapsed under pressure from the build-up of ice in the gorge below the falls. The bridge had been closed for several days in anticipation of the eventual collapse.


Niagara Falls

• Although Niagara’s Falls are about 12,000 years old, the actual formation can be traced back millions of years.
• The flow of water actually stopped for a few hours over two of the falls on March 29, 1848, because of an ice jam in the upper river. The Falls did not actually freeze over, but the flow was stopped sufficiently to allow people to walk out over the riverbed and recover artifacts that people were able to walk out and recover artifacts that had long been covered by the flowing water.
• The name “Niagara” comes from the Native American tribe that once occupied the region, the tribe was referred to as “Ongniaahra” by the Iroquois Nation that they were a part of.