Niagara - The Falls and the Fort

Day 36

October 13, 2010

Niagara – The Falls and the Fort

Niagara Falls thunders and it’s no wonder.  3,160 tons of water flow over the falls every second!  That over 75,750 gallons a second.  Imagine that in your refrigerator.  It falls at over 32 feet per second and lands with a force of 280 tons.  Knowing that, it’s hard to imagine that anyone can fall over the falls and live, but two people have.  One was a school teacher who padded an oak barrel with a mattress and pillow, had oxygen pumped in with a bicycle pump and corked shut.  She was towed into the river and cut loose landing safely at the bottom of the falls.  She’d hoped to gain fame and fortune, but died in poverty.  So, the message is – only do something because you love it and be satisfied with the doing because you can’t guarantee the outcome.  In the 1960s a father was out in a small power boat with his son and daughter.  The engine stalled and couldn’t restart.  The boat capsized and the father died.  The daughter was rescued by tourists who saw her floating down the river.  She was able to swim close enough to shore that they could rescue her.  Her brother went over the falls and survived.  He was rescued by a Maid of the Mist Tour boat.  They were both wearing life jackets.  The message:  “Always be prepared.”,  or maybe it’s, “Never go boating upstream from a dangerous falls.”   The facts alone cannot communicate the majesty of the falls.  Standing in the viewing area, the mist rises high in the sky.  Water endlessly flows over the falls in several places.  Shaped like a horseshoe there are at least two ledges when the water falls.   We watched the film, we rode the boat, we walked the trails, we took the pictures, but none of it is easily retold.

Fort Niagara is strategically located to control shipping traffic through the Great Lakes and the Niagara River.  Initially built by the French it has been occupied by both the British and Americans and flies flags from each at the center of the fort.  Original building still stand and re-enactments occur here periodically with small demonstrations going on on a more regular basis.  It has been a training ground for soldiers in both World Wars and now houses the U.S. Coast Guard.  The French designed it to be impenetrable using sophisticated geometry and design complete with trenches and barriers, but the British successfully attacked and took control of the fort and held it until it was surrendered to the U.S.  following the Revolutionary War. 

Though we’ve only seen a few historical sites, with each one I am amazed and impressed at the success of the Revolutionary efforts.  Given the technology and communication systems of the time, and the fact that a good number of the colonists were loyalists,  it had to be impossible to know what was happening at any given time or location.  They marched by foot that we grow impatient traveling by car. They lacked proper food, clothing, shelter, and gear.  They fought through the bitter cold.  Many were not trained as soldiers.  Yet, time after time, the Revolutionary forces are in the right time at the right place often enough to gradually accumulate victories leading to freedom from British rule. Now, we know what is going on the minute it happens.  Every person’s deepest thought, casual, careless comment, critique or commentary is instantly broadcast via radio, television, tweets, blogs and print.  We hear all this and try to form our own opinions and positions on issues.  We divide ourselves into patriotic groups loyal to our own ideas.  Families and friends are on different sides of many issues.  Yet, somehow, we hold together and this country continues to work.