Niagara: A History of the Falls

Wesley B. Turner is an associate professor of history at Brock
University and author of The War of 1812: The War That Both Sides Won.

Berton’s Niagara presents a panorama of geological and human history
in his study of the Falls. The book begins with ancient ice ages and the
birth of the waterfall 12,000 years ago, and ends in 1992 with eerie
images of abandoned houses in Niagara Falls, New York, juxtaposed with
the abiding sublimity of the cascading water. Superb illustrations bring
to life people and the Falls themselves in various depictions over the
past 160 years.

“Each era has its own vision of Niagara Falls” may be the theme of
this book. Among the many visions discussed, undoubtedly the most ironic
was the Love Canal. The—more flamboyant than financially
sound—waterway originated in 1893 as part of a utopian project for a
“Model City” on the American side of the Falls. William T. Love
managed to put up a few buildings, lay out a few streets, and dig one
mile of the proposed seven-mile canal before his funds ran out. How this
big ditch became a chemical dump and, by the 1970s, the cause of
enormous suffering for ordinary American families is tellingly told.
Berton’s comment “Utopia had become purgatory” is an
understatement.

But Niagara’s history is by no means uniformly grim. Berton depicts
an astonishing range of characters, from Sam Patch, “the Jersey
Jumper,” and Annie Taylor, the first human being to go over the Falls
in a barrel, to indomitable public officials like Robert Moses in New
York and Sir Adam Beck in Ontario, both of whom have left behind
enduring legacies. This is a fascinating book for all readers, including
those familiar with Niagara Falls.