When, in June 1969, American engineers diverted the flow of the Niagara River from the American side of the falls, the iconic waterfall became nothing more than a barren stream. Four decades later, in 2010, Russ Glasson of Connecticut found a remarkable collection of powerful photographs of Niagara Falls, “dropped.” The five-month long adventure ended with the sight of a dry rock field as huge machines set up to push the rock out of the base of the falls. The rock, in 1931 and 1954, continued to threaten the flow of the Falls and consequently the decision was taken to remove them. Glasson’s laws in Niagara took photographs for posterity but then apparently forgot about them. Glasson found them, still in good condition, stored in the shoe-boxes”>sixth in an old garage.
Photographs of Niagara Falls show the ‘dry friend of the river’, rock debris blocking the course of the Falls and engineers at work. Anyone who has ever visited the castle or printed pictures of it will be attracted by these pictures. I have a wonderful picture of my mother and father in Maid of the Mist, (like all other tourists) in 1953. As they stand together, smiling widely, wearing traditional work coats, they board the ship, the waterfalls and huge rocks behind them. See Russ Glasson’s photos here. Find a short account of my mother’s 1953 visit to the Falls and her journey in Maid of Mist here.
Russ Glasson explained: “My laws took these pictures for six months from June to November because the Army was working to improve the health of the American Fallen.”
To restore the waters of Niagara, which force over the Falls at six million cubic feet per minute, US Army Corp engineers built a temporary levee across the river in June 1969. Part of June 12, in American. (Niagara) Falls stopped flowing and the mother sent another 6,000 gallons of thunderwater over SOLEA Falls across the Canadian border.
After the river channel was cleaned, the engineering operation also mechanically repaired some geological faults to slow the natural erosion at American Falls .
When the work (which included the geological studies of the Falls’ reservoir) was completed, the engineers were fired. In November 1969, the magnificent American side of Niagara Falls began to flow again.
** See also: http://anenglishwomanslife.blogspot.com/ account of visiting Niagara Falls in the 1950s**
