When, in June 1969, American engineers diverted the flow of the Niagara River away from the American side of the falls, the iconic waterfall became nothing but a barren riverbed. Four decades later, in 2010, Russ Glasson of Connecticut discovered a remarkable set of photos of the powerful Niagara Falls, “dewatered.” For five months the mighty cascade was replaced with the sight of plain dry rock as engineers planned to shift massive amounts of fallen rock from the base of the Falls. The rock falls, in 1931 and 1954, threatened the Falls’ continued flow and consequently the decision to remove them was taken. Glasson’s in-laws took the Niagara photographs for posterity but then apparently forgot about them. Glasson found them, still in good condition, stored in an old shoe box in the family’s garage.
The photos show the Niagara Falls’ dry river bed, the rockslide debris blocking the foot of the Falls’ course and the engineers at work. For anyone who has ever visited the Falls or been impressed by photos of it, these images are fascinating. I have a wonderful photo of my mother and father on the Maid of the Mist, (like all the other tourists) in 1953. As they stand together, smiling broadly, wearing the waterproof jackets handed out as they boarded the boat, the huge cascade, and the rockfalls, are visible behind them. See Russ Glasson’s photos here. Find my mother’s short account of her 1953 visit to the Falls and her trip on the Maid of the Mist here.
Russ Glasson explained: “My in-laws took these pictures during the six months through June to November that the Army was working to improve the health of the American Falls.”
To re-route the waters of the Niagara, which power over the Falls at a rate of six million cubic feet per minute, the US Army Corp engineers built a temporary dam across the river in June 1969. From June 12th, the American (side of Niagara) Falls stopped flowing and the dam sent another 60,000 gallons of water thundering over the Horseshoe Falls across the Canadian border.
Once the riverbed was cleared, the engineering operation also mechanically repaired a number of geological faults in order to slow the natural erosion of the American Falls.
When the work (which included geological studies of the Falls’ riverbed) was completed, the engineers blew up the temporary dam. In November 1969 the magnificent American side of Niagara Falls began to flow again.
** See also: http://anenglishwomanslife.blogspot.com/ for an account of visiting Niagara Falls in the 1950s**
