Niagara Falls Facts

Drawing the borderline between America and Canada, the Niagara Falls is one of the great spectacles of North America and one of the most naturally beautiful attractions around the world. There are many interesting and useful Niagara Falls Facts that everybody would love to know. Here are some of the top Niagara Falls facts:

1. The Niagara Falls is actually a collection of 3 waterfalls lying across the borderline between America and Canada. The America falls and the Bridal Veil Falls on the American side and the Horseshoe falls is mostly on the Canadian Side.

2. It is located in the Niagara River 17 miles northwest to the state of New York in America and 75 miles southeast to the Toronto province of Canada.

3. These three falls are separated by a small area named the Goat Island which lies between the American and the Bridal Veil Falls and The Horseshoe Falls which is often called the Canadian Falls. A monument dedicated to the famous electrical engineer Nikola Tesla is located in the Goat Island.

4. The falls is located in the Niagara River that connects Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. Niagara is a native Indian word which means thundering water. The river Niagara is one of the wildest rivers in the world that travels at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour.

5. One of the major Niagara Falls facts is that the falls were formed at the end of the last ice age during the Wisconsin Glaciation when the melt down of the ice sheets begun about 12,000 years ago. Lake Erie and Lake Ontario and the River Niagara were all created by the force of the melting ice sheets.

6. One of the most notable Niagara Falls facts is that it has the highest flow rate of all the water falls in the world. It is the most powerful and considered by some, the second largest waterfall in the world.

7. The brink of American falls and the Bridal veil falls together is 1060 feet or 323 meters. And because there are large rocks present at the bottom, the actual fall is about 70–100 feet (21–30 m) high. The amount of water brought down by these falls is 567,811 liters per second.

8. The Canadian Horseshoe Falls are 2600 feet or 792 meters long in the brink and 188 feet (57 m) high. One of the most surprising Niagara Falls facts is that Canadian Horseshoe Falls carries 600,000 U.S. gallons or 2,271,247 liters of water per second. The Horseshoe Falls are visibly almost twice as wide as the nearby American falls.

9. The Niagara Falls was discovered by the Europeans in the 17th century. And the first European to write about the Niagara Falls was a French priest named Father Louis Hennepin, although Native Americans were living the Niagara region for a long time.

10. One of the most interesting Niagara Falls facts is that the water of the Niagara Falls almost completely froze during the winter of 1848 for about 40 hours. This famous phenomenon was caused by a huge ice blockage at the mouth of Lake Erie.

11. The Niagara falls are a great source of hydroelectric power production. The world’s first large scale hydroelectric power production begun here. Today, about 13 power plants of the Robert Moses Niagara Hydroelectric Power Station produce more than 2.5 million kilowatts of electricity.

12. One of the most famous Niagara Falls facts is that it produces wonderful rainbows. Two kinds of rainbows can be seen here. The common solar rainbows during the day time and the lunar rainbows during a moonlit night as the moon beam reflect on the mist created by the falling water streams.

13. The vantage points just before the water falls are also great attractions. But the powerful current destroys a number of rocks each year. And at the current rate of this erosion, it is assumed that the Niagara Falls will be gone by 50,000 years.

14. There are protected platforms at the top of the falls for the viewers. It is illegal to try to go over the falls and many who tried lost their lives. Nik Wallenda was the first ever person to cross the Niagara falls by tightropes. He was very well trained and permitted by the government.

15. The Niagara Falls is visited by around 30 million people every year. It was featured in many movies and documentaries and a special performance by the famous illusionist David Copperfield was framed here. Special boats named “Maid of the mist” takes visitors through the river and close to the bottom of the falls.

These are some of the top Niagara Falls Facts. I hope you enjoyed reading this article. Thanks