Many Rivers to Cross – Niagara

Niagara is a corruption of an Indian name. The word ‘Onguiaahra’ appears on documents as early as 1641, and a little later ‘Ongiara’ . Both are Indian words that translate, very roughly as ‘The Straight’. The more romantic term ‘Thunder of Waters‘ is also given but appears to be a white man’s interpretation of the other, much more practical description. In writing down the word, the settlers changed it from Onguiaahra to ‘Niagara’ .

The falls are, unsurprisingly on the Niagara River. And for some reason, this river has always been a magnet for the strange and surreal. In 1829 a young Englishman became the local hermit and lived at The Hermit's Cascade between Goat Island and the first Sister fall. He spoke to almost nobody, wrote a lot of latin texts which he generally destroyed and seems to have been a little bit touched in the head, because he used to hand from an eight inch length of timber that protruded from the Terrapin bridge, which itself stuck out over the precipice. No reason for his peculiar habits was ever discovered, nor even his name. He drowned while swimming in the river in 1831. Chevalier Blondin became rich and famous after he crossed the gorge below Niagara Falls on a tightrope 1100 feet long and 160 feet above the water. Mad enough, you might think, but no, not for Blondin! He completed the feat in 1859 but went on to deliver a number of variations including crossing blindfold, in a sack, trundling a wheelbarrow, on stilts, carrying a man on his back and sitting down in the middle to cook and eat an omelette!

Niagara is wine country. More than twenty wineries thrive in this favourable microclimate and you can taste some of the award-winning wines during a visit. Don’t mix wine and Falls though! These days, as well as the Maid of the Mist boat, which travels under the falls (take waterproofs, you won’t believe how wet you get!) you can experience Niagara in any number of ways, just like Blondin, how about taking a helicopter trip over the falls, riding a jet boat into the whirlpool or taking a cable car across it? Or, if you find Niagara too commercial, head for the Bruce trail and Welland Canals, where you can watch cargo from all over the world going through the locks to be distributed across North America.

Niagara falls photograph by laffy4k, used under a creative commons attribution licence

 

© blueworldgardener.co.uk