Niagara Peninsula
The Niagara Peninsula -- one of Canada's most eclectic and thriving regions. From the
touristy bustle and natural beauty of Niagara Falls, to the serene vistas of
the Escarpment, to quaint Niagara-on-the-lake, the region has come into its own
in the past decade. It's a place to visit for a day, a week, or settle
for a lifetime.
Niagara’s History
The
arrival of the humans to the Niagara Region nearly 12,000 years ago
corresponded to the arrival of what would become its most famous tourist
attraction - Niagara Falls. But it was a different world, consisting of tundra
and spruce forest. The Clovis people, who
inhabited
the area during the Palaeo-Indian Period, which lasted until nine thousand
years ago, were nomadic hunters who camped along the old Lake Erie shoreline,
living in simple, tiny dwellings.
The
Europeans’ arrival in the 17th century signaled a sea of change.
Inter-tribal warfare with the Five Nations Iroquois of New York State dispersed
the three Ontario confederacies, the Huron, the Petun and the Neutral.
In May
1535, Jacques Cartier left France to explore the New World. Although he never
saw Niagara Falls, the Indians he met along the St. Lawrence River told him
about it. Samuel de Champlain visited Canada in 1608. He, too, heard stories of
the mighty cataract, but never visited it. In fact, Etienne Brule, the first
European to see Lakes Ontario, Erie, Huron and Superior, may have been the
first to see the Falls, in 1615.
That same year, the Recollet missionary explorers arrived
in Ontario. They were followed a decade later by the Jesuits. It was a Jesuit
father, Gabriel Lalemant, who first recorded the Iroquois name for the
river—Onguiaahra, meaning the Strait. Niagara is a simplification of the
original
.
In 1651,
during the fur-trade rivalry between the Huron and Iroquois, the Iroquois wiped
out the Neutrals, and they kept white settlers out of Niagara until the
American Revolution.
In
December 1678, Recollet priest Louis Hennepin visited Niagara Falls. Nineteen
years later, he published the first engraving of the Falls in his book Nouvelle
Decouverte. Impressed by its awesome power, Hennepin overestimated the height
at 183 metres, more than three times its actual height.
Artifacts from the War of 1812 dot the riverside, as do
monuments erected later, such as the one to Sir Isaac Brock. Recently, the
skeletons of members of the U.S. Army were found near Old Fort Erie, at the
outlet of Lake Erie.
Following the War of 1812, Queenston emerged as a bustling community. Chippawa,
near modern Niagara Falls, was even bigger, with distilleries and factories.
In the
1820’s, a stairway was built down the bank at Table Rock and the first ferry
service across the lower Niagara River began. By 1827, a paved road had been built
up from the ferry landing to the top of the bank on the Canadian side. This
site became the prime location for hotel development and the Clifton was built
there, after which the Clifton Hill is named.
Niagara
has perhaps the most complex transportation history of any area in North
America. The first Welland Canal was completed in 1829. The roadway between
Niagara-on-the-Lake and Chippawa was the first designated King’s Highway. The
first stagecoach in Upper Canada operated on this roadway between the late
1700’s and 1896. The first railroad in Upper Canada opened in 1841 with
horse-drawn carriages running between Chippawa and Queenston. In 1854, it was
converted to steam and moved to serve what was to become the Town of Niagara
Falls.
In
1855, John August Roebling, the designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, built the
Niagara Railway Suspension Bridge, the first bridge of its type in the world.
Between the late 1700’s and the middle 1800’s, boats were the main way to get
to Niagara Falls. By 1896, three boats plied the route between Toronto and
Queenston.
One of
the first electrified streetcar services was provided in Niagara, and in 1893
the Queenston/Chippawa Railway carried boat passengers from Queenston to Table
Rock and beyond. In 1902, a railway was constructed across the Queenston
Suspension Bridge. Later it was extended along the lower Gorge on the American
side of the River, connecting back into Canada at the Upper Arch Bridge. This
transit line, the Great Gorge Route, continued in service until the Depression.
The use of boats declined as tourists increasingly chose to visit Niagara by
automobile, bus or train.
Tourism
travel to the Falls began in the 1820’s and it had increased ten-fold within 50
years to become the area’s dominant industry. Early English settlements
included Newark (the first seat of government), now called Niagara-on-the-Lake,
and St. Catharines (site of the first Welland Canal).
Following
the American Revolutionary War, a strong influx of British settlers migrated to
the counties of Lincoln and Welland. They played key roles in the agricultural,
economic, industrial and educational development of the area.
The
counties of Lincoln and Welland were created in the late 1860’s, and included
26 cities, towns, townships and villages. They remained until work on local
government reform began in 1963 with the creation of the Niagara Peninsula
Municipal Committee on Urban and Regional Research. The Mayo Report, released
in 1966, recommended that the Regional Municipality of Niagara be created.
The
two founding counties were combined into the Niagara Region in 1970. On January
1st, 1970, twelve area governments and one regional government
replaced the 2 counties and 26 municipal structures, a reform move that remains
controversial today.
Regional Niagara’s 12 municipalities now have
400,000 residents. The communities are: Fort Erie, Grimsby, Lincoln, Niagara
Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake, Pelham, Port Colborne, St. Catharines, Thorold,
Wainfleet, Welland and West Lincoln.
Text
taken from the History of http://www.niagarapeninsula.com
http://www.city.niagarafalls.on.ca
http://www.niagarafallstourism.com
http://www.yourniagara.ca
http://www.niagarafrontier.com
NIAGARA
FALLS
HISTORY
of POWER
Sir Adam
Beck Hydro Generating Stations
with the Canadian Golden Hawks F86 Sabre Jets flying overhead
circa 1960
courtesy
of James Brown
Since 1759, the forces of the Niagara River have been harnessed
in some manner for the advantage and advancement of mankind. Follow the history
of these milestones in the development of hydro-electric generation over the
last 250 years to the present time. Find out how power is produced and how it
is distributed. What does the future hold for further development at Niagara
Falls?
Current Power
Generation at Niagara
|
Generating Station Name
|
Number of Generators
|
Output Capacity
|
|
|
|
|
|
USA
|
|
|
|
Robert Moses GS
|
13 Generators
|
2,275,000 Kilowatts
|
|
Lewiston Pump GS - Reservoir
|
12 Reversible pump-generators
|
300,000 Kilowatts
|
|
Total Power Generation Capacity
|
|
2,575,000
Kilowatts
|
|
|
|
|
|
CANADA
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Sir Adam Beck #1 GS
|
10 Generators
|
470,000
Kilowatts
|
|
Sir Adam Beck #2 GS
|
16 Generators
|
1,290,000
Kilowatts
|
|
Sir Adam Beck Pump GS -
Reservoir
|
6 Reversible Pump Generators
|
120,000
Kilowatts
|
|
DeCew #1 GS - St. Catharines
|
5 Generators
|
23,000
Kilowatts
|
|
DeCew #2 GS - St. Catharines
|
2 Generators
|
142,000
Kilowatts
|
|
Total Power Generation Capacity
|
|
2,045,000
Kilowatts
|
|
Fortis - Rankine GS - Not
Producing
|
11 Generators
|
75,000
Kilowatts
|
|
|
|
|
Robert Moses Generating Station - water diversion
capacity is 109,000 cubic feet per second
Adam Beck #1 – (three units produce 25 cycle) - water diversion capacity is
22,000 cubic feet per second
Sir Adam Beck #2 – water diversion capacity is 42,400 cubic feet per second
Rankine Generating Station - (produces 25 cycle power) this power
station is currently not producing as a result of an agreement with Ontario
Power Generation
INDEX
Origins of Power
http://www.niagarafrontier.com/power.html#Origins
Augustus and Peter
Porter
Joseph Schoellkopf
Thomas Evershed
& the Hydraulic Tunnels
Edward Dean Adams
& the Niagara Falls Power Company
In Search of Long
Distance Transmission
Niagara Falls
Powerhouse #1 & #2
The Schoellkopf
Power Plant Disaster
Queen Victoria Parks
Commission
The Niagara
Falls Park & River Railway Power Station
Canadian Niagara Power
Company
Ontario Power
Company
Toronto Electric
Light Company & The Toronto Power Station
Ontario Hydro
& Sir Adam Beck
Sir Adam Beck -
Niagara Generating Station #1
Sir Adam Beck -
Niagara Generating Station #2
Robert Moses Niagara
Generating Station
Niagara River Water
Diversion Treaty
The Great East Coast
Blackout
Quick Facts
Building the Hydro Canal - Sir Adam Beck #1
courtesy of James Brown
A Cross
Section Diagram of Sir Adam Beck Hydro Generating Station
courtesy
of Ontario Hydro
http://www.niagarafrontier.com/tunnel.html
ONTARIO POWER
GENERATION
&
STRABAG INC.
NIAGARA TUNNEL
PROJECT
2005-2013
http://www.niagarafrontier.com/tunnel.html
