It was very sticky and influenced the invention of the national park. What I didn't know about Niagara Falls

As tourists slowly return to Canada, crowds Is back again on the Niagara Falls viewing platform. The 100-meter-high waterfall was one of the country's most trusted tourist gatherings for decades before Canada was born. There are lots of facts about the amount of water pouring into a waterfall in a guidebook, but here are some unsightly details that you may not have heard about our major water-based attractions. 

Niagara Falls was very sticky and influenced the creation of the national park system

Even the most proud Niagara Falls claim that the many attractions around the famous waterfall are especially highbrow. Just a 10-minute walk from the constant spray of waterfalls, you'll soon be drowned in neon lights, tourist traps and an expensive buffet sea.

Niagara Falls has attracted promoters from almost the beginning. This peculiar fact urged both US and Canadian conservationists to inventthe concept of a national park that can be roped together. Apart from the worst trends of private companies. So if you've ever wondered why the Grand Canyon, Lake Louise and El Capitan aren't similarly surrounded by casinos and strip clubs, thank you for joining the team at Niagara Falls.

Water was actually shut off in 1969

While the Woodstock Music Festival was held in eastern New York It was only 5 hours and you could get a glimpse of the completely dry Niagara Falls. Only the American side stopped flowing, but for eight months, about half of Niagara Falls was just a rocky cliff. This was all the result of a US Army Corps of Engineers operation to build an upstream dam that temporarily detours the Niagara River only to the Canadian side. Unlike most Army engineering projects, this was done purely for aesthetics. American waterfalls have been rocked to look good when the water is turned on again.

This place is completely surrounded by the battlefield

With Americans Canadians have become so close these days that it's easy to forget that the entire Niagara region was once prone to armed conflict and was invaded by plundering troops almost every generation. You should have heard gunshots as several battles took place near the waterfall during the War of 1812. Prior to that, the region saw a jockey battle between France and Britain over control of the continent. And just months after the end of the Civil War, Ragtag, the predecessor of the Irish Republican army, invaded the land just south of Niagara Falls in Ireland and temporarily claimed sovereignty.

The first Daredevil to cross the Barrel Falls was a cat

All testosterone-fueled Daredevil actions that Niagara Falls have It's worth noting that one of the most iconic things, held over the years, was pioneered by a 63-year-old school teacher looking for easy money. Annie Edson Taylor was the first person to successfully pass Niagara Falls in the barrel, but less often mentioned is that he tested his feat by letting the cat do it first. Although the cat's name has been lost from history, it is said to have withstood the "almost intact" test.

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The promoter once sent a ship carrying exotic animals to the top of the waterfall

In another epic story of animal cruelty at Niagara Falls, a local tavern in 1827. The owner, William Forsythe, stuffed the abandoned ship and tried to pull in tourist traffic, full of random animals and sending it to the top of the waterfall. The exact animal cargo is not clear, but it is reported that the ship contained a buffalo, a goose, two bears and one or two dogs. An estimated 10,000 responded to Forsyth's call to actually see animals drown, but it was premature to predict that many creatures might survive the test. Only geese did it.

Nick Wallenda prayed out loud through the 2012 wirewalk

In 2012, the famous tightrope walker Nik Wallenda Made an international headline for almost crossing a 1 km long high wire stretched over a waterfall. But what was not noticed by much of the crowd was the famous tendency to pray loudly throughout Wallenda's tightrope walk. Typical prayers include "praise God," "praise my King, Jesus," "you are my Jesus, my counselor, you are my wisdom." Needless to say, Wallenda is really, really religious. As he told Good Morning America after the crossroads, "The Bible tells us to pray without stopping, and I always pray."

Fate Explorer Sir John Franklin was a tourist in Niagara Falls

The waterfall is close enough to Ottawa, Washington, D.C., and New York City, so many unexpected dignitaries happened to be in the area. Europe was in the darkest month of World War II when British Prime Minister Winston Churchill spent 90 minutes relaxing at the waterfall with his daughter. And in 1825, British explorer John Franklin, famous for his tragic disappearance in the Arctic Circle in the 1840s, glimpsed the waterfall. Franklin said they were "justified as the world's first grandeur."

Oscar Wilde didn't care about Niagara Falls

Niagara Falls tourist guides are dozens of Irish writers Oscar Wilde A famous person who visited for years. This is probably because Wild was a characteristic method and was not deeply impressed. After his visit, he looked back on Niagara Falls' status as a honeymoon destination, and witnessing the waterfall was "one of the earliest, if not the sharpest, of American marriages, a disappointment." Must be. "

Waterfalls helped prevent the war between the United States and Mexico

During the decade of the Mexican Revolution that began in 1910, the United States The tension on the border with Mexico has become so bad that the US military temporarily occupied the port city of Veracruz. There, a peace conference was held at Niagara Falls, with the idea that Mexicans and Americans would best resolve their differences in the splendor of nature. Unfortunately, the Peace Conference ended successfully just in time for the angry Serbian nationalists to shoot down the Austrian royal family and cause World War I.