Image: Photographer unknown via Niagara Falls Public Library
It’s an amazing snapshot – so amazing that many have been quick to
cry fake: North America’s most iconic falls, apparently frozen mid-flow
– but what moment in time is frozen in sepia within this frame? One
might think the answer would be simple, but with the origins of this
photo veiled in a mist of uncertainty like the spray produced by the
falls themselves, nothing is guaranteed.
It seems claims of Photoshop frolics are misguided in this case; yet
while the shot looks authentic, because its photographer is unknown, we
can’t be sure precisely when it was taken. 1911 has been the date aired
most on the web, but it could just as easily be 1912, when much of the
surrounding Niagara
River was frozen. The other point here is that in the photo the falls
are not entirely frozen over, with several small spouts of water
visible gushing out from beneath the crust of ice crystals.
American Falls frozen over, probably 1936
Image: Photographer unknown via Niagara Falls Public Library
According to historical records, during only one year, 1848, has
freezing weather caused the thousands of cubic feet of water per second
flowing over the Niagara Falls
to run dry, an event thought to have been caused by ice jamming and
damming upriver. Ice bridges spanning the Niagara River from bank to
bank have formed as a result of various other colder winters, and in
1936, when the photo above was probably taken, the American Falls are
said to have frozen over completely.
Great mass of frozen spray and ice-bound American Falls Niagara, 1902 or 1890
Image: Photographer unknown via Niagara Falls Public Library
The years 1909, 1938 and 1949 are others in which the water usually
rushing over these famous falls may have been reduced to a trickle – if
not over the Horseshoe Falls on the Canadian side of the border the
Niagara Falls straddle, then at least over the shallower American
Falls. Meanwhile, back in 1912, an ice bridge broke apart as several
people were crossing it, sending three to their deaths as the ice on
which they stood plunged them into oblivion.
Cave of the winds in winter niagara falls, date unknown
Image: Photographer unknown via Ellishouse
To conclude, if there is one specific day when the Niagara Falls
might be said to have frozen solid in recent history, it most likely
took place in 1848, and even so, the news reports of the time were
patchy on detail. More likely, we are looking at several days
over the course of a century and a half when the falls gave the
appearance of having fully frozen over, when in fact they only did so
partially. One thing’s for sure though: it hasn’t happened in some
considerable time. Nobody say climate change.