The day Niagara Falls ran dry:
Newly-discovered photos show the moment the iconic waterfall came to a
standstill
It's taken 41 years, but a previously unseen set of photos of the mighty
Niagara Falls reduced to nothing more than a barren cliff-top have finally
surfaced.
The stark images reveal North America's iconic - and most powerful - waterfall
to be almost as dry as a desert.
In June 1969, U.S. Engineers diverted the flow of the Niagara River away from
the American side of the falls for several months.
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Stark: A completely dry Niagara Falls has never been seen before or since the
six months in July 1969 when U.S. Engineers set about restructuring the
American side of the twin landmark
Mountain of rubble: This set of photos only recently came to light when Russ
Glasson found them in a shoebox in his in-laws' Connecticut garage
Their plan was to remove the large amount of loose rock from the base of the
waterfall, an idea which they eventually abandoned due to expense in November
of that year.
During the interim, they studied the riverbed and mechanically bolted and
strengthened a number of faults to delay the gradual erosion of the American
Falls.
The team, made up of U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, blew up their temporary dam
in November 1969 and six million cubic feet of water once again thundered over
the falls' sides every minute.
Now, after lying unseen for more than four decades, a set of images showing the
eerie calm at the American Falls that year have been unearthed by a man from
Connecticut.
Plan: The U.S. Army Corp of Engineers studied the riverbed and mechanically
bolted and strengthened a number of faults to delay the gradual erosion of the
American Falls
Historical moment: In order to stop the Niagara River running over the American
Falls, engineers constructed a dam consisting of 27,800 tons of rock, stopping
the water for the first time in 12,000 years
Russ Glasson recently stumbled across the pictures, which were taken by his
in-laws, and had been left in an old shoebox in their garage for over four
decades.
Mr Glasson said: 'My in-laws took these pictures during the six months through
June to November that the Army was working to improve the health of the
American Falls.'
Two rockslides from the plate of the falls in 1931 and 1954 had caused a large
amount of rock to be collected at the base.
In 1965, reporters at local newspaper Niagara Falls Gazette revealed that the
America Falls would eventually cease to flow and stop altogether if the rocks
were not removed.
Four years later, the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers were charged with de-watering
the falls to clean the river bed and to remove any loose rock at the bottom of
the falls.
Gradual deterioration: Two rockslides from the plate of the falls in 1931 and
1954 had caused a large amount of rock to be collected at the base
Eerie calm: The temporary dam can be seen in the top-right of this photograph
Thunderous: The American Falls as they normally appear, with millions of
gallons of water hurtling over the edge every minute
To achieve this the army had to build a 600ft dam across the Niagara River,
which meant that 60,000 gallons of water that flowed ever second was diverted
over the larger Horseshoe Falls which flow entirely on the Canadian side of the
border.
The dam itself consisted of 27,800 tons of rock, and on June 12, 1969, after
flowing continuously for over 12,000 years, the American Falls stopped.
Over the course of the next six months thousands of visitors flocked to the
falls to witness the historic occasion.
Once the engineers had removed the collected rocks from the falls base and made
geological testing to make safe the rest, the falls were re-watered on November
25 in front of 2,650 onlookers.
Tourist hotspot: The Maid Of The Mist cruise boat journeys near to the Canadian
Falls. The American Falls can be seen in the distance on the left
