Niagara falls
On Saturday the 20th of October, we and our American friends went on a trip to see the famous Niagara Falls which separate the Canadian province of Ontario and the American state of New York. It is made of three huge waterfalls: the most impressive is the Horseshoe Falls with a drop of about 148 metres separating both of the countries, and there is also the American Falls (see first picture on the left) and the Bridal Veil Falls (see first picture, on the right). An island can be seen between the Horseshoe Falls and the Bridal Veil Falls: it is named Goat Island. The Niagara River also allows Lake Eerie to drain into Lake Ontario.
These waterfalls are one of the places that tourists want to see the most when coming to America as it is a spectacular and very impressive natural scenery.
A bit of history
This beautiful place that is the Niagara Falls has been here for a long time. It is estimated that it was covered in ice up to three kilometres thick, being part of the ice age, and that around 12,500 years ago it was finally freed of the ice. Later on in history, this region used to be inhabited by a tribe, the Ongniaahra. When Europeans started mapping this part of America, they named the place after the tribe living there and the word ended up being deformed, and thus became Niagara.
From the 1600s onwards, some European eyewitnesses described the beauty of these falls in their journals while encountering them during their travels. Such was the case of the frenchman Samuel de Champlain, who in 1604 visited with awe the area when exploring Canada.
The first ever painting of the Niagara Falls was created by a British army officer named Thomas Davies in 1762. This man happened to be a painter, and so, when he encountered these falls he rendered an accurate watercolour representation of them.
The first ever known photograph of the Niagara Falls was taken from the Canadian side by the English industrial chemist Hugh Lee Pattinson around 1840. He used the daguerreotype (which we will explain on in the part about photography in particular). Interestingly, because this process took around twenty minutes, many think that the man standing in the photograph is Pattinson himself as he would've had the time to move away from the device.
In the 1800s onwards, tourism became a popular activity, and by the mid century, it was the area's main industry. And finally, tourism boomed after WWI, and the Niagara Falls developed into the touristic destination it is today
A bit of Photography
The Niagara Falls have always been an inspiring place for artists and especially photographers. One of the most famous photographers was the American Platt D. Babbitt who used to take pictures of visitors in the 19th century. For example, the Daguerreotype called Scene at Niagara Falls is very well-known :
We learned in the Georges Eastman museum that a daguerreotype was the first commercially successful photographic process invented by the French photographer and artist Louis Daguerre. To immortalize the Niagara Falls and its visitors through a daguerreotype, the photographer would have a picture made on a silver surface sensitized with iodine and developed by being exposed to mercury vapor. Thus, the Niagara falls, as a major touristic and historical place, have witnessed the evolution of photography.
Nevertheless, photographers did not only take pictures of tourists. They managed to memorialize many events that occurred between the 19th century and the 21st century in the Niagara Falls. For example, in 1876, Maria Spelterini crossed the the Niagara Falls on a tightrope, the Canadian American photographer George Barker took a picture of her crossing :
Georges Barker used to work for Platt D. Babbitt and was thus one of the major photographers of the Niagara Falls as he had a studio in the place. He was well known for his stereoscopics. This process can be defined by the combination of two photographs with the same subject but with a different angle which can give an impression of depth :
Furthermore, Maria Spelterini was not the only impressive woman who tried to defy the Niagara falls, in 1901, Annie Taylor did it too. Indeed, she was the first person to conquer the falls in a wooden barrel with a compressed pressure. She miraculously survived and was unwounded.
This picture comes from the collection of George Grantham Bain. He was a famous reporter who worked for the newspaper St. Louis Globe-Democrat. He covered many events and made numerous pictures which were a reflexion of his time such as a portrait of Charles Lindberg.
Cinema
The Niagara Falls can also be found in cinema! Indeed, the American film 'Niagara' released in 1953 and directed by Henry Hathaway, stars the famous Marilyn Monroe. She is a true American icon and she deeply represents the country's popular culture. Thus, this shows how the Niagara Falls is represented in American film culture and how it has become such a well known place in the world.
