The Niagara Falls Disasters - Historsea, Episode 3

Back in the late 1990's, I took my GF for a weekend to Niagara falls. While cruising on the American side parallel to the Niagara river, we stopped at the small park there. After a short picnic we headed up the highway toward Goat Island,(The strip of land between the American and Horseshoe falls). The sky was cloudless and sunny as we enjoyed our motorcycle ride.. All of a sudden, it began to rain, and it poured!! Ten minutes later, the sky was blue and cloudless again. Turns out on humid afternoons, the falls mist make a cloudburst that we were later told was quite common.

I was born in NF back in 1960 so it was a few years after the Schoellkopf power plant collapse so by then the State was in the process of building the new Robert Moses Power Project about 3-4 miles downstream in Lewiston. I'm writing this in 2023 so I'll be 63 later this year. I grew up hearing about the power plant collapse and the "big blackout" but the real reason I'm writing this is because I never, ever knew until NOW that there was actual film of the collapse of the old power plant while it was happening, and it's far more shocking to actually see what really happened than I ever pictured in my mind how the whole thing literally "went down" (pun intended). It's FAR more scary than I ever imagined it was. Naturally I've seen the still photos of the aftermath of the collapse my whole life but this video defied all expectations. This is a truly incredible documentary of the disaster that amazingly and thankfully only took one life. It was that singular disaster that ended up putting into motion the complete re-design of the Niagara Falls, NY tourist district near the falls by the mid-1960s when the old Hydraulic Canal that fed water to the old power plant was filled-in and then in 1969 a really massive urban renewal program got underway that ended up leveling and destroying the wonderful Falls St. and surrounding area that I remember as a child and teenager during the 1960's - '70's there growing up. Back then it was a wonderful place to spend your childhood doing all of the things every parent warned us NOT to do - like gorge climbing and swimming in the lower river - but it's all changed so much now. ...But really, this video of the power plant collapsing back in about 1956(?)... that's truly remarkable. WOW. I am absolutely awestruck. Thank you SO MUCH for posting this.

You know you’re old when you remember the main event of a history video! 1965 Blackout! Our home was originally a summer cottage without electricity, and we had a fireplace, a wood/coal burning stove in the kitchen, also, a dug well and refrigerator, stove, and hot water run on propane. So everyone from the newly built “clean electric” housing development to the west of us came to store food, cook food, warm up, bathe and shower, wash and dry their laundry!

WE visited that power station and tunnel in November last year 2023 it was AWESOME , my wife's grampa worked there for 45 years.. Excellent video Tim !!

In the fall of 1965 I was working for a designer in Plainfield New Jersey and attending Seaton Hall University at night In South Orange. While driving north on the parkway the radio in my car quit. I banged on my dashboard a few times in an effort to get the radio to turn back on, with no luck. I then noticed in the cars around me on the parkway that all of the drivers were banging on their dash boards also. All of the radio stations in New York City, just a few miles across the Hudson River, had shut down. A few minutes later an announcer came back on the radio, and said the they just lost power in their floor of the building and they were running their emergency generator. He then revised his announcement of power loss that the whole building was without power, then a minute later that the who block was out. Within five minutes the world realized that power was out from the Hudson River north to Canada, hundreds of miles off the east coast. Safe on the New Jersey side of the river a bunch of us from class sat on the rooftop cafe of one of the dorms and looked north towards New York City. We would often go up there after class for something to eat and sit and watch the brightly lit up New Your skyline. Tonight it was black except for an occasional light here and there. It took a week for things to get back to normal as hundreds of thousands of workers were trapped many floors up in the air in their buildings in the dark. The final result of the black out happened months later. Exactly nine months after the blackout, with thousands stranded in their buildings in the dark for almost a week, there was a massive surge of newborn infants, locally known as blackout babies.

I really enjoyed this video! I was born and raised in Niagara Falls, Ontario. Your analogy at the end of this was spot on. As a kid, I didn't appreciate the Falls as I should have. It was basically my back yard. Now, as an adult I feel very fortunate to have grown up there. Your video was very insightful...thank you!

My parents and I visited Niagara Falls in 1969. At that time the American Falls had been blocked by the Army Corp of Engineers. They wanted to remove some of the rock rubble under the water fall to improve the appearance. It was decided that if they removed the rock rubble it would increase the rate of the rock collapses. Since all that diverted water went over the Horseshoe falls they were really dramatic to see. When I grew-up I took my young family to visit the falls. They were impressed, but I thought the Canadian Falls were less impressive than my first visit in '69. We noticed that around midnight after dark the Falls were literally reduced to a trickle. We were told by the locals that the power companies increase the amount of diversion at night to power businesses and to run the Lewiston pumped storage system that moves water up to a manmade reservoir. This was is then released during the daytime during periods of peak demand. This avoids diverting water from the Falls to maintain the tourist business. Pretty ingenious!

Fun fact, they control the flow of water over the falls depending on the season. During the summer time, more water flows over the falls for the tourists to enjoy. During the winter, they divert more water to the power stations. Also, if anyone ever comes to Niagara Falls, and likes hiking, don't miss out on hiking into the gorge. It's phenomenal and amazing to be up close and personal to some rapids.

Just found this episode. In November of '65 I was a junior in high school, livng just outside Rochester, NY. I had just walked into my house, where mom was cooking dinner, when the lights flickered and went out all along our street. We all groaned, but suddenly everything came back on! It was only for a second or two, however, and we were right backin the dark. A few minutes later mom was wondering why dinner wasn't ready. Then we realized she was cooking in the electric frying pan and supper wouldn't be getting done anytime soon. Fortunately, we had a gas stove and she was able to feed us. Suddenly, the transistor radios that parents hated because they all played rock and roll, became our only connection to the outside world. As a college student a couple years later, four of us hit upon the brilliant plan to climb down into the Niagara Gorge below the whirlpool and head for the falls. Lots of dangerous places down there, but when we reached the Shoellkopf power plant there were huge gaping holes where the penstocks had exited the plant! There would have been no coming back from a fall into them, and the structure was obviously compromised. It felt like staring into the gates of hell! This was only eleven or twelve years after the collapse. I had never heard of Schoellkoph. We did make it past the rubble and eventually took the elevator at the falls observation tower to get out of the gorge. At that time, in the late sixties, Niagara Falls, NY still had the remains of some of the water diversion canals visible through the city, although partially filled in.

My mother was in Castle Loma tunnel halfway to the horse stables when the 1965 black out happened. They thought they shut the light off on them by mistake at first and were upset.

The first thing I learned today was about the Niagara Escarpment. I knew about it in the Niagara area, but had NO idea of the huge extent of it. That map of it was awesome!

The way you weave events and people and inventions and happenings together reminds me of the British "history" show called connections hosted by James Burke. This is a good example of the way that history and the sciences could be taught spurring inquisition by students to deeper understanding. We totally enjoy the way you wrap things together.

I lived in Ontario for a couple of decades and never knew these things. Thank you for the well researched documentary . You’ve triggered an old passion , again thanks

The class 5 rapids just downstream from the falls is immensely powerful and is worth seeing up close on the Canadian side. I can't imagine riding that jet boat thru there

What a good job you did. I've seen history hits, timeliness, national geographic, etc. Your simple production and common man approach and indepth info was most well done. Thank you

I grew up on Toronto, so consequently called electricity “Hydro”. It wasn’t until I came back to England that I found out that no one knew what I was talking about.

amazing that the collapse was caught on film................also amazing that ANYONE in the powerplant survived.

great video. your delivery along with the steady flow of maps and photos kept video interesting

Great Video, I am a life-long resident of Buffalo, NY. Love the Falls and Great Lakes history..Keep them coming!

We had just moved to Toronto and were coming to the falls from that direction. Looking north at the horseshoe falls you can see a park on the west (left). We stopped there first and it was terrifying. The sheer power is just too much. The roar, ground vibration and SPEED of the water was so powerful. I’ve never felt like jumping from heights and can’t imagine thinking I’d ever jump into one of these.