The sheer divine beauty of the
Niagara Falls mesmerizes the tourists. It is a ‘phenomenon’. The ‘falls’ is the
most sought after tourist spot in America. The movies ‘Niagara’ (starring Marilyn
Monroe) and ‘Superman’ were filmed in parts at the falls. The height of the falls is 176 m. the volume
of the water is 160000 US gallons. The falls is a gift of nature to man. In the
evenings, intense spotlights bathe the falls with different shaded of colours.
The Niagara River and the entire
great lakes basin is a legacy of the ice-age. Eighteen thousand years ago the
entire great lake basin was covered by the ice sheets of two to three kilometers thick. When the ice melted it released vast quantities of water into
the great lake basin. The Niagara peninsula became free of the ice twelve
thousand years ago. At the bottom of the falls water travels fifteen miles and
reaches the great lake basin. The tremendous volume of water never stops
flowing. In the winter when it is very cold the ice will stretch on both banks
of the river and forms the ice bridge. As the water goes over the land, at the
bottom the falls makes a tremendous sound. This is an international boundary
between the USA and Canada.
The flow is greatest in the falls in
the day time during the peak tourist season of the month of June, July and
August. In the event of an emergency, the flow can be somewhat reduced by the
hydroelectric companies increasing their intake.
Do the falls freeze over in the
winter? Yes it once happened in 1848 for 30-40 hours because of the strong
south-west gale winds that had pushed the huge chunks of ice blocking Lake
Erie’s outlet. The bed of the river was exposed. Many water animals died. Water
wheels stopped and mills and factories shut down because there was no power.
After this freeze, after 30-40
hours, on March 31st night, suddenly a wall of water came roaring
down the upper Niagara River and over the falls with a giant thunder and the
royal march began once again. The falls is a small mercy of nature. Man feels
like falling at the feet of nature when he views the great……
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